The House of Hope (ctd.)
We had also allowed time for taking the shelter children on some visits, which included a very relaxed day at the zoo and a museum. Victor and Fransina took us to a nearby township and we met with some of the people living in their tin shacks. They are very welcoming and proud people, who take care of themselves and make the most of what little they have. We also visited two schools in the vicinity and felt the respect that staff and pupils have for education, even though their resources are limited. Most of the children have great ambitions for themselves, wanting to become doctors, lawyers and nurses. There was a very strong bond between our students and the school children on these visits. By the end of the week, we had accomplished what we had set down on the short list. We had sufficient funds remaining to leave in their account so that they could, amongst other things, have an internal wall built to separate the church area from the living quarters. We have since learnt that this has been done, permitting the shelter to apply for a small amount of local funding. We have also learnt that the showers, taps and hot water have been fixed and that some wood has been purchased with which to make new lockers.
(More pictures will come on line shortly RL) |
Each group then put in an incredible amount of work over the next few days. The atmosphere went from dusty and damp to being filled with the smell of paint and white spirit, but it was always a happy and hard working one. Our students took everything in their stride, even the requests for painting clouds, rainbows, trees and flowers on the walls. They punctuated their activities with generous helpings of cuddles as the crèche children were at the shelter all day. The older children were at school, but on their return In the afternoons, they were always keen to lend a hand with the paint brushes. This invariably had the effect of slowing progress but enhancing fun! 
The crèche room, the three girls' bedrooms and the long wall in the main room were painted. Carpets were donated from the local university and were fitted into the boys' bedrooms, the crèche and the girls' rooms. Eighteen bunk beds were purchased along with 36 mattresses and pillows. Six of the bunk beds, flat-packed, arrived while we were there and, after showing the shelter boys how to construct them, these very capable teenagers set to and assembled the rest. Everybody enjoyed themselves and didn't realise just how much hard work they were doing. 
During our time there we had made strong bonds with the children and adults alike. They had shown themselves to be happy, hard working and loving people. The farewell was emotional and the House of Hope community was sincerely thankful and almost disbelieving that a group of complete strangers had travelled half way round the world to see them. Although we went to give and do as much as we could, it was a very humbling experience and we had so much to come home with in terms of friendship and love and awareness of our own short comings. This trip really changed more than the paint on the walls.