Time is flying by

Sorry for the extended amount of time without an update. I wrote the last one a week ago and will update you in this post from there. I promised a report on the first day of service, so here it is. I loved it! I got there a little late so the babies were already out and playing in the large common space. There are seventeen babies from a premature little angel to almost two years old. I spent the morning just sitting on the floor playing with them until bottle time. They all get a bottle and just lie on their backs and drink til they are done. It is so precious. I had to feed one little girl who gets special formula. Then we play some more. The older kids went out to the yard to play, but I stayed in with the littleter ones. Then it is lunch time, I fed a couple babies what looked liked pureed squash or something, anyway it smelled delicious. Then it is nap time. They all stay in a room together and nap for two hours. When all the "big kids" are in bed we feed and change the two babies before their nap time. I fed and changed the one babies nappie and put him in his crib. I need to start bringing a book or homework or something for the two hours that the babies are sleeping. I just sat on the couch and watched poorly recepted television with some of the other staff. Then the babies wake up. O my gosh it smells awful in that room after two hours of sleeping and they have all used their diapers, eew. So we change all their nappies and play some more. They get a few little puffy cheetoes for snack and we play for another hour and a half until dinner, which was tapioca pudding. Then they all get bathed two at a time and put into their pajamas for bed. When they come out fresh and clean and soft I got to put their pajamas on. I left shortly after that. Towards the end of the day, they were all laughing and there is this one little girl who has the most perfect baby laugh! She got all the rest of them going and it was like a laughing baby YouTube video in real life. So freaking cute. I was a very sloppy feeder and have remains from all three meals on my pants. I think I am really going to like it there.

Tuesday was much the same at service. I already feel part of the routine. I went to Ash Wednesday service here in Obs. It was quite nice. The priest kept saying “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” It is quite a humbling thought upon reflection. When we went to mass the sky was cloudy and you could not see Devil’s Peak (which you usually can from Obs). When we left mass the sun was setting and the clouds had cleared. It was quite a beautiful scene. Thursday was a standard day at University, nothing exciting. Friday the whole group went to Lotus Park, an informal settlement in the Gugulethu township. We divided into groups of three and community leaders took us on a tour answering all our questions. So to paint a picture (since I am still struggling to upload photos) Lotus Park is what you expect a township to look like. Tin “shacks” on dirt ground, no sewage system, one water spigot for five or six households and limited electricity. The average living wage in the settlement is about two dollars a day. Real poverty. It is incredible though, how resilient and positive the people are. The community is working very hard to better themselves. They are very creative and intelligent people.

Friday night we had friends from the neighborhood over to our house for Braai (that is what South Africans call a BBQ). There were quite a few people and it was really fun. A friend and I went out with some of our friend’s downtown to a club late in the evening. That was my first time going into Cape Town to go out. The club was pretty swanky, but it was fun to dance and mingle. I met two men from Uganda. They are staying here for a year (eight months in) doing volunteer work as well. I had a very interesting conversation with one of them about how he loves the country of South Africa, but does not like the people because they have not been receptive to him as an African foreigner. He also told me that he was in South Africa because he is not accepted by his family as a gay man and he told me that homosexuality is punishable by death in Uganda. It was a very interesting conversation.

Saturday I went to a rugby game. The experience was exactly like a baseball game or football game in the states. The stadium was set against the mountains so that was really beautiful and the game was pretty easy to follow. And today, Sunday, I went to Mzoli’s which is a famous restaurant in the Gugulethu township. It was a hoot! It was like a huge barbeque where everyone is drinking and eating delicious food and there was live African music. To get the meat you walk into the butchers and pick out your meat and then you take it back to the kitchen where there is a gigantic barbeque. Then you wait a while for the meat to cook. It is so delicious and messy and crazy. I am still stuffed. I went to mass this evening and the homily was all about trusting that the desire to please God, pleases God. I really liked that thought. I am pleasing God just by trying to please God.

I am still doing very well here. I love my routine and I really like the people in the house. Sorry for the novel, but I hope you enjoyed the update. Peace.