Wow, wow, wow

I'm not sure where to start... I can't believe today is only our second day in Soweto as I feel as though we're among dear friends already. The staff have been so welcoming and inviting. We're greeted with smiles and hugs. The nursing sisters were overjoyed with the medical supplies we provided. I was overjoyed how easy it was getting the supply bags through customs at the airport! The customs officer did question me as he saw how many bags we had. I smiled (as much as I could after being up for most of the last 24 plus hours-didn't sleep much on the plane- but that's another story!) and told him we were visiting Jo-berg for two weeks and thankfully he waved us through.

We spent most of Monday visiting patients. I think it will take us awhile to sort through the myriad of feelings we have in order to share all of them with you. Our sister hospice is doing amazing work, providing food parcels, and lots and lots of love to patients who are living with so little. Hopefully soon we'll have more pictures on the site for you to see.

Someone on our trip asked me if I saw much difference between this trip and our trip in 2007. Soweto is changing some. They are so proud of hosting the 2010 World Cup soccer and there is much road construction to to prepare for this. Hotels are being built in order to meet the expected demand. That is very good for the economy. Unfortunately the extreme poverty and needs of patients is no better. I am very proud to say, though, that our sister hospice is working very very hard to slowly chip away at this.

We've had some very interesting conversations with our South African colleagues about this. The reasons for this poverty and suffering are very complicated- political, social, personal- etc. I'm not sure that it is up to us to solve or even truly understand. We're here to lend a hand and make a difference. As one patient said to us yesterday when Roxie, Laura and I were visiting with Sister Maria, "Don't forget about me."

How can we...

More to come,

Stacy

Day 1, We arrived at the Soweto Hospice.

From the moment we arrived at the front door of Soweto Hospice, we have been embraced and welcomed by the entire staff of this special place.

During a tour of the facility, which includes adult patient rooms and a pediatric ward, we took some great pictures and video. As soon as we figure out the process of downloading these images with our available connection, we will start to post these images.

We are very anxious to share with all of you the incredible work being done here. Please consider making a donation to help the effort here.