I'M HERE!!

I arrived in South Africa on Tuesday night around 11:00pm. My friend, Mxo, picked me up from the airport and we had a fun ride back to the orphanage. It was such a relief to see a familiar face at the airport. When I got to Makaphutu, I found out that I was staying with one of my good friends, who was a house mother last year. She is now the office assistant and we are sharing a cottage. We stayed up and talked until 1:00am...it was awesome! I went to bed at 1:00am and then got up at 6:00am because I wanted to see the kids off to school. There was much screaming and some tears as I saw all the children that I got close to last year. They were extremely surprised to see me and we just kept staring at each other like we couldn't believe that we were actually in the same place again. I did the bus run with Mxo, which means that we drop all of the children off at their schools, then pick up the 3 and 4 year olds that attend the creche, which is at Makaphutu during the day. The following pictures are of my first day at Makaphutu. I feel at home here. Everything is so familiar and the relationships I built last summer picked up right where they left off.

I will leave you with one story from today. There is a teenage boy that lived at the orphanage last year that I got very close to. He has since moved back home with his sisters and brothers who are about 26-27 years old. I was so glad that he got to be with his family again, but I was also very upset that I might not get to see him. Well, this morning we were taking the kids to school and we see him on the side of the road so we stop and pick him up. I scooted over so he could sit with me in the front. We hugged and hugged and talked about his life now. He said that he is glad to be home, but misses Makaphutu. Then I notice that he is wearing a white, dingy jacket. It is my jacket....that I gave him last year. He sees me looking at it and says that he wears it all the time and thinks of me. Um, can you say tears? I started tearing up and he just started laughing at me...that definitely helped stop the sappy moment. :) These kids are amazing. Enjoy these pics.

One of my friends from last summer...riding the bus to school.

You get to sit up front when your uncle is the driver! :)

These two precious girls just moved to the orphanage within the last three months. It has been fun getting to know them and see how the older kids help take care of them.