People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When we meet them, we do not know the significance of the role they will play in our lives. Only time will tell.

I firmly believe that with our journey here on earth, our Heavenly Father selected with great care specific people to be our angels here on earth. The way individuals crossed our paths and the unique role that each one plays in our journey confirm this for me. Many angels in South Africa still help and support in many ways. Fortunately, here in Switzerland, we have also started noticing the angels.

Zander’s teacher, Sandy Hill

Sandy Hill, the teacher of Zander, is an example of such an angel. She is of British descent and has years of experience as a teacher and a mother who knows how to handle pre-teens. She is also the coach of his indoor soccer team. Her passion for rugby contributes to Zander’s conviction that she is a perfect teacher for him.

The Friday before the 2019 rugby world cup final, she was dressed in her English supporter shirt. However, the Monday after the rugby final, she congratulated him on the Bok’s victory in front of the class. At tennis, the two British moms also congratulated me, and the Japanese mom told us how everyone in Japan is now suddenly rugby crazy.

At the end of the first term, we had individual parent-teacher meetings. After all these years, I am still nervous about meetings with teachers. In preparation for the discussion, I asked Zander what feedback I could expect from his teacher. 

Oh, mom, I think she will say I am doing pretty well academically, but I talk too much in class. It is not a problem for me, but it may bother some other children. 

Ms Hill confirmed with a smile that Zander provided a good summary. From her feedback, I could see that she made an effort to get to know the children individually.

Zander’s friend Nate and his mom Ellen

Zander’s friendship with Nate, the American from San Francisco, began on the first day of school. I ran into Nate’s mother, Ellen, independently on the same day and invited her for coffee. Over coffee, we realized that our careers and interests had many similarities. We have been hiking a few times and joined the same German class.

Pumpkins and Halloween

At the last weekend of the autumn school holidays, we visited a pumpkin farm. Zander could not believe his luck when Nate and his family also happened to arrive on the same day and time. We were amazed by the creative pumpkin exhibits. There was a delicious spice scent of pumpkin soup and mulled wine in the air and an opportunity to carve pumpkins in preparation for Halloween.

Halloween is a big event at the international school. We, as parents, had the opportunity to sign up for assistance with the Halloween celebrations. The options were decorating, baking for the cake sale, supervising at the disco, and making your car available as a “trick or treat” point with a boot full of sweets. I signed up for the cake sale and made chocolate oatmeal cookies with a sour worm. I only saw all the beautiful baked artwork when I handed in my cookies! I plan to supervise at the disco next year.

Our Swiss angels, Stephan and Barbara

Our Swiss angels are Stephan and Barbara, who live close to us. Stephan is a colleague of Charl. He has helped with a few lifts to work and many helpful tips and advice. He is qualified as a medical doctor, and his wife is a nurse. They own a few goats. They worked for a long time in Yemen, where their four children went to school.

He told me that he learned to speak and write Arabic when he realised that his interpreter was making recommendations far removed from his diagnosis. His story serves as an inspiration when I struggle with German. Barbara was so kind to invite me to an event at their church to make Advent wreaths and to her house for coffee and Swiss cake.

I finally started with my German classes. We are a group of 12 students representing 12 countries. I look forward to getting to know the people better over the next six months.

Only time will tell whether the people we meet come into our lives for a reason, a season or a lifetime.

Kind regards
Emsia