eu estou passar por todos os dias

In portuguese one of my favorite words is passar, in shangana it is famba. Translated literally it means to pass or walk by, but here it has a whole different cultural context to fit into. People will spend the day "passing by" which means they just walk around the community or down the street talking with people, visiting people, or making new friends. It is not a set agenda, but very much about building relationships, whether new or already well established. 

Every day (or at least most days) when the afternoon comes I walk down to the Schmidt's house. It's a nice walk, usually rather relaxing. It is also when my feet become notoriously dirty, as they usually are. As you can probably guess I have made a few friends from my afternoon journeys. Today I said my final farewell to them since I leave in a day and a half and it's likely I won't see them again. 

 This is Dinho. I buy cell phone credit from him. He is in the same place all day every day, except sundays. Here cell phones are very similar to pre-paid in the states. If you need air time or text messages you just buy some credit, anywhere from $.60 to $3 worth and put the numbers in your phone and you can call. I've enjoyed getting to talk to him each day as he asks me the same question of where I am going, and that I can always depend on him being present to buy credit from.

This is Hulene with her daughter and niece. I met her only about two months ago as I started seeing her day after day. I started talking with her, then the conversations kept on growing. She's been so sweet to me and even calls me her friend I will miss seeing her each day as she is sitting outside of the stand "peixe da mama".

last day of school

Well, we finally finished the school year. The last day was a major clean up day. It was fun, but also a little heart wrenching to say good bye to these amazing kids. Half of the sixth graders won't be returning next year. One is going to the states, one to boarding school in Kenya, and another to boarding school in Swaziland. Please pray for them and a smooth transition into their new schools. 

My sixth graders after cleaning our room together.

cleaning in the computer lab with some of the highschoolers.