"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!"