Halloween

I must say I do get pretty excited about all the celebrations throughout the year; Halloween, Christmas and Easter, birthdays etc. So I felt like a bit of a kid myself when it came to organising a Halloween party for the Thembelihle abantwana. I dressed as a witch with a bin bag wrapped around my waist and my hair backcombed…the children’s reaction was priceless when they saw me – a mix of amusement and horror! Each child got a little paper invite and turned up wearing the special Halloween masks they made in Art & Culture and the classroom was decorated with the egg carton spiders which they had also made! We played pin the bone on the skeleton which involved me drawing a ‘masterpiece’ of a skeleton on the blackboard with chalk. We had music playing, a treasure hunt and apple bobbing. I must say though, that the highlight of the party was at the end when we asked the children to spend 10 minutes practising a ‘trick’ of their choice before coming to knock on our bedroom door for ‘trick or treat’. I was very impressed with the performances they came up with which featured a mix of traditional Xhosa dancing and High School Musical performances – all pretty surreal in the dark with only a torch shining on their spooky masks! Explaining the idea of trick or treat was slightly more difficult with some of the kids. We had some knocking on our door coming in, grabbing a handful of sweets and running off back to the classroom! Others didn’t knock but just started singing to a closed door…very cute, and the smiles and hugs at the end made it all worth it!  Possibly one of my favourite nights here at Thembelihle so far!

Emotions

Today I think was the first time I have felt properly home sick since I arrived here. No idea why…maybe because I finally got round to reading all your lovely emails and messages as I haven’t had much access to internet recently (don’t get me wrong, I love hearing from all of you so keep it coming!!!).

Anyway, today I found myself acting as a mother to a girl only a year younger than me…a strange feeling, but as I cuddled her and gave her a kiss to calm her down, I realised how much I enjoy providing emotional support to the children. After a little chat in broken Xhosa/English I managed to help her sort out the problem and by the end of the day she seemed much more relaxed and happy about the situation.

This evening I went to evening prayers in the dim light of the children’s sitting room, as I do nearly every evening at 7pm. It started as usual with singing and then the usual chorus of whispers followed by the shaking of hands before a circle was formed for the final song - quite a cheery one today which was sung a total of about 5 times just for the fun of it! Smiles, clapping and loud singing are always a good way to end a day…then BAM! The birthday girl, usually the most confident and loudest of the lot in the classroom, plods over to me from the other side of the circle with watery eyes and head hung to her shoulders, she bursts into tears in my arms as all the other children continue to sing happily around her with only a few glances over to see if she is ok. Although I still don’t know why she was crying, I can have a pretty good guess why - no one wants to spend their birthday away from home, especially when you have just turned 10. As I sat her on my lap and hugged her for the rest of the prayers, I could actually feel the lump growing in my throat, this time not from missing home, but for her…a strange switch from how I had been feeling the rest of the day.

As I looked around the room, I also watched a 9 year old singing his heart out during prayers…a young boy who has spent half his life in the home, still with the biggest cheekiest grin on his face…

There’s no time for me to feel homesick here when the children that surround me day in-day out are often so unexpectedly taken away from their own families with no idea when they will be returned home. For now, I’m still happy to be here and to be their ‘Mama’ as I am now more frequently being called.

Hats off to mum back home <3 xxx

JUNGLE MONKEYYY!!!

October’s weekend off was spent in Port St. John, about a two hour drive from Mthatha. Staying in the Jungle Monkey backpackers was brilliant…again I got to meet some other travellers and found out from a wise old man whilst sitting around a fire, that my name means ‘illusion’?! Surrounded by ocean, jungle and mountains, I got a taste of it all. A bouncy boat ride out to sea in a rubber duck with a motor, gave me a glimpse of dolphins and humpback whales…many of which came right up to the boat and I was a bit wary at one point that it was going to capsize us! A slow boat trip up the river in the evening, followed by an early morning start for a trek through the jungle, guided by two men in bare feet…so glad they were there - I would NOT have been able to spot the apparently poisonous spiders which were strung across our path. A fluorescent green frog which jumped on my forehead and super glued itself there (serves me right for picking it up), along with lots of other strange looking insects! I came out with a couple more bites than I started with, but playing Tarzan on the natural woody swing across a rocky river was definitely worth it! The sundowner on the top of a mountain on Saturday evening was definitely a highlight, as was the bumpy bukka ride back to the backpackers in the dark, through the jungle where fireflies lit the trees above us and I even found a glow worm! :D South Africa is amazing.

This one’s for you Dad! x

I know how much you love gardening; planting your tomatoes and beans and coming in with a huge grin on your face when you’ve managed to pick a handful for tea, and today I thought of you as we cleared out the Thembelihle garden, watered the plants, painted the bricks separating the grass and the driveway and dug up the weeds (with the forks we eat our lunch with, haha). So if you’re still up for sending out some of those seeds of yours I’m sure the kids would love it J I hope you enjoy the photos I took for you…

xxx

Big Momma

I hate spiders. Anyone who knows me well enough will know that. I was laying on my bed just chilling yesterday break time looking at the posters on my wardrobe door that the kids had drawn/painted to welcome me to their home. You know when things don’t register straight away with you? Well my eyes skimmed over one of the paintings and onto the next, just as I thought to myself…’oh that’s strange I’m sure I’ve never seen that picture before, why would one of the kids draw a spider for me?’. Then my hands went clammy, and my body started shaking and I swear my body temperature must have increased by a couple of degrees as I stared into the eyes of what you could call a tarantula (a skinny one to be fair), but a tarantula still – one which literally stretched from one corner of the A4 paper to the other. So I ended up not chilling that break time and went into my preschool lesson just a little shaken up.

Talking of creepy crawlies, the kids all have worms, there are still ants in my kitchen (no matter how much I clean the surfaces and wash up my dishes straight after using them) and I’ve come across way too many giant centipedes for my liking. I’ve been told that now Summer has started, the Cockroaches are on their way too…

…not everything good comes with hot weather.

Black Curls

So I lapped on the sunscreen ready to go to the field with the kids when I was told the children would be spending the afternoon having their heads shaved…something they have done every couple of weeks or so, I guess to keep the nits away and to keep them cool in the 36°C heat we’ve been having! So I offered a hand and ended up spending most of my afternoon doing it – was actually a very satisfying job (just look at the concentration on my face, haha)! Shame about the sticky sunscreen though, as I came away speckled in teeny little black curls all over my body which would NOT wash off!

I’ve decided if all else fails, I’ll be a hairdresser when I return home…

Karate

This morning, I heard a little ‘knock-knock’ on my door…something which isn’t that unusual here J I invited her in and we had a little chat over breakfast. She told me she wanted my help with something, before completely opening up to me about her past. I obviously can’t repeat what she said, but it was pretty horrific and she’s recently found that she gets angry about little things. She burst into tears and begged me to help her by teaching her Karate. Now, I’ve already tried to get permission to hold a Karate class for all the kids, but this is something which isn’t really possible here due to their behaviour and individual circumstances. But I’m hoping this time it will be different as I have been asked directly by one of the children for help. So fingers crossed it will all work out.

One thing is for sure though, and that is that for once I am almost 100% sure I’m making a difference to these children’s lives. For one of them to actually come up to me and be so honest shows me she has a lot of trust in me.  And for me to be able to offer her an emotional form of help, makes me even more motivated to do well at this project. This is definitely a conversation I will never forget and when times get tough, I will be able to think back to this day and why I am here and how I am making a difference to her life.

I’m looking forward to getting back into training after this short break away from it all and it will mean I'm getting some exercise which doesn’t involve lifting small children and spinning them round which is always good J

I just wanted to say thanks to Sensei for training me in the sport for…nearly 9 years is it now? Thank you J

RIP Josh…training won’t be the same without you <3 xxx

Storm

After having what must have been the hottest day here since I arrived, a massive thunderstorm followed in the evening! Actual thunderbolt shaped lights flying through the sky, and big rumbles followed by tons of rain which was cool to listen to, especially as our room has a 60 year old corrugated Iron roof!!! I was just sitting in my bed praying that the builders had actually finished replacing it as they had been here all week making rather a lot of noise doing it!

Epic.

Africa Time

School was cancelled on Friday. The children had no idea why. I did. I told them. The classroom erupted with cheers and screams and laughter, and I was literally thrown backwards by the children bombarding me with hugs, pinning me to the blackboard. This was then followed by “Miss? What’s a funfair?”…so funny how they get excited about things they don’t even know the meaning of! I think it only comes once a year, but it means an actual source of entertainment! Something which Mthatha lacks.

Now I would like to introduce you to something known as ‘Africa Time’; something that is becoming all too familiar to me! Everything always takes FOREVER here! With the bustling streets and impatient driving, you would have thought that everyone here would be doing things quickly, but it seems people are actually realising they’re 3 hours late and are trying to get to wherever it is quickly. For anyone who knows me well enough, you know that I fit in here perfectly, haha!

The taxi that was meant to arrive at 9:30 to pick up the children actually arrived at 12:30 – AFRICA TIME! I travelled in the trailer part at the back of the Thembelihle vehicle, kind of half standing/sitting/kneeling in it, with 7 other people – something that I'm sure would be illegal back in the UK! For once though, it was nice not to be stared at for being white (I stick out like a sore thumb here), but for being with a completely mental bunch of amazing kids, singing off the top of our lungs and blowing the eardrums out of everyone we passed with a whistle - SO much fun!!! When we arrived, we had to wait about 45 minutes (AFRICA TIME) until we were allowed in! But the kids loved it, even though it was the most rusty and uncomfortable fair ever! What was quite funny was that they hadn’t censored  ‘Riverside’, even at a kiddie’s funfair! But a good time was had by all.

A massive thanks to Rotary for paying for the children’s tickets J

Going the extra mile…

I think I mentioned the computers in one of my previous posts? We have a big stack of them in the corner of the classroom covered in about an inch of dust and numerous rat/mice droppings. One afternoon of fiddling around later, and I have successfully managed to set one of them up! I can’t wait to start up an ICT class or teach them some skills in their Technology lessons. Their faces when they saw the screen turn on was priceless…even though all it said was ‘No Signal’!!! Hopefully at least one more of them will be ready to use by next week, but a lot of the wires have been chewed by mice so are a bit useless, but we shall see!

The desks in the classroom were also in bits. They’re a simple metal frame with a wooden platform screwed on, but the screws on half of them had come out and were a nuisance in lessons; slipping off onto people’s toes and trapping little hands and fingers. So our lovely friends Dom and Michaela who are working at Bethany Home on the other side of Mthatha offered to come over with some tools and we helped mend every last one of them! Dom also had to get the grinder in as the screws were too long, so we had sparks flying out of the classroom. But they’re all fixed now and the kids are so pleased with their new desks…surprising the difference a couple of hours makes!

I’ve been spending extra time with the children out of working hours and I feel as though we all get on really well now, which has definitely helped in lessons. I can now remember all of their ridiculously complicated/long names (only took me a month!). I’ve loved sharing my music with them although writing lyrics of every song out 26 times is a bit of a bummer! They’re in the process of teaching me some Xhosa songs which are difficult to learn, but great fun J

I have now officially driven the massive Thembelihle car, which is the most difficult vehicle to drive EVER…well as far as I know ;) Mthatha’s roads are dotted with massive potholes and people walk out in front of you all the time. I don’t think I have come across a single road marking and people tend to make new lanes for themselves whenever and wherever it suits! Oh…and parking in the middle of the road – that’s a new one! But it’s pretty good practice and I actually quite enjoy it although I have nearly died several times…

The children at Thembelihle rarely get out of the home, unless they’re going to the hospital or across the road to play in the field. So it was nice to take one of the older girls out to the supermarket with us…a simple trip put a massive smile on her face and it was a great opportunity to get to know her better! I’m hoping to take the children out more often so they get a change of scenery!

I’ve also started helping out with admin work in the office outside of school hours, and adding to the Thembelihle website which I’m really enjoying. It makes a change from the teaching aspect of the work, and means I am making a difference to the home in a different way!

Basically what I’m trying to say in this post is that every little helps…even the smallest thing will make a big difference to these children’s lives and I’m finding new things every day that will help the home in some way…loving it J