exhausted yet excited :)

The last two days have been hectic. Yesterday we had our meeting with the volunteers for the sports clinic. One thing that is really impressive to me is all the ways that Kidz Africa (Sharon’s organization) empowers the community. One of these ways is having older kids from the community step up as leaders and volunteer for the sports clinic. These particular volunteers have been fed through an afterschool sports school that is especially for the impoverished communities so they have had extensive training which is great for putting on the clinic. At the meeting we broke up into groups according to the sport we would be teaching. Each day, the kids will rotate from sport to sport, traveling along with kids of their same age. The four sports that we will focus on are field hockey, netball, soccer and volleyball. Volleyball is kind of a random sport to offer in a clinic in South Africa but I am thankful because it’s my favorite game. I got to know the other volunteers a little bit in my group and they are some funny fellows. It was difficult to understand them sometimes but a smile always seems to suffice when that happens. I can’t wait to work with them.

After the meeting, Calvin and I went to Pick N Pay (a local grocery store) to try to scope out the prices for bread. Calvin was trying to get a hold of the manager to try to ask for a discount but meanwhile we continued to look at bread. As we were circling the different breads and discussing the numbers, a man overheard us and asked us if we were trying to buy bread in bulk. At this time the manager walked up so Calvin went off to try to negotiate while I continued to talk to the fellow shopper (named Karl). I immediately picked up that he was American from his accent and was quite excited! He told me about a bakery at a place called “Living Way” that usually gives deals for community projects like this. He gave me some names to drop and the location. Soon after, Calvin and I rejoined and we both had promising info in hand (he had the email address of the marketing director of Pick N Pay of South Africa). We left in high hopes and spent the rest of the evening dining with my new friend, Claire, and her lovely mom.

This morning marked the beginning of the longest grocery shopping adventure I’ve ever been on. It would have been even longer without the help of our logistic genius, Rene. She not only is super good with doing calculations in her head but also has an awesome GPS app on her phone that talks with ridiculous lingo. We went to Living Way first thing and I was blown away by what they do. They are situated right next to Masiphumelele (one of the communities we will be working in) and offer classes about business and general life skills. They basically give the tools to people to succeed outside of their community. Economic development is something that I am really interested in so I would like to go back and chat with them in more depth. They also had a huge garden and bakery and I’m sure lots more. We weren’t there for long but they cut us a great deal. I think it is just incredible that when Calvin and I were talking (not that loudly either) about the bread in the store, Karl, a perfect stranger overheard us and pointed us to Living Way. God has a special way with timing.

The bread was only the first step. We had several hiccups and also several great encounters. We spent a bit of time trying to find a butchery that had halal meat since there is a Muslim population within the communities (halal means no pork/not been touched by pork). It is so important to know about the different religious or cultural customs so that we don’t have the dilemma of the kids not getting to eat. Once Calvin told the butchery that it was for a sports clinic for the community, they gave us a really good deal.

We also had fun filling baskets up with apples…but what was even better were the looks on people’s faces.

Overall it was an exhausting day. I have been becoming pretty good at collecting receipts and bookkeeping. It’s like a puzzle to find the best deals but also get quality. I forgot to clue you in to what we’ll be providing for the kids.

In the morning they will get a peanut butter sandwich, a fruit and juice snack in the middle of the clinic and two meat and mayo sandwiches to have for lunch and take home. We’ve been told that this will probably be the most food that many of them ever get in a day. I pray that it be a blessing to them.

Tomorrow is the big day. We need all the prayers we can get!! It is going to be chaotic but exciting. I need prayers for connecting with my fellow volunteers and having tons of energy to keep up with the kids :)