Day 2

The only bad part about today is that there's only 12 days left on site!
Last night was intense. There was awesome South African thunderstorms that hit, and it was a great environment to do anything except for write a paper. That was frustrating, because writing a paper is exactly what I was doing all night. I didn't get to bed too late, but I still only got six and a half hours of sleep.
The wake-up calls don't get any easier after the first week. They actually get harder. I've slept past 7:30 one time in the last 56 days. And that one time I slept until 8. Today I woke up at 7 like usual, and prepared for Walk in the Light.
Walk in the Light began with a devotion, as it will every day. Today, Colton and I led with the first devotion of our time in South Africa. It was about Proverbs 16:3-4, and committing ourselves to God on this trip, and trusting him with the good and bad things we experience. It was a great start to the day.
7 of us started out by going on home visits. We were the first group that did the home visits, and we walked around with Pendile and met some of the people from the village. Apart from the utter poverty in the village, there was so much that my eyes were opened to. There is regularly trash burning on street corners because that's the easiest way to get rid of it. There's a dump in the middle of the village that is just covered with garbage and smells horrible from the constant burning. The houses are small, and incredibly difficult to cool on hot, humid days such as today. All around, Haniville would be an incredibly tough place to live.
When talking to Pendile, I found out that probably 90% of the community is HIV positive. 90%! That means that of the hundred or so people we passed while walking around for those hours, only 10 weren't HIV positive. The shock at the poverty quickly changed to shock at the HIV rates. We met three people while we walked around and went on the house visits with Pendile, and they were all nice, but quiet. Pendile had to urge them to go get their ARV's, which is the medication for those who are HIV positive (they take away the effects of the victim while they are being taken, but once they are stopped being taken, the victim is worse off than before. These are lifetime drugs). Then we met a man on the street who we weren't visiting but seemed like a fun guy. His name was Klaronfana, and he claimed he was the next Denzel Washington when he found out we were from right next to Hollywood. After visiting other people and discovering that literally everyone with a TV in Haniville watches Tyra, we visited Pendile's house. She had beautiful tile floors, wonderful countertops, a great microwave, two solid couches with comfortable chairs, and things that we would have never seen in any other living space. This is because she works with Walk in the Light, meaning Bruce (the director) taught her how to save. So many people in Haniville simply live hand to mouth, and spend as much as they earn, that poverty is a constant thing for them.
After Pendile's house, we visited a diabetic whose pinky toe on his right foot had rotted off. I've never seen anything like it, and I couldn't watch. When we prayed for him, I was fine, but I had to stand outside while the bandage was off and being replaced. Pendile was taking care of him, and he seemed grateful, but it was obvious he was in a lot of pain. Then we visited another man whose name escapes me, but he was the most joyous man I've ever seen. He was confined to a bed by a stroke four years ago, but apparently reads his Bible and prays regularly. His face lit up when we walked in the room, and after we prayed for him we sang a song. The only Zulu song we know, which is "Aleko Ofana NaJesu," Or There's No One Like Jesus. He loved the song, and was such a genuinely happy guy that I couldn't help but be happy in there.
These visits gave me motivation. We were gone for at least 3 hours, and they seemed like they took forever, but we interacted with so many people. The only thing I wanted was to be able to help in any way possible, which is what I got to do later.
After lunch, I returned to the work from yesterday, the manual labor. Same as before, but today I found out we're clearing area so a garden can be planted to provide more food for the people from that area. That was even more motivation.
But the manual labor was rough, and I'm running low on sleep as it is. No naps, working outside in the sun all day for two days straight, I need some rest. Fortunately, I get to sleep in until 8 again tomorrow!
Now that it's the weekend, there are some great plans. Trip to Durban with everyone tomorrow morning, but when everyone leaves, 10 of the 11 guys are staying in a hotel, and going to the beach Sunday morning. Sleeping in, getting some rest, and just recovering together. I'm so incredibly excited for this, just a relaxing beach night on our own in South Africa for the first time. I'm going to get some rest, but I'll be on again soon. So long!