I really must find an Afrikaans phrase book. The other day, as I was being mauled by the family dog, yelling Stop, Down, No, Off – every doggie command I could think of to stop the gnawing of my arm, it suddenly occurred to me - this dog doesn’t speak English. I was right, she only speaks Afrikaans and the proper command is Luop, which means Walk, as in Go away, take a walk. This could be a helpful phrase.
But let me tell you about a more pleasant language lesson I received – by far my best day in Africa! My first food delivery. On Tuesday, five of us AFnet workers headed to a large Costco-like store and piled high 4 flat bed carts with milk, chicken, beans, maize meal, rice, sorghum, potatoes, squash, and so on. With a trailer full of food behind the Landrover, we headed to Shoshanguve. This is a township about a half hour away from Pretoria. We visited three orphan centers in the next couple of hours. The children came running out and they were laughing and smiling, jumping up and down chanting, “Makuwa, Makuwa, Makuwa”. I was told that this means “white man”. I pointed to myself and said, “Lisa”. The chanting then changed to “Makuwa Lisa” and they continued this the whole time we were unloading the trailer!
Because it was midday, all the children ages 6 and over were in school. So at each of the centers, only the children 5 and under were there – the little ones. I cannot describe how incredibly adorable these children are!! And they all want to be hugged – alright, if I have to…
Since I can’t describe how fantastically cute these kids are, you are probably thinking, good thing you are posting pictures. I know right?
No camera. You heard me. Makuwa Lisa forgot her camera. It’s just that I was so eager to go and I had so much to learn, I was going as a worker not an observer. Still, on the drive there I was beating myself up for having forgotten and my coworkers thought I was so silly – so what, you will be coming out here every week, just bring it next time. I told them they don’t understand how much everyone back home is craving images – not words. Patience my friends. I promise the pictures will come. And eventually, they may even get less blurry when I figure out how to use my new camera.
I was so excited to finally be going to Tsakelani Center – this is the center that Santa Cruz Cares and Twin Lakes Church raised the money to build and then found sponsors for 68 orphans. For the last five years, I have been involved in making this happen, and now I am here, seeing it, seeing the children. It was amazing – to see how nice the building is, to see how happy the children are, to see the good care that they are getting. Some of you know how hard we Santa Cruz Cares members worked for all these years, the hours we put in on top of our full time jobs. Let me tell you, it is BEYOND worth it! And to those of you who sponsor orphans, know that you ARE making a difference!
It was a long day. When I closed my eyes that night to go to sleep, a hundred beautiful little faces swam before my eyes and I slept peacefully through the night for the first time since arriving in Africa. Sweet dreams indeed. It is going to be a good year.
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