Week 1...

Molo J

So my partner (Emma) and I arrived at Thembelihle Home on Monday night (29th) after spending a couple of days with the country group in Joberg, 'climatising'…we got picked up from Mthatha airport  - it’s the smallest, skankiest airport you will ever see and we had the most crazy, bumpy landing ever, in our little plane which carried only 27 people!!! Looking out of the window I could see all the little round houses/mud huts, in the middle of a pretty bare landscape. The toilet in the airport pretty much summed it up…no lock, no toilet seat, and no flush…just a continuous dribble of water…I decided to wait ;)

Pumeza, our host then met us with two of the children from the home…both with the most amazing smiles you will ever see  - they sang the whole way home (IN HARMONY!!!) in the back of the truck, looking after our massive rucksacks so they didn’t fall out :) The arrangement seemed quite dangerous and I felt bad that the girls were sitting there, but as we entered Mthatha, I realised it’s actually a norm! The town (which I think should really be classed as a city) was how I expected it to be; busy, noisy, bustling and absolutely MENTAL! But I love it…although I’m pretty worried about having to drive the kids around…A, because I haven’t driven since I passed, and B, there seems to be no highway code…everyone drives where they want to, and if someone’s not happy about it they will beep, shout, get in your way, or generally just a mixture of the three!

I was quite nervous about arriving at the home. It seems pretty safe with a security gate at the front, but I didn’t really know what to expect, even though I had seen photos. We were shown our accommodation, which is a simple shared room between the two of us. The children had painted/drawn pictures for us and stuck them on our wall to welcome us into their home which was lovely! We have a toilet (which is thankfully MUCH nicer than the one at the airport) a bathroom and kitchen, all of which we share with the staff and any visitors. Unfortunately a couple of the lights weren’t working when we arrived, so it was dark and a bit cold which made it all the more weird to actually have arrived! We then went to meet the children who live in the building on the other side of the small courtyard. They were eating dinner when we were being introduced, so along with the bread stuffed in their mouths (their standard dinner), their accents, their slight shyness and the fact they mainly speak Xhosa, it was nearly impossible to make out what they were saying…along with the fact that they all have very complicated names and a few of the louder ones even insisted they were called MAYA or EMMA! They were all so cute though and I couldn’t wait to get to know them better the next day!

I’ve now decorated my half of the room with all your lovely letters, cards and a stack of photos… J It’s made it seem more like home! After having dinner and spraying the ants which seem to have infested the kitchen we unpacked and settled in for the night, preparing to wake up at 7am, ready to meet the children…

…7am….didn’t happen…the kids wake before 6 and run around in the courtyard (our door opens straight out onto it!), sing LOUDLY, play with things, laugh, dance, hit things with metal poles…all the noisy things children generally get up to…so we lay there, trying and failing to get back to sleep :P

We were greeted by 31°C (it’s only Spring here!) and 28 excitable children when we emerged from our room. They seemed to love us already, even after their shyness the night before. We lined up outside the classroom facing them. They sang to us in Xhosa  before singing AMEN, AMEN, AMEN, AMEN continuously...(I think these are the morning prayers we were told about!!). Thankfully we didn’t need to teach on our first day. We played ‘get to know you’ games, before having a meeting and going through everything with Pumeza.

Our working hours are 8 – 11:30 (one lessons worth!), half hour break, then 11-13:00 (another lesson), then an hour lunch, and 14:00 – 16:00 which is recreational stuff, like going to the field across the road and playing football etc...i’m considering starting up a Karate class! :D

Our first lunch…fish from a tin with some sort of stinky sauce, carrots and green beans which had landed in the stinky sauce and Pap which looked nice, sort of like mash, but really wasn’t….more like rubbery foam which needed to be broken apart into edible chunks, haha…

We’re quite fortunate to have other volunteers nearby. Jayney and Sarah, are working in Bethany Home…a sister project to ours which is aimed at younger children, located on the other side of town. We’re hoping to meet up with them every so often, but it turns out their day off is Thursday and ours is Saturday. However, our Rep Ian took us all out for a meal on our second day, before he headed back home to Jo’berg, which was nice!

The next day we had a go at teaching…although we had nothing prepared as we don’t formally start teaching until Monday (5th) we wanted to get a feel for the classroom and the ability of the children. The small classroom is split into 3 groups, each facing different walls to make it seem like 3 rooms in one. Preschool is taken by another member of staff, Refiloe, whilst the other children are split into two groups. Group1 is further split into, 1A and 1B depending on abilities…this means who ever teaches this group must set work for, and manage both groups of children at once, however it will be the same subject, so shouldn’t be too difficult. Group2 is the older children, who have much better English, and has fewer children in it than Group1. The subjects we teach are:
English, Lifeskills, Life Orientation, Maths, Natural Science, Social Science, Economic and Management Studies, Art & Culture, and Technology, whilst Refiloe takes Xhosa lessons during other sessions. Our working hours are 8-4, after which time we can play with the children, read bedtime stories, have prayer time with them etc.

Because it gets dark before 6pm here at the moment, combined with the fact that it’s too dangerous to go out after dark in Mthatha, we haven’t been able to adventure out of the home much, so we’re looking forward to when it gets lighter! Pumeza took us into town for a sort of orientation session where we were shown the supermarket and Child Welfare building…a place where we will have to visit to hand in documents for funding and when a new child is admitted to the home.

I’m really looking forward to starting the teaching. The school year here runs from Jan-Dec, so arriving in September is a bit annoying…we have no syllabus so the lesson plans are completely up to us! We can teach them what we want, but it’s going to be tough as not all of them speak English, and we’re not completely sure as to what they were taught last year. We’re going to be spending the weekend planning the curriculum for the next 16 months, for up to Dec 2012…it’s going to be a challenge!!!  

The kids are AMAZING!!! They all have such warm hearts and love being cuddled and lifted into the air! We played in the field across the road this afternoon, making friendship bracelets and playing with my camera :D The settings are now all jumbled on it, hahah!!!

We cooked our first meal last night…the light in the kitchen is now broken, so we had to cook using my torch as the source of light :P We had pasta in a tomato/onion sauce from a tin…the tin opener doesn’t work, so we stabbed it open and we chopped up garlic with a big sharp knife which is actually blunt and doesn’t have a handle…we forgot to buy washing up liquid (the main reason we went into town to get the shopping, haha) so washed up with water…again…from the drippy tap. …Today we noticed the drippy tap was no longer drippy…we had our first water cut – not great when you want to flush the toilet! :D

One of my favourite moments from Thembelihle so far:

The little stick plastic spinny helicopter toy I brought with me went down a treat! :D I wish I had a photo of their faces when they played with it! It’s already lost, but Pumeza said she thinks she knows where it is…the masking tape grip I carefully stuck on was fiddled with and ripped off within 5 minutes, and one of the older boys has already picked his earwax out with it :D It’s their favourite toy at the moment!

The children, like us, handwash their clothes. Today when I was hanging out some laundry, one of the little ones ran around the corner, grinning, collected her knickers she had supposedly washed earlier from the line and showed them to me proudly…they were still all muddy and wet, but she proceeded to run back to her room, and I presume put them back on :D…I think I might help her with her washing next time! J

Will upload pics soooon xxx