Reach for a Star Project Completed!

Sawubona! Yebo!

Hope you are all doing well! Another week has gone by which means I have been here for a month now, I can’t quite believe it!

This week the children came back from their half term! I’m so glad to have them back; it is very quiet here without them! They were also very happy to see each other again which is great to see J Personally, I have been particularly busy this week as I have been trying to finish the Reach for a Star project! I am pleased to say all 3000 cards were finished on Friday (4^th October) and about one third has already been distributed to the nearby churches. This will give the congregation enough  time to put some money aside to buy a piece of clothing for one of the children J Below is a picture of what the cards look like:

One of the churches we gave the card to was in Newcastle. It turns out the priest, Father Peter, was a priest in Essex for a long time. One of the churches he was based in was actually in Rayleigh! It is so strange but great at the same to meet people who come from the same area as you when you are so far away from that place! The world is really becoming small... With the Reach for a Star completed and the remaining cards being distributed over the next week, I can now concentrate on other things such as the children/staff database and the Jubilee Celebration!

Friday evening, I went out with Father Matthew, who is a Kenyan priest who works in Madadeni (township next to Blaauwbosch) as well as his friend Paul, who I have met before. We went out for dinner to a restaurant called Gooseberries. It is situated in a game reserve so on our way, we saw zebras, springboks and even ostridges! The restaurant itself was nice, the staff were very friendly and the food was delicious (and so cheap!) We all ate steak, had a glass of wine as well as a desert and the bill only came to the equivalent of £30!!! Amazing ! Here is the view from the restaurant:

 As you know, every Saturday the whole of Saint Anthony’s Home pray the rosary together. This normally happens in one of the cottage but this week (the care workers weren’t sure in which cottage was due to host) it was held in my cottage J I put candles around the living room and made enough space so that all 92 children plus their care workers could fit. Although it was a bit of a squeeze and rather warm, it was really nice to have them all here! For those who don’t know, the rosary takes about 30 minutes and is prayed on your knees. Although a blanket is put on the floor, there are no cushions so you can imagine how sore your knees get. However this doesn’t matter, every child, no matter how old they are (Yes this does include the toddlers), has to stay on their knees for the whole rosary. What amazes me is that they don’t just do it, they do so without complaining! However there is always a loud sigh of relief once we have finished praying!  

This month is the month of the Rosary which means the home doesn’t pray the Rosary just on Saturdays but every day of the week, including Sundays. Therefore today (Sunday 6^th October) instead of mass starting at 8 am (which is already quite early), mass started at 7:30 am! It will start at that time for the duration of the month... This makes it official, in South Africa the weekend is only one day, Saturday! As well as going to mass, I did some baking and in the afternoon I started to teach the teenage girls my hip hop routine which they will be performing during the Jubilee Celebration! They love the routine (thank goodness!) and they picked it up very quickly! Once they have learnt it all, I will film them and post it here so you can all take a look!

Until next time,

Isabel x

P.S: Another reason why I love South Africa so much... they love deserts just like me ;)