I went camping in the bush and a giraffe stared at me

I will post pictures of the delightful camping trip very soon. My roomie let me take her camera and the whole process of getting the pictures to me is a bit more complicated than I thought. I've got a few but the best are yet to come. I'm waiting for those. The trip was great!!! I went with 11 kids and Mama Thandie and Papa James. We camped out in the bushiest bush I've ever been in, (Malawi family- THIS was bush bush). We learned quite a bit about animal tracks and sounds and poop. Once the kids learned that herbivorous poo was okay to touch- they went crazy. Picking up all the poop they saw and threw it at each other and had way too good of a time. A couple rangers with rifles, a.k.a. their wives, taught us a lot about rhino poaching. There job was to protect all animals, especially the rhinos from poachers. Hearing about what a problem it has become makes me sick. Visit www.stoprhinopoaching.com
Overall it was an incredible weekend and the kids really enjoyed it. We got to see a lot of cool animals but the most exotic one was the giraffe. We were leaving the park and I was thinking, "Too bad I didn't get to see a giraffe while I was here. It's alright, I'll be in Africa long enough that I'm sure I'll see one." Not two minutes later I look to my left and there she was. Her back facing us and then she slowly turned around and stared. I say "HI" like it was love at first sight. I took a couple pictures and she just stared as we drove away following the car with her massive eyes. I literally began to cry. It was overwhelming. SHE WAS GORGEOUS! I love camping as it is, but then you throw in an African sunset and sunrise?!?! Speechless.

Turns out I have a few more takers to my tap class. I've got 15 kids under 12yrs. I think 9 teenagers, and 4 adults. BRING IT ON! I am so excited. Keep looking for tap shoes and I will keep you posted on the best way for them all to come together and make their way over here :)

Can I just say how absolutely incredible it is how God moves. I look back on the past year of my life and how it has brought me here. At this exact time. It was not easy making this journey here, and the majority of the time, I did not understand what was happening. I knew, though, that something was in fact happening. Something big. This was it. And then I get here and see how perfect my timing was for the amazing people HERE!!! I understand, now, how meant to be this is for me. I want to thank, again, everyone who has been apart of this journey and helped make it happen. And there is one person in particular that has been closely involved in this crazy journey of mine and as it was not easy for them either, my side was never left. You know who you are. Thank you and I love you.

View from my porch this morning :)

They were landing at 7am. Ahhh... to watch the African sunrise from a hot air balloon.

Shoes!

The other night I went to a concert at one of our schools, Unity College. It is not a college, by the way. Colleges are Universities here. Anyway, it's a school for special needs. We have a couple kids here that attend and can I just say... it was some of the most fun I have had since I have been here!!! It was called "Imagine That". A little show reminding us to keep our imagination. The kids were many different ages and many different handicaps. It was so cool with dancing, singing, acting. AH!!! I loved it. I can't wait until Unity puts on another show.

So we have a rough tally of how many Tap students I will have. I'm looking at about 10-12 kids under 12yrs, and about 6-8 over 12yrs. I will be having one class a week for each age group lasting one hour. They will begin Monday, Oct. 3. I will be looking around at stores here to see if I can get my hands on some shoes. Typically tap shoes are a bit pricy but if you have any, or know of anyone with any old tap shoes for kids and teens, please feel free to send them our way. It would be greatly appreciated. You know you want to be apart of the beauty of dance in these kid's lives!!!!!! Donations to Refilwe can be sent to:

PO BOX 1020
Lanseria
1748
Johannesburg
SOUTH AFRICA

And don't forget about where you can donate to me! :) ------------------------->
(over there and up on the right) :D

The little things

Always keep in mind how truly blessed we are to live in the land that we do. Believe it or not, it's important to give thanks for the simple things in life that we take for granted:
A toilet
A shower
Water!
Shoes on our feet
Clothes on our back
Our parents who took the time to put us in school at the age of 5, or earlier!
There are children who's parent(s) literally have no care or intent of putting their child in school. Some are in school and often spend the night there because they were never picked up. These children are in trouble. I am incredibly grateful to have this opportunity to be here and to be a small part in a big change. One life at a time.
Thank you Mom and Dad for sacrificing your time, energy and lives to raise me. I see how truly fortunate I am. I love you.

A place called Home...

Yep, I think I may be officially adjusted and comfortable with calling this place Home. Of course I still miss everyone from home but man, is Skype a beautiful thing (clears throat), I emphasize that to a few of you. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!! Being able to stay connected definitely cures the homesickness when it occurs but it's not as often as I thought. I love it here and as I'm finally getting to know this place and everyone in it, I'm becoming very fond.
This weekend has been absolutely lovely. Friday and Saturday night they had a big delicious Braai (fancy South African word for BBQ, they say it's totally different, but it's not, I think they just want to think they do it better). Friday's was a farewell to the Canadian team who spent a couple weeks with us. If you go to Refilwe's Facebook you can check out the work they did. Saturday's was a farewell to the UK team who left today and my roomie Sam who left on Sunday. She was from the UK as well and was here for 2 months. Lovely, lovely girl. It's too bad she had to leave so soon after I arrived.
Next weekend I get to go on a camping trip with some of the older kids here!!! I am very excited to experience the wilderness of South Africa! There will definitely be a blog for that weekend. And very soon I am going to be teaching computer classes to a couple guys. Yeah. Me. Teaching computer. When I first heard that I thought, "mm mm, you have the wrong girl!!!" But it's just the most basic knowledge like, turning it on, how to send an email, and typing. That I can do. It made me realize how computers are just a part of our lives and typing and email is something we learn so young. And the fact that I can't design or download or program something makes me feel like I'm computer illiterate. I'm not, I actually know quite a bit!
Outside of all that... just trying to stay busy and literally enjoying every moment of it. I must send another quick "THANK YOU" to everyone to has helped and is helping make this happen. It is greatly appreciated. Until next time... :)

Ants

Turns out there is quite an interest from all age groups to start taking Tap lessons from yours truly!!! I cannot express in words how excited I am to teach tap here. It's something I want to do in my life anyway- but to do it in South Africa?!? Yeah, someone's looking out. Tomorrow we'll get an estimation on how many want to join and we'll go from there. Very soon, though, I may be looking for a donation of some tap shoes. So if any of you tappers have an old pair that you do not intend to keep or pass down... they would look and sound pretty nice over here!
Today I started helping some lovely children with their homework. It's going to be my daily routine. They are still on holiday for a couple more weeks so I'm helping them finish their holiday homework (boo... holidays are not meant for work, they're meant for play), and getting them in the groove of being back in the homework mode. I also have a project beginning this week of painting the baby's room! Yes, there is a new addition coming to the family and I'm excited to be a co-creator of her new environment.
Well, aside from being made love to by ants everyday, and as we speak, everything is looking pretty darn good for me here and I'm looking forward to every day. I'm becoming busy with my three favorite hobbies- sewing, painting, and tap dancing. It all combines into a dream job that I'm not getting paid to do:) Well, I suppose in a way I am a bit (thank you!!!).
It's 8pm and cold and ants still have managed to cover me. With summer coming these guys are going to make me freakin insane. I literally have ants in my pants right now. And in my shirt.
Ok I love you all!!! Until next time...

A week in

My first week is up here at Refilwe. I can't say it has been incredible or life changing already. It's been a bit slow and I've been a bit lonely. Getting settled in hasn't been easy but I know these feelings will pass. I am surprised at how quickly I am adapting to my living space. My first day I was so comfortable, like I've been living here for some time already. Slowly but surely my place is being found here, and Im looking forward to what the future holds for me.
Tonight I met with a group of young girls who are organizing a group that meets regularly to discuss poverty, HIV, teen pregnancy, drug/ alcohol abuse, etc... most of the main issues here in South Africa, and throughout the whole continent in fact. They want to become familiar and informed about these issues and one day go out into the community and share their knowledge and become apart of change. These girls are teenagers. It's really incredible to see how inspired they are, at such a young age, to want to not only learn about the problems in the world around them, but act upon them to bring change. I'm really excited to be one of the volunteers over-seeing this group and watching it's growth. I'm liking these girls already ;)
Another wonderful thing... there is a sewing room. With sewing machines! I am so happy that I will have the chance to do some sewing while I'm here. I spent almost the whole day in there today. Soon I will help out another lovely volunteer we have here with sewing lessons. We are teaching some of the ladies here how to sew. Soon we will be able to take these lessons out into the communities. Its a good skill to have in a lot of these areas. There are so many people with clothes just falling off their bodies. If you can't get new ones, it's good to know how to do a bit of repairing.
Well, I am very very excited about what I get to be apart of here. More to come in the future. Of course I must send out my love and thanks for all the support!
Until next time...