I am still absolutely loving Africa! Im having so much fun living in a hut with 14 other girls, taking bucket showers, hand washing all my clothes, being swarmed by dozens of kids and being woken up at 5 am by heards of cows! Well maybe not that last one, but everything else I really am liking and learning a lot from .J The other day, my friend Jill and I went to the Mangwananei care point in Manzini. Before we even got there kids came running down the street as fast as they could and just jumped on us! We were seriously carrying about three kids at once, and even then more kids were still trying to jump up on us and hold our hands and hug us! We both tried telling them, “ We can only carry one at a time! “ But it was like they didn’t hear us. They all just wanted so despratley to hold our hands and be hugged and held. There was one girl there who was so excited to see us and so hyper, that after about half an hour she got so tired and ended up falling asleep on my back pack like it was a pillow. I caught myself wondering why these kids are so happy to see us every time when they don’t even know us. Kids back home are never ever this excited to see complete strangers. Through out thistrip I have come to realize that the reason they love us so much is that for so many of them, we are the only source of affection that they ever get. These kids are so desperate for someone to hold them and make them feel loved that they will actually get into fights over who gets to sit on your lap, and that you can make a difference in their lives just byholding them for a few minutes. You don’t have to say anything, or do anything. Just sit there and hold them for a short time. And that is one of the best feelings in the world, not just for them but for you too.
Everything else is going so well down here JThe bugs here are huge though. Sometimes there are spiders in our bathrooms that are the size of my hand, its really gross. Last saturday we went on a hike and climbed execution rock J It was so cool to see wild Zebras run right out in the trail in front of us on the way up. The view at the top is sooo beautiful. J
Ok the end, ill keep you all posted and have more stories next week!
