The Little Things

Hello Again!

This second week in Cape Town was enjoyable again! I was able to spend 3 days at Kuyasa preparing and organizing curriculum, painting and tutoring a little bit. I've discovered how much time it actually takes to get a huge ministry like Kuyasa up and running after the Holiday break!

Big lesson from this week: Just because you think it's small and insignificant, doesn't mean it actually is.
Sive (Kuyasa's sports coordinator) needed me to create a flyer advertising Kuyasa's opening day for the sports program to be distributed throughout Kayamandi. I agreed to see what I could do and created a VERY simple thing in Word with a tiny bit of color and 2 clip art pictures from Word's library. It was so incredibly simple and not exciting. I was a little embarrassed that it was the best I could do when I called Sive over to look at it. His response surprised me..."Sister, this is perfect! Thank you so much! I did not know it was possible to make something this beautiful here at Kuyasa!" I responded with a skeptical, "are you serious?" thinking I might not be able to pick up on the sarcasm with his accent. But he assured me it was absolutely perfect. It was something I considered small and insignificant but was received as a great service and contribution to Kuyasa. It really is true that the small deeds are some of the most significant and can, in fact, make a difference. I've tried to take the mindset now to seek out whatever small thing I can do to encourage a kid or make the permanent staff have an easier day.
Sive also has recruited me as the leading candidate as a girl's basketball coach. I hope I'll actually get to coach because it would be so much fun!

Other highlights of the week:
I coached a grade 4 boy in long jump. The school was having a field day and he was participating in the high jump, long jump, shot put and 5K...quite the combo! When I heard this I obviously perked up and he agreed to go outside with me and show me his stuff. I may be a terrible long jumper but I know what it is supposed to look like! I gave him a few pointers and we had a competition where he may or may not have beaten me!
I also was able to spend some time at the beach yesterday just taking in the surroundings. And, again, the pale American got burned from the African sun...one of these days I'll remember to put sunscreen on!
I've also attempted to improve my Afrikaans, with little to no success, and added Xhosa to my language goals. Xhosa is the language blacks speak in this region. It involves a lot of clicks and is a REALLY tough language to learn.
Finally, I got up just before 5:00am Friday morning to watch the sunrise and spend some quiet time just myself, my Bible and the donkey and rooster who made their presence known! Watching the world wake up was a great blessing :)

This coming week I'm going to Kuyasa Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Tomorrow I'm going to begin tutoring 1, but maybe up to 4, guys who failed their grade 12 math exam and need to pass it to get a job. It's going to be for about an hour a day three days a week until they retake the exam in March. Monday night I'm staying with Cindy (an American and director of Kuyasa's Learning Center) and her husband so someone from Pnx doesn't have to drive to Kayamandi to pick me up. And hopefully I'll get to go to the creche at Agape this week on Wednesday.

Shout Out Section!
Keeping with the red head theme from last time, I'd like to extend an energetic hello to Jenna and Mike and, of course, Mallory, too! I hope you 3 are enjoying school and learning lots!