More pictures!

So...here are some more pictures from our first camp.

Worship time...

Lowering the paralytic through the roof:

Soccer on the Academy field:

My Kudus! (Zizzy, Gcobisa, Ongaziwe, Asiphe, Veliswa, and Oyama)

 

Camp 1 Facilitators

Eric, Mike, and their wild Rhinos

Asiphe....probably one of the cutest kids ever:

Craft Time.

Silly group picture.

The Zebras showing off their style...

and ok, I'll put some pictures up too

Here are some of the kids from the second camp!

Rhinos -- looking good on the trampoline.

Kids getting ready to watch the slideshow

Brittany getting ready to give her talk (Allen is translating).

... but praise God that you bear that name.

The subject above is from the end of 1 Peter 4:16. The section talks about suffering for being a Christian. And it not so subtly implies that life doesn't make sense sometimes. Today was one of those times.

I'll try to keep this relatively short -- we have a little packing to do before our flight tonight. Today was the kids' last day of camp. Breakfast this morning was interesting. The plumbers were here yesterday to fix some drainage problems we were having, but as of this morning *nothing* in the kitchen drained properly. So the sinks were out of commission, and by convenient coincidence, it was the leaders' turn to do all the dishes. I was out back with a couple of big tubs washing things from a spigot. Not quite what I was expecting this morning, but aside from wearing my back out a bit it wasn't too bad.

Then later this morning it was my turn to give a talk to the kids. It's sort of a culmination of the different parts that we learned about during the week -- unity, compassion, humility, courage, and encouragement. So my talk was on "God's love is unconditional".

It went over pretty well, I think. It's always hard to tell from up front. But anyway, I get to the end and close things out in a prayer. Just before we're through, there's some mumbling and rustling around in one part of the room. I look up, and one of the girls (14 years, I'm told) from Brittany's cabin is on the floor having a seizure.

Fortunately there were a lot of people around here when it started, and people helped out trying to hold her still and make sure she can breathe. One of her classmates said that this has happened before, but it's still very scary. And normally seizures in kids only last a couple minutes -- I've seen one or two before -- but this one kept on going. We found a hard surface to put her on and moved her outside for some fresh air.

Meanwhile, Ted is on the phone with a number of doctors in the area. He talks to an ambulance service, but they're 45 minutes away. So after talking to a doctor in (relatively -- ~20 minutes) nearby Paarl, we load her (still seizing, by the way) into a van.

Denise, Mike (the younger), Ted, Brittany, and one of the facilitators went along in the van to keep her stable.That was at about 11:30am.

And then the kids left on a bus at 12:15pm or so. Quite a way to end a camp.

At about 1:30pm I get a call from Denise saying that the girl (I don't actually know her name) is up and walking around. And smiling and talking. After having a 2-hour long seizure. How these sorts of things work... I have no idea.

All of that said, the last part of this trip has been an emotional roller-coaster. Even for me, someone who doesn't display much emotion externally. Someone grabbed my laptop and hid it in our cabin yesterday, so we had some hard talks with the kids. That's still unresolved, but at the same time I want to build up unity and the relationships among the kids. And I was stressing out about doing my talk last night, but then I was pulled into two (rather uncomfortable, but funny) acts in the talent show that we put on. Then I went to bed late, woke up early and groggy, and tried to review what I needed to say for the talk... but then got roped into doing dishes from a faucet on the back corner of the building. And then I actually give the talk, which went well (I had props!), but then that's burdened by this girl and the seizure. The day started with a million kids here screaming and running around all over the place, and now there are three of us on the property and it's nearly silent.

It's funny, actually. The devotional book that I try to read through every day has been sort of repetitive recently. The last three or four days have all been about how there are mountaintop experiences where we really feel close to God, and there are dark valleys where hope and encouragement (and logic) are harder to find. What I've seen from the past 48 hours is that those can definitely happen both in the same day. And even in the same hour. Peter writes "Rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed". It brings a song to mind, in a new, 24-hour-a-day sense:

Where I find joy, where I find joy...

I'm alive awake alert enthusiastic!

I thought I'd jot down a few of the cultural idiosyncrasies I've noticed while over here. Because... some of them are pretty amusing, and I wouldn't want to forget them :)

1. Warm milk. Yes, you heard me right. Especially when put on cereal. Think of taking a bite of corn flakes... but when it hits your mouth you don't even notice the milk because it's already body temperature. We tried buying cold milk for breakfast with the facilitators one morning, but a few of them took their bowls and zapped them in the microwave for a couple minutes. I guess that's just the way it is.

2. I must go outside. Even Ted (from the US -- camp manager/facilities guy) has started using this one. If you need to go outside to do something, you don't say "I have to go outside and do something," you say "I *must* go outside and do something." Not too strange, I suppose, but interesting nonetheless.

3. Biscuits are cookies, and cookies are biscuits. It's the same way in Europe, but it always gets you when you go to the store looking for oreos.

4. Napkins, curiously, are called serviettes. Which is the French name for a napkin. I don't think it's the same way in (not France) Europe, but I'm not 100% sure. And for some reason, it's very hard for me to say the word 'serviette' with a straight face. It's just so... French.

5. Hot and cold taps. Now I don't claim to know too much about plumbing. But most of the hand-washing sinks over here (even the really fancy ones -- like on the safari) have separate hot and cold faucets. Call me utilitarian, but is it really that soothing to wash your left hand with scalding hot water, and your right hand with frigid cold water? This one I don't really understand, beyond the fact that the plumbing might be a little cheaper to set up.

6. Switches on electrical outlets. Why didn't the US think of this? All the plugs in the walls also have an on/off switch. It might take up a little more space (silly American efficiency), but I think it's worth it.

7. Exit countdown signs on the freeway. So say you're speeding along and you see a sign for the exit you want to take. Here in South Africa, you get three more signs before the actual offramp -- "///", "//", and then "/". It's like a countdown until you have to turn! Genius.


Ok, that's all I've got for now. Now for our leaders meeting and our last full day of camp!

camp #2 underway

Hey -- just a quick update while I have a few minutes.

56 new kids arrived yesterday (down from an initial estimate of 72), and things haven't slowed down since. For some reason Allen decided to have everyone get up at 6am today, so by this point the kids are running around like crazy with nothing to do! Hopefully somebody's watching them out there...

We met the new facilitators yesterday too -- there are 11 of them this time (I think that's the same count as the last camp : 7 guys, 4 girls).

The kids colored their goody bags and painted the butterfly suncatchers yesterday afternoon. And we had a talk on courage done by one of the facilitators + Allen in the evening.

Denise is finally getting over her cold/flu/sore throat she had earlier in the week, and I think most of our team is finally healthy (though I didn't see tall Mike for a while last night). Thanks for keeping us in your prayers -- it's really a privilege to be here working with these kids. There's a song that the kids sing that really rings true. Hopefully I'll get a video of it up here at some point, but it basically goes like this: "The ASP is the best! You need to join us now!"

Day of Rest and Reflection

Hi Everyone! This is Brittany writing (finally). Today was our second and final free day of the trip, and it was much needed as we are about to gear up for the second wave of campers to come. We had the opportunity to go on a safari in a private game preserve called Aquilla. It is about 2 hours from where we are staying, and Eric drove us there and back (he's getting really good at the whole left-handed shifting!). The preserve is 11,000 acres big and full of really cool African animals. We drove around the perimeter in open-air jeeps for 3 hours, and managed to see 12 different types of animals (including an African Dung Beetle... despite the fact that they hang out around piles of dung, they really are quite cool to look at.) Even though the place was pretty touristy, it was neat to be able to see so many animals close up!
After the safari we drove back and spent the afternoon relaxing and reflecting on what has happened and what we have left ahead. I managed to have a solid hour of quite time walking the Bridges campus. It was nice to have time to thank God for the great things that have taken place so far. Last camp I really connected with a few of the kids and enjoyed seeing changes that took place in their life over the course of the camp (both big and small.)
I was in a cabin with four other 12- year-old girls and a fellow leader from the after school program the kids attend during the school year. One night, a girl in my cabin was unusually talkative. She was conversing with the other girls and leader in Xhosa, when all of the sudden the leader doubled over in laughter. When she caught her breath, she translated for me and told me that the first time the little girl saw me she was shocked to see how white I was; apparently when she saw me take off my shoes that night I was wearing white socks, and she thought that was the color of my skin! The second day I had a handful of kids come up to me and pet my hair; they called it "soft" and wanted to brush and braid it. It's so funny to see what the kids think of us!
Anyway, it's been a great experience so far, and I am so glad God paved the way for us to come on this trip. I can't wait for the next group of kids, although I am nervous about the number of kids that will be here. There will be almost twice as many as there were last time. We'd appreciate your prayers for continued strength and energy as we gear up for this next camp. Most of the members on our team have experienced some form of illness now, and are trying to quickly recover before the kids come in two days. Please pray especially for Denise who is battling a cold and has pretty much lost her voice. She'd like it back before camp starts!
Well, I think that's it. Here are a few pictures from last camp and our safari today. Enjoy!

Denise and I with some of the other leaders. We all had a lot of fun together!

The girls in my cabin loved playing with my long hair!

We saw an elephant on our safari!

And a giraffe too!

camp pictures

Hey -- here are a few pictures from camp! I'll put up more when we have some more time to upload.


These kids have rhythm! And they dance too! More than we (normally) do.

These are some of the facilitators that helped with the camp.