kristiapplesauce

Bad, bad girl

This little perfection is Trinity aka Esther Lindiway so I was holding her on my lap yesterday and she was sitting up and playing and laughing and all the wonderful things that babies do and I had to get up for something (I don’t even know for what) and so I sat her down on the floor and plop! She fell over because she can’t actually sit by herself just yet and hit her head on the ground. Dang. She was totally fine. Started laughing and blowing bubbles when I picked her up again.  She didn’t even cry. Her mom totally fired me though for not being a good aunty. But in my defense I blamed Trinity for being a bad baby…she should have known better.

Isaiah

Please pray for Isaiah...just got a call asking for prayer. He is super sick with a high fever. Thank you so much!

And this is why we are here.

We just updated 71 kids who are currently in our Child Sponsorship Program and even though they are already in the system, we still ask questions to see if anything has changed, or just to get a basic update. One of the questions asks: "History and reason why the child is in the orphanage or needs the sponsorship, Please be as specific as possible." These are the reasons that were given for the ones we updated....

Alcohol abuse in the home, mother unable to look after, child abuse, alcohol abuse, mother unable to look after the child, alcohol abuse, alcohol abuse, alcohol abuse, alcohol abuse at home, mother murdered when child was 9 years old, mother murdered when child was 8 years old, mother murdered when child was 8 years old, abandoned at 2 months, abandoned in toilet when 2 months old, abandoned, abandoned, abandoned, mother too ill, abandoned in field since 2 months old, abandoned, child abuse, child abuse, child abuse, child abuse, mother ill, mother walks 6 km(s)back and forth to work and lives in 1 room with child, alcohol problem, alcohol abuse, alcohol abuse, alcohol abuse, child abandoned, alcohol abuse, child abandoned, abandoned, alcohol abuse, alcohol abuse,  parents poor,fetal alcohol syndrome, mother ill, mother ill, alcohol abuse, child abandoned, child abandoned, mother has drinking problem, alcohol abuse, mother ill, alcohol abuse, abandoned, child neglect, neglected and abused, alcohol abuse, mother unable to look after child and they were neglected, abandoned, child abandoned, alcohol abuse, alcohol abuse at home, child neglect, drinking alcohol, abandoned, street child abandoned, child abandoned, alcohol problem, alcohol abuse, alcohol problem, mother ill, alcohol abuse in home, alcohol abuse, mother alcoholic, child abuse, child neglect, mother abandoned him when he was 3 years.

Back home!!

You know when you are driving down your street you look for the familiar landmarks like that old tree at the end of the block or the house with the blue door? I don't know when it happened, but somewhere in the last year we have transitioned from visiting here, being a guest...to making this our home. When we were driving back this morning I was day dreaming about all the everythings that transcended over the past few days and all the new things I saw and learned and then all of a sudden we were on our street and I was happy. I was looking for the pets and the familiar cars; the houses and the number of houses to get to our driveway and all of a sudden we were home. Thank you for your prayers for getting us there and back. You rock.

Kids being adults

We have several kids in the Child Sponsorship Program that are their own "care giver" and the care giver to their little sisters and brothers. These kids rock it. I see them at their schools or homes when we sign them up and there they are...being kids. Laughing, playing with their friends, being 13, 14, 15 year old kids. KIDS. Then they show up to the Shoprite and all of a sudden they are transformed into mom, dad, grandma, grandpa...ADULT. They get excused from school to come and get their own food for the month. Up and down the isles to pick the rice and beans for the month. They amaze and inspire me. I don't know what their lives are like at home. I can't even begin to understand what life can be like for these kids...doing their homework, making the meals, getting to bed, locking the doors at night. I simply can't do it. I can imagine, but my home was and even now is safe. My parents are still alive. My dad and mom loved me to pieces and provided for me all the days of growing up and still are providing for us over on the other side of the world. They gave me a dinner table where we "had" to talk about our day and "had" to pray over the meals. We were made to do our homework and my parents actually checked to make sure we did it. I got in trouble when I did poorly in school. I wonder if anybody even cares if these kids show up or not to math or science...makes you wonder. Makes me wonder. I hope what we are doing over here isn't in vain. God, I hope it isn't.

Can I get in on that action?

What is it they are doing again? CHILD SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM!!! Daniel and I do many different things here in South Africa...but one of the main "things" we do here is run the CSP (on this side). We now have over 400 kids in the program Woo Hoo. I always post a picture in the left hand corner here on the Kristiapplesauce blog and now, ready for this? the ONELIFECHILD-WEBSITE just got launched and is ready to go. You can see videos and pictures....you can even down load an application to sponsor a child. For $32 a month you can feed a kid and help a family in need. We on this side go and visit these families and actually take care of the administration. I can personally guarantee that the money goes to where we say it goes. It feeds the family. Not for paperwork, or lost somewhere in the system. But hungry kids get fed and we get to see the kids day in and day out. What an honor. Yay. So go and check out that website! You will be blessed, I promise.

Standing in the gap

 

I actually don’t know these people’s names yet. But they stepped into the gap when there was a great big chasm between hungry kids and stupid people who found that there was free food to be stolen. We have a network of people here who identify those kids who are the hungriest of the hungry and then we go and meet those families and if everything matches up, and if there is a sponsor to be had in America
they (the kids) get sponsored.

I have never-ever in my live been starving. I don’t know what that feels like. I don’t know what it really means to go without…so it isn’t fair for me to point my fingers at those who see an opportunity and take it to feed themselves or their hungry family. I mean, what would you do to take care of your hungry kids? Would you steal? Probably. But none of us would probably ever have to be in that position of having to decide that. Either way, that is exactly what has happened.

A family of 4 kids in our program who are orphaned and living with their blind grandmother were having their food “delivered” by a teacher from the school they all attend. Great. Since the Grandma can’t come and get the groceries…this person in theory was dropping it off. It all worked out for us since a person in the community stepped up to help this family and we assumed all was well. Nope. Our accountably comes into effect by our “community care workers”, the Mamas in the  community who watch out for things like this who visit all of our kids and make sure they are thriving and receiving the food and going to school (making progress through the program). So when we discovered this teacher was stealing from this family (twice)….we were livid. She simply wasn’t dropping off the food parcels. So we visited and brought food to the family (after we found out what was happening) and tried to make amends. Grandma was so gracious. A lovely woman who is trying to stand in the gap for her grandkids.

After that meeting, a set of neighbors of the grandma heard what had happened to them and they then stood in the gap as well. They came forward and not only came in contact with us where we live, but came to the grocery store and introduced themselves. They said that they will deliver the food to this family and make sure they are safe. We have watched closely to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen a second time to this family and so far, so good. Thank you good neighbors. Thank you for stepping in the gap for these 4 kids who have “lost” everything and even had their food stolen. I love it when God works it out for His glory.

Let's feed some kids!

Ever wonder what about $30 bucks can do in South Africa? It can feed a kid for a month. So technically Daniel and I are here for the Child Sponsorship Program (CSP). We are here to connect hungry kids to American families who sponsor them. With that money they get food for the month, a school uniform (with shoes) and a Christmas present. So today was the day to trek down to Shoprite and feed some kids. Yay. We have about 65 kids a month taken care of, but soon to be added are like hundreds. So excited for the explosion of kids to be fed. What an awesome job we get to do. I love days like this.