Road trip with the boys

Let me start by saying sorry for the lack of posts recently, serious lack of internet! So these blogs are coming in bulk as I’ve written them as I went in hopes of posting them when I got the chance. So now to get you up to date...We got our money cleared for the painting project so we now have all our paint and equipment bought, and got the ceiling painted. The walls we’re gonna make a start with on Tuesday, it’s gonna be a beautiful bright green colour so hopefully the boys will like it! So from Tuesday we’re going to make a big effort to get the room done as time is flying by and we don’t want to leave with it unfinished. But the weekend came quickly which meant it was time for our trip to Jeffrey’s Bay.Most of the boys only found out on Friday about the trip and they were really excited. It meant being at Liebenhaus at 7.30 a.m. which was a bit of a challenge but we got there! Helped get the boys ready and load everything into the combi. The most entertaining part was probably loading up the boys! But everyone got a seat and we took one in the car with us as well. I think nearly all the boys had never been to the bay before. They go fairly often to the beach in P.E. but Jeffrey’s Bay is a whole new thing! It took just over an hour to get there and a little bit extra to find a suitable area to unload 23 boys! So we landed at a great beach: sand, sea, grass, tables, bbq area....perfect! And they splintered immediately! Some went straight for the water, some for the buckets and spades and some for the soccer ball. The water was freezing...like Irish cold haha! So my feet are still the only part of me to have experienced the Indian Ocean! But the boys had such a great day. They got to run around free all day and just be kids it was so great to see! Of course the little ones lost all their clothes in a matter of minutes and were soaked and caked in sand but that’s the best part of going to the beach! And there was no one else on the beach even though it was Saturday. It’s a big surf spot so the younger ones were fascinated by the guys walking up and down with surf boards. It was a day for wide eyed interest...especially when an angler caught a small shark and showed it to the boys. The braai (bbq) was also a great success we had food all day and with the help of some of our donation money we made sure we didn’t run out of food...because seriously those boys can eat! So between eating and drinking we got to do a lot of playing and getting to know the boys a bit better. It was really great to hear from them a little bit about their background as well as how they see the world. And it was nice for them to have a chance to ask us more about home and family etc. They all asked me how it is in Ireland, do people have money etc. How can you with any conscience say we are experiencing a recession at the moment, when here they are living in a children’s home? So yes, there is a lot of money in Ireland, and poverty as well, the same can be said for most places. I’m waiting for the calendar and flag to arrive in the post so I can show them a bit better what kind of a place Ireland is. I keep telling them I’m a terrible Irish ambassador, I don’t know any Irish songs, can’t do Irish dancing, don’t cook Irish food and lets call a spade a spade, my Irish is pretty weak too! But I’m doing my best to fly the Irish flag high and even managed to teach one of the boys a few basic phrases...I’m still working on my Afrikaans! At the end of the day the child care workers made a presentation to one of the boys for excelling as a mentor over the past month. Each of the older children was assigned a few of the younger children to help them with getting ready as well as supporting them when they needed. It gave the older ones a sense of responsibility as well and one boy really took to it. So now there will be a mentor of the month every month and it’s something that the boys can work towards. I really think it was a great thing for the child care workers to start it’s having a good effect on all the kids.Once the presentation was finished we got packed up to go home...lots of mayhem involving missing socks...some problems are universal haha! We took the mentor of the month and two of his charges in the car with us. Fresh air had worked it’s magic and there wasn’t a sound the whole way home! By the time we got ourselves home we were wrecked just about managed tea we were still full from all our braai-ing earlier!Now we’re off Sunday and Monday with no set plans since the weather has taken on a gale force attitude and we’re just going to see how it goes! So Tuesday is back to Liebenhaus with a plan for lots of painting, some more origami maybe, computer lessons and probably donkey (not my idea but apparently I make a very good donkey haha!)Bye for now!Zoexxx