Water

This is Lincoln. I just got back from Freedom Park. I went out with Nate to go into the homes with a caregiver. We brought some bags of food to bring to the HIV patients in their homes and pray with them. It was a really good experience for me because this is the first time that I went without someone more experienced. We were with Tembe, an in-home caregiver, but we weren’t with any other pastors like I’ve done in the past. This time was also different because we walked quite a way through Freedom Park instead of driving. This was good to be closer to the people and see more of their life. Johannes has been teaching me some Tswana, so it was fun to get to practice some of my words. I talked to Tembe about possibly bringing in clean water in my truck. She showed me that the people buy water from a rusty tank pulled by a tractor. They pay 2 Rand (about 40cents) for 25 liters of water. She doesn’t know where the water comes from, but it tastes very salty. They have to boil the water to not get sick from it, but many of the people cannot afford paraffin for a flame to boil the water, so they drink it and get diarreah from it. We are going to see what we can organize to get them fresh water.

Somila’s new parents came to visit the shelter today. It was really cute, because when they arrived all the shelter kids came running across the play ground yelling, “Somila, Somila is here.” They were very excited to see her and meet her new family. The children become brothers and sisters and care a lot about each other.