e rushed to our appointed rounds, all 
still feeling slightly downcast after the statistics we learned yesterday. There wasn't going to be the time that had been hoped for to spend with the families, but we would make the best of it. The first family was a child-headed household where Terry, Ev, Marie, Jordan and Bailey stayed.Because of so much going on, I never did hear to much about this family, but know that the girls left their shoes for the young women there and were very quite again, after we picked them up. It's not till much later that you start to wonder why you didn't ask questions of these families, especially the child-headed ones, like what do they eat and where do they manage to get their food from or how far do they have to go for water. I think while I was there I felt like it would be rather rude to ask some of these simple things. I know I asked Nobuhle one day if the people didn't mind these strangers coming into their home and snapping pictures of it and of them. She said NO, they felt grateful, that it showed that people cared about them and about what was happening there, but I think I still felt awkward about it and I guess embarrassed that I was prying into their private lives. If I could go back again, there is so
much more I would hope to learn. Hilda, Carol, Andrea and I headed off to visit the next family, which had a child that Andrea was sponsoring. The male in the household was the father/grandfather who had 3 wives (1 dead of AIDS) and with them lived his daughter and her child. We sadly found out that the little girl was HIV positive, which meant that the whole family was HIV positive! The WV staff is not suppose to tell anyone which people are or are not 'positive', but by looks and answers, it is not always hard to tell. The family had 3 different rondevels, but they were presently only living in one and a very poor one at that, as you can tell by the sun beams coming through the roof. The last rain storm had destroyed the other 2, and they were slowly re-building one of them, making bricks for the walls. We learned that the mother of the child had been coming home one evening
and had been attacked by a Sangoma (witch doctor) for some reason. She had been severely mutilated in the genital area and had one of her hands chopped off!!! I couldn't get the whole story of it, for I would have liked to have understood better what it was all about (see, so many missed opportunities of questioned that could have/ should have been asked). The grandfather also told me something about bandits coming in the night and blowing a magical smoke into the house that put them all to sleep and stole their cattle! We had a quick look through the 2 ruined homes which were devastated. We had only time here to find out about how they collect their water and so, were led down a steep grassy incline to an area where a slow trickle of water came out of the hillside. It would have taken, probably, at least 1/2 hr to 
fill the small container that Hilda is holding
in the picture. Over 100 people, we were told, collected their water from this spot. On the other side of the trail was another trickle, which is where they would wash their clothes. So all the water for their household had to hauled by the bucket full back up the hillside (and it was quite the hike) as well as the water needed to make the bricks for the re-building of the rondevels, feeding any animals, etc. Oh, what we take for granted! Such a s
ad, hard life these folks live. The third family we visited, together, was another child-headed household, located down another dirt track in an area where there were a couple of very run down square shaped huts. The head of the house was a youn
g girl who could not been more than maybe 16, her younger sister maybe 12 or 13, another even younger sister aged 2 or 3 and a baby ( we thought). The baby was actually 2 years old and had AIDS. He looked the size of a 1 year old, if that, and was very feverish and bloated. These 4 children lived in a home that was no larger than what would hold a double mattress, a small table and an area just inside the door where there was a small pot over a tiny cooking fire. The mattress wa
s a horse hair type covering over a spring, that was it; no blankets, pillows or anything else we would consider a neccesitity. There was a very small pile of clothes at one end of the bed and on the table were a couple of pots and underneath was a washing up basin. That was the extent of their belongings, I didn't see any food or water containers anywhere. Having the little cooking fire within the hut was so bad as well, for the smoke from it would be so damaging for them all. It's hard to convey the image and the feelings I was having at that momen
t. I can't even being to imagine what life these poor children are living, or how they even manage to exist! It was a very quick visit with this family and probably a good thing, because I don't think we would have been able to handle to much more of this devastation. It was time to head to our picnic. Now here was something to pick up our spirits, lots and lots of children, with their mothers/grandmothers/caregivers. The only sad note to this was I didn't have the chance to meet my daughters sponsor child, they said she lived to far away for them to have been able to bus her in that day. The evening before, we had been asked to make lists of everything we had for each child (I had to do the same for the things we took in to Nikki's) and that was quite the job in itself for my group of children! I think it was probably around 2 or pm by this time, so these poor families had been patiently waiting for us all that time. Names were called and we all broke into groups with our families and passed out the gifts we had brought, which delighted the children ( and mothers) more than words can describe! The big hits were, again, the sunglasses, the jacobs ladders and the bubbles I had put in each childs backpack. It was so much fun to watch their faces light up with each little gift that they brought out of the packs, even the 
tooth brushes and tooth paste got ohhs and ahhs. The staff of the ADP brought out prepared lunches for the children and I noticed that 2 of mine tucked them away into their new backpacks, probably to share later with other members of the family. I found out that one of the little girls had missed the last month of school from stomach problems, so I went and found Nobuhle and asked her if there wasn't something that could be done. She talked to the Mom and little one and eventually told me that she thought the girl had parasites and needed de-worming! Can they afford the medicine, I asked and was told no, so I left some extra money with Nobuhle to purchase it for them. I hope to hear she is feeling better when her letter to her sponsor arrives. I had also left money with Mummsi for groceries for my daughters sponsor family and Fundiswa and her family. I'll be interested to hear what was bought for them, as they always list everything received when they write to you. It was hard to say good-bye to the children, I wanted to bring them all home with me.So it was a very draining day, what with the first half been rather a sad state of affairs and the second half being so exciting, with meeting the children and their families. I think I was in tears when I talked to Tom again that evening, as I had been the night before. Thank goodness I was able to call him and talk about the days events, every other day or so. ( It had taken us about 4 days to figure out how to call Canada)
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