Beautiful Places Beautiful Faces: Week 2

Week 2- Just rode in the bed of a pickup on the African streets to come and get Internet! This is Africa!

First, there are pictures this week! Make sure that you make it to the bottom to at least see those. Second, I am feeling much better. I was in bed for about 4 days and then forced myself to get up and just push through not feeling well. I believe that most of it came from jetlag and the change in altitude. I am sure the change in food and water did not help either. I am doing much better now. Still drinking bottled water and will soon start to just boil a bunch of water and save it in the refrigerator to drink because there are many chemicals in the water here.

The Glen

Except for the baby house The Glen is about the only other place that I get to on a regular basis. The Glen is a mall that is about a mile away from the baby house. Sometimes we are able to get a ride to The Glen and other times we have to walk. The walk on the way there is not bad as it is downhill most of the way. The way back is another story. So far I have been very lucky not to have to make the trek back with groceries. This could very easily happen though. Everything that we should ever need is at The Glen. There are clothes stores, shoe stores, home goods stores, grocery stores and a food. So far I have bought groceries from Pick n Pay. I would say that it is most like a Wal-Mart. It is busy, there is always a line for the checkout and it is loud, but it is the cheapest grocery store. There are other household things available for purchase as well. The second grocery store is Woolworths. I walked around the store the other day when I had some extra time before being picked up from using the internet and getting a few groceries at Pick n Pay. Woolworths would be more like a Super Target. There are many different things that you can get as well as a grocery section. It is cleaner, much more peaceful and the packaging is much more appealing but the prices are a little bit higher. I am thinking that I will be shopping at both of the different stores depending on my mood for the day and what the other girls are doing. The other place that we frequent often in The Glen is Mugg and Bean. It is a restaurant in the food court that has Internet! When you buy something at Mugg and Bean you get 30 minutes of free Internet. After that 30 minutes is up then you have to start buying Internet. It is about $5 for an hour. This is just one of those expenses that cannot be helped and I have to get over. While walking around The Glen the other day there were things that I began to notice that were like home. I have yet to find a store with the same name as at home but there are some that are very close. There is a Pick n Pay Clothing store and this oddly resembles Old Navy. The clothes look very similar and the set up is exactly the same. I also walked past the istore. It is everything apple. There are also many stores that are more upscale with world-recognized name brands. The last observation that I have made of The Glen so far is that it plays the same pop music that is played at home. While walking around the other day I heard a little One Direction, Justin Bieber and the likes of Call Me Maybe. No great African music. I am excited to go and explore The Glen more and learn about all that it has to offer me while I am here.

Currency

The currency that is used here is called the South African Rand. 100R is about 12.50 US dollars. It can be s little bit of a shock at first when you go to the store and see that cereal is 31.99R! Really this would be about $3. And it can be really shocking when the total grocery bill is 500.00R! Yet again this is about $62. It is kind of fun to see a 200R bill in your wallet but then you are brought back to reality and realize that this is only $25.

A Day in the Life

This is what my typical schedule looks like for the week. Usually we work three days and then have two days off. This schedule continues to rotate throughout all seven days of the week. Right now I am working in big babies, the house also houses small babies and toddlers. The big babies are between the ages of 6 months and 1 year right now. There are 13 of them, 4 girls and 9 boys. There are three people that work at a time so this means that you are roughly watching 4-5 babies each although everything is done together. A typical workday follows this schedule:

- 7:00am- Wake up the babies. There are three bedrooms that the babies sleep in so each person takes one room. Usually the babies are already awake when we go into their rooms. We then take each baby individually to get ready for the day. First we give the baby a “bath”. This means that we wipe the babies down with a soapy wet washcloth and dry them off. We give them their vitamins, put lotion on them, change their diaper and put clothes on them. Then they go back and wait in their crib for the rest of the babies to get finished getting ready in the morning. It takes about 7-10 minutes to get each baby ready.

- 7:45am- Bring the babies to the living room. There are blankets spread out in the living room that we bring the babies out to. One person stays with the babies in the living room while the other two go and get the babies from their cribs. The person in the living room watching all of the babies puts a bib on each of them to get ready for bottles. The babies also get morning medicine at this time if they need it.

- 8:00am- Bottles. Each of the babies gets a bottle and they feed themselves. They all lie on the blankets and drink their bottles. It is usually 10 minutes of the day that everyone is happy! After the babies are finished with their bottles they have time to play. We put toys on the blankets and they can play. The living room is small and if I had to guess I would say that the babies have a 7-foot by 7-foot area to play. 13 babies in that amount of space is tight, especially when they are all starting to move. Someone is always pulling someone else’s hair, has a foot in someone else’s face or is crawling on top of someone. It is true baby wrangling as you are breaking up fights and taking babies off of each other. During the playtime we also help to exercise the babies and stretch out their muscles in different ways. We also encourage sitting and crawling and walking, as the babies are able to do this.

- 9:15am- Cereal. We move all of the babies to the dining room area, which is just across from the living room. 4 of the babies sit in highchairs and the rest of the babies sit in bumbo seats on the floor. They are all facing the TV and we put on a praise baby DVD. Then we start to feed the babies. They eat one at a time. We take them out of the bumbo seats and put them on our laps to feed them. The ones in highchairs just get fed in their highchair. They each get a bowl of cereal and about 7-10 minutes to eat it. Then they go back in their chair and watch the DVD until all of the babies are finished. Once the babies are finished eating one person will usually start on washing the bottles and dishes from cereal. Everything is hand washed and air-dried.

- 10:00am Naptime. All of the babies are taken to their rooms for a nap. They are not rocked to sleep but just placed in their cribs to fall asleep on their own. Then the staff and volunteers have 15-minute devotions and prayer time. Once this is over it is tea time or morning break. We usually get something to eat and take a few minutes away reading or lying in the sun.

- 11:00am- Hang the laundry. The cleaning auntie does all of the laundry in the morning and then at 11 we hang it out on the clotheslines to dry. Everything is dried in the sun outside.

- 11:15am- Make the bottles. We make all 13 of the bottles by following a chart based on age and size to determine who gets how much milk.

- 11:30- Wake the babies up. We also change the babies at this time. Once this is finished we take them back out to the living room the same way that we did in the morning.

- 12:00pm- Bottles. All of the babies drink their bottles and then play just like in the morning.

- 1:15pm- Baby food. The same routine happens with baby food as with cereal. The brand of baby food that is used is called purity and so baby food time is called purity time. Every other day is alternated between fruit and vegetable. The babies usually do really well with whatever kind of food they are given. If they don’t like it they usually pull a face but eat it anyway. Again the babies are watching a praise baby DVD during this time and when they are finished one person will start on the dishes.

- 2:00pm- Nap. The babies go down for their nap and we get a lunch break.

- 3:00pm- Laundry. We take the laundry off the line and bring it up for the aunties to fold while we start making the bottles.

- 3:15pm- Make bottles.

- 3:30- Wake up babies. We wake the babies up and change diapers again. We also get the babies in their pajamas at this time. Once they are changed and in their pajamas we pick out the clothes that they will wear for the next day and then start to take them into the living room.

- 4:00pm Bottle. The babies drink their bottles and play. During this time the babies that have nighttime medicine will get it and all of the babies temperatures are taken. This helps to track if anyone is getting sick.

- 5:30pm- Bed. The babies are taken to bed individually. Once they are all put in bed we finish clean up from the day and night shift arrives at 6pm so that we are free to go.

This is the schedule in a nutshell. It is an 11-hour day and it can get long. Really though it is the same thing just three times over. While it is long it is also fun and rewarding most of the time. When you can get a baby to laugh or smile there is not a better sight or sound. Now here are a few of the figures with the babies:

- At least 60 diapers a day. This means that I alone change at least 20 diapers a day and about 8 of them would be dirty diapers. (That’s a lot of poopy diapers for you day camp friends!)

- A 1,8KG jar of formula lasts about 2 days. We go through formula like crazy.

- The laundry is never ending. I would have to say that there are at least 4 loads that we hang out everyday.

The Expo and Race

There is a big bike race in Johannesburg every year. I have heard that about 26,000 people race and I believe the race is around 94.7 km long. The main highway is shut down for the race because of how big it is. Some people race just for the fun of it, some people race for the time aspect of it and some people race to raise money for a charity. There are about 50 people or so that are racing for Door of Hope. The first few days before the race, there is an expo for it with some of the charities and many bike things raising money and promoting products. One of the days I had to work at the expo. The whole goal of us being at the expo is to raise money. We have to just ask people to donate or to buy t-shirts and water bottles. This is not my thing to begin with let alone in a forgine country. I don’t like asking people for money even when it is for something that I believe in deeply. This was a challenge but it was fun for me to be out of the house for the first time in about a week. Alright, here is a funny story about the expo. Most of the girls went to the expo with another volunteer so they were with someone that they knew. I went alone because no one else was on the schedule to come. So I had to be ready to go at 6:45am because is when I was going to be picked up. We got in the car and drove about 45 minutes away to Standton, which is the business area of Joburg. We did our thing for the day and packed up to leave. On the way home is dawned on me what I did. I got in a car with strangers in a forgine country not having any idea where I was going and without a phone so that I could have a way of communicating if something went wrong but everyone loved Jesus so it was an okay thing to do. This is when you know that you are in the mission field. Don’t worry though I made it home safe.

Just like at Home

There are a few things here that I have found to be just like at home.

- Heinz Ketchup!

- Oreos

- Special K Cereal

- The flat is the Phat Pad. For those of you not familiar with this Camp Geneva lingo, the Phat Pad is staff housing. Summer staff lives there during the summer and a few staff will also live there during the rest of the year as well. It is a place that has an open door policy and anyone is welcome over anytime. I had the privilege of living there October 2011 through June 2012. It is an experience like none other. The flat here is the exact same way. I will move in the beginning of December when there is room but right now I am over everyday. Both the Phat Pad and the flat are very much loved and this is very easy to see, as they are hardly ever spic and span clean. There are shelves at one end of the Phat Pad that has become a sort of storage place for odds and ends of any sort. The same is true of the flat. There are shelves are filled with the things that don’t really fit anywhere else. There are almost always dishes in the sink at both places and food on the counters.

Things I am still getting used to

There are many things that are different here than at home that I have to adjust to. Here are a few:

- The milk that I have is called long life milk. It does not need to be refrigerated and the first carton that I bought is good for the entire 6 months that I am here. Not like the expires in 3 weeks milk that must be refrigerated at home.

- There is always a baby crying. Since I live and work in the same place I am always able to hear the crying. I am not sure if this is ever something that I will get used to or want to get used to.

- Everything is measured with the metric and Celsius scales. Speed is measured in kilometers, water for bottles is measured in milliliters, liquids are measured in liters, the oven is in Celsius, etc. So far this has not proved to be a huge issue and maybe I will just be really good at conversions when I get home.

There are also many different vocabulary words that I am beginning to learn.

- diapers are called nappies

- traffic lights are called robots

- roundabouts are called circles

- trash is called rubbish

My Days Off for the Month

I will put my days off for the month on here as I know them. These will be the days that I will have the most probability of being online. When I am on it will more than likely be between the hours of 8am- 2pm Michigan time. I know this is a big timeframe and it is still not for sure that I will be on, but this is when the probability will be the highest. Hopefully someone will be online when I log on and the word can be passed around. I will start off by logging onto facebook and email. So for November the days I have off are: November 18, 20, 22, 26, 27, 30.

A Little Bit of Everything

- Birthday Shout Out to Justin this week. Happy Birthday! Miss your calls to just complain for a little while and your 1am texts. Miss the arts and crafts and RCA talks. Miss the Wild Chef and McDonalds runs. Most of all just miss hanging out with you. May this year be everything that you hope for and more.

- I can’t get over that I can wear my Chacos for almost the next year. Love not having to put these babies away for the winter!

- Gas is 11.87R for 1 liter. Makes the prices at home not seem so bad.

- I was able to make a few phone calls home this past week. Mom I have saved calling home for Thanksgiving so don’t worry, your call is coming. I am able to buy airtime minutes at Pick n Pay. I still have to figure out the calculation as to how expensive this is and then try using a calling card to see which method s cheaper for calling home. I hope to then make a phone call a week to someone at home and hopefully this can be scheduled so that I don’t miss anyone. Although the surprise phone calls this week were a lot of fun!

- If you see my parents congratulate them on living through 4 kids learning how to drive. I have heard that Eric passed his driving test and will be getting his license next week.

- 162 days until I start coming home!

In closing I have a few scripture verses to leave you with. These really hit me this week as I was reading.

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, than I am strong.

- 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

This has been an extremely difficult transition for me to make here. I knew that it was going to be hard but never could I have understood how hard. If I were given the option by anyone to pick up and come home I would have. It is not by my own ability that I am able to do this but only through the power of Christ and all of your prayers and support. When I am weak than I am strong. This is a hard concept to grasp and I am not sure that I will ever really understand it but I will continue to rely on Jesus to keep teaching me and making me strong.

A guilty request: If you ever have a quick second and happen to think of it, send me an email. It can be about anything, what you did during the day, a funny thing that happened, a quote or even simply what you had for dinner. I don’t care. I love hearing from you all more than you know. It helps to reassure me that I will not be forgotten. (This may sound silly but it is really one of my greatest fears that everyone will get wrapped up in the nest 6 months of life and I will not be needed when I get home. Jesus and I are having daily conversations about how ridiculous this is.)

Thank you for all of the continued prayers and support. I cannot say enough how much they mean to me. Keep them coming and please let me know how I can be supporting and praying for you all at home while I am here. Love you and miss you all. And now for a few pictures. Hang with me on the formatting and quality of everything as I am learning and also trying to do this in a word document and then copy and paste it onto the blog. Also if there are things that you have questions about please ask and if there are things that you want to see pictures of let me know and I will do my best to get those pictures up and answer those questions. Remember it will be a few weeks because of lack of internet but I will do my best!