Week 1 (the round up)

So we have survived our first week in Hout Bay and its been an interesting week.

(mark)
We have seen a lot of the beauty of this amazing place and have met some wonderful people. The generosity of the people we have met to date has been breathtaking.

Our trip to the world of birds on Saturday was a great experience as a lot of the birds had young chicks or were due chicks soon. 1 of my favourite pictures was of a Black Swan and its cygnets. Also there were some other animals like various species of Monkeys, Turtles, Lizards and Squirrels.

A Black Swan and its cygnets

Mark is a bit slow to come out of his shell

On Sunday we went to the Vineyard church in Kenilworth. Nicky (the director of Ikhaya) was kind enough to pick us up and take us. This was very similar in set up to DNA (our local church) and was alot of fun. This was followed up with an invitation to go to one of the home groups (with Nicky) this was at Penny's place in  town (I think, Im losing track of people's names as there are so many new faces) and we were treated to a great meal and a fabulous peanut butter style cake (made by Briony). I'm sure we will be spending more time with this group as they all seem to have a great passion and are very funloving people.

The week at Ikhaya has been very busy and we have made lots of new friends. The staff already joke that they feel like we have been there forever. The kids are great fun and I've managed to do a lot of different activitys with them: Football, Rugby, Reading and Writting. I've also been helping out with some of the general maintinence of the land helping Phila (the grounds keeper) with some gardening and in the rescue of a donated freezer from a house that was literaly on the side of a mountain and had over a 100 steps (the number of steps and the difficulty of the freezer rescue will increase each time I tell the story). The kids are great fun to be with and have an enourmous amount of energy (and noise). Funniest momment of the week for me was when I was showing one of the kids (kanye) my West Ham tatto and then have to explain that are a top flight english club that play in the premier league (you had to be there).

kids settlling down to their evening meal

Kanye takes one look at the tattoo and asks "WHY"

So onto week 2, we have now moved in with Margy who has a lovely house situated half way up another mountain (yay more step roads to climb) we have quite a few plans for the weekend which include shopping in town (I'm sure Nay will fill you in more on that) and a braai (BBQ) on Monday as it is a bank holiday.
And tomorrow weather permitting we will be taking 105 noisy kids up table mountain home of a hundred screaming baboons. (should be an interesting mix).

TTFN

P.S. Sheeps stomach is really tasty emmmmmmmmmmmmmm

(Nay)

1 week down and our adventure has just begun. I have to agree with Mark that the people we've met so far are amazing especially those who are prepared to give so generously when they have so little themselves. I don't think you can ever walk through Mandela park (township) without some sadness but the initial shock has been replaced to some extent with a real sense of hope.

Reading afternoon

The staff and children at Ikhaya are amazing although I'm not entirely sure how we are ever going to learn all the names (especially being a special ed teacher who's used to a class of 10!) however we are slowly building up relationships. The children are cheeky chaps as apparantly I have "boy clothes" (my practical fashion) and they even started calling me granny today (not encouraged by Mark of course :P). They also seem very interested in my skin and especially counting moles...that's one maths lesson for you!!

There is an African saying that goes "Your child , my child" and that just reflects the ethos of this place -we  are so often quick to blame the parents but it kinda makes you question the role we all have to play in bringing up our children (wherever they are from!).

Now we are at Margy's place and it's great to meet her especially as someone who knows the Pancaldis and Joe (our friends who run History Maker - the charity we are supporting). Ikhaya is definetly a Joe place and we're happy to be carrying on with something of his earthly work. I know Joe would never want to take that credit but it's great to be in the country which he loved and inspired him. When we make it to Table Mountain I'll be thinking This one if you Joe :)

So as Mark mentioned this weekend we are going shopping for some traditional African outfits as the bank holiday is for Heritage Day and we are celebrating with the kids next Friday with traditional music, food and dancing. Watch this space for photos of Mark in his zulu performance..........

Mark 10 v 13-16 Don't push these children away. Don't ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the Kingdom.