The End To A Great Week

Last night we stayed out way too late! The soccer game was the craziest thing we have ever experienced. Think HBCU homecoming at Freaknic during Mardis Gras. C R A Z Y. There were people everywhere dressed up, blowing horns, wearing wigs and trying to snatch our tickets from us. We had to have a few men in the group walk behind us to make sure we weren't too badly harassed or mugged. When we got inside there were not concession stands, instead people were frying chicken and steaks in gas powered frying pans. They looked like woks on a stand with a tank attached. The food actually looked and smelled really good, but we were cautioned not to eat it. Snack vendors walked around selling things like granola bars, onion flavored chips and the most hilarious, fried chicken flavored potato chips. We didn't try them.
There was one section of Sundowns fans who stood up throughout the entire game singing and playing African drums. There was so much excitement in that stadium. We loved it! Final score, Sundowns 0, Pirates 0.
Waking up this morning was nothing short of painful. We were exhausted and the forecast called for 90+ degree weather, clear and sunny. We stuck with the medical team and went back to the same site as yesterday. When we arrived we realized that one of our tents had been stolen. Since were one tent short we had to set up the meds. in the luggage compartments under the bus and work from there in the hot sun. It wasn't fun but we managed. We filled a few hundred prescriptions today and at times it was very busy.
We were able to spend about an hour working with the shoe ministry. It was a deep cover operation to scope out kids and adults with no shoes and inconspicuously pull them aside to wash their feet and fit them for shoes. As we washed their feet we talked to them about Jesus and explained that we were there to show the love of Jesus by serving them. It was powerful. We gave away several pairs but we just couldn't provide shoes for everyone. One little girl went home to tell her mother ad her twin sister about her shoes. They returned wanting shoes. The mother said the second daughter had been crying because she didn't have a pair. We had to turn them away. It was so hard.
Speaking of shoes, Connie now has a brand new pair of tackies (gym shoes). We saw her at church tonight and she was so anxious to show us. Someone from the shoe ministry hooked her up. She was so happy.
We shut down the clinic around 4 pm. We were somewhat encouraged that only twenty of the seventy five people tested for HIV were positive with none of them being children. Yesterday over half of those tested were positive.
We ended the day with worship at Charity and Faith. After worship we gathered outside where about 80 people were baptized. It was very exciting and such a blessing to witness.

We had dinner under a tent where we met our host families to say our goodbyes. It was good to see Lebo again. She has such a fun-loving spirit and she made it so hard to say goodbye.

Tomorrow we will go to an African market and then to the airport.
Our work is done in Mamelodi, but just for now. I have a feeling we will be back.

We will be home soon............

We Are Convinced That We Can Do Anything

Today we decided to take a chance and do something different. We were invited to join the medical team. We were given scrubs to make us look official and loaded onto a bus to head out to one of the squatter villages. When we arrived we unloaded the supplies and set up a wait room, a triage, an HIV clinic, an exam room and a pharmacy under tents. We worked in the pharmacy. Our first assignment was to count out Tylenol and ibuprofen, put it into bottles, and label it. Then it got crazy and we went straight from pharmacy techs to pharmacists. The real doctors wrote out the prescriptions and we filled everything from ibuprofen to amoxocillin, to cipro, to ointments. We also had to give vitamins and toothpaste to every patient and counsel them on how to take their meds. We had to encourage patients to be tested for HIV. That was the hardest part. Some just refused to to it and it was apparent that they were afraid.
Daisia was amazing and she looks so natural in scrubs. When she stared counseling patients on their meds. it gave me chills to watch her. The patients and doctors are amazed that she is just twelve.
We had a fun conversation with about 10 kids outside our makeshift clinic. We told them about how cold it is in Cincinnati and about snow. They were amazed that it snows in America.

Tonight we are going to a soccer game. Mamelodi has a professional team called the Sundowns. They are playing a huge rival, the Pirates. They are not expected to win tonight.

Malea and Emorie I hope you are reading this and keeping up. We've shown your picture to everyone we've met and they want you to come to South Africa too. DJ I don't know if I can bring you because all the women think you are so cute.

Sala hantle for now,
Nyiko and Vutomi

The Sun Is Hot and God Is Good

Today we did the gardening thing again. We went back to the squatter village and tried to be a blessing to as many families as possible. There is a Mamelodian woman with us named Connie who is just so amazing. She reminds me so much of my cousin Jackie. She even looks like her. I haven't spent time with Jackie in a long time but I have been so touched by Connie. I know this is God putting Jackie on my heart. There is hope for her.
So Connie, Daisia and I dug out an entire garden by ourselves and whoa, without Connie we couldn't have done it! She just has such a servant spirit. 'We are learning from her. She has worked with us for the past two days in jelly shoes. The plastic ones that barely have a sole on them. We have been worried that she might step on a piece of glass and cut her feet but God has protected her thus far. Today she asked Daisia for her shoes because she doesn't have any gym shoes. Daisia only brought one pair. We had to say not but I'm sure you all know that we are looking for a mall :) We have to get Connie a pair of good shoes.
The first garden wore us out so we went to talk to some of the people in the neighborhood. I (Mikka) ended up helping a lady with her laundry. She was amazed that I would actually do that. It just felt right.
It is almost time for dinner and there are people waiting to use the computer so we have to be short with you all today. Know that we love you. Thank you for following the blog. It means a lot to share this experience with each of you.

Dumela, O a phea? (Hello, How are you?)

Today we started our work in the communities. Lebo our host dropped us off at the church around 8 am and we were assigned to the gardening group and put on the red team. We piled into a small van with about eight others and were taken to a community where everyone lived in shacks. There were thousands of shacks made out of salvaged materials. As we drove down the dirt roads we encountered poverty unlike anything most Americans have ever witnessed. We saw a woman lying in a tent on the ground with her three children. She had a small baby lying there completely naked and crying. We met small children with yellowed eyes who wore ill fitting, dirty clothes with no shoes. One boy could not play soccer in the road with us because he had cuts on the bottom his feet. There was trash everywhere and the dirt roads were littered with everything from discarded food to paper and feces. The people dumped their trash in their front yards. It was so dirty.
Despite the condition of the surroundings, the people seemed very happy. They were especially happy when they discovered that we were there to plant gardens for free. Today our team planted five gardens. It was hard work! We first had to dig a trench two feet deep. While some of the team , the others collected discarded food, dry grass, paper and egg shells to use as compost. When the plot was dug we covered the bottom with the compost, re-filled the area with the soil and then planted cabbage and spinach seedlings. Then we surrounded the gardens with rocks and prayed over the garden. It was a true labor of love.
We broke for lunch around mid day and headed back to the church. When we arrived, we met up with Titus (not the pastor) and he gave us African names. Mikka is now Niyko (Nee-e-ko), it means "gift". Daisia is now Vutomi, it means "life". We received our names because we are giving the gift of ourselves to Mamelodi. He specifically said that I brought Daisia to them to share her as a gift because she represents life. Deep huh? They love Daisia.
After we receiving our names we caught back up with our group and left to do home visits in the community close to the church. We visited the poor and sick to give them food parcels and to pray for them. It was amazing to feel such freedom to just go out and love on people and to know that they were open and receptive to our love.
We love these beautiful people of God!!!!!

Love you all,
Nyiko and Vutomi

Need Prayer? Come to Africa!

Talk about being blessed! We spent six hours in church on Sunday. First we worshiped at the Charity and Faith main church. This church is very large and seats over one thousand people. Church was packed, church was live, church was nothing short of a worship fest! The pastor preached two complete sermons over the three hour period and the worship team sang the most beautiful songs. Some were in English and some were not. We later found out that while we thought the service was done in two languages (Pastor Titus had a man named Moses up front with him translating the message for those who did not speak English), Moses was actually alternating speaking about four other languages. After worship at the Charity main church we went to one of the branch churches a few miles away. There we experienced another three hour service that was very different. Jet lag caught up with us during the second service so we went outside to play with the children who were hanging out around the church. It was a sight to see Daisia racing a little six year old through the dirt in her skirt and flats. It was quite an experience.
After church we prepared to spend Sunday night with an African family. We were paired with a 27 year old woman named Kelebogile. She is a member of the worship team at the main church and she was so much fun! When she found us a the church there were about four other people who were really sad because they were hoping to have Daisia overnight. One lady asked us to split up for the night because she wanted Daisia to stay with her and her daughter. It has been so funny to see how the people of Mamelodi are so drawn to us, especially Daisia, because they say we look like Mamelodians. Several women have asked if they can have her as their daughter.
We visited Kelebogile's parents George and Mpho and met her sister Kamagelo and her brother Katlego. After our visit we met up with Kelebogile's friends at Pastor Titus' former residence. It was a huge estate with a large house and three guest houses. Every house had a thatched roof. We were a little freaked out when we realized that there were no ceilings in the house, only the very tall, vaulted thatched roof. The bedrooms smelled like grass but it was very beautiful and pretty exotic. We ate dinner with Kelebogile, her friends and the Americans they were hosting there. We talked about their excitement with Barack Obama and African politics. After dinner we stayed up most of the night laughing and talking with Kelebogile who we call Lebo. It was a great experience and everyone was so welcoming.

Ke a Leboha (thank you) to all of you for giving us this opportunity. We are blessed to have friends and family who love us!

Before The Hard Work Begins...........

Dumela (Hello)!
Today was pretty amazing. While we did come here to work and to serve the people of Mamelodi, we also had the opportunity to experience South Africa before we get our hands dirty. After a 6:30 am breakfast we went to the Apartheid Museum. There we learned a lot about the history of South Africa and how Apartheid came about. To just think that a country which is largely populated by black people (90%) could be governed under a social structure that oppressed the black majority is just mind blowing.
After the museum we drove about three hours over the river and through the bush to a gamepark where we went on a safari tour. It was cool. A large portion of the park was formed when a volcano erupted over 1 million years ago and the imploded (it caved in and went crashing down in the middle). It formed the most beautiful landscape complimented by mountains and lakes. Wild elephants, lions, giraffe, zebra, rhinos and other animals live there protected from poachers.
God must have been in a really good mood when he created Africa because this place is a work of art!
Tomorrow we get to attend two church services in Mamelodi and spend the night with an African family. We can't wait!
Loving Africa and loving you all :)

We Have Arrived!!

We've made to to South Africa! The plane ride was very long but in all not too bad. When we loaded in Atlanta we realized that the 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter was on board. President Carter walked through the entire plane and shook everyone's hand! One passenger asked him "Mr. Carter, what are you doing on our flight?" He replied "funny, I thought this was my flight. I'm just going to South Africa like you." It was pretty cool.
So we are here in Jo-burg and this place is beautiful. As our flight approached the Jo-burg airport we could see miles upon miles of beautiful, lush green land. The airport looked just like an American airport and all of the signs were in English.
After we cleared customs, we were greeted by about fifty South Africans cheering, holding signs, dancing and blowing horns. We were greeted with hugs and the traditional greeting "you are blessed." Several of our brothers and sisters welcomed us "home" to Africa. We are home, it feels like home, everyone looks like us here and they seem so happy to have us here. This is going to be a great trip!

We are on our way!!!

We left Cincinnati at 10 am and we have arrived in Atlanta. the Atlanta airport is very hot and extremely crowded! We have met up with other Go groups who arrived in Altanta via other flights. We will all travel to Africa together. There are about 100 of us. all in Red go Mamelodi t-shirts. Other travelers are slowing down to read our shirts, trying to figure out who we are and where we are going. We are ready to fly!!! Our flight leaves at 3:45 pm. Pray, pray, pray that we dont lose our minds on the plane for the next 15 hours!!!! First stop is Johannesburg. Sala Hantle for now.......thats good bye in Sotho.

We are finally packed and ready to go. We have to get up early tomorrow morning to make it to the airport at 7 am. We are traveling with close to two hundred people so we are fully expecting to walk into organized chaos tomorrow. Our flight will leave from the Cincinnati Airport (which is actually located in Northern Kentucky) and take us to Atlanta. After a short stay in Atlanta we are off to Africa. Our total travel time will be 24 long hours! That's a long time in the air. If we can stick to the plan and sleep the first part of the flight from Atlanta to Africa we will do better with jet lag. When we arrive in South Africa it will be 5 pm (7 hours ahead of Cincinnati). Hopefully we will be worn out when we get there and sleep well the first night.

The countdown begins......

Today is Tuesday, November 18 and we will be leaving for Mamelodi South Africa in just about 48 hours! We packed most of our things this weekend and finished all our shots (ouch!). The final count on shots for the trip [ Daisia 3, Mikka 6]. We have exchanged our US dollars for Rand and now we only have the fine details to work out. I pods need to be loaded, magazines need to be packed, cameras have to be checked and we still need to get our very important mosquito repellent. We will spend the next two nights checking and rechecking our bags to make sure we have everything we need for the trip. Africa here we come!!!!