When it rains, it pours.
sooo, my birthday was surprisingly nice!
I received about a dozen beautiful birthday cards from the kids, Corine brought me gifts, and Cindy (my new roomate who has worked here for the last 4 years) and Merrie (the 2 wk. volunteer social worker from the UK) took me out to dinner. I had experienced several difficult days, so I was very relieved to have such an enjoyable day. Since then, things have been a bit better. It's been raining nonstop here for about 3 days, and when it rains in South Africa... it POURS. "The rains came down and the floods came up" very quickly. Anyway, I've noticed that this can also be related to other areas here.... emotionally, when it rains at Sparrow, it POURS. When things get rough here, it's easy to feel very lonely. I have this constant struggle of trying to do things on my own... or letting God take care of me. In the last few days, I've tried drawing closer to Him... and He has not let me down. I once read a church sign that said, "When God reigns, it pours." I think I'll focus on this latter concept.
I've decided to start a girls' bible study/ mentor group. The older girls are so desperate to fill the voids in their lives. We actually have one 17-yr old who is pregnant. These girls really have no model of what a Godly young woman is. It's interesting that everyone here seems to be religious, but I don't know how many actually understand what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. These kids have been fed so much rubbish their whole lives: being abused by their own parents, being told by pastors that they have HIV because they are evil, being told by their teachers that they're "BAD." Everything that has been sown in these kids' lives is now being harvested... Making work at Sparrow very complex. How can you expect them to act "normally?" This past week I have seen a lot more of where the kids are coming from: the types of places they've lived, their personal stories... Things are starting to make more sense... and I'm actually amazed that these children have come so far.
There are so many stories to tell... I hope to get to a few of them, at least. I promise to post more pictures soon, which are worth a thousand words each... so that should tell a few stories, right?
I received about a dozen beautiful birthday cards from the kids, Corine brought me gifts, and Cindy (my new roomate who has worked here for the last 4 years) and Merrie (the 2 wk. volunteer social worker from the UK) took me out to dinner. I had experienced several difficult days, so I was very relieved to have such an enjoyable day. Since then, things have been a bit better. It's been raining nonstop here for about 3 days, and when it rains in South Africa... it POURS. "The rains came down and the floods came up" very quickly. Anyway, I've noticed that this can also be related to other areas here.... emotionally, when it rains at Sparrow, it POURS. When things get rough here, it's easy to feel very lonely. I have this constant struggle of trying to do things on my own... or letting God take care of me. In the last few days, I've tried drawing closer to Him... and He has not let me down. I once read a church sign that said, "When God reigns, it pours." I think I'll focus on this latter concept.
I've decided to start a girls' bible study/ mentor group. The older girls are so desperate to fill the voids in their lives. We actually have one 17-yr old who is pregnant. These girls really have no model of what a Godly young woman is. It's interesting that everyone here seems to be religious, but I don't know how many actually understand what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. These kids have been fed so much rubbish their whole lives: being abused by their own parents, being told by pastors that they have HIV because they are evil, being told by their teachers that they're "BAD." Everything that has been sown in these kids' lives is now being harvested... Making work at Sparrow very complex. How can you expect them to act "normally?" This past week I have seen a lot more of where the kids are coming from: the types of places they've lived, their personal stories... Things are starting to make more sense... and I'm actually amazed that these children have come so far.
There are so many stories to tell... I hope to get to a few of them, at least. I promise to post more pictures soon, which are worth a thousand words each... so that should tell a few stories, right?
posted by Stacy at 7:19 AM
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