The gift of empowering.

Wow, the time is flying by here... there are only five more days that we have at Ethembeni. However, there are amazing things happening at the family center. First, I would like to share that this place and the staff working here is so amazing and is having a very positive impact on the children who come here. This is a safe place for nurturing, food, and socializing amongst the staff and kids. This week we have been digging deeper with the staff and the people who really know mpophemeni (because they grew up here). We have been doing activities that our community engagement professor, Francis, has been teaching us to figure out with them what the bigger issues are that this community and their children are facing every day.

One of the activities, for example, that we did on Monday was called, "The River of Life." This activity required them to mark down plotted points on a sheet of paper displaying the good and the bad times in a history outline. After this, you connect the dots and it symbolizes the river of life. It allowed them to look at the highs and lows that they have had since living in Mpophemeni and in the family center. It had a very positive impact for them to see that even when the lows came, soon after a positive thing shot up. This directly correlates with the current situation that the ethembeni family center is in. As I have mentioned previously, the family center will be open only 3 days of the week versus 5 days in the month of April due to insufficient funds and donations. This has a negative ripple effect on the staff, children, and families throughout the community who are involved with the family center. So on their river of life diagram, they all marked down that this was a low point for them. Hopefully it was encouraging to see that a positive thing could come from this after being able to compare the other highs and lows and see that a positive can come from this. This was even encouraging for me to see and hope the best for the family center.

At times when we do some of these activities with the staff, I feel very overwhelmed with the issue of HIV/AIDS. It is overwhelming because it is such a HUGE problem here and it feels impossible to end this cycle of it being spread. One of the staff members, Khlaka, said that a huge reason for why it is being spread is because parents are not having a conversation with their kids about not sleeping around. Instead, it goes unsaid and the kids have no direction with how to live their life intimately. One of the teenage moms, Mandisa, says that all of her friends have multiple boyfriends and that they sleep around with them all the time. She told us that she has learned, after having her son "Phila" that she does not want to live in that sort of lifestyle. In return, her friends give her a hard time because she is going against the "current." It is so hard to know that it is ingrained in this community, at such a young age, to live that way. As Grant, the founder of Ethembeni, puts it, "We all are not necessarily HIV positive, but HIV affected. I have chewed at this quote... and it is so true. I want there to be a way to end it... I really do. It is just a matter of digging at the root of the problem in order to fully change it. (The picture to the right is of Mandisa and her son, Phila.)

Today was a very productive day! This morning, Cynthia and I tackled a photo project. The first week that we were here, we took photos of all the children and wrote down their names next to it in hopes of helping everyone learn each other's names and also for the kids to be able to see what they look like. Today, we had the printed pictures and wrote their names on each photo and pasted it on one of the walls. I cannot tell you how much these kids' faces lit up when they saw their photo on the wall. They were pointing at their own picture and looking at each person and smiling. It was such a simple thing to do and I think it made the kids feel special. Next, a bunch of us helped with finishing up the Jesus mural and it looks amazing! We wrote the verse from Matthew 19:14 above the image, which is, "Jesus said, 'let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." It matched up perfectly and all the children placed their handprint around it to leave their mark.

I am cherishing the relationships that are being made so much. These kids brighten every single day that I am there. Today, however, they were a handful! As the rest of the group did another activity with the staff, I was placed in the playroom....alone... WITH NINE CHILDREN!
I have never experienced chaos like this in my life! hahaha. They were supposed to be having nap time... so as I substitued myself and took Phendile's place (one of the staff), things changed dramtically. All I can say is that I found out who the trouble makers are ;)!! And I had no shame in attempting to punish them and putting them in time out... which meant holding them in my lap VERY TIGHTLY! haha. It was difficult though to yell at them considering I speak english... and they don't. So the language barrier definitely became an issue for me today.. ;)

I am loving this place so much and the impact that it is having and will continue to have on this community.

Prayer Requests: Prayer for endurance through the days, to find a way to include an opportunity for spiritual growth with the kids, unity within our group, and to continue finding time and a way to process what I am seeing and experiencing every day.

Thanks you guys!! <3 abrazos y besos, Jamie (spanish for hugs and kisses ;))


P.S. Something that was pretty cool that happened today... It started pooring rain...and so all of us were crammed inside the house. As the weather cleared up, there was a huge/beautiful rainbow that spread across the entire township of Mpophemeni. It was amazing and I was so in awe of the fact that you could see where it started and where it ended.. covering the entire community. There seemed to be a deeper meaning behind it that my friend, Alex, brought up to us later tonight at dinner. That there is hope for this township : )