It's 7:30 on a cool Saturday evening. Everyone is at the U.S. embassy Halloween party except for me and Maura(she's eating a P, B and J and watching Scooby Doo and running a fever, again.) kate went as a dalmatian, jacob went as himself and we dressed Jude as Franny and Franny as Jude. It was pretty funny dressing them. Jude gave me a look as if to say... "what the hell are you doing to me?" Franny's reaction was one of..... "finally, now I will get all the attention."
I've added a link to the weather in Gabs as well as a satellite map. If you zoom in and look at many of the highlighted areas, we live within walking distance to the Main Mall, Princess Marina Hospital and Northside School. and The Hood Park. The Hood Park is right across the street from our home and down the road a bit. There is a square around a property near these sights, when you scroll over it, it should say 'the Eckerles Home' That's us..if you find Northside School, there's a small square in the large square, that says Kate and Jacob's school when you scroll over that. Near that is another small square that whn you scroll over it should say Tiny Bubbles (maura school) Did I make it too complicated. You have to zoom in pretty close, but it gives a good view of our neighborhood. Let me know if you find us.. We are north east of the Main Mall.
here's the link too, if you don't want to go to the side of the blog.
http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=-24.6582&lon=25.9124&m=h&z=12
On a different note...
Today I was able to participate in the "Teen Club" at the Baylor Clinic.. I made up an art activity for the 50+ kids and got to see them make self portrait tapestries using some very basic materials. It was a great experience. They are such a beautiful group of children who seem to look out for one another and help each other when needed. They seem to respect their peers and the adults that come to run the activities.
I gave instruction to all of them, which was basically asking them to do tracings of hands, faces, things and fill them in to create a portrait of themselves. I had a group of about 10 of them to myself and helped them get started. The first boy that I helped understood no english, the girls in the group helped me talk to him and vice versa. He was very quiet at first, but when I gave him a few pastels and told him I would help, he smiled and began to take off his shoes... He said something in Setswana and the girls translated, saying .. "he says we wants to trace his shoes and shoe laces, that's all." The girls straightened the canvas, I held the shoe and he very diligently traced his shoes, making sure he got every aspect right. When we were done, we high fived , and he continued working on his art.... He was probably smaller than Kate in height and very young looking in features, but he was 14. I couldn't believe it. Michelle informs me that in many instances, the disease stunts their growth.
He was so sweet and worked so hard on his project, it made a lasting impression on me. I may get a picture of some of the pieces and my new found friend, Tshapang in a few days. Needless to say, the few hours I get to spend with these kids puts perspective on life and reminds me to bite my tongue the next time I want to complain about how difficult mysituation is . These children come to the clinic on Saturday morning, by themselves, and travel great distances to get there. They are struggling with a horrible disease, but are still eager to draw and paint what a 34 year old stranger asks them to. Then, they thank you with all their heart for coming in and doing the activity with them. As I was packing up to leave, a young boy said to me.... "One day, I will be just like you. I want to be an artist....." I hope he gets the chance.
