Tuesday, September 30, 2008

wait... what? i'm in swaziland?

sometimes it is so crazy to think... I'm in Africa? It hits me randomly. I love it. so i got a chance to go up to Bulembu. It is very pretty up that way. We ran over a baby green mamba (aka very poisonous little snake!) no big deal. School today (Monday) went extremely well. I think that I made a lot of progress in math (here they say maths which ends up sounding like mats) with one of the kids. Tomorrow i will be teaching by myself in the morning. 5 kids. just me. haha. its awesome. Today is my dad's birthday. Happy birthday dad! :D
Currently i'm at an internet cafe so that i can upload pictures. i hope it works. if so... check out my facebook and if you don't have one get one or find someone who does. :D haha.
ok much love. peace.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

one long blog

Alrightttttt! More blog!!! Woooohoooo. Here we go!

(I know it is a long blog but if you stick with it it’ll be worth it and you’ll understand a lot more about where I am and what I’m doing! READ IT!)

First off… let me explain things a little more…

Okay… I live at Hawane Lighthouse Farm. On location… there are 8 orphan homes. Each home has a house mother (1 or 2 have adult guys) and they have anywhere from 5-8 orphans (some are their own children but most were brought here by social services.) Most of the house parents are widows or were left by their husband. Each orphan has a little plot of land/garden area. The farm is self-sustaining. They have vegetable gardens, catfish ponds, and rabbits. We get water from a spring in Emafini. Emafini is about 30 minutes away and is where the men’s teen challenge is located. It is also where Potter’s Wheel (the more western-like church) is at. The teen challenge guys run a water bottling plant. So all of the water I drink here at the farm is filled and transported and completely safe! Awesome! I’ve only been to the teen challenge center once to tour it. All of my work is here on the farm. Also about 15 minutes from Emafini is Eluzitweni (spelling?) That is where the battered women’s shelter is located. I also visited there once. The other location is at Bulembu. That is a few hours up in the mountains and I haven’t been there yet. They do training of TC graduates and kids from Hawane that are grown. So back to Hawane. Here on the farm is also the director’s house (they had some issues with people using their names and pictures to falsely raise money online so for the sake of their protection I’m not going to give their full names.) They are awesome people though! Currently, there are 6 female volunteers. 2 from England here for 3 years (Liz and Jane), 2 from Northern Ireland that are here for 6 weeks (Julie and Stephanie leave soonish…sad) and then the 2 of us from America (Kylie and Tiffany… me duh.) are here for 3-4 months. Liz and Jane live in the hospice. Liz is who I work with at Lighthouse school. We used to meet in the hospice but just moved into the new building Friday! Ok so I hope that clarifies some things…

So… I am being stretched like crazy and it is awesome. I teach grade 3. I am a youth pastor on Friday nights. I am a gourmet chef (its amazing how God uses my passions.) I have made sweet and sour chicken and veggie stirfry with rice, fajitas, pasta with 2 different types of homemade sauce, different types of chicken, homemade garlic mashed potatoes which rocked! So Tuesday-Friday I do school. My focus is actually math with the 3 kids I work with. It’s going very well. Monday nights is fellowship with the other volunteers at the director’s house just to review our progress. Tuesday nights is Hawane cell group with the other volunteers and staff. Wednesday nights is Potter’s Wheel cell (not on the farm and it is with church people.) Thursday nights is Hawane teen girls cell (it has about 10 girls that live in the homes on the farm.) Friday nights is Hawane Youth group (we are the pioneers of it and every teen that lives on the farm has attend so far.) Saturday is my day off but it is typically busy anyways. Sunday we go to Potter’s Wheel and then occasionally to Hawane CLC (which is half English half Siswati.) So… as you can tell I stay busy!

Youth last night (Friday) went extremely well! I spoke on respect. Mostly on respecting yourself and others (others being only peers, friends and equals.) I plan on doing another series on respect and authority. However, I’m waiting on that because I’m currently watching the John Bevere DVD series called “Under Cover” which is all about authority. We played 2 games… “fruit basket turnover” and “sick duck Charlie”. (if you know about that please make sure you laugh thoroughly… thanks!) Then I made up a game called the “apple name game” basically you have 1 apple and you say your name and someone elses and toss the apple to them and so on… the whole night went very well. And I enjoyed it and I think they did too!

Some swazi facts… the 2 main languages are English and siSwati. Swaziland has the highest HIV/AIDS rate out of every country in the world. King Mswati III is the current king. It is the only African kingdom left. It is amazing how the people here are in constant prayer for their nation and for the salvation of their king. Although the people are very kind… there is so much deep pain and hurt in most of their lives. The number of orphans in Swaziland is horrendous and if nothing is done… it will only continue to grow exponentially.

On a deeper level… I’ve been thinking a lot here. My mind never turns off. I think mostly about stuff at home. And what and where I’ll be coming up. It isn’t really worrying but it preoccupies my thoughts. I’m just curious. All I know is that I just want to be in the center of God’s will. Someone said to me the other day, “God promise to give us a lamp unto our feet, not a search light.” (bammm!) that hit me hard in a good way. Just one step at a time. I know right now I’m exactly where God wants me. If He didn’t want me here He wouldn’t have provided everything like He did! But I know that this is only for a season. But I also know if I listen and let Him… He’ll keep me on the right path. God loves waiting until the 11th hour to give us direction. And that keeps life interesting! God’s will is more like a scavenger hunt than mapquest… mapquest gives you every step, turn, distance, time, etc… But God does not. He takes you to one place and then gives you guidance to the next. I love that! Romans 8:28 rocks. It feels like God is more real here then at home… BUT… that isn’t the case. Its just that people’s ears and eyes are more open. They are constantly praying and in the word. It is incredible when that rubs off on you. I wish every one of you reading this was here to experience it with me. It is amazing having so much faith in God and letting Him be your provider, best friend, caretaker, lover, father, and so much more! Although in man’s eyes I am very independent (how many people do you know my age that would fly to Africa alone with very little information about what they will be doing?!?) it has made me all the more dependent on God. I know that I cannot do this without my hand in His. I am very careful not to overspiritualize things, but I also cannot deny what He is doing and has done here. There are so many little things that have come together. Kylee and I say all the time, “God is in the details.” Fo sho! :D I have only been here 2 weeks today. But I have already learned some much. There is power in prayer and although I’ve been raised in church and have had Christian education… this has definitely proven it to be true. James 5:16b says, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Another verse that kind of sums up why I’m here and what I’m doing is James 1:27. It says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (if that isn’t a spiritual cup of coffee… I don’t know what is!!!)

Okay thanks for bearing with me. I know it was long. I hope you enjoyed it! Peace and love. Email me: tiffnd10@hotmail.com holla! :D

REMEMBER… “One cannot consent to creep when one has an impulse to soar.” -HK

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Safariiiiiiiii

Sunday: We had quite a fab (very commonly used by the UK peeps) day at the Mountain Inn. It was great bonding for the 4 of us (Kylee, Stephanie, Julie, myself) and then we had movie/chill night afterwards.

Monday was the mothers meeting (mothers being the head of each orphan home and the volunteers) it went very well and I learned a lot about Swazi culture and the things going on around the farm. Basically it is a weekly staff meeting. Kylie and I will be attending to help with input for different things. It’s quite a cool job. Afterwards I went with Jane and her 3 UK friends to Emafini (this is where the teen challenge actually is and the water bottling plant and Potter’s Wheel church.) After that we went to Eluzitweni (spelling? Haha) where the battered women’s home is located. These women are often victims of domestic violence and are abused and typically run to drugs and alcohol. There are 2 infants there and 2 other boys (3 and 6). While touring the facility I played with the little boys. Precious! Next we went to Matenga Cultural Village. They performed cultural dances and toured the village made completely of straw and wood. It was so cool looking. Monday night is fellowship for the volunteers. So there we bring up any questions and concerns and just hang out.

Tuesday: BE JEALOUS! I went on a real African Safari! We went to Mkhaya game reserve. There you pile into a giant open-top land rover…awesome… I don’t recommend safaris if you get motion sickness haha. We saw wild giraffes, elephants, rhinos, warthogs, nyalas, impalas, antelopes, crocodiles, buffalo, eagles, mongoose, ya know the usual. Mhkaya doesn’t have cats (i.e. lions and leopards) and the hippos were hiding in the bush because the watering hole was too dry. My favorites were the giraffes and elephants. While eating lunch at a beautiful table under a large tree, we had baby nyalas (similar to deer) walking around and guinea fowl were everywhere. I cannot justify eating an animal that is walking around me. So I passed on the nyala stew. I may or may not be slowly becoming a vegetarian. Haha. I opted for butternut squash which was amazing! It was such an exhausting day but so worth it. Tuesday night is Hawane cell. It is for the staff, volunteers, farm workers, etc… just a mix of people. This one was particularly good. It is so amazing to have people from all over worshipping God together. That group is so challenging for spiritual growth. I mean it is simply amazing how in tune people are with God and his will and calling individually and corporately here. Such an encouragement.

Wednesday: I officially started school today. Sounds funny, right? I helped teach grade 3 for the homeschool. I was asked which planet I was from. That was comical. It felt rewarded to teach and see growth within a few minutes and hours. So my daily task is to assistant teach and work with preschool. I will also be doing homework/tutoring. I’m done early today so I have some free time. Everything is going so well. I feel like I’ve been here for a long time because of how comfortable I am already. People are so welcoming I feel like I’ve known them forever. Tonight is Potter’s Wheel cell with Liz. :D

Sunday, September 21, 2008

finally internet

(apologies in advance for all spelling and grammar... i was in a hurry)
Monday: so monday started out as a day without plans and turned into a packed awesome day. the last blog was sent from the TC office so this is what went on after i left there...
Paul, pastor augustine, kylee and i drove to elizabeth hynd's new hop centre orphanage. we met a girl from australia that came for 3 days to visit and stayed for 3 years. crazy! That night we had a final farewell party for the CLC guys and don and elaine smith. after pizza it was such a God time. incredible and completely indescribable.
Tuesday: we went with the CLC team over to the site of the new Hawane church and orphan home and prayed over it. after the guys left for the airport kylee and i cleaned the team house and took all of their left over food (major blessing!) Liz (teacher/volunteer from england) took the 4 of us girls grocery shopping. i made dinner for my american and irish roomies. and then we had Hawane cell group with Ntokozo, Sabelo, and Nick. it was great. (there is so much other stuff that i had written a blog about on my laptop so this is the condensed version. :( )
Wednesday: it was kylee's birthday so we made a banner and put up balloons. we spent the day taking inventory and moving into don and elaine's old house... yes, i have a house. haha. we also got our schedules. i'm going to be working with the 5 homeschoooled kids and preschool. we went to potter's wheel cell group and it was fantastic.
Thursday: i cleaned, redecorated, organized, and rearranged our house. There was a large brown horse outside of our kitchen window... weird. no worries though. i got a lot accomplished. i went into town with liz and shoprite (grocery store) caught on fire! it was chaos! we had hawane teen girls cell at night and then a birthday party for kylee. it was fun and we played games and goofed off.
Friday: i walked over to the hospice (on the farm where the homeschool meets) and hung out and got to know the kids i'll be working with. we had youth group for the teens on the farm. there were 20 of us and i shared and we played some games. it went really well.
saturday: it is nasty rainy misty cold wet foggy gross outside. the weather changes quickly and drastically. we went grocery shopping briefly in the morning. and for lunch... jane, the nurse from england, took us to hawane resort. it was the coolest getaway place. i'd love to expound more on that later. lol. good food. good conversation. we played some board games last night.
sunday: church was good. it's still freezing and the internet is so frustrating here when you are used to instant wireless.

alright i gotta go there is a queue (line)
pray the internet works soon.
love and miss you all.
sorry this wasnt too detailed!
ps. this week i'm going to game reserve and cultural village.
happy still :D

Monday, September 15, 2008

here.

sept. 13. 2008 So I’m here safe in Swaziland! The plane from Joburg to Manzini (Swaziland) was possibly the smallest commercial plane I’ve ever seen.  Most planes have seat patterns such as 3-5-3 or 2-4-2… not this one… this is 1-2. Haha so I was the first seat on the left so I had no one next to me and nowhere to put my carryon. It was cozy but a very adventurous and fun experience.  In my opinion, they should have chosen a more petite flight attendant for a plane of that size. Here’s what I learned: Pringles are only 42% potato… Gross! What is the rest!?!  Also, FDR and Helen Keller have some really great quotes.  Helen picked me up from the airport (with Asher, 14, her daughter.)  It was a really cool drive. I love mountains and there is some fantastic vegetation here!  We chatted in the car about me, life, Swaziland life, and what all I’m going to be doing (wouldn’t you all like to know :D.)  There was a fire here a few weeks back so the phones and internet are down and have been down for a while.  It was dark by the time I got to Hawane so I haven’t gotten the tour yet.  I’m staying in the “big brown house” which I think used to be a barn/farmhouse.  Pretty cool.  I have some housemates. Roomies! Haha. They are really awesome.  Stephanie and Julie are from Ireland and are only here for 5 weeks as a part of their nursing school program.  Both are 21 and have great accents. I like them already!  Then there’s Kylee.  She’s 23 (24 on Wednesday) and from Dayton, Ohio.  They are all new too but have been here for almost a week already.  Kylee is also here till December or longer.  She has so much ambition and passion for this place already.  I love it and can’t wait to get plugged and get to know her more.  I went to the Wards (Kevin and Helen) for dinner.  We had chicken on the brye (sp?) a.k.a. Swazi term for the grill.  And we had some tasty salad with avocadoes and all sorts of great stuff.  I met their son Joshua who is 12.  He’s a very cool kid as is Asher.  I can’t wait to be BFFs with them and get to know everyone better.  I haven’t met any other regular staff yet, but there is a team here from Dayton (Kylee’s church/ Christian Life Center) They’re doing construction.  It was very cool to talk to them and share my story of how I got here and hear about them.  One of the guys has 2 daughters at Lee and I have mutual friends with them. Small world!?! We had tea and chocolates and talked and played with animal balloons.  It was a very pleasant evening.  When Kylee and I got back to the house/barn (:D)  there was smoke everywhere! Stephanie and Julie made a fire in the fireplace and I guess the chimney was inefficient.  We were all laughing really hard and our eyes and lungs were burning.  It was a comical experience.  My room is upstairs and the door was shut so it wasn’t smoky.  Helen said I will probably move some when I’m here.  (all of course on the grounds here, but to different locations like the other half of the big brown house)  I unpacked some.  I love it here so far.  So far so good… well… so far so God.  Oh and it is warmer here than it was in Johannesburg.  Alright well I better get some rest.  Church and wake up will come early! Peace and Love! Tiffany Noel

 

If you are interested I seeing more stuff about CLC Dayton team go to www.clcdayton.com and click on Swaziland and then blog.  They are an awesome church and team.

 

sept. 14. 2008.  Sunday- Early morning for church.  It was a crazy/awesome day.  We went to the Potter’s Wheel for church and it was really good.  By the way… awesome thatch roof! There is a couple from the US (the Smiths) that have been here for the past 6 years but they are leaving Tuesday for good so he (Don Smith)  spoke in church.  Plus the CLC guys shared testimonies.  It was such a good service. Afterwards we went back to Hawane for a more traditional Swazi service.  We went to the church’s new site after church and prayed over it and played with the children. I went to Kevin and Helen’s house again for lunch and had butternut squash soup.  Delicious.  Also, I took an amazing nap that came back to bite me last night when I couldn’t sleep.  When I woke up we had a going away party for the Smiths (mentioned previous… leaving for the US) and we played with the children again.  I spent some more time with Stephanie and Julie and then tried to figure out my plans for Monday (today.)  We watched a video on children with AIDS.  It was very heartbreaking but good for my mindset.  More quality bonding with Kylee and Julie and Stephanie.  I didn’t sleep too well last night.  Today I am with Kylee and Paul (from CLC) and pastor Augustan (pastor of Hawane church) We went up on the mountain across from us and met with pastor Lewis.  CLC Dayton is looking for more locations to start doing what they have done at Hawane.  The concept is called ICBC.  (In community, by community)  Basically, they are trying to build self-sustaining communities with orphanages and widows as housemothers.  They children do the work on the farm, which is how Hawane is run.  It is amazing how CLC has such an intense passion and dedication to Swaziland.  It was definitely a different experience.  Pastor Lewis and his wife single-handedly run an orphanage of over 30 children plus many more that live with “go-gos.”   It is incredible to see his heart and passion to make his ministry grow.  So CLC is an awesome church and I’m glad I’ve been able to spend time with the guys from there and live with Kylee while I’m here.  I’m very happy still.  It has been quite an adjustment as far as climate, culture, time difference, and overall life pace.  Some things to pray for: my adjustment, fires (they break out all of the time and the CLC actually helped put out a raging fire that was about to get to a crippled widow’s house.  They beat the fire out with branches.)  smooth transitions with the Smiths and CLC team leaving and with the new volunteers.  Also, we are figuring out what exactly I’m going to be doing here.  The plan is to just try different things and see what fits so within 2 weeks I should be totally plugged in and settled.  It’s exciting not knowing on a day-to-day basis what I will be doing.  We will see! I’ll keep you all posted.  Love and miss you all lots!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Joburg.

The plane rides were not too bad.   Nothing fantastic but nothing horrible either.  So that is a good thing I guess.  Everything has gone fairly smoothly.  In DC I had to split my one bag into 2 for weight reasons but that’s no big deal and now I have 2 suitcases so I think that’s kinda handy.  I really enjoyed watching the sunset and sunrise on my way to Amsterdam.  I know plane experiences aren’t always the greatest but I can’t help but to feel closer to God when I’m in an airplane.  Your whole perspective changes when you are looking at the clouds from above and seeing the stars.  Oh man! On the plane to Joburg I realized how much I miss the South African sky.  Obviously it is a whole new set of stars when you are in the southern hemisphere and the night sky has always been something I enjoyed on my previous 3 South African trips.  The Africa Centre hotel was awesome and I got 2 hot showers in my 12 hours there.  I slept fairly well except for waking up virtually every hour on the hour but I don’t feel too bad.  I have a slight headache though.  Currently (6:57 AM EST and 12:57 PM here) I am sitting at a very cool café/ restaurant in the Joburg airport.  Oh and I had to pay for excess baggage weight but just for South African air.  Not too expensive no big deal. I have a good deal of time until my flight so I figured I’d type up some of my experiences so far. Plus I don’t know when I will be online again. Ps. The other people in the café are watching rugby. I love it.  And I love accents here. I’ve missed you, Africa.  Ok. I miss you all and next time I update it will be from Swaziland. Get excited!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Ready. Set. Go.

I leave home in about 7 minutes. My plane leaves at 5:30. I have some snacks and books. :D
Man! I am soooo ready! Here I go.