First day in South Africa

Traveling on a airplane for almost 11 hours is a long time. Flying all night, trying to get some sleep. Some of us were able to sleep more than others. The first group arrived at 6:30 am and the second group arriving shortly after. Collecting our bags and the bags that are for the kids, we were finally headed off to of hotel. When clearing customs, we met up with people from Acres of Love(Paul and Toni. The van and driver picked us up. The funny thing was the van had a small little trailer to put of bags in. Driving to the hotel there was a lot of traffic on the way more than home. Arriving to the hotel we checked in and went to our rooms. Little after getting the first group checked in the second group arrived. Resting a bit and having a bite to eat. We all went for a tour of the city called Joburg or Johannesburg and Soweto. A long the way the tour guide/driver of the van showed us places like the home of Nelson Mandela. Really, what we went to see was Soweto. This is where a lot of the kids from Acres of Love came from. Soweto included poor housing, overcrowding, high unemployment and poor infrastructure. This has seen settlements of shacks made of corrugated iron sheets becoming part of the Soweto landscape. It was so sad to drive and see this. Visiting Soweto today, we all got out of the van and went to see a preschool. Bringing fruit snack treats for the little kids in this preschool. At the little preschool the kids are laying on the floors on these settlements with no beds. The site of this about does you in. Mind you the kids have basically nothing to their names. The pictures say a thousands words. While, at the preschool the kids sang for us the ABC's it was so cute but so sad. They loved the fruit snacks that we brought from home. Katie, Aaron, Jessica, Riley, Conner and Miranda past out the treat for the kids.They LOVED them. The kids in the preschool were highfives. A picture is a thousand words. It says it all. Getting back to the hotel, again trying to rest. We done really know what that means anymore. The group of us and the people from Acres of Love went out to dinner. Dinner was great, getting to talk to Ryan, Gerda, Paul and Toni. We all sat and talked and shared about all or our lives.