Ke a leboga thata! (Thank you very much!)

So my parents, who are so lovely : ), sent me a care package from America! And in this care package along with some surprises for me, my mom sent small toys for my host brother and host sister! They were super excited!

For Realeboga (ray-ah-lay-bow-hah) who is 5, my mom sent some little cars. One of them has a sticker that says “Police” which Realeboga loves because his dad is a police officer. I’m so serious, within two days, they were super dirt-covered and looked like he had them for months! He was so excited!

Realeboga, my 5-year-old host brother

(He's quite a cut-up!)

For Ororiseng (oh-roar-ree-seng), who is 9, my mom sent a package of three small plastic dolls. She loved them! She gave them all names from High School Musical, haha. What’s really cool about these dolls is that one is black, one is Hispanic-looking and the other is white – and the white one is a redhead too! Talk about diversity!

Ororiseng, my 9-year-old host sister

Toys aren’t really around in any household I’ve been to around South Africa, at least not in the way you may see an entire playroom at someone’s house in the states. Which is why I think Ororiseng and Realeboga really appreciated these toys my parents sent.

But having few to no toys makes kids creative. For instance, last weekend, Realeboga made a “helicopter” out of a piece of stick-on-tile that he cut up. I was pretty impressed! Since the family is converting their house into a guesthouse, there’s a treasure-trove of construction goods that he makes toys out of. He's quite clever.

Ororiseng, Realeboga and me
(p.s. I love that he's eating a carrot! It's just so silly!)

Thank you again mom for sending those toys! They loved them so much! Here is a short video of Ororiseng and Realeboga saying thank you. At the end Ororiseng says thank you in her first language, Setswana. You may need to turn up the sound. And sorry it's dark. I'm not really sure how to fix that.

Thank you video from Ororiseng and Realeboga
(29 seconds for those of you with slow Internet)

Ke a leboga, thank you and dankie!

Casey : )