Hello from Jess

Hello to everybody back home! This is my first blog, and I hope you won't fall asleep while reading it. My dad forced me to stop chasing cows and sit down and write it, so here it goes.
I worked at the Preschool again today. The kids are so funny, and they love to sing. Some of the songs they like best are 'Khumbyah My Lord', the 'Days of the Week' song and the 'Teddy Bear' song. For the activity, I drew up a number one and two, which they had to color in different colors; the one yellow and the two red. They did it pretty well, but some got carried away and just kept on coloring the entire page the same color. You can't expect them to do activities on the same level as North American preschoolers, because there is a huge language barrier. They know little more English than we know Zulu, so it is very difficult. This week was especially difficult, because all the Zulu teachers were at training in Greytown.
When we got back from the preschool, we went to feed the kittens. They were very hungry, so the mealie meal, chicken and milk disappeared very quickly. The black kitten is still very traumatized from its short trip to our house. We are still hoping that the want of food will help it overcome its fear of us.
We (Dad, Micayla and I) went on a 'short' walk to the ridge ten minutes away from our house, to see the view. What we ended up getting was a tour of the Kwa Thintwa School for the Deaf. As we were walking back to the outreach center, we were stopped by a woman who was going into the school ground. We said "Sawbona" and she said "Hello" back to us, but we could see that she was wondering what three white people were doing walking around a black community at sunset. She asked us this and we told her we lived in the area. Then she was real confused, so we told her we lived at the farm that used to be called Nansindlela, and then she knew where we were living, and she asked us if we were working for GGA so we told her yes. She promptly gave us each a big hug, even though she didn't know our names. It turned out that her daughter went to a school in Pietermaritzburg with some kids from GGA, so she knew all about it. She immediately offered to give us a tour of the School for the Deaf, at which she taught science and art. The kids were all gone for term break, so it was very empty and quiet. Normally 300 kids, from ages three to twenty live there. We saw a dorm room, the kitchen, and some classes. Everything was spotlessly clean and perfect, it seemed like nothing was out of place. It was amazing that an organization that big could be run so well. (We were all thinking that GGA could learn some lessons from this place.) The woman (her name was Collette) kept on introducing us to people and saying we were "gifts from God" or "People of God". She told us the history of the school, that it was a Christian organization... and that it badly needed funding. she told us that they greatly appreciated any donations, and asked us not to forget them when we went back to Canada. I don't think it would be possible to forget a wonderful organization like that.

Well, I have to go now, so goodbye.

Jessica Taubensee