So, being the good mother I am, I’m prepping my little kiddies for the changes of the next couple weeks. I started asking them how many sleeps til we moved/Keith comes. This takes place on the same day.

They have come to enjoy this greeting ritual we have. “Hey guys! How was school? How many sleeps til we move?”

However, as of late Mary has decided that she hates boys because they are gross. This is a fine opinion in my mind. ;) Anyways, so she’s lately realized that Keith, who is coming, is in fact a boy! Mary, who has seen a photo of me and my friends, would much prefer Sarah to come. In her words, “I love Sarah! She is my best friend!”

On Friday the conversation went as follows:

Maria: How many sleeps til we move guys?
Siya: Eight! (because he is the oldest and the other ones didn’t even have a hope of being allowed to answer.)
Maria: And how many sleeps til Keith comes?
Siya: Eight!
Jake: And Sarah! (You see—because Mary loves Sarah she has somehow confused herself and Jake into thinking that Sarah is coming to visit.)
Maria: Oh, I wish Jake, but only Keith is coming to visit.
Mary: Eww. No! I hate boys. Don’t like Keith! I only like Sarah!

I think Mary is a little jealous. Although, I think she’ll change her mind upon meeting him. Kids love that boy. :)

It’s only 6:00 p.m. but its already dark here. Today is the shortest day of the year here and then we’re up hill from here. If I was a crafty math person I’d calculate just how many sun-lit hours I’ve missed by hitting up both winter in the northern and southern hemispheres. Fun times. I can’t complain though, although the rest of the country experiences cold conditions (10-15 C is sometimes the day time high) Durban area is usually pretty warm.

I’m sitting here pondering a few things I miss. Despite the fact that I can hear the ocean and enjoyed a little time on the beach today with Cindee, sometimes you just miss home.

The other day I was struck with how I was sad I’m going to miss late August-October weather. That is always my favorite time of year. I’m also a bit sad that I won’t be going back to school in the fall. Nerd alert! This is ironic cause I wasn’t one to necessarily love school was I was there, but that’s how it works sometimes I guess. More school is in the future though, so I’m thinking I should just enjoy the break.

Although I still have four more months here, my mind keeps fast-forwarding to my return. I try and calculate finances and living situations and time lines. I really shouldn’t cause there isn’t much I can do about things right now.

This week was a nice one with the kids. Tata– who does a lot of the housekeeping– asked me where I was going one morning. Apparently I was smiling a lot. I think I’m just looking forward to the next couple weeks. It gets lonely here.

I’m excited about things that I’m learning right now, about myself and the church and God. The other night I felt really alive and excited about life…like I’d suddenly just come into my own somehow. Perhaps I’ve been watching too much Oprah.

The kids keep me smiling and working and hyper-ventilating.. so things are about where they should be I imagine. Siya is the one who keeps me on my toes lately. We’ll be either having a really good hour or a bad one. Friday I found him unscrewing the gate in the back yard. He’s pretty funny that boy.

I can’t remember if I mention this, but it looks like I’ll be homeschooling Siya come mid-July. So…if any of you guys have any good activities in mind for a little Grade One boy with the mind of an evil-genius, let me know.

The last week of July Ruth has kindly offered to give me a break and I’m hoping that Keith and I will be able to see a bit of the country. That’s exciting for me. Denise, who is one of Ruth’s committee members and a very pleasant lady, is a travel agent so she’s working on letting me know what some of my options are on a limited budget.

In other musings—Africa is a sad place. The news the other night got me so angry. Zimbabwe is South Africa’s neighboring country, and if you follow international news at all you’ll know that it is a huge political mess right now. There is an upcoming election, a president turned dictator who refuses to relinquish power, an opposition leader in prison and people being killed. The UN issued a report that said in the next year half the population will be on the brink of starvation. Many of Zimbabwe’s people are coming illegally to South Africa in an attempt to survive. I’ve met a few of them, and they are–from what I can see–remarkable people.

Johnson, my friend from Zimbabwe, has showed me a few things he’s written about his experiences. He’s a pretty remarkable writer. Very poetic.

We’ve had heavy rain for a lot of the week. It’s caused some major flooding in the area. Ten people were killed on Monday. I saw on the news people just standing. They had just lost their homes and all their belongings and they just had to stand there cause there was nothing left.

What a heartbreaking place.

Jake-face is learning baseball. He’s adorable. I love him. I try not to have favorites though ;)

Cindee’s flat.

Siya, Mary and Jake in the pool. I happen to think this little floating shell is really cool!

I made the kids (Simon and Siya) bow and arrows of sorts. I’m pretty cool like that. Here we are being a little crazy.

Here we are in the storage closet. That door you see leads outside and is a bit porous. I try not to think about spiders.

Here is Miss Mary Moo and myself. I love this girl. We were making crumpets in the kitchen. We’re sassy girls.

Here I am in the kitchen. This is the spot where I started an impressive grease fire. :) You see…I’m a little tentative as I begin my preparations for supper. I cook for the four kids, Ruth, myself and her two teenagers. I’m a regular chef. It’s good times cause there is rarely much to cook with. Creative city.

It’s Durban baby, everyone surfs here!
This is Ruth’s annoying Jack Russel that they got a few days before I left last time I was here. We have a mostly indifferent relationship. I don’t like Jack Russels. I feel that she senses this.

The Salinas have informed that the previous owners of the land we are moving to worshiped snakes and had several altars to them. Apparently there are poisonous snakes in the lawn? Play time should be interesting.

Also, Ruth has found a construction company (steel frame development) that will allow us to buy their materials (and an instruction manual?) to build the volunteer cottage ourselves. Should be interesting. By ourselves—I do not mean me personally—but some people from the church. This will cut down costs and it looks like we now have enough funds to build the fencing and the cottage, minus electrical and plumbing.

It should be up, optimistically by sometime in August. This is a good step for Sinakekele. They can’t take babies til the Salina’s move out of the garage area, which will be turned into the nursery. This is in April, but the volunteer cottage was a much needed step forward so they will have accomadations for volunteers as soon as the baby house is ready.

I don’t think I will ever actually live in the cottage, since its probably not ideal being alone in a separate building in this area of the world, but I can still be happy :) We’ll see.

Ruth also won a local bank’s “local hero” competition and won us about R10 000. That was nice. :)

Cindee has posted a short blurb on her blog.

She has posted several photos and well…there is evidence that I’m still alive. The first photo is the view from Cindee’s apartment (flat) where I retreat on the weekends. Lakar eh? Lakar being South African for pretty good. Look how bilingual I’m becoming!

The second photo is of me and some crayfish. These, unfortunatly I did not hunt personally. Also, I’d also like to clarify that these are not lobster. I was confused. They are different, but look very similiar and taste just about amazing.

The third photo was taken just Tuesday night at the cell group meeting at Cindee’s apartment. Here I can be seen with some of the locals ;) Including my good friend Johnson from Zimbabwe who wants me to help him make a book of poetry. He’s actually a pretty good poet. It’s nice to have a writing nerd around.

Anyways. So now you know I’m here. I’m still working on getting an address of the farm—but I’m not sure if they actually get mail. As we are moving, here is the new address you can send all your nice cards too.

It’s a permanent P.O. Box that Ruth has, and pretty secure. I feel like a few letters may have got lost in the mail that were sent to the other address. Here it is:

Maria Vermeer
c/o Ruth Grobler
P.O. Box 22582
Glenashley
4022
Kwazulu-Natal
South Africa

I also want to thank everyone who has donated so far. My mom informs me that we’ve raised about $700 and I know a lot of you who wanted to donate are still going to do that :) Just remember to e-mail my mom at gevermeer@sympatico.ca when you do.

Well. Cheers for now!

Well, it looks like change is the key word of the next few months in South Africa. Since I last wrote, my situation has changed drastically, which is one reason why I haven’t been able to write.

After my first week here Cindee, the volunteer who I was living with, decided to leave the ministry. She has been serving on and off for about four years so this was a big decision for her. This had quite an impact on my time here since we were living together, and she was also my source of transportation, and access to a computer.

Since then I’ve had to move into Ruth’s house. It’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t served here, but this is quite difficult to adjust to. It’s a loud, chaotic, and small house—and there isn’t really a bedroom for me so I’ve been living in a small storage area off of the kitchen. Also, since I haven’t decided whether I want to drive—there are lots of things to consider—I’m basically house-bound Monday to Friday.

All of this took some adjusting to. The prospect of living with Cindee, having someone over the age of seven to talk to, and having a space for myself was easy to get excited about, and these changes have been hard. Fortunately Cindee has kindly offered to let me stay with her on the weekends, so I have a little retreat once a week.

Despite the rocky beginning, I’ve settled into a routine. I have the mornings to myself and then take care of the kids when they come home from school around noon. I think my friends got a kick out of hearing that one of my favorite parts of the day is making supper and watching Oprah while the kids are taking a bath. This 30 min of the day is a little oasis for me.

The kids keep me running and they are all lets say, vibrant personalities, but despite what sometimes seems like a constant battle of wills. (Lucky for them I wrote the book on being stubborn). There are always moments in the day that make the battle worth it.

The kids will be on school holiday soon, for about three weeks, and that will kick things up to a whole new level of crazy.

We are moving to the new land on June 28th. I have a bedroom in this house! This is a step up. We’re still waiting on funding to come in for the fencing and security so that the volunteer accommodations can be built. I’m not sure if I will see this during my stay, but I’m hoping. J Although, I’m not certain, seeing that I’m all on my own as a volunteer, that I’ll want to stay separate from the main house all by myself.

Don’t feel so bad to me though. I had a fabulous night last night. Cindee’s friend from the church, Rudi, picked me up and took me to their cell group where they made a fabulous meal and I got to sit around, eat, and chat with some new South African friends. The night culminated in five of us singing every song imaginable, in terrible, terrible voices, driving all over Durban…even the sketch parts, dropping people back at their homes. I had a great time. I’m in South Africa!

Moving is going to be a huge change. We’ll be about thirty min out of the city. The difference is astounding. It’s the difference between moving from Beverley Hill to, well, what you’d picture when I say AFRICA.

Pastor Christopher and Joanna Salina, who are from the States, will also be staying on he land til they move back to the States in March. I’m hoping I’ll be able to assist in their ministries as well, which include outreach and feeding schemes to the local community. Honestly, it’s a whole different world out there. Poverty and AIDS cannot be ignored. Pastor Salina says that people in the community consider that if someone dies at age thirty, they have lived a full life.

The day we move Keith also arrives for a little over a month. I guess its taken for granted that I’d be excited, but to top all of that off I’m going to just love to have someone around to help out with the kids. Also, seeing three of the four children I look after are boys, it’ll be good for those boys to have a guy around.

Well…what else to say? I think the bottom line is that there are days when I struggle with why I’m here. This country is full of needs, and its hard to see my place in all of that, since I take care of four children. Still, I think when it comes down to it, people and opportunities are placed in our lives. We can spend all our time wondering what is best to spend our time doing. The bottom line is we can go and help the people we know, and the needs that are in front of us.

I’m hoping to also help the Salinas, form some relationships in the new community we are moving to, and exploring working at some other ministries during October. In the meantime, I’m trying to pour some love into these four kids. They need it as much as anyone.