Smile boy smile- please!!!!

Another week goes by and again the time comes for me to find something to write here that may be mildly interesting for you all to read! Again we’ve had an amazing week where many good memories have been made. On Sunday we went to church as usual for 9.00am. The church is amazing with a congregation of at least 700 every single week. The worship is excellent (always a bonus!!) and the preaching is something I’ve never experienced before in my entire life. The Pastor is phenomenal. He is so energetic and he really knows his stuff. What’s more he knows exactly how to communicate exactly what God is putting on his heart. I’ve got so much out of his sermons already and I can’t wait every Sunday to hear what God. He is so accurate and whenever he quotes scripture he always gives the context of that particular scripture. So many times bible verses are quoted and because the context is not considered the verse is taken completely out of context so he really is refreshing! Anyway I digress. After church there was a touch rugby tournament on the rugby pitch next to the church. It was a lovely hot and sunny day but the wind was blowing so it was bearable. We just sat and watched and cheered everyone one and had a relaxing time together in the sun. It was just what I needed. Because we live at the village in amazing accommodation we effectively live where we work! I absolutely love being always so close to the children and house mums but sometimes it’s good just to get away for a bit and empty my mind completely of what’s happening at the village. Don’t misunderstand me as saying that I wish I didn’t live in the village or think that I’m being ungrateful, we all just need to totally disconnect from everything that’s going on for a while. Without a little time away from the village every now and then I don’t think I’d be enjoying my time here as much!
I’m still as involved in Baby crèche and Big Crèche as ever however in the afternoons this week I’ve been helping paint the rooms we use for crèche. Before we started painting the wall were a Salmon pink colour which we didn’t think was very child pleasing so we’ve gone for a lovely Green colour which is covering the walls nicely! Because I don’t have any old painting clothes here for obvious reasons I’ve been wearing a very attractive green dress with buttons all the way up the front. It causes quite a roar of laughter every time the house mums and external staff see me- didn’t realise I looked quite so funny! It’s been a really productive week and hopefully by the end of next week we should be just about finished. Will post finished pictures as and when!
We’ve actually had some nice weather this week so I’ve had many sessions with the children in the swimming pool. Only a few of the children are confident to swim without armbands so I only take one house at a time- i.e. only 4 children in the pool with me. They absolutely love playing and swimming in the pool- it’s such a big treat for them that they usually behave! Generally the school children are the only ones who swim however some of the big crèche kids join us if their house is swimming!
This week it’s started to hit me just how sick some of the children are and just how much we need to pray for all the children to keep fighting this horrific disease. A little boy who is 2 years old but is smaller than they average 1 year old arrived with us in August. He had clearly been very neglected but he picked up quite quickly and he started smiling quite soon after his arrival and had life in his eyes. In the last few weeks I’ve noticed him smile a lot less than he used to and that little spark in his eyes is fading fast. I really have to work hard to get his to smile. He just sits slumped over and makes no effort to interact even with the little girl that he lives with. I’m so worried that he is just giving up and isn’t willing to fight for his life anymore. He is quite clammy at the moment so I think that he has come down with something so please could you all pray for healing and for the strength to keep on fighting and keep on living. I’ve no idea what most of the children have been though in their short little lives but sometimes the pain they’ve gone through is quite visible. Sometimes the children seem to get lost in their own little world and we have no idea what they are thinking. The little boy in the pictures below demonstrates how sometimes it takes a while to get a smile back on his face…..

To carry on slightly from what I rambled on about in my last about how it seems the South African government is “burying its head in the sand” I was thinking that in the past few months actually while I’ve been here in South Africa I have watched 3 brilliant and thought provoking films which illustrate in a big way just how corrupt the whole world is and how it is the vulnerable that suffer. I’m not just talking about South Africa and not just about HIV/AIDS. “The Constant Gardner” is an amazing film which always moves me each time I watch it. In Kenya and many other developing countries we see how huge drug companies exploit and use the vulnerable to test new drugs which are still in clinical trial. These people that are used are completely coerced into taking drugs which they have no knowledge of whatsoever. It probably won’t help them in any medical way either. However, if these people refuse to take the drugs on trial they don’t receive the drugs that they actually need. Clearly the story in the film which is based on a true story is a lot more complex that this however what I have just explained is the harsh reality that hits me every time I watch. The drug companies are highly connected with many governments of the Western world and so they are also involved in this most hideous exploitation up to their necks. If people die from the side effects of these new drugs they are inhumanly disposed of in mass landfills. In this way both the drug companies and the leaders of the world have blood on their hands. But, they don’t care. They use money and power to try and wash themselves clean. Let’s face the harsh reality here that these developing countries such as South Africa and Kenya will always remain just that- developing. They will never be able to become developed like the rest of the Western world even though they strive and long for the chance to develop. The leaders of the developed world will always suffocate these people and literally keep the cork in the bottle...