Sam and Khule (English only)

Samuel and Khulekani are best friends and I used to teach their class.

One day I was on my way from the centre of Verulam, that Waterloo belongs to (police station, post office, social office, etc.) and it was during school hours. There along the road I saw Samuel and Khulekani..., so I stopped to pick them up. They were embarassed, but got in. "We had to take my brother to the clinic, mam.." Yeah, right!

We started talking and continued as we got back to the school, and they told me how they struggled at school... "Mam, we can't read..." WHAT???? "You're in grade 9, and you can't read???!!!" "No, mam..."

A good few months later I got some friends help me transport 16 of my kids to the church I attend on Sunday evenings, Grace, where the youth had invited to an evening with Nick Vujicic at our church. (Check out the web page www.lifewithoutlimbs.org) One of those friends that helped out taking the kids to and from church that night, was my friend Kath. She is a speech therapist. I pointed to Khulekani, telling her that he couldn't read. Kath was really surprised, since Khule is in grade 9. But she said she'd meet up with him and see if there was anything she could do for him.

Two times we met up with her and she gave homework that I would help Khule with. But every time we practised Sam came and looked and listened when we practiced, and one day he said: "Mam, I can't read either..." I had only thought of Khule, 'cause he was eager for me to teach him how to drive a car... :)

Next time Sam came along. Sam had told me: "When I started school, I didn't earn how to read. So my parents took me to the sangoma (witch doctor). She did her thing, but couldn't heal me. She just told my parents that I would never read in my life.., so I don't know if it's going to work.."
I told him that we would pray, that nothing is impossible for God! God is more powerful than anything and capable of more than we will ever dream of!

The first time Sam came to reading class with Kath, he started reading. Yes, it was only words like hat, mat, rat, cat, fat but HE WAS READING!!!
I had tears in my eyes!
That minute it dawned on Sam that what he and his family had believed for so many years, what the sangoma had told them, was all lies...

We're meeting Kath now once a week. Sam is learning so fast now, and Khulekani as well. Now they are reading little stories!!!
Kath has been SO, SO good with them! And God has been faithful and good!

I asked Sam after one of the sessions, when I was dropping them back at Waterloo, if no-one had tried to help him learn how to read all these nine years, like giving him some special attention when they saw that he wasn't reading or writing. He said: "No, mam, you're the first one.."
I'm wondering how that can be???!!! How come, he's been schooling for at least 9 years, and NO-ONE HAS HELPED HIM BEFORE????

Now we are helping him them. They know that there are people that care, and that God cares. God wants to give them a hope and a future!

I absolutely LOVE these sessions with Kath and the boys, 'cause I can see it on their faces that they really have new hope! And the time between school and the session with Kath, we hang out, either at my place or at the beach or somewhere like that. It's good time to talk about life, what has been and what will be, about challenges in life, about the Bible and so on. Good times! :)

Sam and Khule are both part of our Bible group and come to our church most or every Sunday! :) Soon they will be able to read what is on the power point slides, the text of the worship songs, and most importantly the Bible!!!

(And can anyone tell me how I can get rid of the underline here..??? I seriously don't get it...)

Zulu course! Zulu-kurs!

This last semester I have attended a Zulu course at the University. I heard that a friend of mine, Rose, had signed up, so I joined her! :)

Det siste semesteret har jeg gått på Zulu-kurs på universitetet. Jeg hørte at ei venninne i
menigheten hadde meldt seg på, så jeg hang meg like godt på! :)

But let me tell you! Zulu is DIFFICULT!!!

Men la meg bare si det, at zulu er VANSKELIG!!!

Here are some of the words I have learned, see if you can get your tongue around them..! Her er noen av ordene jeg har lært! Se om du klarer å uttale de..!

Sawubona = Hello (really: I see you!) Hei (men egentlig: Jeg ser deg!)

Ngiya kuluma isiZulu = I am talking Zulu! Jeg snakker zulu!

Ngiya funda = I am studying/reading. Jeg studerer/leser.

Ngizo pheka inyama = I will cook meat. Jeg skal lage kjøtt.

Angipheka = I can’t cook. Jeg kan ikke lage mat.

I really want to learn, but that requires practice! There is no easy fix.. :( However, it has been good to be around Zulu speaking people every day, ‘cause I get a lot of the intonation for free! :) And one of my kids has given me a list of words to learn!

Jeg ønsker virkelig å lære meg zulu, men jeg må øve! Ingen enkel løsning.. :) Men det har vært bra å være med folk som snakker zulu hver dag, for jeg får inn uttalen helt gratis! :) En av ungene mine har gitt meg en liste med ord han synes jeg bør lære!

Top picture is my teacher Thokozani. She is really GOOD! And she is realaxed, but still kicking us gently in the butt! :) She added to the many laughs we had in the class!!!

Next picture is my friend Rose and Thabo. Thabo is not Zulu, he is Swathi (I think..), and aparently it is so different from Zulu that he has to come to class... all because of a Zulu girlfriend! ;)

Det øverste bildet er av læreren min, Thokozani, og hun er skikkelig god! Hun er avslappet, men gir oss kjærlige spark bak når hun mener vi er trenger det! :)) Hun har også bidratt til mange av latterkulene vi har hatt i klassen!!!
Neste bilde er av venninnen min, Rose, og av Thabo. Thabo er ikke zulu, han er swathi (synes jeg å huske...), og det er visst nok så forskjellig fra zulu at han må gå på kurs... alt for en zulukjæreste! ;))

It has been SUCH a blast learning Zulu with this gang! We've so connected on the humor level!
We were 12 in the beginning, but the number dropped to a few dedicated 7 towards the end! I hope to do the next level starting from February 2009! :)

Det har vært SÅ gøy å lære zulu med denne gjengen! Vi koblet så veldig på humor!!! I begynnelsen var vi ca 12, men antallet falt til 7 få hengitte mot slutten! Jeg håper å kunne ta kurs nummer 2 fra februar 2009! :))

Noel

Mange av dere husker at jeg sendte ut en lettere desperat mail tidligere i høst. Og mange av dere ga respons på den mailen. Det gjaldt å hjelpe Noel, som måtte frakte sin avdøde søster hjem til Zimbabwe for å begrave henne.

La meg fortelle…

Noel hadde en søster og en bror, og det var alt etter at foreldrene døde for noen år siden. I Afrikansk målestokk, en liten søskenflokk. Noel er den eldst av de tre, som alle hadde kommet til Sør-Afrika for å finne et bedre liv enn det de hadde i det istykkerrevne landet sitt Zimbabwe. Noel fant jobb i Durban og broren og søsteren i Johannesburg. Søsteren fikk både jobb og rom hos en indisk familie, og kjente seg heldig. Så plutselig ble hun funnet død en morgen, med gul fråde i munnvikene… 24 år gammel.

Det er ikke lett å være Zimbabwer i Sør-Afrika. De blir beskyldt for å komme og ta jobbene fra de andre afrikanerne. Vanlig fremmedhat finnens overalt. For å frakte døde fra Sør-Afrika til Zimbabwe skal begravelsesbyråene ha 8000,- SA Rand. Det er ca 6500,- NKR. For en servitør er det MYE penger, ALT FOR MYE penger! Slektningene til Noel og søsknene trakk seg unna da han ba om hjelp, for de hadde INGEN mulighet til å hjelpe, ingen i Zimbabwe har penger (bortsett fra Mugabe og gjengen..) og ingen sosialkontor å henvende seg til…

Det er grenser for hvor lenge man kan vente med å begrave en død person, og så kommer afrikanske tradisjoner, rutiner hos agenten, osv. i tillegg. Noel begynte å bli smådesperat. Flere av vennene til Noel i Johannesburg klarte å skrape sammen noe av pengene, noen kolleger og venner i Durban ga det de kunne, og mange av dere gav resten. Vi klarte å hjelpe Noel til å få søsteren hjem og begravet.

Da Noel kom tilbake fra Zimbabwe var han selvsagt trist, men han hadde ikke ord for hvor mye det hadde betydd for han at vi hjalp han med søsterens frakt og begravelse. ”Hvordan kan noen som ikke kjenner meg vise en sånn omtanke og kjærlighet??”

Ordrett fra Noel: ”Tusen, tusen, tusen takk!! Jeg vet ikke hva jeg skulle ha gjort uten dere! Hvordan kan jeg noensinne få takket dere nok? Jeg vet ikke hva jeg kan gjøre til gjengjeld..?”

Tusen takk til dere som gav! For oss er det ofte bare snakk om ett par hundrelapper, som vi ikke merker noe til. Men for Noel, betød det noe ENORMT!! Og gjennom at vi gav, har Noel fått tro på at det fines en Gud som bryr seg om hans konkrete behov! Takk til dere og takk til Gud!

Dere som ber, be for Noel litt denne Julen. Han jobber mye, ofte dobbelt, for å betale tilbake de som lånte han pengene.

I etterkant av begravelsen til søsteren, har kona skilt seg fra han. Hun og familien hadde ”blitt enige om” at han var for fattig for henne… Han har hatt mye hjertesmerte, som ikke er lett å deale med. Vær med å løft han opp til Gud!