Ben called from South Africa this afternoon. They are six hours ahead of us there. Even though separated by great distance our phone connection was clear, and not hampered by the long delays often associated with such long-distance calls.
Of course, we wanted to hear about the work he and Michal are doing. They are living and working at an orphanage--the Village. There are 28 children in The Village. Three or four are pre-school age while the rest range from 1st grade through high school. The Village is situated among many acacia trees with a snow-capped mountain peak in the distance. The sunsets are awesome.
While many things are new and different, three things remind Ben of home.
First, he and Michal are starting an after school tutoring program beginning tomorrow afternoon. The first thing the children do when returning home from school is wash their uniforms. Then they play. At 4:30 they will congregate in one large room to do their homework and get tutoring help. The younger ones will have English classes for learning their shapes, counting, colors, etc. Ben said it will be like a giant homeschool co-op--a reminder of Mom.
Ben and Michal will also plant a garden. This will actually be an agricultural teaching tool involving the children, as well as a way to grow some fresh vegetables. They don't know yet what they'll grow--probably peppers and beans, among other things. Cultivating the soil, preparing it for planting, will be a great accomplishment in itself. Gardening reminds Ben of some of the great gardens David planted while our children were growing up. Those gardens were not only great physical therapy for Pop, but also put food on our table--for which we were extremely thankful.
The third homely comfort is the weekly menu. I cooked according to a three-week rotating menu while the older boys were growing up. (It's recently been revised to a four-week rotation.) While you could always count on spaghetti on Monday night, the other days varied depending on the week. The Village has a one-week menu. Ben says he looks forward to Tuesdays in particular--fried chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans. Rice appears on the menu frequently and so do beans--a taste of home!
It's a blessing for Ben and Michal to worship at a church just down the road--with the children and other Agathos staff. Pastor Welcome is their pastor. He preaches in English with a Zulu translator (to encourage his congregation in learning English), and spends lots of time with the children during the week.
We said "good-bye" early in our conversation, realizing that when the time expired on the calling card our conversation would be cut off. It was a blessing to hear of the work they are doing--and to hear the joy in Ben's voice as he described it to me. We're looking forward to pictures from Africa sometime (soon?) in the future.
