The Children of Naledi

During our tour of the city of Gaborone, we drove through a community called Naledi. I live in an insulated world, and though I have head knowledge of the fact that not everyone lives like we do, I've honestly never seen true poverty. Until now.
Our team planned to go to the Naledi feeding station one day while we were in Gaborone. I REALLY wanted to go. But we found out the feeding station was closed that week. The reason: the copper pipes had been stolen out of the kitchen (to sell) and had not yet been replaced.

But on Sunday, we were able to go back for a while, to celebrate the Christening of the new Naledi church. There was music, prayer, a few words from a Botswana Parliament member, and the cutting of the tape. While we were having a service under a big tent (like a good ol' Southern Baptist tent meeting!), many of the kids from Naledi were waiting near the new church building, and dancing when there was music. Ken slipped out and got some really great close-ups of some of the kids. I didn't get to spend as much time with the kids as I wanted, but they touched my heart immediately.

Some are orphans. There are many preteens and teens who serve as the head of their households, since the parents have passed away. Even those who do still have one or both parents are very poor. There is much illness here. No running water, no indoor plumbing. No air conditioning -- and we're told the average summer temperature is about 135 degrees.

The kids love having their picture taken. Even those who speak very little English can say, "Take my picture!" and wait eagerly to view the LCD display on back of the camera. A man called Champ, who works at Naledi, said if we print the photos and send them, he will distribute them to the kids. They treasure photos, because many of them have never owned a photo of themselves.

I took this photo the first day we visited; this is in the yard area of the feeding station. We saw kids playing with tires, but saw no other toys the two days we visited Naledi. Quite a few yards with chickens, but no toys.

The kids loved petting the hair on Ken's arms; I guess most folks there are rather smooth-skinned. Some of the kids were grinning ear to ear every time we looked. Others, like this little gal, never would smile, but she came right to me. It made me sad to leave her.

We are planning to make prints of the photos, and send those to our friends at OBC to take to Champ at Naledi. But we'd like to send more. I'm waiting to hear back on what they really need. I'll post more details as soon as I have them.