June 6th-bring on them kiddos!!

(Sorry this is a few days late! just been prettyyyyy busy!!!)

Monday June 6th: After breakfast, devotional an gettin ready, we got to meet the Helping Hands staff members that we would be working with. We had tea and coffee with them and were able to just chit chat for a little bit, ask them about their day, their families and that kinda of stuff. Now ill share just a lil bit of who "Helping Hands in Africa" is and what they do.

Helping Hands in Africa started back in 1991. AT that time, the program was mainly a feeding program that was started after Michelle Tessendorf saw a bunch of young kids rummaging through the dump looking for something to eat and drink. Then, Michelle and others who were involved with Helping Hands started to realize that yeah they were feeding these children, but spiritually these kids were still hungry and thirsty. As a result, Helping Hands has now grown into an amazing, life changing organization that not only focuses on physical needs but spiritual needs as well. Helping Hands is restoring the hope in the eyes of the people in the community. They are not just coming in, giving them food and leaving(first of all, the doesnt really fix much) but instead, they invest their time, love, their everything onto the lives of people all over Africa. Their mission statement is, "Helping Hands is dedicated to restoring hope for the future in disadvantaged communities by providing opportunities for individuals in the community to develop skills that will equip them to take responsibility for their own economic, health, educational, social and spiritual upliftment." They are not just putting a band-aid over the problems these people face, they are starting at the roots and helping these villages get to where they can eventually support them selves. I could go on and on about this amazing organization but i will stop here. If you want more information on Helping Hands, the programs that they have going or ways you could help you can go to their website, www.helpinghandsinafrica.org and if you ever take a trip to Africa, which i strongly urge you all to do, go with Helping Hands!!!!! They are fantastic!!!!!!!!!! :D

Now on to the rest of the day! After meeting the staff, we took a tour of Top Village and got to go into one of the classes at the preschool and hang out with the kiddos. SO MUCH FUN!!! We colored with them, played tag outside, they sang and danced for us. we had a blast!!! man do those lil kids have rhythm!!!! they sure showed us up!! haha The lil boy in the picture started bustin some movies in the dance circle we had goin. (Picture takin by the amazing Paul!!! he became our groups photographer for the trip. thanks Paul!!!)

After hanging out at the village, we came back for lunch then Michelle gave us an AIDs presentation, the same one that they give at the schools in South Africa. It was really interesting. I learned a bunch of new things just from a short little presentation. One thing she said that totally opened my eyes was when she talked about the culture in Africa and the its polygamist where here in America its monogamist. If someone came up to you one day and told you that what you are doing is wrong, that monogamy is wrong, that you need to start practicing polygamy, you would probably get pissed off and stick with what you know. right? well for me thats right, id be a lil pissed. But thats exactly what is happening to the people in Africa. You cannot expect them to be happy with that or want to hear what else ya have to say. That approach is doomed to fail. Helping Hands definitely does not use that approach because that will just get ya no where!!

After all that we went to Molelwane for VBS!! We had so much fun with the kiddos! After one day of VBS the kids loved us all! The craft that they made was decorating canvas backpacks with P.R.A.Y written on them. P stands for praise, R for repent, A for ask, and Y for yield. They were to draw a picture for each word. One of the little boys drew the AIDS symbol on his. He was wanting to ask God to heal this land of AIDS. If that doesnt touch your heart then you must not have one. These kids are way too young to have to be worrying about that, but obviously they do! UGH!

It was hard to leave, we all just wanted to stay and play with them. haha One of the girls at the table i was at asked me about the purple bracelet that I had on. It was my "Never Lose Heart" bracelet that was made for my best friend Sam back when she was first diagnosed with cancer. All I told her was that it was in honor of my best friend who had passed away. She smiled, said it was beautiful then went about finishing her craft. Later that day before we had to leave, she asked me about it again. She would hold my hand and just rub her fingers over the letters. Right before we had to leave, she asked me for it. At first, i didnt want to give it up, but then i realized how much this little girl loved it and slipped it onto her wrist. She had the biggest smile i have ever seen! SHe was so excited. I felt good after giving it to her. I was able to share my Sam with Africa that day. As I left, the little girl came running up to me, gave me a huge hug and said, "God bless you." Soooo hard not to cry!!!! lol She wore that bracelet very single day. (: The cutie on the left, look at her wrist(: Love you Sam!!!

Well, thats all i got for that day! Hope ya enjoyed it and it wasnt too long!
much love to you all!
-peaces!
-em


quotes for the day:

"duck...duck...duck...OOPS!"-thei kids version of duck duck goose. so cute!!(:

"whoever invented tea in bags was a genius."-me

"I dont know how to dance....i got to pee now!-heather

"i was so bummed when that place closed....i never went there though..."-heather

"Emilie, you could land an aircraft carrier with that shirt."-peter (i was wearing one of my neon shirts)