Goodbye Botswana!


Advertisement
United States' flag
North America » United States » California » Los Angeles » Torrance
September 13th 2009
Published: September 13th 2009
Edit Blog Post

So I made it home!

The last few days in Botswana, time nearly stood still. I did not get as much time with the children at Heidi's, but I did see them and I also spent another day at the Baylor clinic. This time at Baylor it was only me with about an average of 6 children at a time. The children and I did some art, I showed them some play doh and I read a few stories. One little girl was with me in there for about 3 hours awaiting her appointment, she was very educated, spoke wonderful English and was maybe 10 years old. She was frail and had a lesion on her face, she told me she forgot her bandage that day but hoped the Dr. would cover it for her as she showed me the sore on her cheek. Some of the children go everyday to be evaluated and have medication administered, others may visit once a month. It is heartbreaking to walk through the lobby and know that each child in there has AIDS and most likely the adult with them does too.

I passed out the rest of Kaitlyn's shirts to the children I found in the village. I was not able to share them with the kids I worked with daily as I did not have enough and the sizes were not right for them, but I did not have a problem getting them out. On my way to the airport I had two shirts left, and I saw two boys that fit them perfectly nearly naked walking barefoot on the road... they were about 3 years old. The shirts were well received by every child, so excited to have something new. We made a pit stop at Toumelang, I said goodbye to Richard and popped in the class that had about 10 kids. In that room I saw 4 of the kids I had given shirts to in the village a few days before. The kids hugged me and next thing I knew they lifted their sweaters and each one was wearing the shirt they had received, it is possible they had worn that shirt each day since.

Gloria and I adopted the cutest little puppy ever. Well I found it, brought it home, bathed and fed him then waited for Gloria to wake up to show her. We gave him a flea treatment and fed him warmed milk and bread. He had an open sore on his nose and he slept in my arms for a couple of hours. We later returned him to his owner, that does not have the money to properly care for the puppy but wishes he did. On my last day we bought bags of dog food and took food and water to the family, at least we know it will get them by for a bit longer.

Allan and Gloria were the most amazing, loving, caring and fun hosts the world has to offer. They are family to me now and I owe so much to Rebecca and Michael for connecting me with their family. I am certainly hoping they come to visit, I want to show them all around and I promised Allan I will take him for cheese and chocolate fondue if he will come 😊 Heidi is amazing and provides something to those children they may not get anywhere else, she does it for God and she herself struggles so the kids can live better. John and Christian were a great couple taking me to the Drakensberg Choir and John and I enjoyed a lovely walk in the village.

The day I left Botswana, I cried harder and longer than I have in a loooooong time. I left a part of my heart there. I will be back!





Additional photos below
Photos: 65, Displayed: 24


Advertisement



Tot: 0.179s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 13; qc: 54; dbt: 0.0683s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb