Sunday, February 26, 2006

Trip to AIDs hospice and orphanage
-- December 24th 2005

[Here is our long promised blog site! We finally got our DSL internet connection, so we hope this is the first in a long line of posts! We will be sharing some older news so that we can post photos and then we will be up to date and can get on with new developments. God bless you all!]


The day before Christmas I was able to visit an AIDs hospice and orphange where some of our friends have been helping over the last few years. It was a life-changing experience and one that I would like to share with you.

Our first stop was at an AIDs hospice where we were able to deliver donated food items as well as sing Christmas carols for the staff and patients. At this hospice they are testing a new herbal treatment that was developed here in South Africa. So far the results have been very positive and this project recently received a grant from Family Care Foundation to continue their studies. Unfortunately, there is not enough funding at the moment to provide all of the patients with the treatment so when we arrived, we found that several of them had recently died. The lady who runs the hospice was in tears about this developement but was very thankful to see us. The patients that were able to receive the treatment were not there as they were well enough to be visiting relatives over the Christmas holiday. Below are some photos of us delivering food and of the children singing and doing their best to bring cheer into the hearts of those we did meet.

Delivering food at the Hospice

Singing Christmas carols

Some of the surrounding houses

Standing in front of one of the traditional round Zulu houses
Off to the Orphanage

The next part of our trip was such an experience that it will be hard to find words to express. The children at this orphanage were so sweet and thankful for all that we were able to give them. Even though it was so little in our eyes, it was a huge blessing to them. On the way we stopped and bought ice cream and cones and met up with an Indian South African family who had bought toys for the children. When we arrived there were 2 other South African fellows who brought hotdogs and chips for all of the children. The children were all lined up nicely and politely to get their hotdogs and once they had them they devoured them with a relish (and some ketchup too!).
Each of the kids got a toy.

It's hard for us to fathom how much it means to them.

After that we unoaded some more donated fruits and vegetables and the children helped us to carry it in to the kitchen.

We then gathered inside a small room (very hot and crowded!) to sing to them Christmas carols and to share the true story of Christmas. Many of the children and staff prayed to recieve Jesus and you could see the light on their faces!

We then gave out the toys and ice cream. The children and staff were very grateful and we had a wonderful time talking to and playing with them. They really appreciated the company and someone to talk to and they just soaked up all of the love!

This guy adopted me the whole time, following me everywhere.
Sweet guy! Remember these kids are orphans!
It meant so much to them that we came.

I was able to take lots of photos and would like to share them all with you, but have had to pull out the best ones due to time and space--and I'm sure you appreciate me saving your time as well!

Here they are:



There is more on this project at the Family Care Foundation. http://www.familycare.org/network/f11.htm

We worked with FCF for close to ten years.

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