May 2008

MAY:


Back row: Jeff and Paul

Front row: Me, Angie, Julie and Joy

Ahhhh! Peace and quite for about a week! The team from Vancouver just left for Transkei and it’s just the regular people who are living in the mission house right now. May has been a very eventful month full of joyous occasions and dangerous times.

On May the 2^nd I finally turned the big 40!!! I can’t believe I’m 40. I feel like I’m 29 still and everybody thinks I look 29 (Thanks to my parents genes). I did the usual ritual of cutting my hair short every 5 years and on my birthday we went out to a Vietnamese restaurant and then went to see a musical about South Africa (One of my favourite things to do). When we got home from my birthday I had to stay up late to get ready for my teachers training the next day. Only half the teachers showed up this time because it was too close to a holiday (I must remember not to do teachers training too close to a holiday next time). It’s so hard to teach a new concept when only ½ of the teachers show up because I end up teaching it all over again to the teachers that didn’t show up.

It’s been four months since I’ve been visiting each school on a regular basis and I have discovered that there is no consistency with the teachers and students. Each school reminds me of a revolving door. Kids and teachers are always changing. If there is a holiday the parents don’t bring their kids to school and then they don’t want to pay ½ a months fees, therefore, those kids don’t come to school for a whole month. The teachers are also changing a lot due to unfortunate circumstances. The curriculum I brought from Canada is good, but it requires consistency for it to be successful. I must think of more creative ways in how to approach this problem.

This month I’ve also felt I was a mediator for many of the schools. Lately their have been a lot of problems in regards to ownership of the schools between teachers and the pastors. In reality none of them own it. The building belongs to the community and we just support them. The other problem with the teachers is that they are jealous of each other and a lot of miscommunication amongst them. To me these problems are so simple to solve, but please pray that I will be wise in helping them solve these issues.

A container (A small cell phone repair shop) close by to the Crystal Preschool was set on fire and the portable toilet was too close to it.

As most of you heard there has been problems in South Africa lately due to xenophobia. (Local blacks against foreign blacks. They feel that they are taking all the jobs in South Africa.) This past weekend the riots finally reached Khayelitsha. Lots of foreign shops were burnt, broken into and looted for their supplies and foreign people chased out of their homes. Even in front of ATC some of the missionaries saw a police officer shoot a rubber bullet to a person who threw a rock at him. Most of the crime is done by young children and youth, who don’t even know the true issue. They say gangs and young people are using this problem to just do crime. We even have one of the local missionaries from Malawi staying at the mission house because we feel it is not safe for him to stay in Khayelitsha right now. On Sunday the ATC (Bible College) was broken into. They broke the roof at the front entry way and then they went into the crawl space up to the ceiling and broke into the computer room and stole some of the computers. Crime here has somewhat settled down right now, but we still must be careful. During the day we are safe, but we must leave Khayelitsha before it gets dark. A lot of us missionaries are now pondering as to what to do with the displace foreign people who are staying in community halls, police stations and how to help educate the Xhosa people about this situation. Pray that we will be safe during these troublesome times and that people will rise up to the occasion to change their mindset of people around here.

The Day and life of the teachers of the LOVEa ministry:

Nonkuphila:

Nonkuphila had fallen two weeks ago on the cement and was in a lot of pain and she still came to my teachers training session. When I went to visit her at her school at the beginning of the month she told me she couldn’t afford to pay $100 rand ($ 7 can) to see the Doctor. Joy and I decided to take her to the doctor because we felt that it was getting worse. In the midst of her leg problem her husband got a stroke and died. Nonkophila lives next to the school and her husband is the pastor of a Zionist church and they are constantly fighting over the ownership of the school. What’s why the family thinks their father died due to the stress of the school building.

Sino:

Sino is the teacher in the orange shirt.

I had visited Sino last month and when she didn’t show up to the teachers meeting I went to visit her and I found out that her oldest sister died. When I went to visit her the second time the principle was mad that she didn’t go to the Sunday School teachers training and she had ran out and quit. I then went to talk to her and resolved the problem with the principle of the school. I am glad she didn’t leave because this school has gone through too many staff changes. (Four teachers had quit or got fired within a couple of months)

Nompumelelo:

Nompumelelo has gone through a lot of early childhood training and is very eager to learn new things. I am thinking of letting her try being a coordinator for LOVEa. I will train her to do what I do when I leave. Pray that she is the right person for the job.

Nobesuthu:

Is a young mom who has an infant daughter. She married her high school sweetheart. It is pretty rare to see people married at this stage because they usually don’t marry.

Nonkululeko:

Nonkululeko just had a baby 4 months ago and is now working as the head teacher at one of the schools. She is also going to school to get further training in Early Childhood Education. A few months ago she caught her boyfriend molesting her oldest daughter while she was pregnant. When I went to visit her she found out that he was out on bail and the police never told her he was out. She is trying to do her best to survive. When I was at their house her oldest daughter was so happy as though nothing had happened to her and I felt so sadden by their situation.

Oscarina:

When I went to visit Oscarina her shack was very dark and dreary. She lives on her own and likes it that way. She has two young children living with her mom. She didn’t come to the teacher training in May and I feel it’s too much for her. The principle told me she’s tired of working with the older kids and just wants to work with just the babies. In her school there has been a lot of staff changes and I feel she is overworked for only getting $700 rand a month ($50 can).

Nolusindiso:

(Playing Jenga)

Nolusindiso lives in a one room shack. She used to share it with her boyfriend but kicked him out because he started to abuse and control her. She feels she is better off without him. Nolusindiso has one teenage daughter who lives with her mom in Joberg.

Anele and Nomphelo:

Anele is an amazing teacher! She is like a sponge! She is so eager to learn and her principle told me she has changed so much. She has a 4 year old son and teaches him everything that I taught her. Nomphelo is her neighbour and co-worker. She lives on her own and has a 14 year old daughter who lives with her mom. Both of these women leave their house at 6:30 am and walk to work. They pick up and drop off most of the kid’s everyday from different locations. They have about 80 kids from infants to kids 6 years old in their school and there are only 3 teachers and 1 cook to watch all the children. They only get paid $900 rand each month and they are trying to find a better job because they are overworked.

Hike with the girls:

Angela had a friend who was visiting from Brazil and we decided to climb Lion’s Head on a Sunday. Two of the ladies were afraid of heights and I had to put out all my encouraging coaching skills to the test. Wow, it was a lot of work, but I was determined that they were going to finish what they started and they did! I was very proud of their perseverance.

Vancouver Team:



(Hiked Table Mt and it took us young ones 1 hour and 15 mins to hike up. We took the tram down.)

The Vancouver Team are here for 3 weeks with one girl from Germany. They are helping finishing the last preschool we built. Some of them are very talented in music and they also helped the worship team during the devotional times.

Mother’s Day:

We made dinner for Julie on Mother’s day and surprised her by inviting Pastor Jun’s family over for dinner and they entertained us by playing the piano, guitar and violin.

Playgrounds and Fences:


Crystal Educare Center

Yabanathi Educare Center

Bulelani Educare Center

Five schools this month received playgrounds and fences. What a blessing that is for the children.

Reading class:

Driving the kids home and visiting them.

Kukhle and his brother

Simatimblea, mom and uncle

Sinele and his brother

Zuziwa and her brother

Play Jenga at Visumize's house


Siziphwa's family

The kids were let out of school early and only 4 kids came to show up to my after school reading program. I ended cancelling the class and visiting their homes. They were so excited and proud that their teacher took the time to visit their houses.

Women’s Ministry (WALK):

When Sarah was here she was the coordinator of the Women’s ministry called WALK. Now that Sarah has gone back to Canada I now help oversee the Women’s ministry to make sure they are doing ok. I can’t help them out too much because the LOVEa ministry is already too much for me to handle.

Holiday:

Korey the house dog joined us at the picnic.

In the first week of May was a holiday and all the foreign missionary went out on a picnic. Now that Sarah has left I am the only person here whose first language is English. Everybody now goes to me for advice in English. I feel so inadequate with this role because English was one of my worst subjects.

Funny car story:

Last month when I was going home from the freeway I was behind a manure truck and he was leaking from the back of his truck. I tried to avoid his spillage, but couldn’t. As you can see from the pictures I had to go to a car wash right away. It took a week for my car to smell normal again.

Care packages:

Yes! My curriculum finally came! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! It was mailed out at the end of January and I finally received it in the middle of May. As I study all the things that Suzie gave me, I realize I have a big job ahead of me. I have to rewrite and simplify everything to meet the needs of the teachers and the children. I also received a wonderful care package from my church for my 40^th birthday. Thanks to all who put a lot of love and care into the package. I truly felt loved and cared for.

Mechanical Educare Center:

They are starting to build the foundation of the mechanical shop. They hope to have the building finished by the summer.