Beginning in Old Naledi

The past 2 days have been exhausting. We made our first trips to Old Naledi which is the poorest part of the town. 50,000 people live here and they just live in little shacks. The first thing I saw when entering was a dog whose ribs I could count. It's the kind of place we've been told to never be in after the sun goes down. Champ, a wonderful man who grew up here and is an inspiration to many of them, was our contact and showed us around the area. We saw the school, the Tlamelo project (where they feed 100+ orphans every day), and the church where we met the pastor. We were waiting for the kids to come for lunch the first day and were immediately attacked by 4 and 5 year olds whom we had never even met before. They literally climbed all over us and I think at multiple times we were each holding 3 at a time. I think my clothes were all streched out because of people pulling on them from every angle. We were so excited to finally meet these kids who just wanted to be held and played with. Paul was actually drug to the ground and tackled by all the little boys. We had quite the welcoming.

The next day we met some Canadian students who are leaving next week and have spent the past 4 weeks within the school. They have been doing a lot of work on the administrative side. For those of you that don't know, this is a private school. All children get to go to the public school and if they don't pass then they can go to the private schools to try to get up to par and get back into the public schools. So that means that the teachers in this school are very underpaid and overworked. We hope to continue what the Canadian students have been doing, which involves getting the computer lab running, and getting an after school program going to help with English. We're hoping to set up more long term things that will still be in effect after we leave, so we'll see what happens.

At the Tlamelo project, all the kids eat while we serve them and then they were all hanging around when we sat down to eat. Well today I noticed that 2 of the boys had extra hot dogs and were sharing them with their friends and just gulped them down. Well, I decided that I didn't need my other hot dog thing and asked them if they wanted it. Everyone wanted it and were trying to grab it. Paul then did the same thing and gave his away and I think Nicole and Cara did too. I then decided I did not need the rest of my rice and I think 4 boys went through my plate until it was pretty much licked clean. I could not believe how hungry these kids were. They said that a fair share of these kids were orphans and that was the only meal they get for the whole day. It really was a reality check.

Finally here!

We have arrived! First of all forgive me for not updating sooner. We have not had the internet until now so I have been unable to get on. Thanks to our new friends from Zimbabwe we don't even have to pay for it haha. It’s been 4 days since we got here and it has been wonderful. The plane ride was long and we stayed up just about 24 hours straight before finally crashing. We arrived late in Joberg to no one to pick us up at the airport. We then met some men who tried to convince us to go with them and started taking our luggage to the car. It resulted in us pulling our luggage out of the elevator because he wouldn’t listen to us and us calling our hostel to see why they weren’t there to get us. This airport was so sketchy. Finally got to the hostel after some tiny dark alleyways and just put into some dorm. (We were supposed to have our own room because we knew we were getting in late.) This room had no lights just bunk beds and people sleeping in them. We couldn’t find a bathroom and had no idea where we were or what we were supposed to be doing, or even if we were in the right place at first. We ended up waking up most of the sleeping dorm and just falling asleep in the same clothes we had already had on for 2 days. In the morning we realized what a really nice place the hostel was and it also had a really pretty view of downtown Johannasberg.
The next morning we hung around and went to get on our bus to drive to Botswana. The country side was beautiful. It was a relaxing very bumpy ride and we all got split up and met some very friendly people. One ended up helping us get across the boarder. And Danielle you will be so very proud to know that we got a 90 day visa! Big deal. We then ended up in Gaborone where Charity from the University of Botswana (The UB) greated us and took us to the store to buy some bread and eggs. We then got to the UB and got our room and met our roommates and then took Paul to his room. We were welcomed with open arms by his roommates. They immediately referred to him as Apostle Paul and made us a traditional dinner that we ate with our hands. Leave it to Paul to get dinner made for us on our first night. We spent the entire evening with Tsube, Lenow, and Besibe. We could not have asked for a better welcoming than what these guys did for us. We have since spent the past few days eating meals, playing cards, and talking about life and things that matter. We taught them how to play the card game Bullshit which they thought was just hilarious. During the day we have also made it out to several different malls, walked a lot, tried to learn how the combis (the public transportation) work, and killed literally a few hundred bugs. Yes bugs, mainly cockroaches, because they are all over our flat. We used an entire can of Raid in probably 1 hour. The guys finally got us some special “cheese” and we have hardly seen any since. We have just been situating ourselves and getting acquainted with the city. We are also trying to stop waking up at 4:30 every morning and get adjusted to the 7 hour time difference.
We have also spent time with our roommates Ida and Ashley who are only 17. They are here for the summer in a program through the Baptist church that teaches about AIDS and abstinence. The program is called Face the Nation. These girls are from Zambia and Zimbabwe and are very in love with their Lord. Let’s see… Paul’s roommate Tsube is a track runner and one of the fastest in Botswana and has run all over the world. We plan on going to the international meet on Saturday. Paul keeps things interesting for us. The combis drive by all the time honking, partly because we are white and partly because they want us to get in and get our money. Well while walking Paul just decided to start waving at them because they were waving and honking at us. What he really ended up doing was pulling all of these combis over because they thought we wanted a ride. It was pretty hilarious because we then had to tell them all no, but Paul just thought he was being polite by waving back.
Mom and Kevin, you will be so happy to know that I am washing dishes, and cooking meals! Yes, I know it’s about time but I am going to know so much by the time I get back. If I don’t cook here, I don’t eat so I guess I have to learn sometime. The people here are so friendly and we could honestly not be more blessed by the people that we have met and that have helped us along the way. Now that we have the internet I hope to write on here more regularily. We are going to the AIDS program tomorrow with some friends and then going to Old Naledi on Tuesday so I'm sure I will have much more to say after those adventures :)