Thanksgiving 2011.

Thursday November 24th, was incredibly un-thanksgiving-like. My day consisted of planning meetings and then doing my first of a series of career seminars for the teenagers. It was an incredibly stressful and crazy day of rushing here and there, getting things organized, talking to this person and that person, making sure things got to where they needed to be, etc. At the end of the day my friend, Dan (the other American here), and I sat together, completely exhausted and said to each other, "I can't believe its Thanksgiving. All the Americans are sitting on their lush sofas watching football and eating tons of food right now." We looked at each other for a moment to try to read whether we were sad to miss out. "Nah, its better here!!!" we both smiled. But actually, on Saturday, we ended up hosting a VERY LARGE Thanksgiving dinner for 25 people (3 of which were American), showing the other nationalities what it was all about! It really felt like I got in my holiday after all.

One of the Friday rituals is to go do our food shopping and have breakfast together and this photo shows some of the volunteers with me as we finish up a nice breakfast at a place that is supposed to be Hawaiian, called Kawaii. The Zulu people working there say in a monotone, boring voice, "Aloha" to greet costumers. Its SO ridiculous.
I just have loved to get to know the volunteers. They are all so special and supportive and have become my family. The sad part of it is that they leave so soon, most of them leaving before Christmas. But they have truly been such a team and support for me in my work.

One of the struggles that I have been experiencing is the need to prioritize my relationships with the oldest kids. But many of the kids I was closest to were not the oldest ones. So feeling a bit of the tugs and pulls from all over as to whom I should spend my time with. I don't want to feel the separation from the ones I have loved so much, yet I can't always spend time with them now. So its been a struggle to deal with that. I have kids ask often to do things with me, but my schedule is overwhelming sometimes and I just can't. And I feel sad. There is absolutely too much to do here and I have to really be careful not to spread myself out too thin with all the kids that I could invest in. It truly cannot be about need or else we would all drop dead. I am so glad Jesus takes our work and multiplies it and works things out for his good ways.
But this weekend was special because I was able to spend some time
with some of the middle kids that I spent so much time with on my last trips. These guys kept me in tears (of laughter) in my other trips here and this time around I have really missed my time with them. I had some of the boys at my place, too, for some homemade fries and cake. We did facial scrubs as well! They are totally into that, its so funny!
A couple of them are friends who live in the nearby township where life is much more difficult. I actually have been to their homes and it is a simple and difficult life. It is so nice that the friends can come sometimes and have a place to hang that is safe from street life that is so destructive.

My friend Dan has been here for a few weeks now! He is a great artist, photographer, and videographer. It is so fun for the kids to have him here. He is really introducing a lot to them all, from Photoshop to photography. He has also taken a lot of video footage of everyday life, and then at the end of the day, we sit together and watch and LAUGH. Oh, it is never a dull moment here!!! Today we all gathered in the office and laughed so hard. The kids are really getting comfortable with Dan and really enjoying his presence and humor. They are really getting to explore and learn.

I have been pretty overwhelmed this week with my job. It is like climbing a huge mountain. And now is the time that I must know the crazy big God that I serve and wait for Him to do the work in the teenagers' hearts. Some of them are so hardened and broken, and obstinent. So it is really hard to get through. But I am not going to look at the mountain, but just the next step in front of me. We'll see what happens.