Fleece Wrapped Enchiladas

My passion is for school-aged children, but who can resist the little ones with their wide-eyed curiosity and readiness for books and learning?

When I arrived at Tembisa Baptist Church on Wednesday, they lay on the floor in tightly packed rows looking like nothing so much as giant fleece-wrapped enchiladas.  Each child was dressed in multiple layers against the Johannesburg winter and rolled in a brightly colored blanket.  The floor beneath them was spread with crumbling mats of yellowed foam rubber covered with a blanket of doubtful hygiene.  Here and there a canvas shoe stuck out from a bundle.  A few heads raised and bright eyes stared at me.  Most slept on, oblivious to the chatter of the aids who looked after them.  Slowly more and more woke from their nap, and I invited them for a story. How I wish that someone would read to them every day!

When Children Soar Like Eagles

I started blogging in 2006 to have somewhere to share my experiences reading with orphans and vulnerable children in Tembisa Township.  We were living in near-by Kempton Park at the time.  (To read some of those early blogs see Lindiwe's Friends.)  We have since moved back to the United States.  I return to South Africa once or twice a year and always make it a point to get to Tembisa.  This has been one of those weeks, wedged between our retreat in George and teaching next week in Kenya.