At Hope Christian Academy

Two of the Fridays we were in South Africa, we went to Hope Christian Academy to help with the children. The evening before we went the first time, Joreth, who teaches the kindergarteners, wanted to make paint for her class to use in art the next day. She had a recipe that uses flour, salt, and water, but the product was this goo that we threatened the boys they had to eat before they got supper. Of course, they didn't eat it. Here Candace is pretending to take a bite.

Amrie's mother, who we call Aunt Hessie, is filling in as principal of the school right now. She had asked us to have chapel for the students. I don't have any pictures of us actually doing it, but we sang some songs and acted out a skit of the good Samaritan. This picture was when we practiced and the girls combed their brothers' hair. I didn't have a brother to comb hair for, so I took a picture. :)

Candace and Amaris painting one of the butterflies, to show the children what it was supposed to look like.

The boys carrying tables for art.

One of the projects the boys did was to clean this restroom so it could be used.

My lovely cousin Candace taking a break on one of the swings.

Helping Joreth's class with art. The African children are so precious.

Candace helping a student glue a piece of egg carton to the middle of the butterfly.

The kindergarteners' artwork.

These little boys had a ball playing ball with Ezra.

We went to school on a Wednesday too. We girls helped do weeding. This is a "before" picture of the flowerbed.

These sweet youngsters helped until it was time for class again.

Candace raked all the little pieces up.

After

Fertilizing and watering trees

Candace helped Aunt Hessie with some filing. I don't have a picture of it, but Amaris and I helped the teacher of the older grades by going through and finding how many textbooks the school had available for the next year.

Phil, who is the actual principal of the school, but is studying in the States, brought some fun things for the children. Here Nathaniel is cutting apart the new puzzle pieces. 

Joreth reading a story to her class.

Counting

The second Friday, we girls helped the second-graders make paper baskets for art.

Being silly

Glen with his basket. The children stole my heart. I certainly enjoyed our time at the school.

Tricks on Boys and Backpacking up the Mountain

This picture has nothing to do with tricks or mountains -- it's just a cute picture of Priya helping Candace with her food.

One morning the girls were in charge of breakfast. Unbeknownst to the boys, the girls had a couple tricks up their sleeves.

Joreth and Amaris are very innocently (or otherwise) preparing breakfast.

Joreth cut bacon into proper lengths and lined muffin cups with the pieces. Then she broke an egg into each one and baked them. I wanted a picture so I could show my family. I've never had this before.

Making pancakes. The girls made a couple "special" ones for the boys by putting some little pieces of cloth in. The cloth was in the middle of the pancake, so the pancakes looked like all the others. Somehow the girls managed to make sure that Es-via and Ezra got those pancakes. We girls were having a hard time controlling our snickers as we waited for the victims to find their special flavoring. In time, they did. "Someone put cloth in these pancakes!" Es-via gasped. But he and Ezra were good sports and ate their food anyway, minus the cloth.

Then Amaris gave Ezra his tea for the morning. The tea was "special," too: at the bottom was an egg Amaris had broken into the cup. We watched Ezra drink his tea -- egg and all! Joreth said,"I thought he would do that!" Yes, that's typical of Ezra. Nathaniel informed us that our jokes would be reciprocated, but they never were.

This is the mountain on the Van der Merwes' ranch. One afternoon we packed gear to camp up there. Obviously, the only way to get up there is by foot, so we had to pack lightly to get everything up there in one trip.

Amaris and Joreth.

We toted as much as we could in backbacks.

Joreth and her load.

Phil brought along little Antonie.

Going up.

After a steep climb, we made it to the campsite under the rocks that rim the mountain.

Phil went back down to get bread dough to make weiner buns. The dough is rolled, then wrapped around a stick and baked over the fire.

Making our supper.

A close-up. The weiners are supposed to go inside the bread, but the holes weren't quite big enough. Oh well. It tasted fine just taking a bite of weiner, then a bite of bread.

The next morning we went up on top. I loved the view. The picture doesn't do it justice.

I zoomed in on the house and outbuildings.

This was a swallow nest clinging to the rocks.

On the way down, some places were so steep we had to slide. Whee!

Ezra very kindly insisted on helping some of us girls with our loads.

Going across the stepping stones.

This last picture is of the tent in Lesotho where we cousins sang and Phil preached. There was a good response to the altar call.

On the Van der Merwe Ranch in South Africa

We spent three weeks on the farm of Phil Geise's in-laws, the Van der Merwes, near Ladybrand, South Africa. My cousin Amaris, who loves horses, took every chance she got to ride the Van der Merwe's horses. Often she rode with Joreth Van der Merwe, who is almost twenty. Candace enjoyed riding too. I took one ride, and that was enough for me! I didn't feel very secure on a horse, so I let the others ride.

This pony had showed up at the farm and decided it wanted to stay. It was nice to have it around, since there were several people who liked to ride, and there were only two other horses. While we were there, the owners of this pony came and rode it to their place several kilometers away. The next morning, it was back on Van der Merwes' ranch! The owners were supposed to come get it again, but they didn't show up again while were there.

One morning we all helped make "cook sisters," a South African fried treat. Strips of dough are twisted and deep-fried, then dipped in syrup.

The boys trying their hand at twisting dough.

The cook sisters before being fried.

cook sisters frying

The finished product.

Putting cook sisters in the oil. Those cook sisters certainly tasted better than this! Can anybody guess what I'm eating?

If you guessed "Mopani worm," you are right! The African people consider these a delicacy, and sell them in the markets. We Americans all got brave and decided to eat one. One was all I could stomach. Nathaniel ate three!

A close-up of the worms.

This was a pretty big pile of them!

Amrie's sister Joreth, Amrie, and Ezra playing hymns together. I enjoyed just listening.

The water tower, which supplies the house with water. I didn't get up the courage to scale the side of it, so I just took a picture of the people who did.

I had taken several little tops and some matching fabric to make some dresses while we were there. Only one got made, but maybe somebody there will make some more. Candace did most of the sewing on this dress. I sewed a couple seams for her. The others had brought a lot of clothes for people there to use. The Van der Merwes know a Christian family who can sell the clothes in their shop.

The dress Candace made.

The last day we were there, we went out to watch the calves get marked. Es-via Van der Merwe and his helper Tankiso herded the mother cows and calves into this pen. Then they would herd one pair at a time inside the nearer fence, where they could clip a piece out of the calve's ear for identification.

 Candace is so good with the little ones. Here she is walking with Priya.

After all the calves were marked, they were herded back to their pasture.

Ezra, Priya, and Candace following the cattle-herders.

Amaris, Es-via, and Antonie coming back from putting the cows in the pasture.

The last evening we were there, Amaris brought out some gifts she had brought from the families, for Uncle Johan and Aunt Hessie, as we call them. They really seemed to appreciate the gifts.

A silhouette of us five on the farm. 

We had a great trip and would like to go again next year!