Team Journal, November 8: First Day of Service!

Monday, November 8, 2010 (Susan)

Our first morning of work began with an ample breakfast of oatmeal, eggs toast, juice, tea, and coffee. We had a brief team meeting with the assignments for the day, The labor team Laura, Mark and Tai were the first off with wheelbarrows, they transported trees to the planting sites, about eight helpers from the village under the guidance of Sikho planted 16 trees. Wow!. Planters included Pila, a 17 year old student and Mzuyanda a young man with cerebral palsy. This was done on a 30 degree Celsius day, very impressive. Olga our hard working volunteer coordinator and a driver delivered the rest of us Lily, Betty and Susan to schools. Lily at Mbange school became the lone teacher of 28 Grade R students who were treated to reviewing the alphabet, numbers, singing and dancing “Here we go around the Mulberry Bush” Betty also at Mbange worked with Maxwell’s class of 5th and 6th graders. She was the lone teacher some of the time, teaching English, Betty was surprised at the level of English proficiency of the students, Expected was the students curiosity about her. Susan worked at Upper Mdumbi School with Mrs. Beauty’s 4th, 5th and 6th graders. These students were writing exams in Xhosa so Susan was an extra pair of eyes. The students are helpful and respectful to their teachers. The single long building of several classrooms was in need of repair but the teacher’s workroom had many cabinets of donated workbooks and supplies, the organization of which might make a future project.

As we all gathered back at the guest house to share experiences there was laughter and tiredness. But it was not the end of our adventure. A truck delivering bags of food was being unloaded and stacked so we volunteered to help. A serious wind and rain storm blew in which necessitated moving the food under shelter. Now we really feel part of this community.

Submitted by Susan