JABU AND LULU!!

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After a very interesting night trying to sleep....(there were thunderstorms and lightening and the next door neighbour's rooster was crowing along with the thunder all night long)....I awoke to a mild south African day. I have a wonderful roommate Anne from Germany and there are two other German volunteers Ty and timone who are also awesome! Ty is a nickname since his name is timone also. so for today I will speak of two sweet little girls I met today. in the light blue is JABU. And the little one sleeping is LULU. they were quiet at first....and a little bit tentative since I was new...but they warmed up. they are both 3 years old. I'm so amazed at how smart and sweet they are. little JABU liked my hair and kept wanting to touch it. she kept asking about my sister and mom and dad. in comparison to some little kids from north America..these little girls are so well behaved. they know to put away their plates after they eat. how to say please and thank you. how to wash up and clean their hands. To put their toys away after they play. they were just happy with simple toys and going out to play in the sand and the jungle gym. no need for tv or video games. just good old fashion fun! :) we did a few puzzles after dinner and they counted the pieces. then it was time for bedtime....and I read Mulan to JABU since my hair looked like Mulan. she also said that Mushu the little guardian dragon was aunty Wendy and then giggled. :) wow. so after all these weeks I did get a little work out. I have a feeling I will have stronger biceps from lifting the little ones :) Thank you Jesus for a beautiful day and reminding us of what purity of love is through these children. May you strengthen them and fill their days with joy and build upon the love they are receiving. Truly God you are awesome. Bless all those who have a heart for your orphans ...more and more...each day.

What a wonderful welcome to ikhaya likababa!

Wow. What an amazing welcome. As I walked towards the small entry to Richards bay airport, I saw a mini sea of red shirts that said McAfee volunteer! there were about 9 wonderful ppl who greeted me with hugs and smiles. what a wonderful surprise and loving welcome!! let's see if I can remember everyone's names.... Wendy Andrew t Ty timone nikky Anne helga swan (short form) then they swept me off to meet new friends: leah Jane anita Ryan Brett eleanor dwayne

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Vulture restaurant at oribi loop in the golden gate national park in south Africa

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on our last day by the Golden gate national park...we went and drove around the road called oribi loop. one of the famous stops is called te vulture restaurant. silly me. I had thought there was a real restaurant there but instead we saw a sign with skulls in the middle of the hills and grass. As we looked closer at the sign we saw a picture of a little hiking man. so we looked for a pathway and up Clinton and I went to see if we could see anything. As we ascended the hillside which was about 10 minutes...there was a lot of buck dung. when we reached the top, in the far distance we saw some carcasses and a black vulture. so we began our descent to get a closer look. in the picture you will see one of the carcasses and there were many flies and skulls and bones trailing everywhere. the vulture flew away when it heard us approaching.

Horse back riding near kiara lodge

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What a beautiful horse ride! The scenery was amazing with fresh mountian air. We went around the back of kiara lodge into the mountainous area. Our guide's name was Lucky. Clinton's horse was named Copper. My horse was named Lemon and most of the time I thought he was a real lemon since he always fell behind the other horses. But I realized instead of being old that he was lazy. When we started back home he started to try to gallop fast. Hehe. Was fun though and was cool to ride a horse at a light gallop/trot.

View of the valley and the drakensburg once we reached the viewpoint

Absolutely stunning!!

We only went to the view point since we did not have enough time to go to the summit which was another 1.5 hours up each way. It also started raining and was quite windy the closer to the top we climbed.

Truly a day to be in awe of God's wondrous creation!!

It took about 1.5 hours to drive to the sentinel car park from kiara lodge. A lot of winding roads and the closer up to the pass it was very very rocky.

We drove through the town called qwa qwa which means whiter than white for the sandstone hill there.

Also we saw 3 cows at different times walking in the middle of the streets. A nice little adventure!

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The sentinel hiking site where you can see the drakensburg

Clinton, my cousin and I, hiked up the side of the maluti mountains. Where it took 45 minutes each way up a pretty good hike. Definitely need to be fit and have careful footing with small loose rocks.

There were some clouds which was very nice with the combination of the cool fresh mountain air.

Thankfully we are still young enough to hike ;)

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