Finally I get to go back!!!!

Well my planned three months in Canada has now turned into 4 and a half months instead of 3. Why you ask? My VISA. Wow, what a hectic time from getting my radiological report to the South African Embassy having my passport for close to two months.
I got back mid January to -50! Eish! One of the coldest winters in years! Here we are in mid May and it's still a wee bit chilly, 8 above. Looking forward to the plus 20 weather next week!!! Yeah.
My time here has been good. I just stayed under the radar and didn't socialize too much. It's just easier for me to do that when I'm here for a short time. I filled in most my time with work and yes I went back to Joey's Only:o)
Mid March came around and I started to work on getting the proper documents for my VISA. Everything was going fine until my radiological report. To get a VISA from South Africa you have to get an X-ray of your chest to prove that you don't have TB. I don't have TB, but the problem was getting back the form that the radiologist had to sign. What usually takes a week took a month.
I finally got all my documents collected for my VISA by the end of April. Now just to send it in. Before I sent in all my documents I called the embassy and asked them how long it takes. They said it would take 7-10 business days.
Just a note. I've had problems with the embassy before. The very first time I went to South Africa I had to change my ticket because I didn't get my passport back in time, so this time I wanted to make sure they had enough time before I booked my ticket. Also, I wrote them a note to contact me as soon as possible if there was problems.
I gave them a month. Bad plan!
3 weeks after I sent in my documents and a week before I was supposed to leave, they called. There was a problem with my acceptance letter for college. I got a new acceptance letter and sent it to them via e-mail 3 days before I was supposed to leave. They called me the day before I was supposed to leave and said they just received my e-mail. I had to change my ticket. I asked them before I changed my ticket if two weeks would be enough time for them to process my VISA and the embassy told me yes. So I gave them another two weeks. Bad plan again!
A week after I got a call from the embassy to tell me there was another problem with the acceptance letter. I got a new letter done and sent it to them right away. This accpetance letter was fine but there was a problem with my itinerary. They needed an updated one. I sent it four times by e-mail and they said they didn't receive it. My goodness!!!
I didn't get my passport in time so I had to change my ticket.. Again! As soon as I got my new itinerary I faxed it, e-mailed it from both my accounts and my travel agent sent it, so they had no excuses!!!
Just to add onto the stress I couldn't get in touch with them. All I wanted to know what was going on. I called several times, as did my travel agent. And they NEVER call back. They only call when they need to get a hold of you.
Well they called back last week and to tell me my passport is on it's way and today I opened up my mail box and there it is! My precious passport!

I'm going/coming back to SA baby and I couldn't be more stoked!!!

Whoo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Home

Hi, I'm home in Canada. But only for 3 months
I had problems with my VISA so here I am sorting it out!

Never give up, never give up, never give up!!!!

Ok, my first question for all you mac users... Why can't I post any pictures on here?? Or my profile picture!!!???

I'm feeling feisty.. I'm feeling restless.. I'm feeling like I will not let the circumstances/hits of life get me down. I think I'm at a point where I have realized that I cannot make it on my own. I have tried too long and too hard to make things happen on my own when there is God that will fight for you, that will lift you up, that will make things happen for you. And how do you do that??? Just trust!!!

This year nothing went my way!! I came here to South Africa thinking that I was going to get all super spiritual. You know a halo hanging over my head and angels singing all around me. Why not, I was going to be working with AIDS babies and I was going to bible college. I'm a saint, right??!! Not!
Also I thought that I would be working full-time with pay as the volunteer coordinator/nursery manager for Sinakekele children. Well as you know if you have been keeping track, that went terribly wrong!!
God took me down.

So I'm still sitting at my nice comfy flat in Westbrook. I have attempted to volunteer at other places, but transport and finances have kept me from doing pretty much anything. I tried that baby house (read previous posts), and that didn't work out.. I checked other baby houses, but the volunteers basically just sit there and hold the children. The domestic helpers do everything.

And then I tried Missions Ablaze. I enjoyed it the most. It was like an adrenaline rush everyday!!

Missions Ablaze is located very close to me here in Westbrook. They get food donated to them and then they go to the streets and feed the poor. The places that I would go to with the feedings were in Durban and the majority of the people that they fed there are big scary men. I have not doubt that I have looked in the eyes of many criminals.

This is how my day would go...

I would wait at a traffic circle and then the Missions Ablaze bakkie (truck for all you North Americans) would fetch me and I would go to three different locations and help pass out bread and pour soup. The workers with Missions Ablaze would ask me to say the blessing, but I got too intimidated. There would be quite a bit of eyes on me and it was scary!! But that is something that I will get over. God did not give me the spirit of timidity, but of power, of love and of self-discipline.
So the guys will queue up and the very few ladies that would come will queue up separately, and yes they got to go first. They come and get their loaf of bread and their soup. You see they don't have bowls for soup so what most of them do is find a 2 litre pop/fizzy drink bottle and cut it in half and use that as their bowl.
Missions Ablaze feed from Monday to Friday's. So Monday's the boys are very hungry and can be quite hard to tame.
This last Monday this one guy wanted seconds, but there wasn't enough to give so he decides to "curse" and give choice words to the guy that is ahead of the operation that day and then I had some words to say to him and then we all started arguing. He still didn't get his food so he went to the nearest garbage bin and had a little fit and started throwing the rubbish out of it. I found it quite humorous.
The last stop is Point Place. It's well known for prostitution and drugs. When we drove up to the spot where we give the food, there were more people than food. The old man (guy in charge) was trying to get the guys to queue up and they weren't so he told them if they are not going to queue up then they won't get fed. Most were listening, but some weren't. So old man jumped in the bakkie and took off. I was in the back of the bakkie and the hungry men were grabbing at the bread and I was praying the whole time!! So we parked around the corner and organized everything and then attempted to feed them again. This time they were queued up.
Everything was going well and then they realized that the food was getting low. Before I go on, a guy with Down syndrome came and he was trying to help with the queue. Okay... So the food was getting low and the guys saw this and they started mobbing the bakkie so old man hopped into the bakkie and took off again leaving the guy with Down syndrome behind with the mob!!
Three guys hopped in the back of the bakkie with me. One of them already had a loaf and the other two didn't get any. So the one guy with the bread was trying to get the two loaves that was left. I gave them to the other guys and he tried to take if from them. Some of these guys will get extra bread and then sell it on the streets. Crazy! So after we got the guys off we sorted the crates and went back to get the guy with Downs. He came running and gave old man a HUGE hug and then gave me a huge hug. Poor guy!! He was so startled and scared!!!

So I attempted Missions Ablaze, but it's not working out. I love it, but transport is a problem. And I will only be able to volunteer 2 more weeks because I will be going to a camp in Joburg Dec. 7th for a week and then after that my family comes (JOY JOY!!!) and then I will hopefully be moving near or in Umhlanga. It's closer to the college and the church. Also it is near shops, so if I need groceries I can go whenever I want. There is nothing in Westbrook. The closest thing is Ballito. It's about a 5 min. drive. It will be soo nice to be near everything and people!!

I know some of you will be upset with me, but I was waiting for my ride with Missions Ablaze one day and they didn't pitch. I didn't feel like going back to Westbrook because it can get sooo boring. I have no reception for my tv. or the radio, and I don't have a dvd player, so instead of coming back home, I decided to walk to Umhlanga. It would have taken me about 5 hours. It was funny cause I sms'd/txt my "good" friend Rudi and told him I was walking there and he called me back and said not get get murdered, or something like that. It's good to know that I have friends that think and have a weird sense of humour like me!! If it was anybody else they would say I'm bloody mad!! hehehe...

I walked for about 2 hours until someone picked me up. The first guy rolled down his window a wee bit and asked if I needed a lift and I asked him how I know I could trust him and he told me that he was in the company car and just to get in. So I did. Didn't take too much to convince me;o) Nice man he was. He dropped me off and the guy that was behind him when I got picked up picked me up. He followed him. He said I shouldn't be doing what I was doing. Too dangerous. But I was getting cabin fever!! And I'm alive and safe... So no worries, right!!??

But you know I haven't felt that free in such a looonggg time!!! Just being able to get out and not having to depend on someone else and just going with the flow was amazing!!! You know that feeling when you go up into the mountains, or when you're in the middle of the woods and you just stop, close your eyes and you smell that fresh cool air?? Or that feeling and smell of spring after a long winter? That's what I felt like. Like I could do anything. Like nothing could stop me. Rejuvenated...

I have been wrestling with the thought of coming back to Canada for a year next year. I will have financial freedom, physical freedom (in the sense of getting to places), freedom to do what I want. Makes sense, right? Well I've decided I'm not normal and I will fight to stay here. A friend told me when she came here (she's from France or Reunion?? It's french anyways) that she did not want to stay here, but she said that her spirit was excited to be here. She stayed and she has no regrets. That's exactly where I am. I have come alive here and I don't want to risk what I have learned by coming back there where things seem stagnate in the Spirit. I still have so much to learn, so much to do!! My spirit is alive once again.

The favourite quote of my pastor here is "Never give up, Never give up, Never give up"...Sir Winston Churchill.

New beginnings

Well it's been an interesting few month here. For some reason I cannot get pictures to download. I am still not doing much, but I am sure that's about to change real soon!
I did go volunteer for about a week, but I had to put my own gas (petrol) in and it was costing to much. It would have ended up costing me over R1000 a month which is too rich for my blood! So here I am again, but change is happening my friends, change is happening. I believe my season is done with working with babies. My heart wasn't really with the babies anymore. Don't get me wrong they are beautiful and it still makes my heart fill with joy when I see those wee ones, but I want to touch people's lives, do something more. Do something radical!

I was on the TLC myfamily web site and Thea (founder of TLC) posted this. It really touched my heart.

On Monday, 28th July, I found a group of 5 people sitting in my kitchen.   Upon enquiry I discovered that the old lady was called Johanna Mathye.   She only spoke Afrikaans.   The two other ladies were her "sisters".   The two children were her grandchildren, Thulani (6) and Tsakane (11).

Granny said that she would like us to take in these two children to stay at TLC.   I told her that we are not registered to take in big children.   We are only allowed to take in babies.   She was very upset because the lady at "Amazing Grace Children's Home" told her that they are also full and that she must take them and drop them at the Police Station and just leave them there.   I said this was not an option.   I asked why she did not want to look after the children herself.   She told me that they were very naughty, especially the girl.   She was disobedient and ran away from home every time.   She thought she should go to a "stout school".

I sat next to the little girl who only speaks English (not Afrikaans).   I asked her why she was giving her granny such a hard time.   She did not answer, but looked down at her hands.   I took her out of the kitchen thinking it would be easier for her to talk.   This was her story:

Her mother ran away from home in January.   She had just found out that she was HIV Positive and took the news badly.   From then on the two children were left with the stepfather.   He is a security guard and is never at home, so the two children have to stay in the shack on their own and they are scared at night, so sometimes they try to go and find their granny.   Sometimes they find her ... sometimes they just sleep anywhere because they can't find her and then they have to go back to the stepfather.   When they do manage to find granny she gets very cross with them and shouts at them and makes them go back to the stepfather's place.   But sometimes she is kind and if she has food she gives them some food and sometimes she even lets them stay with her for one or two nights.

I asked about the stepfather, and what he was like.   This is what she told me:

"My stepfather is a bad man.   He makes me have sex with him all the time when we are together.   I am afraid because I know my mother had AIDS.   I also want to go back to school and I don't want a baby.   I have to look after my brother.   When he tries to force me, sometimes I run away and try to find my grandmother.   I always take my little brother with me wherever I go because I want to keep him safe.   I have been looking after him since he was born on 2.2.2002.   My mother worked and I looked after the baby.   The first year when he was born I was in Grade 1.   I went to school at Eikenhof Primary.   But they wanted my mother to sign the forms and bring her ID.   She did not come for the whole year.   When I went back for Grade 2 they said I could not come if my mother did not bring her ID.   From then I stayed at home with my little brother."

I asked her if her granny knew these stories.   She said 'Yes'.

Then I went back to the granny and told the granny what Tsakane had told me and asked her if she knew all this.   She said 'Yes'.   Then I asked her if we could organise the grant for the two children, would she be able to keep them and look after them?   She was very adament.   NO!   She did not want them.   They were too naughty.   I got a little cross with her and told her that these children were her flesh and blood and that she should at least take some responsibility for them.   I did not think, at the end of the day, that God would take kindly to the fact that she did not stand up to her responsibility for these children and just left them at some police station where who knows what would happen to them.

She started to cry ... really loud.   And then she said ... in Afrikaans ... "I walk from one corner of the earth to another, with my little bundle of earthly goods under my arm.   I scratch here and I scratch there for find a place to sleep.   When I find a place to lay down my head for a night or two, I am so happy.   And when I find a place where they will take care of me a little bit longer, I am so happy.   But then these two children come and if I get soft and do something nice for them, or keep them with me for just one night, I lose my own place to stay and get kicked out.   Then I have to find another place all over again.   Maybe God will judge me harshly.   But I am old.   And I am tired.   And I can't look after these children!”

How much longer can we sit around? I just don't understand? How much longer can the church sit around?! I'm not one to talk!! What Christ has called us to do we ignore. Are we just gonna keep on sitting back and let things happen? Isn't it time we do something?! Read Matthew 26:31-46 With Him all things are possible and with His love nations will be rocked!! That's right

On that note.. Thea did find a place for them to stay, but the problem is only gonna get worse. They ain't going anywhere...

A time of reflection

I’m back from the Burg! It was nice to get out to the country and see some of the natural beauty of South Africa, but after a week I was ready to come to my cozy flat!
I went up with my friend Sharn. It was really nice going up with her and get to know her a bit more. This women is amazing!


She is 55 and at 52, I think 52, she decided to get a round the world ticket and travel for a year. She worked in Canada as an apple picker, a nanny in the states and when she saved enough money she went to Thailand, India, New Zeland, Australia and Europe. She would hitch hike, rock climb, bungy jump, sky dive, white water raft, etc! You’re never to old!


We got to the Burg after a 2 hour drive and we parked it in a backpackers. She stayed with me for two nights and then it was just me to fend for myself. No electricity and you had to light the wood stove to get hot water. Kinda neat... for awhile;o) People were coming in and out while I was there. There was a group of kids from England (I’m still alive;o), a military group from England, a family from Pretoria, South Africa, and the last group was from the states with a Newfie leading them. It was so nice to see another Canadian.


The second day, Sharn and I did some pony trekking in the mountains. It’s gorgeous. They keep on telling me I must go in the summer because it’s much more beautiful. The reason why we went trekking is because Sharn was in the Burg about 3 weeks before and she put her glasses down and she wanted to look for them. I thought she was crazy and that she would never find them... But she did!




So Sharny left and it was just me. I wanted to stay till Saturday but I decided to go home after a week. It was bloody cold up there! I had my touque, winter jacket, ski pants and scarf out! And the wind was wild. It was just time for me to come back.
On Wednesday I boarded the Underburg express that took me close to home. There was a guy from Ireland, Vancouver and a lady from Holland. The rest were from South Africa. A part of me just wanted to keep on going and travel and meet people. But it's time to get back to reality.
I went to this place called Ithemba Lethu, website www.ithembalethu.org.za. It is absolutely wonderful! I am hoping to get out there SOON and start volunteering, but the problem is I don't have transport. You see public transport here is not safe and if I take a car taxi that would be bloody expensive. So could you please shoot out some prayers for me to get out that way? It's about a half hour drive from where I stay.
Just some closing thoughts. I’ve had over a month to just reflect and really think about why and what am I doing here. It has been a season of healing and getting to know God in a way I never thought possible. What a wonderful God I serve. His love, peace and joy goes sooo deep and I’m just starting to learn! And I do know I belong here, but I'm not too sure for how long. but I'll go wherever God takes me! As long as I'm in His will He will take care of me and take me beyond my wildest dreams! Exciting times ahead!!
Hope everyone is doing well! I really do miss and love everyone!!

I have 300 MB of data to waste in 46 min.!

Well this is how the internet works here. You don't buy at a set rate each month, you buy data. So if I send a picture, or even better, a video, it will use my data fast therefore I would run out of it fast. So for me to go on Youtube is a not because I would be spending a fortune on data.
AND.. If you don't use all your data in a month it expires. I do love this country! Really I do! Otherwise I wouldn't be here.
So I am just going to post some pictures on here.
Enjoy!

Well scratch that. Working on my blog with this old version of Mac just doesn't cut it. My hard drive crashed and now I'm using OS.. Why I brought that program with me and not my leaopard will always leave me bewildered!!

I will post the photo's on my facebook. If you don't have facebook, my apologies.

Ta ta ol' chaps!

Well, well.. Where should I begin!
I have moved out of my little flat and into a beautiful three bedroom flat right by the beach. It’s about a 15 min. drive from Umghlanga (I probably spelled it wrong) but it’s well worth the drive! It is fully furnished, about half the price of what it should be and it has everything that you need. ei. utensils, towels toaster, washer.. and so forth.

Maria, the new volunteer, has been here for close to a month now. She stays with me on the weekends. Very lovely she is and it’s nice to have another Canadian around.

And, I have resigned from Sinakekele. There may be a chance of me going back, but right now it's highly unlikely. It’s a wee bit complicated, but I wasn’t happy there. A few changes have come up with the vision that I doesn’t sit right with me. There are a few other things but I will refrain from spilling the beans. I do pray for the best for Sinakakele and I’m sure one day it will sky rocket, but I will not be a part of it. So begins another season of my life.

With that in mind I have been looking around for other places to volunteer. South Africa is limitless for volunteering so I am scouting out the possibilities right now. I am staying here because I’m still attending college and I would only be a fool to leave the church. The people of Destiny have done nothing but support me! I once said that I would give up on the church (not Pathway, you too have been a constant support!!), but never on God. He had different plans.
Some of the pep's from church.

So I’ve been just taking it easy for the moment. I’m planning on heading up to the mountains for real this time to figure some things out and then after that I’m gonna go on a war rampage!!

PS.
I brought Sampson but he ditched.