Meet lovely Jennifer Mooney

Hello,

I want to take the time to describe what each day looks like,here at Ikhaya, to give everyone a better picture of how it works here. This past week has been a busy, full week. Monday morning I woke up a little before 7:00am, that gives me plenty of time to get dress, eat breakfast, and have a little quite time to myself. Then I head to Ikhaya at 8:00. Its just a short walk from the volunteer house . Ikhaya is located on the chucrh property, It is maybe six or so acres, which is all fenced off with a high electric fence, and steel gate at the entrance ( break ins, and theft is really bad here in south Africa ).The whole property sit on somewhat of a hill,so you have a pretty good view of rolling hills in the distance,and you can see the lights for the city at night. A couple from the church and their daughter live in a house on the property also, they are a really sweet family. So now back to Ihkaya at 8:00.....the three older kids are already gone to school, so it is the youngest (1yr), then(2yr), then(2yr), and then(3yr) that are about to eat their breakfast when I get there. There is also one staff on shift, all the staff are Zulu women, they also speak English,but it can be hard to understand sometimes. So I just hangout with the kids for a while, talk to them, play in the play room,things like that. Then Wendy gets there (she runs the orphanage) and we go over whats happening in the week, then I set the kids up in the play room to play “ nicely” by themselves, and I go to restock for the week. We keep all the food and supplies locked away in cabinets, ( the staff come from poor homes, and we don't want to make it a temptation for them ). I check the kitchen and see what their out of, then when I refill it I write down what I refilled, it is very organized here, which is a good thing, it helps with keeping everything on budget. Then I check the bathrooms and put out more wipes, baby powder, and nappies (diapers), which with two kids in nappies full time and two more(potty training) half the time, they go thru a lot. Then I must check the cleaning supplies, and you can only imagine the washing powder they go thru with seven kids...and we have to hang the all clothes to dry. So while I'm restocking I'm also looking at what we are running out of, so I make a grocery list each monday as I'm restocking and email to a lady that picks up groceries for Ikhaya. I have about till 12:00 to get all this done, which is usually plenty of time even with the kids interrupting every five minutes. At 12:30 is when the kids get out of school so I get in the car and go to pick them up. They go to a christian school in Empageni ( every time I get better at driving the stick shift and more at easy on the left side of the road).when I get them from their class its a fine line between fun and frustrating. They must carry their own bags and go to the car and get buckled in. If they don't want to do this for some reason, you can't just spank them, and since I'm kind of new, the kids and I are learning what kind of authority I have. But it has been good so far. I try to keep the atmosphere positive and be firm at the same time. But I absolutely love drive the kid home, and them telling all about there day. When we get back they must carry their bags in and eat lunch and take nap( by this time the small children are in bed). I empty there bag and check to see if they have any notes from the teacher. By the time this is done it about 1:00, and all the kids are in their bed ( or are suppose to be:) , So I head back to my house and lunch. We have a new volunteer, Danielle who works the afternoon shift, ( she does like to cook so I've been having fun doing a lot of the cooking for both of us), when the kids get put at about 3:00 and after they have a snack, its bath time, starting with the youngest and working to the oldest. That is a huge job, but fun:) after bath they are allowed to watch one video.....keeps them from getting to dirty, till supper, then bed. So that a basics Monday, so times we have to go early to town to go to the post office, dump, or pick up a donation (of expired food) from the grocery store, so it can be different from week to week. Then that night two girls from the church invited us to their house to watch a movie, we aren't allowed to use the ikhaya car for person use, so if we want to go some where we have to get someone to pick us up. So Jayne took us and we watched “Oklahoma”. So where, that was a full Monday. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, are the kind of the same,but I don't restock, so I get a little more time with the kids. Then Friday I restock for the weekend. So that the structure of the week, with odd jobs to fit in when possible, like,cut grass, weed garden, thank you letter for donations, clean out car, help staff with hanging wash, cleaning, or cooking ahead, just stuff like that, that keeps the whole place running. Saturday I have off, which in how I'm writing this letter :) we can was our clothes, and clean our house, and like to night I'm going to some friends house to eat some impala ( some kind of antelope) and watch a rugby game and TV. This should be interesting. lol. :) I did a write up of my over all time here so far (wendy want it for the Ikhaya newsletter) So I thought I would attach here also. Thanks for all your prays and words of encouragement. It means so much when I'm so far from home and family.

When I was young, I had always thought I'd like to work at an orphanage, But as I grew older that desire seemed to get push farther away,but the Lord is so good, he does not put desires in your heart just to leave unfilled. Then when I was 21, it worked out that I could go to Belgium for two months to be a nanny to a missionary family. The next year I went back again to the same family for two more months. I learned so much and it was good for to learn to trust God in new ways. The next year I did a lot of searching, Trying to figure out what God wanted me to do with my life. But as other doors shut and as the desire to learn more about volunteering at orphanage grew. The lord lead me to Ihkaya Lika Baba, and opened up door wide:) July the 6th I landed in South Africa, I had not grasped what it would be like working at an orphanage. When I thought of orphanages before I thought of it beginning crowded, maybe dirty, and a very sad place to be. But now that I've been at Ikhaya for over a month I can say it is different here. It's not a perfect world,but here the children are taken care of, invested in, and most importantly loved. And I've been so blessed to be apart of that. I LOVE being with the kids and giving them love. I will be very sad to leave at the end of September, But I have learned so much sense I have arrived ...how to drive manual, and on the left side of the road( so I could pick up the three oldest kids from school),how abandonment really affects children,how to juggle four children who want your attention all to their selves(still learning on that one:)),how to work as a team with the Ikhaya family, But the greatest thing I've learned is the Greatness of our Lord, thru the love, and passion, that the people here have for God's smallest of children.