hello friends...

before i forget... will you pray that i am able to change my ticket from atlanta to go later, so that i can go and see my family before i come home? this travel agent and i are playing email tag and he is threatening a large fee... but i have my heart set now on flying to ct for a few days before i come back home...

things seem to have taken a turn in the last few days... thank you for all of your prayers. i am getting to know three women... and feel good about these relationships. lerato, the senior at st boniface met us at church and then she and i took a taxi into town and met two other teachers for breakfast. then she and i walked around more and took another taxi home... it was really nice to have time to talk with her... she is one of the students at this school who is more, i woud say, advantaged. she is dating these boys who take her to the movies and out to pizza, she wears cute clothes and owns cds like mary j and alicia keys. this is definately upper class here among the black african students. her mom lives and works in pretoria for the gov. we talked about taking the bus to stay with her mom... we have a long weekend coming up. i am not sure if i want to be away for that long though as other opportunities come up for me here in the township.

yesterday i spent time with a teacher/choir director at st. boniface. she is my age, seperated from her abusive husband, a mother to bongani, a beautiful three year old, and reminds of lis, a woman who fights against lots of hard things and puts up walls of toughness but keeps on going. she lives with her parents again... her dad is super talkative and occupied much of my afternoon with stories about south africa. people here are very proud of their country... and they want to know, how is it? meaning, how do we see the country so far as a visitor. then she and i walked to a rehearsal at molehabangwe, my school. my principle conducts this group, strong voices and i had fun learning some traditional songs and singing in solfa with them. everyone here reads solfa instead of notation. it's actually amazing to hear them. then we walked to another rehearsal... (community choirs here are HUGE!) walking in the township is great for conversation. i learn a lot about the life here from her story, and i feel i have a friend. hopefully we will be able to spend some more time together, she invited me to come stay with her at her parents for at least a night, and i'm excited about that.

today i will walk with this women whose name means tears in tswana (i cannot remember the pronounciation). she is the parent who cooks all my meals and keeps me company. she is quite poor. her husband ni her three children work, and she earns only 123R per month by cooking at the school. this is about $12US. it will be good to meet her family and see her home.

they had a meeting yesterday to "fundraise". i know this is to pay for my lunch and a little to the chrisitian brothers for my housing. it is hard to accept this, becuase they have SO little. it's good that we have a partnership though... i do agree that it shouldn't be one sided, that they should give also, but how do you give if you have trouble feeding your own family? this money for me comes from the teachers' pockets... that is overwhelming.

i feel things have really picked up and will continue to be busier as time passes. this is great though... i feel excited about these new relationships and pray they will continue to grow.

the keystone boys choir comes today from philly. they will give many concerts this week. will be good to see them come and interact with students here.

peace.