Kids, Pigs, Ups and Downs

Unfortunately my second week at VoH did not start well, with me feeling a bit rubbish mentally, which made me really miss home for the first time, and feeling a bit of a loner (not that I was ever really alone, with the constant company of the VoH team, the kids here and at the clubs, and of course all the furry companions!) Anyway, having had texts from both best friend and sister arrive on my mob I felt better and more resolved to soldier through :)


Monday was the first holiday kids club for the township kids, and we spoke about the importance of health (The body is a temple etc), played some games and began to make the papier mache pigs - MESSY!!! :) Still, the kids really enjoyed themselves which is what it's all about, and I was reminded of all the funky dance moves to the praise songs I learnt last time and made a fool of myself joining in!
Tuesday was Maz's birthday so after a normal (what's that?!) working day (I was with the kids and starting off doing admin-y stuff for the unit) we all piled in the cars and headed down to Gordon's Bay for a walk along the beach and some fish and chips at Trawlers. The wind meant we got a bit whipped by sand but I thoroughly enjoyed having a paddle in the sea, and despite various cold/throat bugs in the team I think we all had a good time for Maz's birthday and Andy and Josh's last night.
Wednesday was another messy one as we put trotters and noses on the pigs (egg cartons) and did some major reconstructive surgery on some pigs where the kids hadn't quite got the idea on Monday. Andy and Josh left about halfway through kids club which was good as there was no big goodbyes or anything and it was straight onto the next task! Lisa, Daz and Seth were house-sitting in Somerset West all this week so I had the volunteer's accommodation to myself which was nice for a chilled out evening, but Tim and Maz made sure I wasn't alone and invited me to tea again which was lovely.
Thursday I was in the kids unit all day as they were short-staffed due to all the bugs going round at the moment, so that was fun but knackering! I love our kids so much but find it hard when there's so many people wanting love and hugs and a space on my lap, and I only have so many arms and legs! :)
Friday was the final holiday kids club where we painted the pigs and those whose had collapsed or who hadn't made a pig got to make newspaper pirate hats with me and paint them instead. The talk was on the environment and looking after God's world so I'd also been roped in to do a puzzle (there's always a competition between a boys team and girls team) which I think went quite well. Our eldest boy here, R (who took and is in my Facebook pic, for those of you that can have a look) came along to the kids clubs and loved making his pig and hanging out with all his school friends there, I will put up some photos soon so you can see him and his pig, and me wearing a very fetching newspaper hat :) Friday afternoon I took another of our boys, K, to his foster mum's house for the weekend. He is the sweetest little thing, with chubby little cheeks which I'm glad to say have stayed despite the fact that his tummy has slimmed down since I was here before. That all went smoothly thank goodness, as I had to explain about his meds for the weekend etc (again if I could just have a babelfish to speak Afrikaans/Xhosa it would be wonderful!) and then I went to run some errands including getting a film to watch that night. Now admittedly getting 30 Days of Night - a creepy film about murdering strangers coming to a small town and picking off the inhabitants - maybe wasn't the wisest choice given that I was home alone, but never mind, the strangers turned out to be vampires so it wasn't too steeped in reality and I just double checked I'd locked the doors when I went to bed! :)

The weekend was gorgeously sunny and hot so while Arry played cricket Tim, Maz and I took our three eldest boys to the beach on Saturday morning. It hadn't occurred to me that they'd probably never seen the sea or felt sand before, and it was a privilege to be there for this first for A & M. Poor A found it all very overwhelming, but gradually he let go of Maz and me, got used to the new environment, and by the end of the morning he was splashing in the waves with the others and making friends with the man selling ice lollies! As for me, it was such a joy to experience the beach through these little boys - why does it always seem that as time goes by we forget how much fun it was to do things like jump over a big wave, or build a sand castle?!

Sunday morning we had or first guest speaker as the Elgin United pastor is away in Ballymoney, N.Ireland (not Co.Wexford sadly) for three weeks. He spoke (with an amazingly deep, powerful voice - like Mufasa) on the adventure of following God, and how it takes trust and courage to do so, how we can't be 'In a rut without a gut' - if we don't take a leap of faith sometimes we can miss out on amazing rewards, like Moses and the Israelites who could've got to the promised land in 11days, but instead they doubted God's protection over them and it took them 40years! (Deuternomy) It definitely spoke to us, as the Walkers, and to a lesser extent me, have chosen to follow a calling, and in doing so have given up the securities of steady jobs, family, friends etc. But as my return to Grabouw must show, the rewards far outweigh the challenges, and never fear, one leap of faith does not mean we're done, you can't get complacent on an adventure! :)

Due to the glorious weather we had the first braii of the season for lunch (yum!) and then Maz and I went for a lovely long walk with the dogs through the surrounding hills which felt very cleansing for body and soul! Gazing across Grabouw on an amazing blue-sky day is both uplifting and sobering - such natural beauty in one direction, and in another such hardship and problems looking to be solved. Too much for a human of little brain like me to take in really!