Painted Palms

 

This week we accomplished a project that has been on my mind since I arrived in South Africa! At the entrance of CATCH, there is a large metal water tank that is a light yellow color. With hundreds of children running around this place, surely we could find a way to add some more color to that tank. With painted palms, the kids high fived the tank over and over again.They loved it! I was trying to decide if I should be an artist Nazi and tell the kids they can only put TWO handprints on, or just say… “This is your canvas, go at it!” I went with the latter, and they definitely went all out! There are lots and lots of handprints on that tank, but they enjoyed every moment of it.

Four more “sleeps” and Mom arrives! My housemate used that word yesterday and I thought it was the cutest thing! Apparently, that’s how they countdown here, they say “sleeps” instead of “days”. It’s been five months but I’m still learning lots! I’ve been receiving daily calls about people willing to donate decorations, dresses and time. We have reached the lowest necessary amount of dress donations – 30! Donations are still coming in!! Tomorrow I am meeting with a woman that has offered to decorate all the tables with flowers and center pieces. I’m happy to still receive dress donations, it’s nice to have a buffer for finding appropriate sizes.

This week is an emotional muddle because I have to start saying goodbyes to a select groups and peoples. I spent Thursday morning with the kids from Masikhanye Women’s Group and couldn’t work up the heart to say goodbye. I just decided that Mom will have to come visit them with me next week. Spending time with those kids is one of the highlights of my week! Thursday night I said goodbye to reading club – and was called a princess! It was so cute. The boys in reading club wrote down what they enjoy most about reading club and one of them said, “I like the teachers… Mama Frances, Auntie Pat and Princess Emilee.” The other teachers and myself were reading through them later and had a nice laugh at that one.

More and more and more and more dresses!!

It’s officially winter in South Africa, and summer in Minnesota. Today, their temperatures were the same. Although, it actually does get chilly here, I wore booties and took a blanket with me to visit a neighbor tonight.

The next two weeks are PACKED and they are quickly approaching :D

My favorite time of the day!