Thursday July 9th - the team's last day in Bulembu

On Thursday, we went in several different directions. Some delivered clothes and other donations to the ABC House, others went back to the Child Care Center for one last time, and others tried to get onto the Internet and I kind of drove back and forth shuttling people, donations and laundry around. At 11:00 we met the Manyano at the Methodist Church in Bulembu. There were around 20 or so ladies that came from congregations in the surrounding communities to worship with us at Bulembu. It was a wonderful prayer service with lots of songs and testimonies. We thought it would be done by 12:30, but keeping in true form, it didn't end until around 2:00. After the Manyano meeting several people went to tour the clinic in Bulembu.

This is the living room of the house I stayed in. We had two houses. Each house had a kitchen, two bathrooms and 4 or 5 bedrooms. One house had a stove and the other house had the table and chairs. So we moved the table and chairs to the house with the stove and consequently we ate breakfast and lunch at that house. We ate delicious dinners at the lodge and then used their sitting room for our nightly devotions. In the picture below we were sitting around the fireplace one evening. Unfortunately, I couldn't get everyone in the picture. We were very thankful for the fireplace and all of the wood they provided us because it was very cold until Thursday and Thursday night. The fireplace was the only heat source in the house.

Pictured left to right: Mary, Becky, Donna, Mary Jane.

Jane was my roomie for the week. It was so great to get to know Jane and the others. They welcomed me into the group as if we had known each other for years and I had been a part of the planning process all along. She was the leader for VBS and did an excellent job.

The team left at 6:30 Friday morning to go to Kruger National Park and after one last great hot shower, I packed up and returned to Manzini. I will truly miss this wonderful group of women and everyone in Bulembu, especially the children.