There are many anecdotes from our journey that I am sure are worth sharing...here's one that came to my mind today....

During our (cluster) stay in a small rural-ish township, Bisho, Janet and I spent an afternoon with a quite extraordinary young boy we'll call L. L is 10, and he's so small, he looks about 6. Until he speaks, then you might mistake him for a young man of 19 or 20. His English is incredible (and he uses words like suspicious and vortex!). He used to live in a very small rural village, with a very poor primary school. The school wasn't very helpful for him - he taught himself English, learned about science and maths...yet he couldn't read at all. 

One of the members of Semple Memorial (the church in Zwelitsha, for which Bisho is an outstation) came to know L, and brought him to the attention of some of the women from the Bisho congregation. The women began working with L, having him tested, and ended up finding him a "sponsor" so he could go to a primary school in town, where the standards are quite a bit higher, and where they are now slowly teaching him how to read. (The costs of the primary schools is quite different - 500R per year in the village' 750R per MONTH in town!).

Over the course of our afternoon together, he asked to see some photos from home. I didn't have anything but my cell phone with me, so I showed him some photos on there...he took a liking to the selfies with funny faces I took with my 9-year-old niece at my sister's wedding in July. 

As we were starting to say goodbye an hour or so later, L shyly asked whether we could take "one of those photos with the funny faces"...And so we did.

And, today is his 11th birthday! Happy birthday, L! :)