Amazing God writes Amazing Stories
Kee Poh Li:
At Acres of Love, the word 'orphans' no longer applies because the children become part of a loving family. We had the privilege to interact with the families at Forever Homes during this POR trip. Each child's story and the sacrificial and selfless care provided by house parents in a normalised family home touched our hearts. While their pasts are part of whom these children are, their pasts do not define them, or limit whom they can become. Looking at the confidence they exude as they interact with us, result of a stable environment of love, nurturing, care and joy, we are excited and believe alongside with Acres of Love team in the new beginnings and future for these kids in their generation and beyond.
Lee Wenyi:
Hello from South Africa! Time passes so quickly and we are into the third day of POR!
We set off to the Provision House in the morning for a special project with Preschool Blairgowrie and Benoni children after a heavy breakfast. Initially, we all thought that the children we will be meeting today will be energetic and hyper like the ones we met at the dinner last night but it was not the case. For a moment I felt so helpless looking at them not responding to the performances that we brought to them. But we were encouraged by Pastor Dale telling us we did well considering various factors like the 23 children aged 2 to 6 were being surrounded by 26 adults who are Asians. They could be overwhelmed by our presence.
Thereafter, we continued playing the games with the children followed by some balloon sculpting and craft. Thank God the ice breaker games were quite well-received and the children really enjoyed. It was so heartwarming to see them holding your hands and telling you they want more of what we've presented to them.
P.S. I think the kids enjoyed bursting the balloons more than playing with the balloons.
After a whole morning of interaction with the children, we had to bid goodbye to the adorable children.
And next came the BBQ dinner with the some older boys aged 10-13 from Leonard Road Forever Home.
When we arrived at the Provision House, the boys were already there playing badminton (on the tennis court). Some of us then joined them in the badminton game while waiting for dinner to be ready.
You will be amazed at how fast they learn new stuff. It was the first time playing badminton for most of the boys and they played really well.
Afterwhich, we experienced the "South African hospitality" by the hosts and are indeed truly blessed by the people and also the food! We were split up into 2 tables during the dinner with the boys sitting in between us.
Gerda came over to our table and requested each one of us to describe one unique thing about Singapore. Of course, Singapore's HDB housing was mentioned and we showed them some pictures of our housing estate.
In the boys' mind, we Singaporeans were not as fortunate as they are
because they have a garden to plant what they want, they had lawn to
mow, they had big spaces in their homes to play their favourite
soccer, which all these, we as Singaporeans are not able to experience
it (unless we own a private property).
And not forgetting the friendly people whom we met along the way for the past few days. The hotel staffs, security guards patrolling along the streets of Melrose Arch, the waiters and waitresses from restaurants. Most of them were so ready to strike conversations with us and greeted us with wide smiles on their faces.
We're all so blessed the past few days being able to witness the works of God through Acres of Love.
Continue to stay tuned for updates as we embark on our Safari trip tomorrow!
Jaclyn Yeo:
I've never jump out of bed in the morning the way I do here. Not sure if it's the food - especially the cheeses and one named halloumi - or just the fact that it's gonna be another life-transforming day at South Africa! It's both.
Devotion and reflections (by the pool) was a time of faith reinforcement. Though only 2 days, some of the poverty we have encountered could be so disturbing. No longer is this some headlines or statistics we read, we've been hit between the eyes by the issue of extreme poverty in South Africa and we are left with no answer. As we regrouped and reflected, we remained focus on the will of God, that is to do what we can, for one life at a time.
Like chalk and cheese
From Fire & Ice to Provision House is a short 15-min if there's no heavy traffic. Just a short ride, and here's a sampling of what we passed by: billboards of high fashion, law firms, vacation spots, spiritual guidance (anger reading, etc); huge office premises of medical specialists (including acupuncturist), property investments, law & consulting firms (eg. Ernst & Young) and car dealers (eg. jaguar); Hotels and spas, Planet Fitness and soccer club. If we've not visited the shanty town in Soweto yesterday, I'd declare Johannesburg a more affluent city than home. Like chalk and cheese that's how one can describe the extremes you find here in Jo'burg!
Yellow Giants
The long wait to meet the Acres of Love pre-schoolers is finally over. I wouldn't say it's a great first impression from us to these 23 two- to five-year olds. Though few did run over to greet us with hugs, the other faces either spelled apprehension or fear, few cried. Yet as any 'concert', the show must go on so the Peacemakers launched into our action songs with minimal audience participation.
Time-out! The Acre kids went for snacks while Peacemakers discussed to adjust the day's plan based on the audience response (or lack of it). The kids came back with renewed energy, wide smiles and readily engaged with few simple games. They were excited tossing balls to one another and laughters broke the air as the yellow friendly giants started to swing and toss some of the kids in the air - that's their version of fun though few of us risked back injury.
The place is further charged up as we started balloon sculpturing with the kids - rainbow-colored dogs, giraffes, swords, flowers soon filled the place while the noise-level further increased. By the time we realized that time is running up, the place looked like a hurricane had passed by. Good byes with angels like these were not easy though we were sure glad all left with sparkles in their eyes - priceless!
Light lunch was recommended by Gerda in anticipation for a barbecue dinner, the South African version. Not for me, I had to have my best cuisine as its the last meal in Melrose Arch. Halloumi on ciabatta @Tashas! Could someone open this restaurant in Singapore? They could pouch an egg and make it simply heavenly!
For such a time as this
Esther is the House Mom for 14 boys who are mostly in their adolescence. We met with 9 of them for a time of badminton, then chatted around the table as we indulged in a scrumptious spread of barbecue meats, salads and desserts to die for (literal sense at the rate we are eating!). I asked Esther how could she possibly looked so young with the heavy responsibility of running such a challenging household. She kept pointing to God. And it was clearly miraculous when I chatted with some of the boys personally while mentally matching to the story I heard earlier of the extreme condition a group of them were rescued from. Amazing God writing amazing stories.
再見 Acres of Love! We will meet again.
Time to pack and hit the bed early to jump off it by 4am, so as to hop onto the bus to Safari. See you real soon, Big Five!
