A broken down car adventure...

I nearly forgot to mention one of our biggest adventures yet, that happened on our way to the Kome Caves on Sunday- our car overheated... in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, we managed to track down a family farming out in their field; the dears went and got us water, and SJ managed to MacGyver the water tank for the engine or whatever it is (you can clearly tell that I know NOTHING about cars) and get it cooled down again... so luckily we eventually made it to our destination. I was just so proud of SJ fixing a vehicle out in the middle of nowhere.

Anyhow, my first session with the teen girls was lovely. We discussed topics for future sessions, so I will have one more session with them next week and then I will turn the group over to the very capable hands of SJ. We are going to come up with a curriculum of sorts before I go so that I can help her brainstorm some art/music therapy ideas for the group.

The training with the workers at the bigger orphanage and the missionaries went really well. They had loads of questions for me, and I hope that I was at least a little helpful in trying my best to answer them. It is difficult to try to advise people on how to interact with these children when they are the ones living here long-term, absorbing the culture. I tried to qualify that the advice that I gave them needed to be filtered through the culture that already exists here, and that I am not trying to come in thinking that I know everything about counseling and expecting them to follow whatever I said explicitly. I think that I was able to shed some light onto how many children will react to trauma, as well as advising them on how to try to form healthy attachments patterns with the children since they don't have parents, and then I spoke on healthy termination/closure with the children when they leave the mission field here. I wrapped up the session with a discussion on self-care so that they don't all burn out from the intensive work that they do here, and it sounds like the missionaries here are going to try to send the woman who runs the MIS orphanage away for a weekend so that she can rest and recharge. It was amazing to see them all step up to help one another and seek out ways to make sure that everyone had a way to be restored. I think that in my ideal world, I would be able to make time each year to go out to various mission fields and take staff and missionaries on retreats and do a self-care workshop with them... It is so necessary- they all work so hard and hesitate to take any time for themselves for fear of being selfish. Perhaps someday... maybe next year ;o)

So my next training is tomorrow night with the same group as Monday, and I am excited to follow up with them. I will also be doing a one-on-one session with the lovely Lesotho woman who runs MIS over lunch tomorrow. At the request of those at the meeting on Monday, I am in the middle of creating a manual with some art therapy techniques as well as some ideas for what we in counseling call 'transitional objects' to use with the kids when they leave here, so I hope that it will be useful to them. Word that I am here has apparently gotten out- an organization called "the Link" (they are a Christian organization that hosts short term mission teams as well as retreats for local organizations, and they help start grassroots businesses in the area) have asked me to come do a training with their staff early next week. I am really glad that I have gotten so many opportunities to share the skills that I acquired in graduate school with so many people here. It has been such an amazing experience and I feel so blessed to be here, seeing these people love these kids and seeing how much these kids love them in return. God is at work here in so many ways.

Tomorrow holds a whole different sort of adventure for me- Justin, one of the missionaries that lives here with SJ and I, works at a farm teaching local people farming skills, and he has invited me out tomorrow morning to see the work that he does there. So it will be very different from my normal days spent with the kiddos, but I am excited to see how he is reaching the community here. Always exciting things happening here in Lesotho! Please keep praying for wisdom for me when I am talking to these amazing missionaries and staff, and for continued patience and exceeding love for these kids! Much love.

"The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives."

~Psalm 37:23

And now for a water fight adventure...

Well we had a very eventful Saturday night. First off, we had a traditional African Braai (so basically an African barbecue) for dinner, cooking and eating out in our courtyard. Have I mentioned that I love that it is summer here? Oh to be outside, all the time. The wireless here even reaches outdoors, so many of these posts are written while I am sitting out in the front garden with the most beautiful mountains stretching out before me. It is glorious.

Anyhow, whilst we were cleaning up from dinner, Justin decided that it was a grand idea to throw poor Danger in the pool... which then lead to all of us getting thrown in, naturally. Luckily, I got the claim-to-fame of being the first person to get Justin in during a water fight (when he went to chuck me in, I held on to his waist with a death grip, so he had no choice but to go in with me. sucker.). So with the exception of SJ (who was photographing with my camera, so no one dared to try to get HER wet... dangit I should have thought of that first) we all ended the evening in the pool, fully clothed, making the best of the situation. To round out the water fight, one of the brothers (ie: one of the priests who lives in the other building on the property) came up to ask Sue a question. Brother Barry is quite proper, so it was right embarrassing to have six of us in this little paddling pool without our togs. All he had to say was "at least you're all wearing clothes'.... ah well. Once we all got done splashing and dunking one another, we all dried off and went to hang out with Danger and his friends- another fun night out in Lesotho. Oh, and of course we ended the night with midnight snacks around the pool before heading to bed, which we all agreed was the best part of the night :o)

Sunday was yet another great day. SJ and I went out and did some shopping for the people who live in the Kome Caves. At their request we brought them sugar, salt, tea, biscuits, nuts, and some sweets for the kids. Everything that we got had to be non-perishable since they have no refrigerators or anything in their tiny homes built into the caves. It was such a blessing to meet all of the children who live there, as they take such joy in the small treats that we brought them. From the time we began hiking down the mountain to the caves, the children followed SJ like she was the pied piper. It was quite cool to see how much they all love her, and how they look forward to her monthly visits.

I have found it fairly amusing how we are treated almost like celebrities here, because there are so few white people around. Nearly every child we meet rushes to touch our very strange skin, or reaches for our hair to pull it, brush it, and 'style' it. Just this morning at the preschool, they had a private school come to visit and bring donation clothing for the kids at the orphanage; within 5 minutes of them being there they were gathered around SJ and I, sitting in our laps, playing with my hair, and asking us a hundred questions. They were precious.

So today begins the counseling training; I spent a good part of this morning with MeNeo, who runs the orphanage of around 30 children, answering her questions about 'problem behaviours' and helping to support and encourage her in the great work that she is doing with her very extended family. She loves all of the children as if they are her own, and it shows. The little ones that I work with every day are well adjusted, and you can tell that they feel safe and cared for. I helped MeNeo brainstorm how to keep affirming each child and to make sure that each child knows that they are unique and special to help them form healthy identities even without the luxury of parents that are all their own. I will meet with MeNeo a few more times, before my time here is up.

This afternoon I am headed to the MIS orphanage to do a group session with the teen girls there. I have been talking with SJ, and I think I am going to design a curriculum for her to do a psycho educational group once a month with them once I am gone to help them with self-esteem, identity formation, self-efficacy, and relationships. I am so excited to meet with these girls and hopefully help them understand how special they are. Then this evening I am meeting with the other missionaries and the staff of the MIS orphanage to give them an introduction to trauma and answer any questions that they have for me to the best of my ability, so please be praying for my time with them. Also pray for the language barrier, as the workers at the orphanage speak very little English. Once again, thank you all for your prayers and support! God bless.

"'I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"

~Jeremiah 29:11

Any good adventure ought to end in a sunburn...

Ah sure, it just keeps getting better. Yesterday was a fantastic day with the teen girls from MeNeo's~ we took them to the cinema to see Despicable Me, and the lovely owner of the theater has agreed to donate popcorn and drinks anytime we want to bring some of the children from the orphanages. It is cool to see how the girls faces light up at something that we so take for granted. Even just going to the shopping mall, let alone actually going TO the cinema is such a treat for them. After we got back from the film, we got to spend some more time with the younger children that we run the preschool for. They were all absolutely knackered from their day of school, and two of them fell asleep in mine and SJ's laps. What a joy to be the one to rock a little girl to sleep, so that she can know that she is loved and safe. I love all these kids so much already, and I hate to think that I am already 1/3 of the way through this all too short journey.

After all of us got home from work last night, the others decided that I needed to experience a night out in Lesotho (which we only really do because Danger is with us, and since he grew up here, he knows most everyone, so we are quite safe with him). We went out to a Lesotho nightclub and danced the night away... sort of. Let's just say that the locals here are far better at popping and locking than I could ever hope to be. I think that just as they say 'white men can't jump', its fair to say that (at least in comparison to the locals here) that we can't dance either. But I gave it a go anyways :o)

Today was absolutely gorgeous~ we kicked off the day with a girls' brunch; we all headed to a little restaurant in the local shopping mall. It was great to sit and have a chat away from our usual morning chaos at the orphanage. Then we came home and sat around in the paddling pool, complete with our little floating 'table' with drinks and snacks. It was the perfect relaxing saturday, and I even managed a little sunburn (fingers crossed that it turns into a tan by morning!). Anyhow, please continue to pray for my work with the children here. SJ and I are headed to the Kome Caves after church tomorrow, to hand out food and educational resources to the families there, as they are very poor and many of the children are unable to attend school because it is too far away. Peace.

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul."

~Psalm 23

A very blessed Thanksgiving adventure...

So I think that I may just be the luckiest girl alive- I have been blessed with so very much this Thanksgiving. First of all, the last two days have been full of meeting and falling in love with the children here. I volunteered at MeNeos' orphanage for the first time yesterday morning; MeNeo is an absolutely amazing Lesotho woman who has taken in 30 orphans and created a home for them. Sarah-Jane has started a Montessori preschool for them, and is helping to train a teacher as well as an aid (a girl from the MIS orphanage where she runs the after schools program) to carry on her work when her year here is up. The children are precious, and so hungry for knowledge and affirmation. The second we get out of the car, they run to us to be held, encouraged, and taught. We do all sorts of learning exercises with them to help them learn how to write their letters and do simple sums. It is so much fun and such a joy to see them try and succeed at various tasks.

Yesterday afternoon, I finally got to meet the girls at the MIS orphanage- I had brought them knitting needles at SJ's request, and I have never seen teenagers so excited about a simple craft supply in my life. It is such a blessing to see joy in them over something that would seem so trivial to many that I know. The girls were quite patient with me, reminding me how to knit, and we sat for ages communicating as best we can (the native language here is Sesotho, and as of right now all I can say is hello... but I will be working on my vocabulary! some of the older girls speak English fairly well though). This afternoon we were back with the boys, and I got the privilege of making and serving tea. The children love their tea because it is the only time that they get sugar, since most of their meals consist of ground corn and beans. So far, it has been a challenge to learn the children's names, since they are all very different from any western ones, but I am putting forth my best effort and I am slowly getting there... It helps that the kids are so very patient with me!

This afternoon we had a prayer meeting with the missionaries and have started to sort out when I can work with the girls surrounding trauma as well as assist the others working with the children in any way possible. I am very excited to have Monday afternoon with the teen girls to do a small sort of group session, and Monday evening will be my first workshop with the volunteers. I am hoping to do an introduction to trauma and then have a question/answer session to see what they are struggling with in regards to the children they work with. I then hope to follow this up with 2 or 3 more sessions while I am here. From the meeting today, it sounds as if they all have loads to talk about, and I will be praying that God will guide my thoughts and my words as I try to sift through my counseling training to aide them in a country with far less resources than I am used to working in.

So after two fabulous days, I returned home tonight to the best surprise EVER~ the missionaries that I live with (headed up by SJ :o)) had prepared a Thanksgiving meal for me... That's right, an Irish, a New Zealander, and a couple of Aussies who have never celebrated Thanksgiving in their lives prepared a roast chicken (they couldn't find a turkey on such short notice), mashed potatoes, and probably the best pumpkin pie I have ever tasted (from scratch- and I mean SCRATCH: no canned pumpkin, just real pumpkin cut up, boiled, and mashed). We all sat down out in our courtyard next to the paddling pool and enjoyed our meal while going around and telling everyone what we are thankful for... then we took it one step further and went around and said what we most appreciated about each other. Although I have only been here for four days, it was amazing how easy it was for me to do this. Everyone here has been so lovely, and I feel like I have known them for much longer than a few short days. God is moving in this place, and I count my blessings to be a part of this little family and a part of His plan here in Lesotho... I hope that everyone had a gorgeous Thanksgiving back in the States, please know that I love you all, and counted you among my blessings at dinner tonight :o)

"Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly."

~1 Corinthians 13:13

An airplane adventure...

So... you know how they say "the worse the wedding, the better the marriage"? Well I have to wonder if it goes "the worse the flight, the better the trip"... because if that is the case, I am off to a fantastic start. I began my flight to Africa attempting to do a good deed by switching seats with a passenger traveling with a friend who was seated next to me... well the airline had apparently double booked his seat, and somehow in the confusion of me not looking like a man from Senegal, and him not speaking English very well, I ended up getting yelled at approximately 3 times by various flight attendants. In the end however, they allowed the two gentlemen to sit together, and I got to sit next to two absolutely lovely ladies. Mols was a missionary on her way to the children's home in Johannesburg and is originally from Capetown, and Renee is a Johannesburg native who now lives in America but travels to South Africa for business every now and again. So I had a great chat with the two of them during the very long flight. So aside from my two saving graces, the rest of the flight was pretty terrible- once we were in the air, I discovered that my 'in flight entertainment system' did not work (not exactly great news on an 18 hour flight) and since I had so ingratiated myself with the flight attendants earlier, they did not help to resolve the problem... then there was the lack of food on the flight because I do not eat red meat, and naturally that was all that was left when they got to my aisle. To top it off, I polished off my water bottle about an hour into the journey, and they only served drinks 3 times in 18 hours. Oh the dehydration. That all being said, though, it was a huge blessing sitting next to Mols and Renee- Renee even escorted me out of the airport, allowing me to use her mobile to ring my friends who were running a few minutes late.

All that is to say that I have arrived in Lesotho safe and sound. Sarah-Jane and I had a nice lie-in this morning and then headed to the orphanage around lunch time. I finally got to meet some of the children I will be working with these next few weeks! Very exciting. So we played in the baby room for a while then ran the after schools program for the boys; all of the children are absolutely lovely, and I can't wait to learn their names and spend more time with them. This evening I have also gotten to get to know the other missionaries living in the hostel with us; there are 5 others- Tamara is from England, and she is married to Danger, who is a Lesotho native; Sue is from New Zealand, and Kerrina and Justin are from Australia. They are all lovely, and we had a great chat sitting around dipping our feet in the paddling pool (basically an over sized kiddie pool) once we had all returned from our various volunteering sites.

It is absolutely gorgeous here, and I already know that I will be sad to leave it in 3 weeks time. I am excited to explore town and get to know more of the local people here, as well as do some hiking and go on an overnight safari- so many adventures to be had and so much to look forward to!! Thank you all for your prayers, and please keep them coming!

"We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose."

~Romans 8:28

So the adventure begins...

Well my bag is packed, and I am off to the airport in ten minutes! I am so excited for all that God is going to do, both in my life as well as in the lives of these kids... For those of you praying for me while I am gone (which I appreciate so very much; I have not felt this prayed for in a long time, if ever) I could definitely use prayer for spiritual safety while I am over there. Prayer for physical safety would be lovely as well, but I understand that God does not always call us to be safe... So I suppose that if my safety is compromised, just pray that God will use it to His glory.

I will arrive in Johannesburg tomorrow night around 6pm their time (so around noon here) and then Sarah-Jane and a couple of other missionaries stationed in Lesotho will pick me up and we will make the 6 hour drive to our final destination... So it will be a long day of travel, but I am so looking forward to seeing SJ and meeting the kids! Thank you all for your prayers and support, I will put up another post as soon as I get settled in over there!

"Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

~Matthew 28:19

The date has been set... adventure: on!

As some of you may know, I spent last year living in Ireland. While living there, I spent a lot of time hanging with the college students that I was 'in charge' of, but I also spent a lot of time building relationships with the people who call Eire home. Sarah-Jane Taylor quickly became a close friend. She was a youth worker for 6 multi-denominational churches in Greystones, the town where I lived, and for the past 4 years, SJ (as we know her) has been taking her youth clubs down to Lesotho, partnering with orphanages and mission groups to bring hope and truth to the children there. This past May, Sarah-Jane left once more for Lesotho, and she has committed to spending one year there, creating much needed training and education opportunities for children who have no future.

I have now been blessed with the opportunity to join SJ in Lesotho for 3 weeks. I will be leaving on November 21st, and I am so looking forward to serving God, serving these children, and serving the missionaries that are already in place in Lesotho. While I am there, I will be assisting Sarah-Jane in the projects that she has already begun, including starting a Montessori school for the younger orphans and initiating a skills training program for teen girls that will help them find jobs when they must leave the orphanage at age 18. I will also train the workers in these orphanages, as well as the local long-term missionaries, in how to deal with children who have experienced trauma/abuse. For the past year, as well as one year in graduate school, I have worked for the YWCA as a child/adolescent rape crisis counselor. The “Y” will be sending several resources and training materials with me, to give the workers at the orphanage some references in how to come alongside these children and help them begin to heal from some of the injustices that they have survived.

While training and educating these children and teens will give them the chance for a brighter future, I also want to use this ministry of love to show these children the hope that we find in Christ alone. I am excited to travel to Lesotho and love these kids. I look forward to helping Sarah-Jane with her projects, as well as training the workers there. My prayer and desire is for God to work through me to help these people. In a country that is so full of suffering, my first priority is to bring them Hope and Truth through Love.

Some quick facts about Lesotho, Africa, and the people that we hope to serve:

- Lesotho has the world’s 3rd highest incidence of HIV and AIDS.

- Lesotho ranks 7th from the bottom of the UN poverty list of countries.

- Life expectancy in Lesotho is 35 years of age.

- Only 8% of children will graduate high school.

- Many students have a one- or two-hour walk each way to school.

- Many have had nothing to eat and are unable to concentrate.

- Many come from homes where a parent or sibling is ill with HIV/AIDS.

- Child-headed households are quickly on the rise.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothed you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”

~Matthew 25: 34-40