Where to even start with this week?
First of all, shout out to all of the brilliant friends of
mine who read and responded to my plee for ideas! Too kind you are J
This week was full of exciting experiences! Last weekend there was an arts festival in a
town down the road, so a few girls trekked over. It was brilliant! There were tons of theater performers
and other mediums of artists. My inner
hipster was on fire. SOooo this whole
living simply plan of mine sort of folded at the market.. I was so gun hoe to really stick to not
buying myself anything, and trying to be as frugal as possible. BUT R20 SCARVES!! (That’s a bit less that $2)
And sunny g’s for R15! I am now a well accessorized, and broke volunteer.
On Monday, it was one
of my kids from the township birthday, and I had promised him an ice cream from
my favorite restaurant, McDonalds! I
roll up in my new scarf and ray bans, and I am feeling extra nice, so I splurge
on a McMixa (a McDonald’s combo meal that I am all too familiar with. It is R15, or $1.50 for a burger, fries, and
ice cream). I am regretting it the whole
time I’m ordering it, thinking to myself that now I’m going to be eating a
whole lot of McMixa’s for a whole lot of birthdays…. So we sit and chat, and I obviously gobble down
my burger. My student doesn’t touch his.. I’ve got places to be now, so I’m dropping
hints that he should hurry up. I go to
the bathroom, and when I came out, he had his food tucked down his shirt, all sly-like. I didn’t even think, but I asked him why he
was smushing his burger. He said that he
was just going to take it home and share it later….. I drove him home, feeling
like a slob. True story, bro. Here I am, proud of my new wardrobe, mad at
myself that I bought this kid a birthday burger, and here he is… hungry and
ashamed, but has the self-control so save his McMixa for whoever at home needed
a bite to eat…. Perspective.
Other bits of the week were spent giving different Masinyusane
projects a facelift. At two of the
schools, we did some painting and landscaping.
Ok, that’s a lie. I did painting,
and I watched everyone else do the landscaping.
I always thought I was a pretty capable handywoman. That is not the case when it comes to any
shoveling/pick axing/lifting. The end
result looks tenfold better though! We
now just need to come up with a way to prevent the goats from stealing all of
the freshly planted greenery! J.
One of my favorite projects so far has been fixing up the
gym. In the heart of the location,
Masinyusane has worked to build a community of men to sustain a gym. It’s a really nifty program because at any
given time, there are 20 or so guys in there beefin up, working on something
productive, rather than some of the other township lures. Holy masculinity,
though. The square block around smells
of straight boy! For the last few days,
we have been working on sprucing up the place.
It took two hours alone two beat the dirt out of the rug. A fresh coat (or six) of paint, and a good
bleaching has really helped cheer up the place!
Maybe now some women will be drawn it?
Obviously, I have been taking artistic before and after
pictures. I will get them up soon!
Oh, and I came across the following link this afternoon. Feels good to be validated once in a while!
Perspective is needed in so many areas of life. What a humbling reminder! And thank you for sharing it with us all.
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