I like pie!

Hello everyone, howzit? It’s been a wee bit since I’ve last updated you so I’ll just fill you in with some news.

Last week was Siya and Jakes birthday. Siya is 6 and Jake 4! It’s amazing how time flies!! I remember when Jake first came in here. He was so malnourished and skinny. We used to call him Jake the Rake and he had a permanent purple tongue because of thrush. Purple because that was the colour of the medicine we had to put on his tongue. But now he’s a lean little boy who is full of so much energy! He looks up to Siyabonga so much, it’s kinda scary because Siya gets in a ton of mischief. Those two are going to be a force to reckon with!

Mel, Megan and I went to Siyabonga’s birthday at school. Jake’s teacher didn’t mention his birthday to us so we didn’t go! Poor guy! This past Sunday we Granny and Aunt Daph came by to celebrate. We had lekker cake. I love milk tart! Can we get that in Canadia?! Jake got a superman costume which in permanently stuck to him. Siya got a medal detector. He was all over the place with that thing. Mary and Simon also got some small gifts from mom. Mary got some hair thing and Simon a bow and arrow. Granny also made them some awesome pj’s.
All the kids are doing well. Come January, Siya will be going to primary school. Mary moved up a grade. Simon is doing very well with his occupational therapy and is thriving. Jake is Jake! He has a tendency to make anyone laugh. And he’s a very clever kid too! I already have plenty of stories of the kids, but I will save that when I see you again.

I don’t know if I mentioned this in the last blog (I write my blog entries on word before I post them so I don’t know what I wrote on the previous one) but we got a new volunteer from Canada and it’s been so nice. The stress is just about non existent now. We each have two days off. I usually get one day off cause I have to fetch the kids and take Tazz places. It’s much better than having no time off!!

Ruth is, as Jay and Tazz call it, getting her smile back. We have taken quite a bit of stress off of her, but she is still such a busy woman. I still don’t know how she did it without volunteers here!

Ruth didn’t get as much in the trust fund as she wanted. She applied for R700 000, but only got R200 000.It is still a large sum of money, but not enough to build a house and a nursery. The catch is, she needs proof of funds to build before she can receive the R200 000 and she has till February 2008 to do so. There is a Brazilian volunteer that has hopefully arranged monthly funds for Ruth at the sum of R40 000 for 6 months. Ruth should be finding out soon about that. Continual prayer would be lekker.

The three of us found this awesome church! I haven’t felt this alive in years and quite honestly I didn’t think it was possible again! This church is full of real people and I have no doubt that anyone from any back round would be touched in some way if they attended this church. The pastor is incredible.

Oh before I forget. For those of you who don’t know, Siyabonga has HIV. There was a mishap a couple years ago where his body started rejecting the anti-rets he was taking due to lack of communication. It took awhile for Siya’s body to finally accept a different kind of anti-ret. He about died due to complications. The medication he is taking now is called Ziagen and they are discontinuing it here. It is still available if you order it in, but it may be quite expensive. I’m not too sure of the price yet, but I was wondering if there is anybody out there that is willing to sponsor Siya’s medication? If he discontinues taking Ziagen it may be very difficult to find another one that his body will accept.

So that’s about it. The volunteer car isn’t here yet, but soon, hopefully!! Living in our own flat is heaven and I won’t be getting a job because my days start at 5 am and end at around 7:30/8:00. So that means school will be out of the question for now as well.
Well hope all is well with everything and miss slurpees, especially grape!!
Tons of love!!

Ps. What’s George Saxby’s e-mail addy!?!?!?

Lost me phone

Hey everyone, howzit? Well with lack of sleep this chauch here went shopping and put down her phone when she went to grap the milk or pay for the food. Therefore, it was stolen. The other phone that the ocean got is working, thank God, but I can't get any service. It's just in the shops now so hopefully by next week it will be fixed. I have a new phone number. It is 01127839552867.
Cheers all!!

Cell Number

Hello.. It has come to my attention that I messed up on me cell number.. OK, let's try again. It is 01127737211791.
And things are starting to move. Very soon Sinakekele will be taking in babies. Will update soon! Exciting things are happening!
Ciao

Update for this week, Yo!

Hello everyone! Well I’m sitting here in peace and quite. All the kids are asleep. Well kinda’. Siya and Jake are just sitting wide eyed. Simon doesn’t have naps. So I guess Mary is the only one sleeping.

What’s new? Hmmm.. Well Mel and I finally got our own flat!! It’s a cute little flat about 15 min. away from Ruth’s. The new volunteer will be joining us on Wednesday of this week. It’ll be nice to have a new face around. With a new volunteer comes more time and with more time I will be looking for a job. I have a place in mind. It’s called Olive and Oil. It’s a fancier seafood restaurant. Just can’t get away from the seafood restaurants!! So hopefully in the next couple weeks I will be serving again. Yeah (sacrcasm)! But I’m hoping I won’t be serving for more than 4 months. Why you ask?

Well some land was donated to Ruth. It’s not that big and at first we were not too sure. But after thinking about it, talking about it and getting other input from other people it looks promising. Ruth’s committee has agreed that it’ll be a step forward for Sinakekele. Also Ruth has a very good chance of getting a R 1 000 000 thingy. I can’t think of the word right now!! It’ll be donated to her. That will be more than enough to get things up and running. Who knows, maybe by August Sinakekele will be taking in babies again!! It’ll only be about 6 babies at a time, but that’s all that Sinakekele will be able to accommodate. And, with more babies more volunteers are needed. So if you are interested in volunteering or know of someone who wants to volunteer for a month or perhaps a year, go to the Sinakekele web site that’s posted on the side. We might need you ASAP or perhaps in 6 months.

Umm, what else? Well I went to Unisa (the university I plan on studying at) and I should be receiving my registry in the mail any time now. I have to register on June 5th, but the lovely thing is my landlords husband works at Unisa and she said that he would take in my registry so I wouldn’t have to stand in the queue all day!! Isn’t that just wonderful?!! It’ll be an extensive study of Africa. I’m actually quite excited to get my nose back in the books and the courses look really interesting.
When I was looking at the course it said I can use this degree to be a journalist. When I went to Unisa I told them I was looking at a journalism degree and they said they had no such thing. I told them the course number and they did have it. So I’m a bit confused about what kind of degree I will be obtaining. I’ll find out when I get my registry stuff and talk to the landlord.

So that’s about it. Mel is doing good. Oh and she has her own cell now. So if you want to contact her, her number is 01127738375906.