A Walk to Remember

April 3, 2012
Dumalang, my precious friends! Wow, March is finished! I can't believe that I’ll be half way through my 6 months abroad as of Wednesday, next week! It’s also my birthday, which makes it an odd way to celebrate – I’m already realizing how much I am going to miss Botswana and everyone here. This feels like home to me.
How can I even begin to explain this last week, and all that has happened in a 2-3 page blog?! Well I’ll make an attempt to do so.
This week has been filled with bitter-sweet, special moments. The children celebrated their last week of school before their two-week Easter break. On Friday, they performed the passion play in the chapel. They were fantastic! They all knew what to do, and each of them really put their heart into the character they were portraying! I was very proud of every one of them, as well as the teachers, because they all really put a lot of hard work into this whole project. Many of the parents and other relatives came to watch the show and were surprised and delighted to see how well their children could tell the Easter story. After the production Mma Mudereri asked me to say something to the guests about the play. I told them why we did it, that we wanted the children to see how much God loved the world that he sent Jesus, who died and was raised from the dead to make us new. I told them how important it was for them to bring the kids here to the daycare center to learn about God, and how much he loves them. I told them how much the children loved hearing us tell stories about Jesus: how he took care of the poor, sick, oppressed, and needy, how he loved the little children. And I encouraged the parents to read the Bible, if they had them at home to the kids so that they can help the children grow in their belief and trust and reliance on God. Many of the parents told us that they do have bibles that they read with the kids on occasion, which pleased us all greatly. This was also Boniswa’s last time to be with the children at the daycare, and the children presented her with a banner that they made with a few other small gifts. Boniswa cried a lot but she did promise to come back to see them sometime next year, and the children kept running up to her and giving her hugs and kisses. I know for a fact that I will be in tears when the time comes for me to ay good-bye to them when the 2nd semester ends in June. The school day ended right after 11 o’clock. I brought the kids chocolate Easter candies to go with the rest of their Easter goodies and of course this excited them greatly! Once the sweets were passed out all the children scurried away, thrilled for the two week holiday. It’s Tuesday night and I’m missing them already. I have plenty to do during these two weeks, and I need the time to read and write papers, but still….
I may have mentioned this before, but I have also become part of the Young Adult Anglican Fellowship also called the T.A.S.K Team. During the last month or so we have been putting together a sponsored walk to benefit those suffering with HIV/AIDS. We want to continue to raise awareness among the churches about the continued tragedy of AIDS so that they can prevent it from spreading it to even more people. We want all the churches to become more involved with helping people understand the dangers of having unprotected sex. We got a lot of support from various corporations as well as individuals, and we had our 10 mile walk on the 31st of March beginning at 6 am. We congregated on in the parking area at the Holy Cross Cathedral. This was where the walk was to start, and where we all would meet again at the end of the walk.
The walk actually started at 7, because the police escort arrived rather late which is no particular surprise. The weather for the walk was perfect, a nice sunny blue sky day. We had over 300 people who participated in the walk, including the Anglican Bishop of Botswana, Trevor Mwamba, as well as the English and American Ambassadors and plenty of media attention! Sandy was too busy practicing the organ for the opera and couldn’t participate in the walk, but Boniswa really wanted to join, so she volunteered to help push me along with another lady whose name is Klatso. Klatso works with the Botswana government, and has a real passion for awakening the world to the needs of the AIDS victims and the disabled. As the three of us walked we talked like crazy, and enjoyed each other’s company immensely.
It was really interesting because Klatso used to be a fashion designer in Portugal before she returned to Botswana. I was excited about this, because I would really like to have some of the traditional clothes made for me while I’m still here, but I’ve been having a hard time finding a material shop. Klatso said that she knew plenty of shops located in the main malls that sold material, and she said she’d be able to help me find some. Then I need a good tailor, since my body is not quite simple to sew for! She was really interested in both Boniswa and me, and what each of us was doing in Botswana. Boniswa and I have slowly discovered that we have a lot in common, but particularly our love for Botswana. We both have a desire to come back here within a year or so. Once we got back to the cathedral we all enjoyed some good music, lovely refreshments (donated to us by the local grocery stores,) and great fellowship. There were speeches, but you really could not hear them, because the sound system was not coping against the wind that was picking up. This was certainly a walk to remember!
The walk ended at around 10:30 that morning, and when we got back to the flat Boniswa and I took long naps. We were pretty wiped out considering the fact that we had to get up at 5 o’clock in order to be ready for our ride at 6. Neither one of us are morning people!
Last Sunday was Palm Sunday, and I went with my good and dear friend Tshegofatso to St. Michael’s in Broadhurst. She picked me up from the flat at 8:30. When we got there we all gathered in a large circle while the pastor said a long prayer in Setswana. When the 25 minute prayer was finished, he passed out the palms shaped in the form of a cross and handed the acolytes and others leading the procession large palms to wave. We processed at least a mile! It was a lot of fun to sing the Palm Sunday hymns in Setswana, and to dance around as we paraded the streets! I think one of my favorite hymns goes like this “Jesu Wena Sena Calvary! Wiena Lena Sona! Eloi! Eloi Calvary! This was certainly another walk to remember!
Well my dear friends it’s 4 in the morning, and I’m off to bed!
Modimo O Teng! God is HERE!
Minda