Noah's Ark

Since the Mercy Clinic, I have been working at a playschool (or crèche, as they call it here) in the township called Noah’s Ark. The crèche is run by Victory For All non-profit and is a much needed place for kids to play, learn and grow. The fees are subsidized substantially and sponsorship is available as well. Healthy meals are provided twice per day and caring staff bless the kids here (you can check out the Victory For All website for further information and to make donations http://www.victory4all.com/).

Last week and this week I have been helping Zola with her age 1-2 kids. They are very energetic and cute, snotty noses and all! There are about fifteen kids in Zola’s group and the dirty diapers keep her much too busy to manage the kids by herself. I’m glad to help and have been having a great time. We get tons of time to play with the other kids too! The children speak only Afrikaans and Xhosa (one of the native languages here, sounds so cool with the tongue clicking and such!) so there is a bit of a language barrier there but they are winning over my heart (of course).



There’s one girl I am particularly partial to. She comes from a very difficult background and has some mental disabilities due to FAS. She is 4 years old but only weighs 9 kgs. Noah’s Ark staff are trying to get her to gain some weight and are involving a social worker in her situation. She calls me ‘auntie’ and is just all smiles and adorable. I’m getting emotional thinking about her as I write. She is especially vulnerable because of her mental difficulties and small size and I just want her to be safe and loved. PLEASE PRAY for her, specifically for a safe home, gaining weight/health and for the family situation.

This weekend, Saturday, I went on a hike to Storms River in Tsitsikama. It was a 3.5k walk to a waterfall along the ocean with a stunning rocky shoreline. We got to the waterfall and had lunch and a rest, then turned around and walked back. Sunday afternoon I was lucky enough to go sailing on a small yacht with some friends. We sailed around the St. Francis area and went swimming too. The drive back to J-Bay was punctuated with a beautiful sunset. How awesome!

Storms River Hike








Sailing in St. Francis