Somebody call 911

Kind of like Houston, the area I’m living in here isn’t particularly safe. There is a lot of poverty, gang violence, and drug and alcohol abuse. In the summer months (I’m in the Southern Hemisphere so that’s now), it’s very dry and there are dangerous bush fires. We could see the orange flames from our kitchen window this evening. This view is from Agape 1, looking towards Agape 2. Most of the pink you see is the sunset, but you can see flames and smoke to the left of the trees. The winds are blowing hard and the squatter camps in Rooidakke, adjacent to Agape 4, could be affected. The whole area smells like a campfire.

Guest Blogger - Gabi

Who’s Amy???

Yeah…that’s a good question! Well Amy is someone who is asking me now the whole evening [Ed: twice. I thought my 5 readers might like to hear from someone else for a change...] to write something on her blog. Is she really so desperate to ask a Dutch woman whom never write in English to write something on her blog? Well..I guess so!

So I’m living together with Amy in a house with 8 kids for more than 5 weeks now. And I can tell u it’s really fun! I will skip the part of the behaviour of the kids cause that isn’t really fun to write about. I think it’s more fun to write something about Amy. When I came to Agape in January I was a little bit afraid of her american accent, but luckily I can understand her very well. She’s trying hard to speak afrikaans with the kids and yeah..she isn’t that bad.

In the beginning I had to get used to the fact that Amy likes to make the things really big, when the are small. The second day I was here she had a list of the things that had to be changed in the house. During this discussion about it, she suddenly started to talk about her dog Ralphie and show some pictures of him. Well..that’s Amy!

Amy said last week that the things I can do in 30 minutes, she will take 2 hours for it. And I agree…doing shopping in Shoprite (just buy some pencils, glue and something else) will take her more than half an hour! Well…that’s Amy

Amy makes me laugh. She told me the another evening that it is hard for her to count the bowls and cups on the table every morning, afternoon and evening. Especially the morning when she also must count the lunchboxes. She only have to counts to 6 but yeah…Well…that’s Amy [Ed: We have 8 kids total, minus Mathijs who's 4 months old, minus Meliska who is at school in Cape Town M-F, and minus Deon who leaves for school much earlier than the rest….so that’s 6 lunchboxes total but only 5 if it’s after 6:20am]

And never i will forget the Sunday morning that Amy interrupted my morning sleep to tell me that it is already 6:45 and that the kids need to go to school and they can eat Wheetbix and she can drive Deon to his school since he missed the bus. Uhm…I just was looking at her and said: “Amy… it’s Sunday” I think it was in two second that she was out of my room. Well….that’s Amy

I think if you had read this blog you will have an idea who Amy is. The most important thing (I almost forgot) is that she is lovely and really takes good care of the kids. Just one thing that she still needs to learn is that a baby of 3 months old won’t eat Ketchup, Burger, Chips or Chocolate. Amy can’t wait to feed the little baby in the house who still drinking his mom’s milk. Luckily I’m always somewhere around the baby or Amy!

Gabi (Amy newest BFF)
[Ed: Judy, you must come visit)

8 kids, 2 tannies*

Whew. Is is 2011 yet? January 1st, 2010, I moved into a house as housemom to 6 kids. On January 5th Gabi moved in, bringing 2 more kids with her (you may remember Julian). We have spent a lot of time making the house our own, getting the kids ready for school (the new academic year started January 13th, which meant new schools, new school uniforms, school supplies, etc.), spending time with the kids and teaching them a lot of things. They are learning the new routine and are enjoying their new schedule. One of the great things about Gabi is her creative (and more importantly, effective) discipline techniques. Some examples: jump on couch = stand at the table for meals that day. Running in the house = run laps outside the house. Screaming in the house = stand outside and scream. We also have a time-out chair where they sit for the number of minutes of their age. We have a chance to teach them a lot about taking care of their things and the things in the house, sharing, feeling happy when other people have things they might not (like if the kids next door get ice cream), teamwork, thinking before doing, etc.

*I stole the title from Gabi's blog. It's in Dutch, but she has some pictures of our house posted, including of Timmy the yellow lab, the kids, and one at our table where I'm threatening to feed Ketchup to her 3 month old baby, Mathijs.

Gabi & Me at Cape Point, Atlantic in the bkgd (Gabi's 25th b-day)

Meliska, Jeannie, & Julian washing/drying dishes

At the swimming pool on the premises (next to Karlien and Fergusson's house).

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a special day at Agape. It is the middle of summer and it feels like summer -- the kids ended their academic year earlier this month and start a new grade on January 13th. So for now we are enjoying the break from school and gearing up for the new year.

On Christmas Eve we had 2 jumping castles set up in the campsite, and I made 3 pots of potjiekos for dinner. Here are some photos and 2 videos from the day.

Kay-lynne, Avuyise, Sisipho, Meliska, Duwayne, and Sili, chopping vegetables

Ranel, Gwennie, Pelo (rightside up), Julian and Jeannie (upside down)

Danwill built and maintained the fire for 5 hours (Danwill, me, Samuel)

My first potjiekos (lamb, butternut, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, cabbage, berry juice)

In the evening we gathered in the Asiphe house therapy room for our second installment of Agape's nontraditional observance of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. Hanukkah commemorates the miracle where, at the dedication of a new temple, there was only enough oil to burn for one day, but the oil miraculously burned for eight days, just enough time to prepare more oil. At our informal celebrations, we sing and talk about the story of Hanukkah, about what God is doing in our lives, and that Jesus is the light (Matthew 5:14-16, John 1:4, John 8:12, 2 Corinthians 4:6, 1 John 1:5).

Pool Parties

Megan and I took two groups of kids on two separate days for pool parties and the home she's been staying at in Gordon's Bay, about 20 minutes from Grabouw. The lovely Americans who live there have gone back to the states for the holidays. We swam, ate pizza and ice cream, and watched movies. The kids loved it! The only major drama ensued when Duwayne, perhaps a bit overexcited, jumped into the deep end (5 feet) not realizing he wouldn't be able to reach the bottom. I watched him struggle to keep his head above water for a brief second and then jumped in (clothes on) for the rescue. It made a big impression on the kids but thankfully they were still able to enjoy themselves while being appropriate cautious around the pool. The kids are still telling stories of when they and Duwayne drowned at the pool. None of the kids are strong swimmers, but I am hoping that will change. Let me know if you want to come and give swimming lessons.

Cape Point with Megan

I made a new friend in December. Megan is an American who has been volunteering at Agape for most of December. Megan is from Montana and spent the past six years in California, where she worked as a personal trainer and massage therapist. Convenient, right? All of the children loved her, and she was a huge blessing, especially in the Asiphe Home for disabled children. We had a great time and learned a lot from each other. I dropped her off at the Cape Town airport Sunday. Megan is working at an orphanage in Magunga, Kenya, for three weeks and then heads to Vietnam where she's going to build bathrooms or something (she says she loves manual labor, which I have to admit I don't hear too often from my lawyer friends...).

Last week Megan and I spent a day at the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, one of my favorite places in the whole world. I was here the first time ten years ago on Semester at Sea. For a long time I'd wanted to spend more time exploring the Reserve, and Megan and I got a chance to do that. Here are some photos from our day. Megan, please post more on Facebook!

Atlantic Ocean currents on my left, Indian ocean currents on my right

We saw many ostriches, Atlantic Ocean in the background

Top 5 most beautiful beaches I have seen. We hiked to this point and took a wooden staircase down to the beach

Megan with the beach in the background

Lili

December brought a new arrival for Agape’s Asiphe Home for disabled children. Lili is almost 3 years old. Like the circumstances that bring each child to Agape, Lili’s story is a sad one. Last Christmas Lili spent like a normal almost-2 year old. In May Lili had some routine dental work done and didn’t wake up from the anesthesia. She was in a coma for a number of weeks and now has severe brain damage. Lili’s mother lives in a shack and can’t manage the special care that Lili now requires. The housemothers are falling in love with Lili (photo with Tannie Katie above).

While I am on the subject of the Asiphe house, many people ask for updates on baby Annabell so I’m including a more recent picture. There is still no doctor willing to put in a shunt, but she doesn’t seem to mind. Everyone loves Bella and it is hard to imagine life here without her.