Christmas in April!

I was driving to Lomngeletjane yesterday and I saw a whole bunch of children walking with these boxes under their arms or on their heads laughing and talking. As I looked closer I saw that the boxes were wrapped in Christmas paper and had stuffed animals and clothing bulging out of the boxes. Then it hit me – these children had just received the Christmas Shoeboxes that are packed by kids and families all around the States. How cool is that?! I remember filling boxes with my son Scott and with my confirmand and with Sunday school classes over the years. But you always wonder what happens to them. Well here is some proof that they actually make it to children in rural schools. Rumor has it that 4,000 boxes were shipped to Swaziland. Not near enough for every child in the rural communities to receive one, but 4,000 children were very happy with their gifts. I stopped a group of children walking home and asked if I could take their picture. Of course they were thrilled to have me take their picture so they could look at it in my camera. They don’t seem to care that they will never see their picture again; they just like having their picture taken. One more example of how kids are kids everywhere.

So, if you have done the Christmas shoebox campaign before I hope this encourages you to do it again. If you haven’t participated in it before, I hope you will consider doing it next Christmas.

By the way, notice how muddy their feet and lower legs are. It had rained a lot early in the morning. These kids are walking on all dirt roads to get to school. The picture below is the puddle I have to drive around every time I drive to Lomngeletjane. It's getting to be more and more of a challenge because the road is getting worse and worse. All cars drive around the little dirt mound on the right on this picture.

Have a blessed day!