Yesterday I was finally able to organize a make-up day with the girls at School of Hope. 

These girls come from very poor and abusive backgrounds. The School of Hope takes them in to give them a second chance at finishing high school and to apply to a university or junior college. 

Another volunteer, Brianne, who is from Canada, has started a lunch group with girls who want to be mentored and talk about life issues. They were holding their final meeting yesterday and I offered to come in with MAC products and do makeovers. MAC shares a big heart for AIDS outreach and has a foundation called ViVa Glam which has raised over one-hundred million dollars for the fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria!

Brianne introduced the North American easy dessert favorite- Rice Krispy Treats- and the class made them together while everyone had turns getting their makeup done. I explained about good hygiene, what each products does, and how to apply them. MAC was extremely generous in donating hundreds of dollars worth of products to give away for this trip! Most importantly, I wanted to communicate that makeup is not what makes a girl pretty, but its the attitude and the way she lives her life that makes her beautiful and attractive to others. After everyone had been through rotation, we called the girls together and I handed them products that were used to create their looks for them to take home! These girls can not afford MAC makeup on their own and their faces were priceless as they were handed the items they liked so much!

Working with these girls was a great way to earn their respect and love.

Anyone can want to teach a life skills class, but it takes special effort to win the hearts and trust of the students. The skills and position with MAC I have been blessed with I knew were for a greater purpose. “But of course we can’t take credit for our talents. It’s how we use them that counts.” (M. L’Engle) Yesterday was a way to serve God with not only my heart, but with my body and mind to enrich the lives of these girls.  I want to give a huge thank you to Letisha Bush and Maria Hurst at MAC in Tallahassee for the generous donations they provided to make yesterday possible. Not only did MAC win more product loyalty but it impacted girls lives and let them indulge in feeling like a beautiful girl. Thank you again!! What a life changing day for many young women!

        

                                                                                  

*Only a couple of the girls in this picture have their makeup done. (A lot of the girls had to go back to class or catch a bus home after we were done. But they were very grateful and had loads of fun!)

Jesse has been very busy being a driver for Themba Care, the sister facility sharing the property. Most people who work in this district do not know how to drive a car because they have never had enough money to own one. He goes with the clinic workers to pick up sick babies from the hospitals and brings them back to Themba. He also has been driving into the townships with the social workers who go to meet with parents of the sick babies, pick up more children who need care, and to pass out flyers letting people know that there is HIV counseling and testing available nearby.

If a mother who is HIV+ finds out she is pregnant early enough, she can start taking medications that will allow the baby to be born HIV-. This is a recent breakthrough for science and will have a big impact on the next generation of children born. However, like in America, HIV has a very bad stigma attached to it and most people do not even want to be tested for fear that they are indeed positive. The black and colored communities socially shun people they know who have the virus. But still their lifestyles of casual sex and drug use do not change. Something does not make sense there. Hmmmm, Go figure…

Jesse says it is very hard to see the conditions these people live in. He drives the vans Themba owns and listens to the women talking Xkhosa to each other and they sometimes teach him words (You click your tongue to pronounce the ‘X’ and then say ‘Kosa’ at the same time- its very hard!) . “Jonga lus-wele, soza m-pin’de tate!” “Listen my child, I will not tell you again!” …The kids are not required to sit in car seats here and we find that extremely dangerous, but the mothers are used to it and just hold the babies on their laps. It is usually not a problem because the babies are too sick and weak to crawl around anyway, but we have two toddlers that get quite squirmy and loud. That is when you hear the moms saying that phrase.

When the mothers or workers get out, they lean over, put the baby on their lower back and create a make-shift baby carrier. They wrap a towel over the baby, fold the ends over thier chests (like you do when getting out of the shower) and secure the baby in their new back sling. It is such an African thing to see! They don’t care what the towel looks like; they double it as a blanket and baby carrier. It works very well and the babies never cry! They are content to just sit there, look around, and usually fall asleep while the mother does the activity she needs with her free arms.  I will probably use this with my own babies one day. Such a good idea! I will try to get a picture of this and post it. 

Please keep us in your prayers, as our health is not doing great. I have another cold and Jesse woke up with it this morning. Our immune systems are fighting hard while being around these sick kids all the time, but we are losing to the battle. We need good strength and energy.