Day 19 - Plans change

Phathi after receiving her first present

Our plan for today was to wake up early, do some shopping, head out to the village for Phathi's birthday and then climb a mountain to watch the sun setting. Well, our plans changed. We woke up to a wet and overcast day, postponing our mountain climb. But that's ok, we still planned on heading out to the shops after breakfast to get a gift for Phathi and some food for the party. However, the school bus had run out of fuel so we were called upon to go pick up some more diesel for the bus so Tina could drop some girls out at Willow Park. Not only was it out of fuel but the battery was flat as well, so we had to wait for Pete to come along with jumper leads to get the bus running again.

A long story short, we finally made it to SJC. We were stocked with chips, lollies, chocolate, mazoe (cordial), a gift and cake for Phathi who turned 16 today. We had lunch with the girls again and then witnessed a birthday tradition at SJCV. Phathi's birthday gift from the rest of the girls was having buckets of really dirty water poured over her again and again. A tradition that Jonno and I are looking forward to carry on for Alex's birthday in January!

The birthday spread

After Phathi cleaned herself up she was welcomed back to the eating hall to a birthday cake with candles with everyone singing Happy Birthday to her! She opened her gift (some new jeans, a top and sunnies) and was quick to go put them on and show everyone the final result.

Phathi in her new outfit

Following lunch more intense Ndebele lessons continued. This time our teacher Bernice put us to the test and took our books away from us. I couldn't help myself and got a few questions right by looking at my book I had hidden below my table but of course I quickly caught out and paid the price. The girls are great teachers and incredibly patient with each of us. They love laughing at our poor pronunciations of words and watching us bluff our way through a conversation like we have a clue of what's being said.

Listening intensely to our teacher Bernice

Tonight Alex and Deb cooked dinner and it was HOT! It was like someone had unleashed a fire breathing dragon in my oesophagus. In saying that Lisa said I wasn't a man and just plain 'weak', which is true because I can't handle hot food. Dinner was nice, just hot!

We've learnt pretty quickly that planning out our days is pretty much a waste of time. Another thing I've really begun to notice over the last week is that a healthy relationship comes through the intentional commitment to spend time with one another, not through programs and schedules. In our first week and a bit we went to the village with a plan. We set out to play games, to teach guitar etc. Our plan served a purpose, but we now go with no plan. If we play guitar, then we play guitar. We have no set plan. We go with the sole purpose to spend time with the girls. To get to know them and for them to get to know us. Through not having a plan or schedule our friendships have grown so much lately. By setting aside our own plans and goals we wanted to achieve, we put our relationship with the kids first. What mattered most to Jesus was His relationship with His people and it should be exactly the same for us. People should always be more important than our own programs and schedules. That's what I've learnt and been challenged by through my my trip so far anyway.


Your support, comments and prayers are super awesome...Keep them coming!


Andy