A Ray of Hope

I was seriously considering closing the Guide Company.   I did pray about it though and it occurred to me to wonder what would happen if missionaries called to another country gave up when things got difficult, when they got despondent, when it seemed that their work seemed to be in vain and was making no difference.

At the end of July our district had a bring and buy morning.   I decided not to overtax the transport system but rather take 3 Guides in my car to help sell what we had made.   The previous day the Guides had made racing cars out of boudoir biscuts, marshmallow baskets and modderkoekies.   (a mix of marie biscuits, melted marg, icing sugar and cocoa)   This enabled them to pass a clause in the discovers badge.

I met up with Jeanette and Blessing at the college on Saturday.   There was no sign of Samkelisiwe and it later turned out that she was sick that day.

The girls were great.   They manned our little stall responsibly and cheerfully.   I bought them each a breakfast roll and later gave them R5 each to spend.   The lady manning the stall next to me, Martine, suggested that they go and play the game outside which seemed like a bob for apples then find sweets in flour with your mouth.

Their delight just cheered me up so much.

Later Martine said she would try to get us sponsorship from the school she is involved with.   She also gave the girls some more money to spend.   They had the most amazing day.   Everybody was so kind to us and accepted us so well.   The girls interacted with some of the other Guides and at least for Jeanette and Blessing, it was a day to remember.   The day brought a ray of hope to my despondency.

Despondency

I have been feeling very despondent about Guides recently.   It started last term when I had to go away for a weekend on school business.   I organised for my assistant, Khosi, to take the meeting.   We had mentioned it to the driver the week before when we went to visit the old age home and I sent an email to Bertha on the Thursday before.   Unbeknown to either of us, Bertha was off work on the Thursday.   I was in Pretoria and got an SMS from Khosi at 4.15 saying the driver had not picked her up and she was still waiting.   So the Guides arrived and there was no one to supervise them.   Apparently they played games together.
To be quite honest, the previous week visit to the old age home was quite successful.   The Guides made their own way there except for the Ikhya Lomusa girls and me.   We were taken by the Rays of Hope transport.   We met a lady, Nicole, who used to be a drug addict and she chatted to the girls about her addiction and warned them of the dangers of drugs.   This fitted in well with the drug play we had done earlier in the term.

The week after the no show we had planned to be patrol dinners.   4 girls were supposed to do their cook’s badge.   Khosi would have finalised arrangements the previous week if she had been there but I had to send as many SMS’s as I could to say that we would first visit the Flamingoes and then the Blue Cranes.   Well, we went to the Flamingoes and shared a tiny piece of boiled boerewors with lots of rice and a soup-gravy.  
The trip through Alexandra to try to find the Blue Cranes was a nightmare.   Tents had mushroomed in the middle of several streets making them impassable.   Apparently this is what people do for funerals.   We did find 20th street but we couldn’t find number 61.   The numbers started at 65.   We went around the same big circle 3 times.   We went back to the Flamingo meeting place, supposing the girls would know where Samkelisiwe’s house was.   By the time we got back there, the girls had gone already.   I phoned one of the drivers who knew where our destination was but couldn’t talk us through how to get there.   I thought of a patrol of girls waiting for us and hoped that they actually ate the supper before the transport came to collect them.   Eventually we had to give up and abandon the Blue Cranes.   I felt awful.   I felt I was unable to keep the first Guide Law.   I had said I would be there and I wasn’t.  
The last week of the term clashed with the party organised by Rays of Hope but I needed to see the girls and apologise so we all attended the party.    I organised for a day outing during the holidays to make it up to the Guides.   Although the Guides enjoyed it, I felt quite despondent because it seems they had learned nothing.   One patrol couldn’t make a woodpile and even though I give them step by step instructions they didn’t seem to understand me.   The other patrol couldn’t remember how to lay a fire.   I got the girls who had done the cook’s badge to follow a recipe, because they hadn’t done that at their dinner.   What was meant to be stuffed eggs turned out to be egg mayonnaise.  
Chris and Kathleen had come along to help with a wide game that involved stalking.   The girls just couldn’t cope.   Halfway through I got a message from Chris saying did we have an ice pack, one of the girls seemed to have sprained her ankle.   So Khosi went to look in the kitchen and we discussed indemnity forms.   I told Chris and Kathleen to lead the girls straight back to base.  
Well, it turned out that they were only pretending.   I guess we reacted how adults always react when they have been worried about children and realize they have just been playing a game.
The worst came, however, when the transport came to collect the girls.   Khosi had come straight from Sowetho with her daughter, Faith, but were planning to go home to Alex with the rest of the girls.   The driver said there wasn’t space for them.   In actual fact there was – it was just a matter of moving some plastic bags off seats.   Hovever Khosi said she was leaving the company and taking her daughter with her.
The following Wednesday, when I went to the Guide shop, we discussed it again.   We came to a compromise that if a certain driver was on duty, I would take them  back to the garage where I picked them up.That leaves 3
Since then, my commissioner told me our company owes R1 200 for membership fees and Khosi and I R360 each.   Well, that was the end for Khosi and I have now lost an assistant.   It seemed to me that the best thing to do would be to close the company.   I am not sure how much difference I am making after all.   Perhaps for Jeanette Guides has made a difference.   Of the original 6 who  were all technically orphans, 2 have left and a third only comes about once a term.  That leaves three.   The rest are friends who have come along.   They are supposed to pay R5 a week but they hardly ever do.   I have ended up funding the company basically myself.  If Guides closed it wouldn’t make all that difference to them