So Blessed!

Wow, time disappears! I see Benno’s last entry was over a month ago, and mine…well, whew! I keep thinking about writing a blog. At times there is so much I could say, but sitting down to write can be a challenge. Anyway, here are a few current thoughts…
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What makes people wonderful? Normally I would not think that picking up garbage qualifies, but it does.

Currently Benno and I have four wonderful young people living with and around us. Two of my former IB2 students, Raps and BK, are staying in our ‘guest house’ for six months. They were fortunate enough to get jobs once they graduated and will be working until they head to university in January. Working. Oh yes! From 8:00-5:30, five days a week and half-days on Saturdays. And the pay? They’ll be lucky if they make M1,200 per month, which translates to $167.00. I am not kidding! Isn’t that just…overwhelming. So I am more than happy to have them living with us since their families live out of the city.

Next door we have the other two—two young gals from Oklahoma who are volunteering at Beautiful Gate for two months. They are just delightful! They are so full of good cheer and smiles and fun. The guys enjoy the young company and most evenings we have all four in playing cards or watching a movie. The gals usually drop in for a visit and tea or dinner or whatever. It was the other night that the four of them were just so wonderful—well they always are, but this time, especially so!

We were having dinner together and I mentioned that I was ‘on a mission’ to clean up the garbage at the end of our road. You see, the city only picks up garbage when the mood hits them, so if everyone on the road puts out their garbage bags and it doesn’t get picked up and the dogs get into it…Yeh! Well, garbage is my biggest pet peeve here. I hate it’s ever presence. It is the only disgusting thing here. Anyway, I told the ‘kids’ about my mission and they very diplomatically suggested that they would help on Sunday when the guys had the day off. Hmm…well…when I’m on a mission, it doesn’t wait from Thursday to Sunday. I told them that I did not want to feel like I was living in a slum for another day and that I was thinking of going out after dinner… I KNEW they weren’t keen, but they ARE wonderful. Now, consider the fact that the two guys had left for work at 6:30 a.m., got home, ate dinner and currently were doing dishes for me and the two gals had been at Beautiful Gate volunteering all day and were also helping with dishes when I made my appeal for help. Those wonderful gals! …”We’ll help” (spoken with resolve). Of course the guys came along and soon we were filling garbage bags with lots—LOTS—of yucky garbage. It was gross, but they were all so cool about it. Raps sister, Mapoulo, was in visiting overnight and she pitched in too, so there we were doing out community service for the day--me, with the makings of five very very wonderful young adults that will be world changers because they already are.

P.S. I ‘glossed over’ the guys doing the dishes point, but it IS noteworthy. You see, in Basotho culture men just DO NOT do kitchen things. In fact, men, traditionally, don’t even serve their own food; it is served to them by the women who eat after the men. Men just DON’T belong in the kitchen, so it is just a huge, huge stretch for them and Raps and BK do so with such kindness. I’m really enjoying cooking for them. It’s so cold in the house that any excuse to use the oven is a pleasure ;-) Food AND heat! Bonus! I cook, the guys clean up all my dishes! Good deal.

I AM so blessed!