Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Version I: “Gentleness and a sense of humor will help you overcome many things.”

Version II: “Gentleness and a sense of humor – and a crowbar – will help you overcome many things!”

This morning, breakfast included freshly baked bread and many of us ate nothing else but the bread – bread and butter, bread and jam, bread and peanut butter – bread and more bread.

Five of us headed to school where it appeared that all of the teachers also appeared. Margaret and Deborah taught Grade R children how to play marbles. Mona was politely informed by the teacher of grades 1 to 3 that her services were no longer needed. Mona joined Grade R and assisted Deborah and Margaret with entertaining the little ones.

Don and Sara struggled along with their students to master South African math. They were impressed with a story the children read which honestly addressed the issues of AIDS, death, abandonment, loving rescue and giving back – very different from our Dick and Jane stories in America.

Meanwhile back at the guesthouse, Barbara, Rachel and Teresa completed the puzzle – much to Margaret’s disappointment. Rachel, feeling under the weather, remained at the guesthouse most of the day, venturing out later when the children arrived for tutoring.

Barbara spent another day in the car, getting cement for the tile men and also assisted with the post-hole project.

Teresa spent the morning with members of the bakery cooperative as they completed the paperwork to apply for certification. Mr. Spiwe from SEDA (Small Enterprise Development Agency) walked them through the key principles of a cooperative and copied templates for a business plan and financial statements to Olga’s computer.

After our routine water brigade of refilling the indoor water barrels, children of all ages showed up for tutoring and play, keeping us all busy until dinnertime. We enjoyed another meal of our favorite mincemeat meatloaf; then the lights went out! We laughed over candlelight and the lights came back on within the half hour. With the puzzle completed, we entertained ourselves with other activities – cribbage, solitaire, knitting, journal reading – life is tough in Malungeni. We are settling in to our routines and it will not be easy to leave or say goodbye.

Respectfully submitted -- Teresa

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

"Shake things up!" Spar Superstore receipt

We seem to be 'clicking as a team. We are greeted by a sunny, bright morning full of promise! A hearty breakfast and then it's off to school. Tailing the other volunteers, Rachel and I head to school a bit late and spend an hour distracting the children. We catch the older ones outside their classroom and have fun taking photos of their beautiful faces.

Hilda the cleaning lady also strikes a pose! Then it's back to the guesthouse to join "Seeko" and the labor crew on the fencing project. Our tiling expert arrives and provides an estimate for the finishing the stage of the ommunity center. He's availible this week -- so we all may be spending Friday afternoon tiling!

Barb and Bonke head to town for cement and food! Oh, the miles we log! It’s always an obstacle course on East Cape highways – if it’s not a stray lamb, it’s a loose steer, broken-down bus or clutches of schoolkids! All this drama contrasts with the lovely, spacious hills and valleys that seem to stretch endlessly under the South African sky.

School highlights – Teresa was impressed when the little girls in Grade R (K) role-played as “mamas,” wrapping their dolls around their backs and carrying them that way all day! She also had fun teaching grades 7-9 how to interview for jobs. Mona tackled the challenging subject of race relations in America as her assignment today! Wow! Her own family is a mini-lesson in diversity that continues to impress the children.

Other highlights – Margaret finished a terrific Stephanie Meyer book so that Deborah can delve into it. Don says he put “29 crucial pieces” in the puzzle but don’t believe it!

Rachel enjoyed talking to one of the laborers – Kaya – and learning about family relations and ages in South Africa – i.e., how a little brother can be a big brother and how one’s family stretches infinitely or whatever….

Don also was impressed that there is a “middle class” in Malungeni, as witnessed in a home visit that he, Sara, Rachel and Teresa made today. Sara noted how the kitchen in many households is located in a separate building.

While they were visiting with Bonke the abovementioned home, Mona, Margaret and Barb tutored and entertained and played with at least 30 rambunctious children at the guesthouse. What a delight!

A highlight of the evening was enjoying a special dinner with the Ngqeleni Police Chief Donnie Kettledas, his wife Sharon, daughter Jennie Lee and grandson Tristan. They shared lots of info about the East Cape region. They were our special quests. Very pleasant and enjoyable. Koena and Olga outdid themselves with a speical special meal of spinach, beans, beef, potatoes, carrots and other delights. We talked and laughed and got silly with photos. A good finish to a good day!

-Submitted by Barb

Monday, July 27, 2009

“Life is great. Enjoy every moment.” – Wimpy’s receipt

A nutritious breakfast (eggs, toast, cereal, yogurt, oatmeal and juice) got the day off to a good start. This was the first day without Dan and Bob – they left yesterday – the team misses them as they both added a lot.

We discussed the great weekend and then left for school. Nice long walk to school today – the weather is warmer and no wind, so walking was pleasurable.

It was a good day at school. Everyone is getting more used to the routine. Sara and Don observed Xhosa lesson and then assisted with math. The kids are well mannered and attentive. During morning break, volunteers got to play a local kids’ game – Love My Teddy Bear. Everyone gets in a circle, one is selected to dance and clap in the center – great fun!

After school, we relaxed and at 3 p.m. we accepted the Rev. Bashe’s invitation to visit an orphanage in Ngqeleni. Transportation consisted of riding in the back of a small truck with a topper on it (great for team bonding), i.e., we all felt like illegal immigrants being smuggled someplace! After a short bumpy ride, we arrived at the orphanage. The grounds were attractive and the children seemed happy. We got to meet some of the 60 children living there and a staff member gave us a comprehensive tour.

After the orphanage, we toured the police station at the invitation of Police Chief Donnie Kettledas. Interesting tour! We got to see the whole station, including the cells of the prisoners. After the tour, we piled back in the truck for a short ride home.

Excellent dinner —the cooks are really fantastic – and after some good conversation, we adjourned to the guesthouse “game room.” The puzzle brigade went right to work —good progress on puzzle.

Deborah took Don’s measure in cribbage, winning two out of three – to everyone’s (except Don’s) delight! Early bedtime for everyone.

Submitted by Don

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

“Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.” – Ernest Hemingway

Our sumptuous breakfast included some delicious muffins. Then off to school. Don and I had a teacher in our classroom for about ½ hour – finishing up English and teaching addition and subtraction of fractions. We took over from there, finishing math, reviewing the continents, the oceans, the countries of South Africa and North America. Mona joined us after break and we broke into three groups for conversation groups. So essentially we were substitute teachers.

Rachel both helped dig postholes and took items to the preschool where she’ll help tomorrow. Mona talked her older students into being microbiologists. The youngest kids mixed paint and colors. The highlight of the break was the kite Teresa brought.

The posthole project replaced the tile project since the proper flooring material wasn’t available. They’re digging postholes to fence off areas to protect trees they plan to plant along the road.

The afternoon was spent sleeping, reading and working puzzles and the evening playing Uno or heading off to bed.

PS. Bonke shared his life story with us at dinner. After being hit on the head with an ax and spending months in the hospital, the doctor told him he shouldn’t go to school anymore because of his brain injury. Despite that, he trained and worked as a peer tutor and finally returned to high school and passed his exams. He plans to start nurses training at the University in Mthatha or Capetown next year.
– Submitted by Sara

Sunday, July 19, 2009

“No gift given in love and accepted in gratitude is small” - Anonymous

After a full night’s sleep (the first for many on the team) and an all-American (or is it South African) breakfast, we commenced our orientation. Despite much talking and getting off track, we managed to set our goals for this service program, which are: to be an ambassador, to meet new people and build friendships, to learn about the culture and environment; to serve the community and to have fun.

This team loves to laugh so we met our final goal immediately, which led us to define our characteristics of an effective team. We adopted Don’s acronym for Together Everyone Achieves More (TEAM) and outlined the characteristics as:
Gentleness, sense of humor, communication with tact and kindness, trust and honesty, respect, consideration, listening, doing one’s share, responsibility, common courtesy, enthusiasm, flexibility, cooperation, patience, teamwork and lots of smiles.

As topics arose, we volunteered for (or were assigned to) various responsibilities.
Rachel will serve as social director for our free time activities.
Teresa will type up the journal. (Editor note: change to Barb)
Mona will oversee health and safety.
Deborah will plan the 2-week departure celebration.
Dan will plan the 3-week celebration with an assist from Mona.
Don will help Barbara after Bob leaves.

The rest of the morning and early afternoon consisted of policies, code of conduct and a basic language lesson from Bonke. Bonke also provided some insight on cultural issues, making sure that Dan understood he may not kiss another man’s wife and most definitely never hug another man.

We broke again for another American meal – PB&Js – yum! Then off to a truly African experience.

The village elders, children and other members of the Malungeni village welcomed us to their community with song and dance. Children sang happy birthday to Mandela. Women performed traditional dance, and children took turns showing us that the dance skills begin at a very early age.

We were struck by the incredible respect the younger people show for their elders – bringing them food and water – and the sense of community among all ages. Caring for the elderly, waiting their turn to eat, serving others and cleaning up – all participated and seemed to know their place. We all shared a meal of sampa (beans and potatoes) dressed with a delicious sauce of sausage, flour and spices.

Afterwards, Bonke took us on a short tour of a few key places:
A small public store where Dan can buy candy.
a community center where we might conduct a tiling project;
The school grounds
And a few churches.

We returned to the guesthouse where Rachel shared the wonderful teaching supplies she brought. The items never seemed to end as she continued to reach into her duffel bag, pulling a rabbit out of the hat each time. Mona added to the pile with games and books.

We headed off to dinner and word games – which we all passed with a little help from our friends.

Some of the highlights of the day –
Herding sheep with a whistle;
Marking sheep with paint rather than branding;
A village woman’s cell phone ringing in the middle of a traditional African dance;
Member of the youth council (saying) – the young people convinced the elders to allow Global Volunteers;
That we have electricity on demand;
Mahzywi telling us he thought the U.S. included North and South America!
Nkuli’s comment that it took an African to run the United States!
We are in area 1 of Malungeni with a population of about 600.

It was a long, full day with half the team retiring right after dinner and the other half talking long into the night with hopes of solving the economy and the U.S. healthcare system. We’ll see….

As dogs bark in the distance and I survey the galaxy of stars from the perspective of the Southern Hemisphere, I realize it is now time for bed…
Respectfully submitted,
Teresa