happiness is simple

Today was a good day. I might even go so far as say it was a great day. We had a meeting with our OVC (orphan and vulnerable children) Carers and one of them brought her little sweet 1 year old niece with her. The little girls name is Once More – the first time I heard that I nearly keeled over with laughter, I can just imagine what made them come up with that name…Anyway, she’s adorable and while most of the meeting was being conducted in Sepedi, I played with her. She sat on my lap, was fascinated by my hair and played with it a lot. Mostly just being around little kids like this (any kid really) warms my heart. After the meeting we played some music for the carers so they could learn it and teach the kids at the centres. They loved it and Susan started dancing and of course I had to join her, then little Once More did too. Then a few of the carers were dancing with us and it was an impromptu dance party. Music and dancing really make me happy!

We then walked to Butswana centre – a nice hour long walk in beautiful weather so no complaints – where we had to talk to the Pre School principal and that went smoothly. After that, we played fireball with the kids at that centre – best 3 out of 5 games and it came down to the last one but my team won. Fireball, by the way, was introduced to our centres by one the first German volunteer we had, Michaela. It’s basically an adapted version of dodge ball. I’m terrible at these types of games and proved it by getting hit early on in each round. But it was fun and the kids were animated and excited.

After the last game it was 4 o’clock and time to go home so we hopped on a taxi and I went back to my home in Turkey village. Susan has decided she wants to learn how to ride a bike so I brought my bike over to her house and she had her first lesson. It was great watching her master it – going from just one turn of the pedals then falling, to 3 turns then all the way down the street before falling. She’s so excited about it and determined to be able to ride all the way to Enable village where our office is. That was exactly how I was hoping to spend my evening – hanging out with my friends in the village.

So now I’m home, I’ve made some really great popcorn (Teresa you were absolutely right, there are definitely things you can’t scrimp on – popcorn is definitely one – and toilet paper too) seasoned with bacon salt and a touch of garlic. I’m going to bathe quickly and settle in to watch a movie. The perfect way to wind down after a great day.

PS – stories from my mom and sisters visit are coming soon!