Ty & Annie alone days 2 & 3 (there wasn’t internet
yesterday to post):
We started out at Sibane Hotel to collect their used
soaps. The head housekeeper Phumzile
(pronounced: Poomzeelay) was more than hospitable when she gave us a huge box
she collected expecting nothing in return.
She said that if we come back monthly, she will have another box waiting
for us and she is happy to participate in something that gives back to the
orphans in her country.
“It’s okay, I’ll just sleep here in my tent”…Those are the
words from our builder when we told him that we would not be able to transport
him to and from his home in eLangeni every day. Today we drove our eLangeni
builder to Malindza Village to see where we wanted him to build a home and
toilet for one of our New Hope Primary student’s child-headed homes. On the long drive, he was talking top dollar
to his white drivers (us!!) and thinking he needed transport to and from his
home every day (1 hour at LEAST each way).
Then he met our Go-go (grandmother) who is raising 6 orphaned
grandchildren all under the age of 10 without a roof over her head. When it rains (practically every day this
time of year), they sleep in our school classrooms because their home leaks
water as the walls become more and more eroded (their home is made of stones
and cow dung/clay soil). He chatted with
her briefly and immediately felt that he needed to give back. He told us that he no longer required the
transport or expensive building fees… he would complete the job reasonably and,
if we bought him a tent, he’d on our grandmother’s homestead until the job was
finished. I was overjoyed and so
thankful! Our organization is so limited financially but continuously so
blessed everyday by volunteers in Swaziland and donors in the US!
Then we went to the Royal Swazi Spa and met Pholile, the
manager of housekeeping. What a treat!!
She was one of the biggest hearted people I’ve ever met. She said that she wanted to take the soap
donation one step further and also donate the used towels at the hotel when
they became too tattered for their guests.
I imagine too tattered isn’t tattered at all at this luxurious 5 star
hotel complete with a spa, golf course, and cuddle puddle.
We took the builder to CashBuild and paid cash for our
orphans’ new home making materials. They
have a problem with counterfeit 200 Rand bills (equivalent to $20) and do not
take international credit cards - so I had to pay for the house with 100R ($10)
bills. All $1,700 of it. (Thank you Aunt Colleen, Uncle Jim, and
Cait…. AND Dr. Lisa!!) It’s crazy to think that only $1,700 can build a very
nice sturdy home that will prevent our children from rain, cold, and disease. Siyabonga…
Today I had to use the toilet at eLangeni Primary. We built these pit latrines for them last
year and they are the cleanest unlocked toilets in the village. But they’re still pit latrines. And I forgot to pack toilet paper. As I rummaged through my purse for something
to use (I settled on a Standard Bank cloth money bag), I looked down below and
saw the children’s classroom exercises, leaves, newspaper, and more. In a country where toilet paper is an
expensive luxury, the children use whatever they can find. And then, afterward, have no soap to wash
their hands. Ty and I have been busy
cleaning and re-packaging soaps for our orphaned students. We hope this will help reduce the spread of
disease in our villages and then we can use that data as an argument to the
Ministry of Health to promote the program nationwide. More and more local hotels are getting on
board.
If you’d like to donate to the Extreme Makeover, Home
Edition program (building the orphans child-headed homes) or the Sanitation
across Swaziland program (providing soaps to schools and child-headed homes)
you can do so here: www.ifightpoverty.org
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