kristiapplesauce

This is South Africa

     

A lesson in love

Today in a visit with Nozake, we talked and I watched as she washed clothes. She sat in front of me leaning over a metal basin which sat on top of a yellow bucket - making sure each piece was clean. She would scrub and wash, carefully folding over the shirt or pants this way or that on top of itself as she worked her way down the garment - then she would turn it inside out - making her way down or up, the same way, folding it - in on itself, working all of the corners and pockets. She would pull it up and down out of the soapy water and scrap it against her fingers. She would every once in a while lift a shirt here or there to inspect a stain or a tear but mostly she never stopped moving. Dipping, soaking, wringing, scrapping, scrubbing. From five feet away I could see her brown skin worn and raw. I asked her if she had ever washed her clothes in a washing machine [ever in her whole life]. She said "No, I wash my own clothes."

Bakkie

Also known in South Africa as a "bucky" or "pick-up truck" for those who live in the USA. So we see these everywhere we go. Filled with people (like 15 adults or up to 20 kids), or stuffed with supplies. Usually stores get their deliveries via these little guys rather then using a semi truck or getting their stuff from their manufacturers...so no matter where we are or where we are going, there is a bakkie en-route. (There are about 12 people stuffed in the second picture...you can see a hand in the window if you look closely).

What I see

People ask me ALL THE TIME what South Africa is like. I get that question in emails I get that question in letters or in person when I go back to the States and speak at churches or in schools...I never really know what to say because South Africa is well, South Africa, and you can't really sum it up in a sentence but I think people like it wrapped up like "oh, it is nice; we like it there". Maybe I am mistaken but what I do know is it is nothing like anything that I could have ever ever ever imagined. It is messy and it is love. It is life and it is death. It is home. God is here and He is absent in every single person I meet. So to try to answer those questions I am going to start posting "what I see" posts and start describing life here at least through my eyes. Hopefully it will help sort out what some of the everythings that we go through on a daily basis on this side of the ocean.

For the first one:

This girl I saw hanging out in this doorway...she could be any girl in any doorway as we pass countless children everywhere we go. She is probably an orphan though because she is one in one of our day care centers. She doesn't sleep there, but comes in the morning and stays all day. She receives 2 meals one of those being soup. Although she looks pretty healthy, don't be fooled. Her belly is round and full because she is most likely suffering from worms.  We are working now at getting these kids in a deworming program...