Choosing Joy and Courage!!!! (Week 8)

People have been saying to me “you're so brave for doing this (going to Swaziland) on your own” or “you are crazy for going to Africa for a year!” Etc. I've just kind of brushing the comments off, knowing that this is where God called me to be and I didn't have a second thought really. I mean it took me a weekend to decide if I was going to come for a year or not. But this week has been hard. I think I am finally starting to realize how hard this year may really be. How lonely it will be. It's kind of funny because this week has been really busy so you would think that would keep my mind off of it but I think being busy made it worse, it gave me less time to spend time with God and rely on him for what I need.

Here is some things I did this week: Each morning I went to their grocery store here, called pick and pay, and got their leftovers from the day before to give to the boys home. Monday afternoon my Australian friend, Leann, who is a psychiatric nurse, took me to FLAS, an organization that when the girl's home is started will be a great resource. They do HIV/Aids testing, education, medical checks, etc. So I met a nurse there who was very encouraging and when we start things up I will be able to contact to get things set up for the girls in the home. Tuesday afternoon, we went to one of the boy's home with the younger boys and made cards with them. On the inside of the card they put things they thought they were good at or things they liked about themselves, then they decorated the card. These boys loved it! Some were shy and didn't want to show you and others were proud and wanted to you to see how well they did! I really enjoyed interacting with the boys! Wednesday and Thursday afternoons we met with the houseparents. Wednesday, we had a workshop, a follow up to our corporal punishment workshop the week before. We talked about communication with the kids. It went okay. It is a slow process in changing the belief and understanding of anyone and that is how you have to take it in these workshops. You have to know that it is going to take awhile for things to change! Thursday's meeting was with Alban, who I work with, Father Larry, director of MYC, and some other guy (I can't remember his name whoops!). But it was on policies that MYC need to be following and how the boy's homes need to be run. It was nice to hear from the head guys because it was similar to things we had talked to them about in our workshop.

On another note, one of the days myself, Alban, Leann, and one of the boys did a home visit! We went to his grandmother's home, who turned out to be his grandmother's sister. The boy had lived with him for 5 years and she couldn't remember his name. She drank a lot and she couldn't remember a lot about the boy or his situation. She didn't ask where MYC was located and when the boy was asked if he wanted to stay for 2 days to see how it would go he said no. This was really hard to watch and hear. For that little boy to sit there and listen to all of this and to hear his grandmother say she couldn't remember his name and he had lived with her for 5 years. It was heart breaking!

So, with this week being so busy and feeling very alone, today some of the kids I had met four years ago came and visited me. Which was great! I spent most of the morning and some of the afternoon with them. At about 2:30 they all left but one. Ayanda, she's 16 years old. She and I hung out until about 5:30. It was exactly what I needed. She is a wonderful girl. So encouraging and uplifting, even if she doesn't realize it. She shared the story of her life with me. It was a lot to take in but it made me realize that here I am feeling lonely and other things when she has every right to feel the same thing, and I'm sure at times she does but she chooses joy! She decides that she is going to happy and share that with others! It was so eye opening and so encouraging. She is so wise and smart for only being 16! I truly admire her and the courage she has to be who God has called her to be! So, my goal for this coming week is to choose joy, to take risks, and be courageous!!!!