I am not Mowgli

Here is a blog from June 12; this is the first chance I've had to upload it. I don't have much time now even, but please be in prayer for my team. This has been a very rough week. I don't have time to go into a lot of details, but 2 girls on our team have been robbed in 2 seperate incidents. Our spirits have all been very discouraged this week.

6/12
Today was filled with very humurous cultural moments. We drove to the schools as usual. Everything went incredibly well at today's school, Mlumati High. It was so amazing to see teenage girls teaching their peers about how very much God loves and treasures them and about how much value each one of them has as individuals. These were the main points of today's lesson on identity. On Thursdays we go back a different way than we came, since Zabiba needs to go home to Mbabane. We drive through Pigg's Peak, which is a very beautiful drive. Today they had me take a little detour, so I could see the dam. This dam is apparently the pride of the Swazis. They were so proud of the dam. They asked if the US had dams, and when I answered in the affirmative, they wanted to know how superior the Swazi dam was to all other dams I had ever seen. I assured them it was the most beautiful dam I had ever beheld, which it was. Although, I must admit, I was much more enamored with the mountains and the river and the sunset and the little waterfall (and the "Beware of Hippos" sign!) than the dam itself. It was a quality dam though.

A little while later, my ipod shuffle turned to The Beatles. I asked if they had ever heard of The Beatles. They hadn't! I had to remedy that at once, so I carefully selected my favorite Beatles songs to introduce them to each other. After about 5 songs, I asked, "Girls, do you like The Beatles so far?" They all replied ,"No." Zabiba clarified for me: "Faith, they are very white. Look at us." Oh, well, I tried...

By far though, my favorite cultural moment of the day happened as I almost turned too soon to get on the highway to Mbabane. the girls kept saying "Faith, where are we going?" and "Tell us the story." and "Faith, would you like us to be your bridesmaids?" I was so confused, and they kept saying the same questions over and over. Finally, Hlonphile asked a question that made me begin to realize what they were talking about. She said "Faith, why were you taking us to the man village?" I was astounded. A MAN VILLAGE?! Yes, folks back home, there is a MAN VILLAGE. I didn't know that phrase existed outside of "The Jungle Book." I am still not really that clear on what exactly a man village is, although it sounds eerily similar to a monastary...

"How? Hhawu!"or "Who could imagine a holiday at the sea?"

me when my feet first touched the Indian Ocean
















Monkeys at the beach! Wildlife that isn't a cow, chicken, or goat!























I am in Durban, South Africa on holiday now. This is a literal "holiday at the sea," and it is absolutely incredible. I just found out about this trip about a week ago, and I still can't believe I'm actually here. Becca and I tagged along with an aid worker friend from Loganville, Georgia named Sandra who works with Children's Cup and a Swazi girl who also works with Children's Cup named Nomthandazo (Nomty). We drove down Saturday. I had never been to the KwaZulu Natal province of South Africa before. I have enjoyed my time here immensely so far. I was in a very impulsive mood Saturday. I ended up swimming in the Indian Ocean in my clothes. Then, later that night, I slept under the stars on the veranda at the beach house at which we're staying. I can't even begin to explain how beautiful the stars were and how amazing it felt to fall asleep under them (I ended up only getting to sleep out there a few hours though due to storm winds and intense cold). I am not sure I have ever felt more sure that I was exactly where God wanted me to be. The New Living Translation of Psalm 139: 9-10 says "If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me and your strength will support me." The Indian Ocean is definitely one of the farthest oceans from Atlanta, and the truth of those words has been resonating within me very loudly the last few days.

This past week was the first week of the studies. It went very well. This week was really just the itroduction week. My favorite part of the introduction to Cherish is the footwashing. The Cherish leaders set an example of service to the girls they lead by washing their feet. It is beautiful and getting to help them wash the girls' feet was such an incredible experience. I dried the feet of all of the girls in the group I work with at the school we go to on Fridays, and then the Swazi leader turned to me and said "I think I have to wash even yours," so she washed my feet and then I washed hers.

I found out last week that Dudu is actually a little girl. She showed up in girls clothes, and I was very confused, because I'd thought Dudu was a little boy. She was wearing boyish clothes when I first met her, and then Swazie had called her "he." Becca told me that SiSwati doesn't have he/she pronouns, so there is a lot of confusion in Enlgish with he/she pronouns. I am not going to take pictures at the care points for a little. I want to be able to really get to know the kids before taking pictures of them, and kids swarm when there is a camera around.

I had a very amusing cultural realization this week. I had noticed that when I was talking to Swazis, they often responded by saying "How?" It never seemed to make much sense to ask that question in the context of what had been said, but it seemed rude not to answer. I always fumbled for an answer while the Swazi looked at me with a kind of bemused "Why is she still talking?" kind of look. Sometimes they would say "How" in response to my answer. It was like the way some of my kids at work ask "Why?" and it didn't really make much sense. I finally asked Becca, and it turns out that what I thought was "How?" is actually the SiSwati response expression of awe or surprise "Hhawu!"