AIDS Haven and Cricket!

AIDS Haven and Cricket!

Friday, February 6, 2009
We went to the House of Resurrection AIDS Haven. Aggie, who is in charge, talked to us about the kids and about the Haven itself. She has tremendous faith. They survive only on donations and when they need something she prays and God always answers. We had a chance to interact with the kids. The babies were so cute! I loved working with the toddlers though. Aggie reminded us that even though they have HIV/AIDS they are just kids. And just like any other toddlers as soon as we got there they clung onto us and wanted to be held. They were a bit manipulative - they liked to be lifted so they could reach the things they otherwise could not! One thing that surprised me is that these kids receive so many gifts and toys. For Christmas each child gets a whole bag full of new things! Aggie said people frequently want to donate, but don’t know what so she likes it when people ask her what the Haven needs.
After the AIDS Haven we decided to walk to the Pick ‘n’ Pay, the grocery store Gary took us to when we first arrived. The nearby grocery store and Friendly 7 Eleven don’t have nearly the amount of things that the larger grocery stores do and it is a bit more expensive. Our fridge/freezer is not very big for five people, but the milk is shelf stabilized and doesn’t need to be refrigerated, which works out well for us since we have a lot of cupboard space! I brought some recipes from home but it is a little bit tricky since everything here is measured in metric but so far all our food has been delicious.
That evening we went to a Cricket Match, Gary had a couple friends from England there who could explain the game to us. Nikita also helped explain. However, it was a new form of cricket so they weren’t sure on all the rules. It is about the same pace as Baseball and towards the end it was very close and everyone was into the game! We had ice cream, the warriors won and a few people even came back with souvenir Warrior Hats – it was a lot of fun!