Merry Christmas & Happy New Year- Sparrow Style

a colorful christmas dinner, in pretty much every way.

a christmas present herself; this precious little gift was dropped off at sparrow just this week... merry christmas?

seeing these faces on christmas morning was the greatest gift i could have ever received


adult patients and caregivers. note the beds lining the tent, for those who are too ill to sit and eat at the table. this is community, church.

yes, those are braids (a long & funny story). and this is nomathemba. she had a silent christmas...as she is deaf (yet another surprising effect of HIV)...but that did NOT stop her from leading music at chapel on christmas eve. it's so beautiful when our deaf kids start songs... the others just join right in.


trash bag gift wrapping, "father christmas" and black baby Jesus in a manger: the kids were often reminded of the true gift of christmas... and they acted it out in the most wonderful nativity play i've ever seen. so simple and so zulu. they made the story their own.


just too tempting

oh, christmas tree: cindy laughs at our tree and wrapping as her daughter (visiting) chews on a litche... a strictly african fruit that resembles an eyeball when peeled

kids, fireworks, and bare feet... a great way to bring in this new year. 2007.

more kids

the kids

sorry! i just spent 3 hours downloading a bunch of photos... and then deleted them all. i don't have enough time to try again... i need to get some sleep. here's two for now:

note the circles under the eyes :O)

Countryside (from the train)

My favourite pics...

Here are just a few of the heaps of photos I've taken here. I thought I'd put some up (for your viewing pleasure) before I leave for Capetown for a week!! With the exception of the overnight safari I took last week, this is the first break I've had since I've been here. Living here really makes this a 24/7 job. You can't take nights and weekends off... because there are kids needing to be taken care of. It's like a never-ending (less entertaining) summer camp. Without being able to drive, I have rarely even left Sparrow. Dealing with such stressful issues while being trapped inside a fence is enough to make any person crazy. I'm coping with this scenario much better now, but it will still be nice to have some time off. Although, it's so hard to leave the kids. I can hardly handle leaving them for a week-- How am I going to be able to say goodbye in a few weeks?? Where has the time gone?

Diana & Lilian

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Too bad I'm not 'the tough.' It's also unfortunate that I'm surrounded by the tough, who truly do get going (and not in a good way) when things get tough. To put it mildly, the kids can be very hardened... the staff can be very hardened. This has been one of my greatest struggles here. Another one of my huge struggles is realizing that, in a 1st world-3rd world country (this is how I refer to South Africa), something like AIDS doesn't just pop up out of no where... smack dab in the middle of a happy home. Here, AIDS is usually tied to poverty, which is often tied to hate, abuse, and so many other deep-rooted issues. I recently had a conversation that went something like this:

"no one could possibly understand the depth of this destruction
satan has his hold...
and the roots go far too deep
not too deep for God
but i have no idea where to start digging."

This is a poor attempt to explain my loss for words lately. When I, myself, am able to wrap my mind around all of this... You'll be the first to know. (It may be a while.)

In Memoriam

On World AIDS Day, I would like to honor my [beloved] personal statistic, Nothando Sithole... For those of you who feel distant from this crisis, here is a way for you to feel very close:

NOTHANDO SITHOLE
13 October 2004-
31 October 2006

Her name means "loved one"... and that, she was.