Before heading to Swaziland we had the awesome opportunity to sew together blankets for each of the kids :) :) It was so much fun and we had multiple sewing parties with our friends in the communities. It was so cool to all join together and sew these for people at the time we didn't even know. We hadn't quite finished them by the time we left for Swazi and after experiencing how cold it gets there at night and how little the children had we were extremely motivated to finish them all. We spent our free time in our tents sewing together the last few and then on Thursday before we left we surprised everyone and presented them with a blanket and note from us :) :) It was such an incredible and magical time to do that for them and to see their smiles as they came up one by one to receive their blankets :) :) It was so awesome to do something to tangible for them. To sew and knit and create this thing that will keep them warm from nights to come :) I loved so much every minute of it! click HERE to see a video I put together about it!
This is amazing marisa! I love that last photo.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteThis is Ian Willison. I am Crystals boyfriend. I know i have yet to meet you, but i saw your blog and i needed to check it out. It is amazing reading all your stories, and i am jealous of your life. You have opportunities most of us dream about. Today in class we were talking about Swaziland and how they have the highest rates of HIV in Africa. The life expectancy, if i remember, is 32, which is disastrous. The future of the country is very grim, even though they are surrounded by the most successful African country. I have such a big heart for the children of Africa, because they have so much against them but they are still expected to make Africa a universal power. I am so glad you had the opportunity to be a positive influence. The ideals and portrayal of love you have shown to them impacts them more then they know. I believe they will have a difficult future, having to deal with the effects of HIV, but because of people like you, they are better informed then even their parents.
I was stressed because i feel like we(as in, me too) dont care enough for these children. I always hear about the bad, but never get to see the good. I struggle with not being able to understand the people too. I learning about them through statistics, but you never get to see the character of the people. I am so happy to know you and hopefully someday, have the opportunity to talk to you about you travels. It was just a God thing, which i felt like sharing. Thank you for the blog and being an encouragement.
Take care and be safe Miss Groff.
Ian
PS. I love the last picture. The picture represents Africa for me.