{"id":543,"date":"2011-04-21T02:58:39","date_gmt":"2011-04-21T08:58:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alwayssupportourheroes.com\/WordPress\/?p=543"},"modified":"2011-04-21T02:59:45","modified_gmt":"2011-04-21T08:59:45","slug":"volunteer-vacation-to-south-africa-april-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alwayssupportourheroes.com\/?p=543","title":{"rendered":"Volunteer Vacation to South Africa, April 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Amy & Robin in the center of Vredeford Dome<\/p><\/div>\n

Nine years ago I made a promise to take my Sunshine anywhere in the world she wanted to go.\u00a0 Paris was her choice, but as fate would have it … an opportunity of a lifetime came up.\u00a0 Instead, Amy got to spend her 19th birthday in South Africa, with some of the most amazing people on earth.<\/p>\n

We had a fantastic time delivering much needed school supplies, clothing, shoes, and requested items to the two orphanages I have been supporting in Johannesburg for years.\u00a0 Although I don’t think it was my best paint job ever (consider what we were painting with), Amy and I did our best at brightening one of the classrooms at Mpumelelo Day Care.\u00a0\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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Maria, Amy, and Myself ... making a difference at Mpumelelo Day Care<\/p><\/div>\n

We also spent quality time at Sinethemba, making homeade pizzas and passing out the gifts from “Christmas in April” (usually I do this for them in July, because their seasons are opposite of ours).\u00a0 Grant and Sharon still are in shock that I could fit so much into so little bags, and manage to bring everything they needed.\u00a0 That day I felt so much love, it was as though God was smiling at me, Himself.<\/p>\n

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Christmas in April with my Sinethemba Family (Benoni, South Africa)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We also helped Sharon and Grant put together a home they procured for a family in a local Squatters Camp.\u00a0 If you ever need a story on humility, just ask me about this amazing couple.\u00a0\u00a0 They truly have hearts of gold and I am blessed to have been a part of the random act of kindness they gave to Anelda, her sister, and her two children.\u00a0 Sharing in this experience was all the more special because I got to do it with Amy.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Every day was a blessing, as our schedule was jam packed from the moment we landed, until we took off a week later.\u00a0 Again, I just want to take time to thank those individuals who donated items that were so desperately needed.\u00a0 One child told me “it’s not necessarily what you brought, it is the fact that you came, and you brought us hope through giving from your heart and sharing your love with us.”<\/p>\n

May we each be so blessed to know we make a difference in some one elses life … it is the greatest feeling in the world.\u00a0\u00a0 Share a smile, it will cost you nothing.\u00a0 Give a word of encouragement, it could be exactly what the person needs to hear.\u00a0 Let someone go in front of you in line, maybe they are in a hurry and could use that extra few minutes.\u00a0 Often times it is the little things that make the biggest difference for someone else.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And as a final note, never make a promise you cannot keep.\u00a0 Do what you say you are going to do, when you say you are going to do it.\u00a0 Live with integrity … in the end, I can guarantee you that even if it takes 9 years or longer … fulfilling those commitments is quite rewarding.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Be blessed by allowing yourself to be a blessing … make it an awesome day!<\/p>\n

Always,<\/p>\n

Robin<\/p>\n

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Mpumelelo Day Care ... where the children were so happy to merely touch our skin & have their photos taken! \ud83d\ude42<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nine years ago I made a promise to take my Sunshine anywhere in the world she wanted to go.\u00a0 Paris was her choice, but as fate would have it … an opportunity of a lifetime came up.\u00a0 Instead, Amy got to spend her 19th birthday in South Africa, with some of the most amazing people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[15,4,7,14,18,13,12,19,22,6],"class_list":["post-543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-airline-ambassadors","tag-donations","tag-humanitarian","tag-mpumelelo","tag-robin-schmidt","tag-sinethemba","tag-south-africa","tag-the-sky-angel","tag-travel","tag-volunteering"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alwayssupportourheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alwayssupportourheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alwayssupportourheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alwayssupportourheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alwayssupportourheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=543"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.alwayssupportourheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":549,"href":"https:\/\/www.alwayssupportourheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543\/revisions\/549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alwayssupportourheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alwayssupportourheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alwayssupportourheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}