Kittens

4/28
The other day there was a baby kitten that was meowing outside my house. The neighbors found him.  He was only a few weeks old and was abandoned by it’s mother. What can I say? I love animals so I couldn't just let it die! So I took it in. It's now doing really well and is going to survive. Tonight I found another baby kitten that was nearly dead. I rushed him to the neighbors house and they gave me a bottle and some kitten formula. The little kitten wasn't swallowing and he has no energy at all. I spent hours warming him up and attempting to feed him a little. After a while it seemed he was getting better, he was lifting his head and meowing. I held him close hoping he would survive and keep warm. After an hour he wasn't moving as much. As soon as I went to the kitchen to get water he started meowing loudly. I went back and he was dead.  I was so shocked and upset, it really seemed like he was getting better, but it was too late. It doesn’t seem fair, but life isn’t always fair. I’m emotionally drained and exhausted from putting all of my energy into trying to save this little thing.  At least he wasn't alone for the last few hours of his little life.

Life is like that. It’s full of disappointments and failures but it’s how we deal with those disappointments that matter.  We can sulk in self pity and complain that life is hard and that things never work out for us, or we can accept what comes our way, even if it’s not what we wanted. After all, it’s during the hard times that we grow and learn the most. Tomorrow morning I will bury my kitten.

Today one of the site workers at Refilwe found another kitten, probably from the same litter. He was feeding it regular milk, which is bad for kittens.  He asked me to take. Of course I couldn't say no, I would hate for it to die. I think I've already found a home for her but I will be watching her until she goes to her new home. So i'm babysitting a little kitten, and it's like taking care of a little baby, she keeps me up at night and she is hungry every few hours. Every time I put her down she looks at me and meows for me to pick her up. It's difficult getting anything done while i'm holding her, which is all the time, so I came up with a solution to this. I tied her to my stomach with a towel. African ladies tie their babies against their back with a towel, so I thought I would give it a try, and it works great. She seems really content being there. Those African ladies know what's up!

Here is a tired picture of me with my adopted baby.

Cooking a Goat and Playing with Lions.

The weather is now starting to get cold here as winter approaches. The warm weather didn’t seem to last long enough but I arrived at the end of summer.

This last weekend one of my friends took me to his family's funereal celebration for his cousin that passed away 6 months ago. Wow! This was truly and African experience! When someone dies, there is 4 months of mourning. During this mourning period the mother of the person who died can’t leave the house and she can’t change her clothes. She can wash her clothes at night, but she has to wear the same ones for 4 months. Then after the mourning period is up, there is a cleansing celebration, which is what we went to. This celebration is the end of the mourning period. During this celebration they bought a live goat, slaughtered it and then got it ready for the feast. By the end of the day the entire goat must be consumed. The intestines the heart, the head, the feet, everything must be eaten! Nothing goes to waist. They use the fur to make a coat or a mat.

 During the celebrations the women were in the kitchen cooking the goat for themselves and the men were outside cooking their meat over the barbeque. The men don’t go cook in the kitchen and the women don’t barbeque. So when I got there I was put to work cooking goat feet and goat head. The goat meat was actually very delicious and the day was spent cooking and dancing.

The people there said it was good luck for them to have a 'white girl' come to their party. It’s very unusual for a white person to be in a township hanging around with the' black people', but  it’s a great experience to spend time with people from a different culture. White snobs are missing out. The people were  so open and welcoming; they really are the friendliest people that I’ve ever met. It’s been a lot of fun living here and being involved in their way of life.

Yesterday, I finally got to see African wildlife and I got to play with baby lions. My roommate and I went with a friend, who drove us to a nearby lion park.  It’s truly amazing being so close to such beautiful creatures and watching them in their natural habitat. The park had Leopards,  White Lions, Hyenas, Zebras and Giraffes, and it didn’t cost hardly anything to get in. The baby lions were very sleepy because it was the middle of the day, but it was fun to be near them and to pet them.   

Wow, I can’t believe I’ve already been here a month!  The time has flown by so fast! I’m already feeling at home here and I feel blessed that I get to experience life and the people of Africa. The work I’m doing teaching English  in the townships is keeping me so busy that by the time Friday comes i’m exhausted.

I'm really enjoying the work i'm doing. Going into the townships at first was scary. I didn't know the people or the area.  Now I feel at home and comfortable, but of course, can never be alone. Nobody bothers us
(except for the occasional cat call)  because they know we are here to help. They respect us and  enjoy it when we come to help out.  Lately I have been going with Mama Julia to a township called Tavern Becky to hang out with HIV/AIDS patients.   Happy, one of the ladies we work with who has Aids was about to die when Julia found her.  Julia gave her ARV"S ( medication to help manage Aids)  and now she is so much healthier and stronger. Happy now helps Julia out in the communities and comes along to translate for us. She is such a great lady who is filled with so much joy and compassion for the people in her community. The stories of many of these people’s lives are so sad and filled with so much pain. Julia has seen people go into deep depression and alcoholism after discovering they are sick with Aids. She does free testing for them, and the news is not always good.  Since Julia has been going to Tavern Becky, many people have turned their lives to Christ, and this has given their life so much meaning. Instead of clinging to drinking and depression they decide to cling to Jesus for their comfort.  Julia has witnessed first hand the changes God has made in the lives of those that accept him. They stop drinking and they start helping others, which it empowers them because they are no longer victims of their circumstances.  What I love about Refilwe is that they teach people how to thrive on their own. They don’t continually pass out food or give them things because that will teach them to rely on others to give them what they need. Refilwe teaches them how to do things for themselves so they can become self sufficient. They teach them skills such as gardening, sowing and other crafts

"If you give a man a fish he will be fed for the day, but the next day he will be hungry. If you teach a man to fish he will never go hungry and hopefully he will teach his brother to fish as well" 

Africa is filled with so many problems with no easy solutions.  One thing I have noticed is that drunk driving is not taken seriously.  I have been here a month and have already come across a couple drunk drivers. The cops are so busy dealing with violence it seems that drunk driving is left on the back burner. The cops are also so corrupt that you can bribe your way out of a DUI.
  One evening, I was sitting outside on my porch with a friend and I noticed a lady driving by on the lawn with her trunk open. She was driving slow but jerky. A few second later she crashed into my neighbors clothes line, shattering her car window. She then backed up and ran into a tree, and then kept going! Eventually she stopped the car. A few of us ran out there, and sure enough, she was drunk.  We didn’t let her drive, but nobody called the cops because apparently police officers don’t come out to Refilwe at night. Kind of sketch if you ask me! The next day we found out how she made it past the gates. The security guard let her in because she said she was here to see Jaco. Jaco is the name of the director at Refilwe, but she wasn't here to see him, Jaco, is also the name of  her boyfriend. She thought she was driving up to his apartment.  She was too drunk to notice she wasn't at his place.  There are no houses around or near Refilwe, it's empty farmland, and she ended up here.  She only got through security and wasn't turned awa, because there was someone here with the same name as her boyfriend. The way she was driving I can’t believe she even made it to Refilwe alive. If she got turned away at the gate she would have kept driving and who knows what would have happened. Killed someone? Killed herself?  Hmm a coincidence? I think not. 

A couple days after this incident, my buddy Abel was kindly walking with me to a nearby pool.  I came across another drunk lady that had been driving.  On our walk  we saw a lady stuck in a ditch on the side of the road. When we went to help her out I first noticed she seemed  very frazzled, I then noticed the smell of alcohol.  She also had bloody scratches on her body. Inside her car was open beer and a blood soaked napkin. I asked her if she was alright, and she told me she was running away from an abusive x-boyfriend, which explained all the blood. She didn’t need or want anything other than to get her car out of the ditch as quickly as she could.  A nearby worker was driving a fork lift, so he came and pulled her out of the ditch. Ghetto style!  Well at that point we had to let her drive drunk. I could not keep her against her will, and if I did i'd feel terrible if her ass boyfriend found her.  She gave me a  hug and said she would be on her way.
 Oh Africa, what to do with you?. In the states it's so much easier. If you see a drunk driver you call 911, simple as that. Here they will just ask for a bribe and let her drive off the road into a ditch.

The worker in the forklift gave us a ride to the pool after that. I can't say i've ever been in a forklift before. I never know what to expect next!  

On a lighter note, I’ve been learning to speak a few Soto words. My goal is to try to be able to speak conversational Soto before I leave, but it’s very difficult and I don’t think I will meet that goal.  I can now say Hi, How are you, how was you’re day, I’m fine, No, Thank You, good night and you too.  There are 7 languages that are spoken here but many people can understand a little of each. The worker guys here have been teaching me how to speak it, but it's hard! My mouth does not move that way.  

Here are pictures at Refilwe with a few of the kids on site

Wow, I can’t believe I’ve already been here a month, the time has flown by so fast! I’m already feeling at home here and I feel blessed that I get to experience life and the people of Africa. The work I’m doing teaching English and going in the communities is keeping me busy by the time Friday comes i’m exhausted, but in a good way.

At first when I went out into the townships I was afraid because I didn’t know the people. Now when I go into the townships I feel comfortable. Nobody bothers us because they know we are there to help, so they respect us and they enjoy it when we come. Lately I have been going out with Mama Julia to a township called Tavern Becky to help with HIV/AIDS patients.  Happy, on of the ladies we work with who has AIDS was about to die when Julia found her.  Julia gave her arv's and now she is so much healthier and stronger. Happy now helps Julia out in the communities and comes along to translate for us. She is such a great lady who is filled with so much joy and compassion for the people in her community. The stories of these people’s lives are so sad and filled with so much pain. Julia has seen people go into deep depression and alcoholism after discovering they have AIDS.  Since Julia has been going to Tavern Becky, many people have turned their lives to Christ, and this has given their life so much meaning. Instead of clinging to drinking and depression they decide to cling to Jesus. After making that commitment Julia has seen some of these people’s lives change for the better.  They stop drinking and they start wanting to help others. The focus is not longer on themselves and their illness but on other people, which helps with depression.  What I like about Refilwe is that we teach people how to thrive on their own. We don’t continually feed them or give them things because then they will learn to rely on us.  Instead we teach them how to make a garden so they can grow their own food and how to bead so they can sell their items.    If you give a man a fish he will be fed for the day, but the next day he will be hungry. If you teach a man to fish he will never go hungry and hopefully he will teach his brother to fish as well

Africa is filled with so many problems with no easy solutions.  One thing I have noticed is that drunk diving isn’t taken as seriously as in America. I have been here a month and have already come across a couple drunk drivers. The cops are so busy dealing with violence it seems that drunk driving isn’t noticed. One evening, I was sitting outside on my porch with a friend and I noticed a lady driving by on the lawn with her trunk open. She was driving slow but jerky. A few second later she crashed into my neighbors close line shattering her car window. She then backed up and ran into a tree, and then she kept going! Eventually she stopped the car. A few of us ran out there, and sure enough, she was drunk.  We didn’t let her drive, but nobody called the cops because apparently police officers don’t come out to Refilwe at night. It was interesting how she got in because at night our gates are locked and the security guard has to let us in. He let her in because she said she was here to see Jaco- her boyfriend. The directors name here at Refilwe is also Jaco. She was too drunk to notice that this wasn’t her boyfriends house. There are no houses around Refilwe so she must have been way lost and the place she happened to end up was at Refilwe’s gates, where she got let in because there is someone here with the same name as her boyfriend. By the way she was driving I can’t believe she even made it to Refilwe alive but it’s good she did because we didn’t let her drive anymore.  I don’t think her coming here was a coincidence at all.

Then, a few days later I came across another drunken lady that had been driving.  On Saturday I was walking to a swimming pool with a friend when we saw a lady stuck in a ditch on the side of the road. When we went to help her out I noticed she seemed frazzled and a little drunk. She also had bloody scratches on her body. Inside her car was open beer and a blood soaked napkin. I asked her if she was alright, and she told me she was running away from an abusive x-boyfriend- which explained all the blood. She didn’t need or want anything other than to get her car out of the ditch. A nearby worker was driving a fork lift, so he came and pulled her out of the ditch. The workers noticed she was drunk and they started to talk to her about it and she started crying, we knew she wasn’t going to be driving anytime soon with the workers there, so that’s when we hitched a ride with the forklift to the swimming pool. I never know what to expect next.

On a lighter note, I’ve been learning to speak a few Soto words. My goal is to try to be able to speak conversational Soto before I leave, but it’s very difficult and I don’t think I will meet that goal.  I can now say Hi, How are you, how was you’re day, I’m fine, No, Thank You, good night and you too.  There are 7 languages that are spoken here but many people can understand a little of each but i'm just picking one to learn.  My friends here have been teaching me how to speak it and I also have been picking up some words when I work in the tree nursery because some of the guys speak it. 

Here a couple pictures with 

Here is a picture at Refilwe with a few of the kids on site. 

South African Dance

Refilwe Tour