A Place of Refuge

Botshabelo is many things to many people.  I am still trying to figure out exactly that it means to me.. the definition is:  a place of refuge, but it is so much more than that.  I am struggling to put my experience into words.

After 30+ hours of traveling and a quick stop in London, we arrived in Johannesburg (Joburg), South Africa.  An early morning arrival meant we had to wait for a bit to be picked up and delivered to Botshabelo.  Our ride "home" was relatively uneventful, although we stopped numerous times, something we learned was very typical in any adventure away from Botshabelo.

The housing accommodations were so much nicer than we were expecting and there were 2 other American volunteers there, Heather (who left a couple days after we arrived) and Sitara (who is going to be there for a total of 8 months).   Both women were very helpful in getting us settled and explaining how things worked at Botshabelo.

As you can see in the pictures, we had a full (working) kitchen, nice, open dining room, full bathroom and 2 bedrooms.  Kay and I shared a room after the first night because Sitara moved into the house with us.  Adding Sitara completed our house and the adventure began.

The kids of Botshabelo were about to finish up with school and begin their 3 week holiday, so Kay and I were charged with developing holiday programming.  This was right up my alley, until I realized there were NO supplies.  No balls, no ropes, no bases, nothing.  On top of no supplies, there was a language barrier, difficulties with organization and lower social skills than I am used to.  Kay and I got creative and made a list of games that we could easily explain and had supplies for...  Steal the Bacon was a huge success.  After the first couple of days the village kids were playing without us running it!  Ultimate Frisbee was another big winner...  I am not sure the kids got any of the rules I tired to explain, but the certainly had fun tossing the disk around.

During my first few days at Botshabelo, I was exposed to a way of life very unfamiliar to me.  Everyone was accepted for who they were.  People moved forward every day regardless of what life had handed them.  Children smiled and appreciated everything that was given to them... the "babies" (anyone that has grown up at Botshabel, regardless of age) are the happiest group of kids I have ever met.

Everyone at Botshabelo has a story to tell... a traumatic experience they have lived through... some bare scars that can be seen, some do not.  In the 4 weeks were we at Botshabelo we heard many stories, saw raw emotions, brought a little bit of happiness and love to kids that are so desperately in need of it.