Unexpected Namibia

Do you know how you sometimes wake up and unexpectedly find yourself in a strange country? Well, that's been happening to us quite frequently lately and...

...what's that? That's never happened to you? Really?! :)

Well...it tends to happen to us somewhat frequently—and it's happened again! Two weeks ago we suddenly found ourselves in Namibia...outside of the capital city of Windhoek...on the YWAM base...

Go figure!

****commercial break**** due to computer problems this next part of the blog is written a month after leaving Namibia.

We originally went to Namibia because the Ghanaian High Commission in South Africa wouldn't issue us visas for Ghana, but the Ghanaian High Commission in Namibia would. (Confusing, I know, but that's bureaucracy at work right there!) However we decided this with less than a week's notice, so we didn't have a lot of time to plan our time. (I know! We don't really plan much, but we do generally plan a little!)

Luckily, some good friends in Thailand put us in touch with the YWAM base in Namibia and they kindly offered us a place to stay, which was really fantastic! The base was located just out of the city and it was beautiful! While there we hiked and canoed and got a chance to just relax a bit--very nice.

We didn't relax too much though, 'cause it's more fun to be involved! So...for four days we helped paint at Community Hope School. Community Hope is a school attended mostly by orphans or vulnerable children. There are just under a hundred kids, I believe, in grades one to six. After painting classrooms for four days, we ended up teaching for a day. Well, Amanada taught actually and I assissted since we taught science! It was really fun--Amanda taught soil science, so she explained to the kids how she collects bug farts to see how healthy soil is! Then the kids got to be scientists too and go outside to observe some soil samples we set out. In the picture they are looking for microorganisms in the soil--which they can't find because they are SO SMALL! After volunteering at Community Hope, we moved over to Beautiful Kidz for the last three days. Beautiful Kidz is a daycare for orphans and vulnerable children. The facility also runs kids and youth programs as well as some community development work with women.

One evening we joined some of the YWAMers for a homemade pizza party. It was great fun. The directors of Community Hope, John and Suzanne Hunter, hosted the party. It was all homemade in an outdoor pizza oven and the results were fantastic. The company was pretty good too. :) Some of the DTS (Discipleship Training School) students were there as well as the guest speaker and her husband, Reona and Albert Joly. We really enjoyed getting to know everyone--I wish we'd have been able to stay longer!

However...our visas came through and next we were off to Ghana!

A non-baby post

I think working with the Ikhaya kids was the highlight of our time in Empangeni, but we did spend some of our time with people over the age of three as well!

Christmas and New Years

We had all sorts of fun over the holiday season—a total of five parties! One was at Ikhaya with the kids. Our next was on Christmas day was with an Afrikaans family (Thanks again Janita!). One tradition they had that we really liked was to start the day with communion. The rest of the day was amazing: great food, fun company, good times! The food was delicious—but different. It was mostly cold cuts and salads—which makes sense since Christmas in South Africa is the middle of the summer. Our next party was at “our” house—we were housesitting with Luisa, the other Ikhaya volunteer. We made a more traditional northern dinner with pumpkin pie, chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc.

Our next party was on New Years and it was with some of the younger crowd from the church we attended. We had a lovely fondue meal and stayed up to ring in the new year together (all of us except Amanda, that is, unfortunately she was sick and so she stayed home and went to bed early—she's feeling better now though...). Finally, on New Years day we joined our neighbour Helma and her family for a more German meal to welcome in 2010.

Our first weekend off

Amanda, Luisa, and I all managed to get a weekend off together just after New Years. We decided to take the time to do a bit of sightseeing. We ended up heading to St. Lucia with Duane—a friend from church. St Lucia was cool—it's a nearby area which is home to the highest concentration on hippos and crocodiles in South Africa. It was a great day—we had a picnic on the beach and saw both hippos and a giant crocodile—what more could we ask for! :) The next day after church we just chilled with our friend Elinor at her neighbour's pool. It was fun to think that we could hang out outside during January in our bathing suits without freezing! I think it hit the upper 30's that day!

The volunteer excursion

Mel and Sean—the directors of Ikhaya—very kindly took us on a excursion the next weekend. This time we went to the beach at Sodwana—one of the best snorkelling areas in South Africa. It was beautiful—and the snorkelling was great. I've decided I'm quite addicted to snorkelling and I really need to find more time to indulge. The beach was beautiful too—and we managed to squeeze in the time to built a sandcastle too.

More animals

Luckily we just managed to squeeze in another game reserve before leaving South Africa. We went on this excursion with Angus—another friend from church. We spent the whole day out and saw lots of game. We even almost saw a lion kill! The animals kept kindly walking across the road in front of us: first a rhino, then some zebras and impala, then a buffalo... It kept on like that all day! It was a definite highlight.

p.s. Once again, this post is both very late and short on pictures. If we manage to recover our pictures later I'll add more...

Ikhaya Likababa

It's funny how things work out sometimes, isn't it? Amanda and I knew our mission trip in Randfontein was finished at the end of November and we didn't know where we were heading next...so...we posted that on Facebook! And...sometimes the internet is a wonderful thing! :) A friend I used to work with had some cousins who were volunteering at Ikhaya and so my friend gave us the name and we followed up on it. We contacted the director and a week later we jumped on the bus and the rest is history!


Ikhaya is a Babies Home for abandoned babies in Enpangeni, South Africa. The idea is that they only have babies for a maximum of six months in which time the kids are adopted or fostered. When we arrived there were four babies/toddlers (one baby, three toddlers), plus another part-timer (a former Ikhaya baby who is in the process of being adopted by the directors). By mid-January, though, another two babies has arrived, so the house is currently at maximum capacity. Anyone out there looking to adopt? :) The maximum capacity at the moment is six children, but a new house is almost finished. When they move to the new house they will be allowed to have up to twenty-two kids.



The kids are great! (What kids aren't?) I especially enjoy the "triplets". No, they aren't actually triplets, but as they are all the same age and all living at the same place it seems like they are. One little girl speaks English quite well, but the other two are still learning. One of them primarily understands Zulu, while the other understands more Afrikaans. They ARE learning though--and it's so much fun to watch how quickly they pick it up! (I don't think I'll ever here the words "Oh no!" again with out thinking of one of the little boys here who's picked up that expression and uses it constantly!)


I don't think I'll type much more, instead I'll let you experience Ikhaya through pictures. Enjoy!

Ikhaya Christmas party (not sure what I'm doing--it looks like I'm begging for food)

The toddlers all love the babies--but occasionally they get a bit carried away! We caught one of them trying to pry this baby's eyes open after he had fallen asleep...











Note: one of the reasons this post is a few months late is that we're currently pictureless. We'd appreciate prayers for our external hard drive which quit working. When we recover our pictures we will post photos to go with the following antidotes: One of the first activities we did with the kids was finger painting. They loved it once they realized they didn't have to eat it...although one-year-old Ruthie, our part-timer, did still manage to eat quite alot! *sigh* We also tried baking with the kids. It went pretty well, considering there were three three-year-olds and a one-year-old! The neighbours who are on the same property just had a dog who had seven puppies! The kids--especially this little boy--were enthralled.


That's it for now! There'll be a bit more about Ikhaya in the next post.

A few Randfontein highlights

African frogs

The frogs have made it to Africa! (If there's anyone out there who doesn't about our frogs yet...then they haven't known us very long and can email us for a youtube link if you want more info...) The first time we made frogs here was my favourite. Bright and early one morning, shortly after we arrived, we went out to the small shack village of Seferbuilt (commonly called "CY"). While there, we went around the village and prayed for people who were sick or in need. As we walked through the village, several of the young kids began to follow us at a distance. After we found them waiting outside of several houses, we couldn't hold back any longer! We quickly folded a frog and showed it to them--after that they all wanted one so we sat down in the road and folded frogs for the kids that shyly gathered round us... I think they were probably the shyest group of kids we've ever met--perhaps that's why they stand out--but the grins they gave us when they managed to hop their frogs were the same as the grins we get from kid everywhere!

500 Lions

Amanda and I often act out Bible stories for kids and our favourite is Daniel and the lions' den. Normally, I play the role of Daniel, Amanda is the 500 princes, and a volunteer is the king. We told this story at one of the schools we visited. It was not an ideal setting--it was a cold and blustery day, and despite this, the assembly was to take place outside! We were cold, the kids were cold, the staff were cold, and the wind was so loud it was hard to speak loud enough for the over 500 kids to hear! But...we forged on forward--I was yelling at the top of my voice to be heard over the wind--it was one of the hardest, but most fun, retellings we've done! The kids were the lions in the den--and man were they enthusiastic lions! I'm sure alot of their enthusiasm came from the fact tha,t as lions, they could jump and roar and therefore warm up slightly, but whatever the reason their enthusiasm really brightened our day. It was a great experience!

People...

It's rarely the countryside or history or the beaches that really capture me in a country. Those things are generally beautiful or fascinating...but it's the people that make or break a country--not the scenery. The same can be said for South Africa. From the Bishop and his family to the waiter we had several times at one of the local restaurant, the people we met in Randfontein so many marvelous people! These wonderful ladies in the picture took care of us while we stayed at Chris and Henrietta's... We miss all of you guys and can't wait to come back! Lots of love from us.

Welcome to Randfontein!

We arrived into Johannesburg airport in early November an it was so lovely to be met there by Dennis Hilman and Bishop Louis! We've been travelling quite a bit—but we are rarely met at the airport by people we know. Usually we arrive an arrange our own transport to a local hostel. Things tend to be pretty straight forward—sometimes, though, there are glitches. When we flew into Cape Town, for example, our pick-up bus was late and weren't answering their phone. We sat for over a half an hour and waited until someone finally came. Then when we got dropped off, our hostel was twice as expensive as we had thought. It wasn't a terrible experience—it was mostly just annoying—but it did make a huge contrast to our pick-up in Jo-burg!

In Jo-burg, we disembarked from the plane and collected our luggage as usual, but then as soon as we walked through the doors into the general area of the airport—there was Dennis with a huge grin on his face and flowers in his arms! Hugs and smiles followed as we met him and were introduced to the Bishop (No, he didn't bring chickens to the airport--I just couldn't find another picture of him. He's the one on the right. Dennis is in the picture above.). Then we were escorted to the car, driven to the home we would stay in, and taken out for lunch—wow—royal treatment! Along the way we exchanged stories and news about mutual friends and family, shared what each of us had been doing in the mission field, and heard about all the plans for the month ahead. A bit like heaven, eh? :) There too we'll be met by a Family Member who will be waiting with smiles and arms open wide to receive His children...

During our time in the Randfontein area (a suburb of Jo-burg), we stayed with a wonderful couple, Chris and Henrietta, and their two young daughters, Cheron and Elisha. Ruth, Henrietta's mother, also lived there during the week to take care of the kids. Cheron was almost four and quite the handful! Every morning starting at about six our bedroom door would open and she would peek in to see if we were awake. Sometimes she would tire of just looking and so she'd come over next to the bed and say, “Are you awake? What are you doing?” :) She actually spoke mostly Afrikaans, but her English did improve quite rapidly while we were there! (Thanks again to all of you guys for letting us stay.)

The following three and a half weeks were busy! We can't quite believe they're over, in fact. We spent our time praying, sharing, teaching, playing, making frogs, singing, visiting, and developing Sunday School materials in Tswana. We visited seven different church congregations, two schools and two clinics (in the picture, we're playing with the kids at one of the clinics), a home for kids with cerebral palsy, and lots of private homes. We also had time to attend the Mission and Harvest Festival and the Youth Revival, as well as to lead the Sunday School Training. I'll pick out one or two stories and write them out with more info in the next entry.

We did have some free time while in Randfontein too...and we managed to fill it one way or the other. :) On the way back from one of the villages we visited, for example, we stopped at a lion park and were not only able to pick up the baby lions, but also go to go in the pen with the five month old lions and pet them! Very cool! We also went on a game drive with a great guide who showed us everything from the dung beetles and red-backed toads to the wild lions and black rhinos! Other downtime fillers included, but was not limited to, donkey cart rides, dinner parties, and atching SA's Got Talent! (Note: Scroll back up the the first picture and look really closely in the grass behnd Dennis--you should see two lions!)

Sharks!!!!!!

We were in Cape Town for Amanda's birthday. We kinda got stuck there for a few days, but that turned out pretty good in the end.

Cape Town is beautiful! We enjoyed wandering the town--especially on the waterfront. Amanda really liked the ice cream from Steers, so that was an added bonus considering it was her birthday. However, our plans to DO things kept getting thrawted! We were going to go up Table Mountain--but our legs were so sore from climbing Adam's Peak that we gave up on that. Then we thougt we'd go out to Robbin's Island--where Nelson Mandela was held prisoner--but it was too windy and the ferry was canceled. Finally we tried to go cage diving wih the sharks, but...the boat broke down! Murphy really was working overtime in Cape Town...

There is a bright note to this post, as anyone with Facebook accounts knows: on our shark iving trip, the company found a new boat and we were able to go after all! And it was great fun! We saw lots o sharks from the surface--actually that was where the best sighting was--but we also got to "dive" underwater (in a cage) and watch the sharks from there. It was amazing!!!

It was a cold day though--and the water was cold--even with wetsuits on. It was also really windy, which made the underwater visibility pretty bad--but it was still good enough to see sharks--and that's what we were there for!!! When I was down in the cage, one shark came right up and rattled the cage we were in by brushing against it with it's body. (You can see the cage at the edge of this picture.)

We saw at least five different sharks--and possibly seven different ones (the guide wasn't totally sure). All the sharks we saw were Great White sharks--which made it even more fun.I was surprised at the diversity though--some were quite small, others quite big and the colourings were quite diverse as well.

We stayed out on the water for about 2 1/2 hours--and by that time we were feeling rather chilled so we headed in. Even the ride in and out were part of the fun though. The wind was so strong that the waves were, well, boisterous! It made for a great ride--though I must admit I almost fell off at least once while trying to get a picture and not holding on!

Until next time!

24 hours in the Middle East

I think it's fairly well known that I'd love to live in the Middle East for awhile... I came no where close to living in the Middle East, but I did get a little taste of it in October when we visited Abu Dhabi for the day. :) We arrived in the evening and our connecting flight didn't leave for 24 hours...so, we spent the night in the airport and then got a visa to visit town for the day!

One of these times when we sleep in an airport we really should get some pictures! This time we didn't have to sleep outside on hard plastic chairs (like we did in KL), but it was SO cold and SO loud that we really didn't get much sleep!

As with the last post, I'm going to let the pictures do the talking since I'm STILL behind on blog posts. So, without any further ado, here is 24 hours worth of Abu Dhabi:

This is the Grand Mosque..it is the largest (or possibly one of the largest) mosques in the country. We wanted to visit, but we couldn't because it was Friday. (Muslim Holy Day)

STOP! :)

Side note: we wanted to check our luggage at the airport but couldn't so we had to haul our guitar around with us everywhere.

The Emirates Palace...no, it's not a palace, it's a hotel--a really nice hotel and a landmark of the city!

The flagpole behind Amanda is one of the tallest free-standing flagpoles in the world (they were very proud of that...).

Inside on of the many, many malls. This mall was big enough to have both a skating rink and a ski hill!!

Our picnic lunch--a yogurt drink and some pastry things that tasted vaguely like samosas... they were great!

Well, after our picnic lunch it was about time to head to the airport for our flight to Cape Town. More on that later. Cheers!