Get off the Gate

    Being back at Ithemba this week has been better than I thought.  The best part was when I would be busy playing with one kid and another would yell my name across the room.  Having my relationships with the kids go deeper has really showed that my time at Ithemba has meant something.  Seeing Queen, Nomsa and Lusanda again really topped off the experience.  Those three women have become my closest friends in ministry and I have learned a lot from them.  I am so excited for the fact that I have only spent two months with them and I have another four months to go.  The number of kids has greatly increased this semester and it is very overwhelming but I am excited for all of the names that I have to learn.
    Today was the first day that we had language lessons with the students in my class.  The size of the class was fairly small but it was really cool to spend some time teaching them.  It took about an hour to learn five sentences but it encouraged me to see that the kids know a lot more than they think.  So often the kids doubt their ability to read or write English because there are not a lot of people that encourage them.  I am excited for the lessons that are to come in the next few weeks.
    I am proud to say that I learned a little bit of Xhosa this week.  There is a sliding gate at the entrance to Ithemba and we often have to open it for the cars to come in.  But the kids always want to stand on the gate because it is a fun ride.  The problem is that they don’t understand that the roller can go over their feet or their bodies can get smashed when the gate goes near the wall.  I asked Lompi, one of my favorite kids how to say get off the gate.  For some reason that is one sentence I can remember.