annie in swaziland

Day 4 with the Bendix’s:

It was like rainbows to my eyes… Cashbuild delivered the building materials to the correct homestead!! We’re building a new house for a different set of orphans next week and we thought for sure we’d have to carry the 30 120lb bags of cement, doors, corrugated iron roof, and 15 foot wood beams across the village again like we had to do last time! Thank goodness… (And when I say “we’d have to carry…”, I meant Tyler.  I can only help with the toilet digging.)

We then went to check out the home that was just built.  It’s complete except for the window panes and door.  They are waiting for the cement to dry before hanging those but it won’t take long.  The kids are so happy to have a new home and one of the only toilets in their whole village.  Sisimo’s worms are gone… and no more fungus on his head – all for $2.20!  We piled the kiddos in the car and took them on their first car ride to Manzini.  The kids were amazed at the things whizzing by us and kept yelling out colors. “That sign is BLUE” “That house is RED” “That car is WHITE!”  When we reached town, we took them to a cheap store called PEP to go on a clothing shopping spree.  The whole last week Ty and I were volunteering to help build the house, we noticed that they wore the exact same (dirty and tattered) outfit daily.  They picked out two brand new outfits each and Sisimo got a new pair of sneakers and a pack of underwear all for $40 USD.  We took them to KFC (man, I am sick of even the smell of that place now!) and they ate the chicken down to the bones but kindly left a few pieces for the builders.  Our builder, Raymond, was so proud of his beautiful creation and as we were leaving the homestead, he glanced back at the grandmother with her 4 grandkids playing with their new deck of cards on their grassmat said “Now they will have a good life.”  I sure hope so! 

Tomorrow the Bendix sons Will and Jamie will be here, we cannot wait to introduce them to our amazing children… and give these kiddos the best Christmas they’ve ever had!