Last week we took  some of the younger Ithemba children to the movies :: YAY!

Lots of new exciting things like :: hand dryers and plate glass windows

And plenty of smiles (maybe some scared faces too?!… I can’t decided )

I love hanging out with the boys I work with at Ithemba.  They always keep me on my toes and it’s a blast to see the world through there eyes.  A few weeks back I had a group of 8 over to my house for a spend the night extravaganza.

The evening went really well: we ate popcorn while watching Invictus, a movie about South Africa winning the Rugby world cup back in the1990’s; we had breakfast for dinner, homemade banana bread & cranberry-orange bread, scrambled eggs, and pop, which is like grits; and we had a lot of fun, push-up contests, board games, dancing- the works!

The next day I was cleaning up the damage from the night before and was startled to find my sink covered with little black curly hairs.  My first though was that one of the boys had brought a pair of scissors and trimmed the edge of his hair as part of his morning routine.  I mean who could blame him, it’s important to be lookin’ fresh; don’t leave a mess, but I get it.

Then my eyes caught a glimpse of my Mach 3 razor… “Aww Heck Naw- I know somebody didn’t just use my razor, and I don’t even want to know what they were trimming.” I thought to myself.

I mean really?! The adage, “the best thing to do with the best things in life is to share them,” has a few exceptions. For example, sharing your love, great; sharing your spouse, absolutely not! Sharing Chick-fil-a waffle fries, always; sharing Chick-fil-a Polynesian sauce, do you ask a crack fiend to share their fix?! Not if you want to keep your life.  Sharing a pair of scissors, I’m all for it; sharing a razor, YOU DO NOT USE ANOTHER MAN’S RAZOR!!!  I don’t have many luxury items, my Mach 3 razor is one of them, and if you haven’t ever noticed I can grow a mean beard.

I had to find the culprit, if for nothing else, to explain this very important life lesson: you never, ever, under any circumstances, use another mans razor.  Taking seriously my responsibility to seize every teaching opportunity, I called all the boys together on Monday to find out who used my razor.  Unsurprisingly no one confessed.  So I broke out the water boarding equipment, I mean, I dropped the whole thing.

Eventually, after a week of using my best investigatory skills, I did find the perpetrator.  He was missing a big patch of hair, right above his forehead.  “Hey Lompie, what happened, how did your get that bald spot?” I asked. No, response save a BIG mischievous smile.  BUSTED, SO BUSTED!!!

I know the Bible says, “Love your enemy,” and “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord,” but you’re just going to have to pray for me, nobody is perfect after all.  Really, we all had a good laugh about it, but next time…

If confronted with this situation again what should I do? (Post answer in Comments)

1. Make him write, “I will not use another man’s razor!” 1,000 times.
2. Shave off his eyebrows.
3. Take away his man card for the grievous breach of the Man Code.
4. Let the other boys give him a “custom” haircut.

LOVE. JOY. PEACE.

Zach

Does anyone remember that show with Bill Cosby- Kids say the darndest things? Basically Mr. J-E-L-L-O himself asks kids questions and they answer; no filter at all.

Well I feel like I could start my own South African edition.

Conversation during tutoring yesterday with Gamotso, (pronounced Ha-mote-so) a 10 year old boy who is a ball of endless energy.

Gamotso: “Zach can I please go outside?”

Me: “Why do you need to go outside Gamotso? If you’d sit still for 5 minutes you might actually get something done.”

Gamotso: (In a high pitched frantic voice) “I have to make a fart! I have to make a fart!”

Me: (With the whole class now laughing) “By all means please go outside. GO, GO, GO!”

A few minutes later, after Gamotso comes back inside.

Me: (Whispered) “Gamotso, thank you for going outside like a gentlemen.  But gentlemen don’t announce to the entire world they have to ‘make a fart!’  And next time you don’t have to ask, you can just go outside.”

A few minutes later, Gamotso sprints toward the door.

Me: “Where are you going now?!”

Gamotso: (At the top of his lungs) “Taking a poop!” At which point he stopped, bent over, put his clinched hand by his butt, and flicked his fingers repeatedly to make a sign of a terd exploding out of his body.  Oh, no he didn’t- Oh, yes he did!

Me: (Shaking head and laughing) “I think the lesson was completely lost on him.”

And that is just one daily episode in the life of Zach working with the children at Ithemba.