The journey continues to unfold…

Tuesday July 20, 2010 - Created by Susan

Today felt more organized and a little less anxious as we got up, had breakfast, and went to our assigned work areas- Holly to the community centre to teach her little preschool children, Susan, Anya, Deborah, Valerie, Michelle, and Kate to MBonge school, and Richard and Ismay to Upper MDumbe School. We missed Cam and Andrew at the school but they were off to assist in painting the roof of the community centre. Particular challenges noted were the difficulty in eating lunch in front of co- workers or the children as they were sent to school without anything. We also heard some painful stories. For myself, I had the first chance to teach. Little did I know that Anya and I would be left alone in the grade one class all day as the teacher decided to go home early in the day. Luckily, we had done some preparations the night before, brought some supplies, and were aided by Kate popping in a couple of times to get a new lesson off the ground. These children spoke no English but had memorized a few lines by note. It was an enriching (and tiring) experience to spend the day with them, and we felt we accomplished quite a lot.

After school, a number of children came to be “tutored” or to play, and most of the volunteers played card games and colored with the children or tutored math. Some were more physical, playing Frisbee, skipping, and soccer. Everyone seemed to have a great time and we had to usher the children out.

Before dinner, we had a valuable lesson in Xhosa, taught be Olga. She said she wasn’t going to talk to us in English anymore… Oh Dear! After dinner, we were treated to a really inspirational talk be Reverand Spiro, who shared with us his experiences growing up in Malungeni, some about his life since, and his hopes for the future. His words reinforce the importance of our presence here. Although he gave us a lot of his time, we could have listened for much longer and asked many more questions.

Tomorrow the schools are closed, so some of us will have a chance to experience some new parts of the culture while others will plan the lessons and clean the community centre. The journey continues to unfold…

Thought of the day: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right” –Henry Ford.