Doumas Down South: Arrived at Lily

Hello everyone,

It has been a very exciting few weeks for us down here. We have finished out last week at Aurora, spent a weekend in Port Shepstone at the Spiritual Life Conference (SLC) and last Friday at Lily of the Valley. Sorry it took so long for a blog, but we couldn’t get onto the blog website because of internet screening reasons.

It was quite difficult to say good bye to Aurora, as well as all of the family and friends we have made in Pretoria and Johannesburg. We were sad to leave Joburg in our rear view mirror, but at the same time it was exciting to move to a new part of the country, ready to experience something new. Aurora was a good experience, not always easy, but I believe we grew threw our challenges, and made some great friends along the way.

The SLC was a very nice and relaxing week spent with many other missionaries. It was wonderful to hear from people who have been on the mission field much longer than I have even been alive! They really encouraged us, and it is great to see how much good is being done in South Africa by these people, and how truly dedicated to work they are. It was helpful to finally put faces to the various names I have been hearing and see just how large the South African SIM family is. During the SLC we also had one afternoon at the beach, and now we can officially say we have swam in the Indian Ocean!

On Friday we travelled back to Lily, which is in between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, way out in the boonies. It actually backs on to a game reserve and our very first day we were lucky enough to see a giraffe. We unloaded and are still settling into our 3 bedroom home. It is a huge blessing to finally have our own living space again! We can put Rylee in her room and make noise after 8 pm once again! We are living in the complex amongst the other homes, and so we have had a LOT of visitors every day, and lots of small sets of eyes peering through the windows! Each home has a house mother, and 6 children living in the house with them. We had a couple of days to settle in and then on Monday we began work Courtney has been helping out in the nursery, which is run for 3 hours a day to give the house moms a break from the young children so that they can get their work done. Last week we learned that Lily just took in a one month old baby, and has a few 18 and 19 year old boys who haven’t quite left yet, so the age variation is huge! I have been helping lots with the Holiday Club, running sports and things like that. The kids are on school holidays for the next 2 weeks and so need stuff to do during the days. Lily was once more of a hospice for children dying of HIV, but with a 98% survival because of modern medicine its role has changed into an orphanage. Around 80 % of the 120 children are HIV positive, but they are just as energetic as any other kids! That does come with its challenges as nearly every soccer game we play, there is blood, but as long as we are careful it is much safer than we would have thought!

We hope that everybody back in Canada is doing well! Happy Canada Day to everyone!! This is the first Canada Day ever, that I haven’t been in the country, and I must admit that makes me a little sad! As wonderful as South Africa is I still am very much in love with my home nation! We hope everyone had a splendid holiday!