South Africa Adventures: Mmm the days are numbered..

Well, it is a friday night here in South Africa.. I am sitting here working on a 7-10 page paper for our Community Engagement class,.. with people who were once strangers or just peers and familiar faces from APU, now they have become brothers and sisters, and just amazing friends. I have just been reflecting on that lately, our little community is just bomb dig, of course we have some bumps in the road, but they are so minimal. Everyone here has been such a blessing and I have so enjoyed getting to know these beautiful individuals and experiencing once and a life time adventures. It still seems unreal to me..., like it is a dream and we just got here. I can still remember getting on the plane and our first day in Joburg touring Soweto and then driving up to African Enterprise on a bumpy road in the dark..and waking up to waterfalls..and living in pretty legit chalets..now we have just become immune to all the bugs, monkeys, and lizards..Mmmmm so much joy and love in this place. No one wants to leave..ahaha and know one wants to work on this paper. I have probably tried to write it tonight 3 consecutive times and keep getting distracted, therefore I decided to blog.

Mmmmmm we are leaving Pietermaritzburg on the 6th of April, which I thought was so far away, but keep creeping up on us.. Only 2 weeks left here and then we head to Cape Town, which I am super stoked for, but I guess mixed emotions only 6 more full days of service sites and working at Riv' Life.. time~ where have thou gone~ I say this a lot , but I could honestly stay here for another season of life or at least all summer, but I know that God has other plans for me back home this summer, but trusting and letting go of the future continually, because a lot of things are up in the air for this summer...it's all good though.

Moving forward, yesterday we had class all day with Francis, it was long, but really interesting and awesome to hear from the other 3 sites and how their service sites are going and being run. We all shared stories, laughs, and tears, as God is constantly breaking us, molding, stretching, teaching, humbling, and so much more as we experience new things every day. It was a lot to take in though.

Later in the night, it was a spur of the moment to go on a night hike in the reserve with our head lamps. It is not the safest place to go at night, but we only have so many more nights to venture out there. I went with some beautiful sisters of mine here. It was a little scary at first because there is so many noises and bugs flying everywhere, we kept saying how we were going to have to use are defensive skills.. ahaha I am glad we didn't. Anyways we just walked under the blanket of stars and the brilliant moon and debriefed about what God has been teaching us here in Africa and specifically in service sites. We shared how our hearts are just breaking in the many different things we are seeing each day and the people we are interacting with. It is the feeling that you just want to cry, but are not sure why you want to cry.., So many questions to ask and to seek out, but then being in awe of a God who brings Hope in the darkest place and hour of life...We stopped and prayed to our Abba father about everything that was on our heart for the Kingdom, our future, the present, the brokeness of the world, Revival, our service sites, the people we meet, breaking down of tradition, and so everything in between... Last night was probably one of my favorite night/walk/star gazing/prayer times with some beautiful girls~ who have the heart of God and are gems. Blessed.

Now, Today...// I really should be writing my paper..somehow it will get done..//

At our service site our whole group of Riv' Life got to go to the HIV-aids women support group again. This time we got to buy some of the aprons and bracelets they make part time to support themselves. It was such a blessing again to be in the presence of these women. Today we got to play with their kids as well. I am finding out more and more that I really love kids, even if we can barley communicate. Mmmm we had a fun time together, who knew crayons and paper could go along way and bring so much joy. Beautifully created children in the image of God. After we hung out with the kids for awhile, we met with the ladies again and just had a good time talking about life and our joys and pains, and laughing, dancing, and singing..and eating Zulu bread= which is the best thing ever.. this is why I have to run so much here..ahaha. Words can't explain the time we had today, but it was FULL...my heart is full.

After we got back from visiting with the women, we had a meeting with the director of Riv' Life, a man named Chris. WE just all sat in his office and debriefed about what has been going on, what we are observing, learning, and just questions about the NGO (organization) itself. Side note// Chris is also a pastor he leads with such humility and out of faith that God will provided the resources necessary to keep Riv' Life a float and be a lighthouse in the community. He does so much it is crazy. It is a blessing to be working under a man with such wisdom and insight. We discussed many of the social problems that South Africa is facing especially in the townships, and focussing on Cinderella township. One the biggest struggles obviously is aids, Riv' Life is working hard to help prevent this cycle and prepare and educate the youth, to rise a new generation that will help transform the township way of life. We talked a lot about how to most things in SA there is a good and bad thing to everything, for example SA has excelled in the fact that babies that are born from a mother who has HIV-aids positive, there is only a 0-5% that they will carry the virus, which is such a great thing. However, the children parents will eventually die, this is harvesting a population of orphans..So what is going to happen to all these parentless children?? And education is another story too.. so many things are racing through my head, but there are many issues that South Africa is working on.. the government is going through things too, so the leadership on top trickles down to even the townships..Anyways I am just rambling now..

There is so much I am learning, but it is getting late and the paper is calling my name..

Here is my amazing Riv' Life team. Yebo! Mmm enjoying every moment here, praying for a restful weekend and to be revived for the next 2 weeks to maximize my time at the service sites as we continually be the love of Christ..and as I enjoy and live into the last 2 weeks of being at African Enterprise in PMB.

Blessings to all of you who read this..Miss you all wish you could be on this adventure with me, God is so good, his Hope gives strength~

Shalom & Love,

Sarah RAe