Sunday, February 25, 2007
Happy Faces Community School, Kubjana, Limpopo
"Happy Faces" (and they are)has 76 children who attend, up to the age of 11. The youngest are at a nursery on a separate site from the main school where were teaching. It was originally a missionary school but s now run privately by Ellanie, a 27 year old with determination, energy & amazing spirit. Over 1/2 of the children have AIDS or are HIV +ve. 39 are orphans.4 of the school's children died last year. Ellanie is a trained teacher but was an HIV/AIDS counsellor for several years until it understandably got too much for her. (More about that later.)
Volunteers, particularly those of mature years with parenting & teaching skills are much needed & truly made to feel valued. We were able to help, in a more than usually hectic week, by assisting with preparations for Sports Day. Howard helped Ellanie with the programme of events (suggesting old worthies such as the egg & spoon race, the 3-legged race as well as running races) & designed an obstacle course which we both oversaw on the "big day". He also marked out the running tracks, alongside Ellanie's boyfriend Dolf, which was a pretty arduous task working on a dusty playing field several miles from the school with no shade from the blazing sun.
As well, we both taught the children in Grades 1 - 5, helping Ellanie to have free time for a very necessary meeting with other private school principals & to deal with the crisis of the only other trained (supposedly!) teacher leaving. (The said trained teacher couldn't teach & there was no record of her at the college where she claimed to have gained her teaching diploma.) We taught Maths (of course), Language, Sport, Dancing (Gay Gordons & the Hokey Cokey, Singing (of course), a bit about Scotland - & did some gardening. The latter was to clear vegetation which could be used as hiding places by snakes!
We worked from 8 a.m. - 1.30 p.m., Monday to Friday & from 7.30 - 11 a.m. on Saturday, not to mention preparation time. All the lessons were in English, which the local people feel will be an advantage for the children in future. The local people belong to the Lobedu tribe, ruled over by the Rain Queen. They are Christians, but as with most black Africans, mix their Christianity with local tribal custom.
It was all a bit of a whirlwind - the expression "thrown in at the deep end" would cover it well - but we loved our time here & wished we could have stayed for longer. Even our complete inability to control 18 irrepressible Grade 1s didn't diminish the pleasure!
Volunteers, particularly those of mature years with parenting & teaching skills are much needed & truly made to feel valued. We were able to help, in a more than usually hectic week, by assisting with preparations for Sports Day. Howard helped Ellanie with the programme of events (suggesting old worthies such as the egg & spoon race, the 3-legged race as well as running races) & designed an obstacle course which we both oversaw on the "big day". He also marked out the running tracks, alongside Ellanie's boyfriend Dolf, which was a pretty arduous task working on a dusty playing field several miles from the school with no shade from the blazing sun.
As well, we both taught the children in Grades 1 - 5, helping Ellanie to have free time for a very necessary meeting with other private school principals & to deal with the crisis of the only other trained (supposedly!) teacher leaving. (The said trained teacher couldn't teach & there was no record of her at the college where she claimed to have gained her teaching diploma.) We taught Maths (of course), Language, Sport, Dancing (Gay Gordons & the Hokey Cokey, Singing (of course), a bit about Scotland - & did some gardening. The latter was to clear vegetation which could be used as hiding places by snakes!
We worked from 8 a.m. - 1.30 p.m., Monday to Friday & from 7.30 - 11 a.m. on Saturday, not to mention preparation time. All the lessons were in English, which the local people feel will be an advantage for the children in future. The local people belong to the Lobedu tribe, ruled over by the Rain Queen. They are Christians, but as with most black Africans, mix their Christianity with local tribal custom.
It was all a bit of a whirlwind - the expression "thrown in at the deep end" would cover it well - but we loved our time here & wished we could have stayed for longer. Even our complete inability to control 18 irrepressible Grade 1s didn't diminish the pleasure!
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Catching up - see below
Have managed at last to get more photos on - so there are quite a few "down the page", if you follow our meaning?
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Riverside - Letsitele near Tzaneen
Riverside is a wildlife rehabilitation and environmental education centre (www.primate-sa.org) run by Bob and Lynne Venters assisted by their son Matthew, a workforce of 7 and an everchanging band of volunteers. We worked with 4 other volunteers during our first week and 3 others during the following 2 weeks. While we were there, Matthew & Katie (another long-term volunteer) were away at Sun City running about the place with snakes draped over their shoulders, frightening baboons away from the golf courses & hotels of South Africa's Las Vegas.The wildlife in residence was ever-changing too as were the number of Vervet monkeys which were the main focus of the rehabilitation efforts.
We started work 6 days a week at 7am and on a Sunday at 8am and generally didn't get back to our hut( Kingfisher's Rest, with outdoor shower and toilets!) until about 8pm. They were long days in the heat of 30 degrees C in the shade .....
The usual routine in the morning was to clean out the baby monkey enclosure (latterly with 11 baby monkeys in it, but mostly on us!), various other monkey cages in the clinic & the quarantine area & then to prepare & distribute food for the monkeys, ostriches, owls, eagle, duikers, tortoises, snakes, rabbits (for later feeding to the snakes), mice (also for feeding to the snakes) & parrot. Sometimes we had to shift tons of either rotting mangoes & bananas to the compost heap (complete with maggots & flies!) or fresh mangoes, bananas & pumpkins into the food stores. We did pickups of waste food here too, from stores in Tzaneen 30 km away. We also had to bottle feed the baby monkeys twice a day & bath them every morning. There was an afternoon feed too. One-off jobs were to dig a duck pond, build an ostrich shelter & process 25 new monkey arrivals. This involved weighing, measuring, micro-chipping sedated monkeys (very necessary - they are incredibly strong with razor sharp teeth!) Occasionally we could assist with operations on injured monkeys.
We really enjoyed our time there despite the hard work, the heat, the muck & the difficult atmosphere engendered by Bob's occasional temper tantrums & general discourtesy to the humans around him (he even bit one of the volunteers!!!) but after 3 weeks we jumped at the chance to move on to a local community school - enough was enough!
Kruger National Park
After arriving in Limpopo Province, we spent only one day at Riverside Vervet monkey sanctuary before we headed off to Kruger very early in the morning. We travelled with Bob (proprietor of Riverside), Pam/Vicky (our Brummy project leader), Charlie (Charlene Ruth), Sue & Carla (the other volunteers).
During our 1st day of driving around the park we saw elephants, zebras, buffaloes, impalas(100s of them), baboons, squirrels, vervet monkeys, hares, warthogs, hippos, giraffes, wildebeast, duikers, steenboks, sable antelopes, bush bucks, water bucks & various birds - vultures, eagles, secretary birds, ostriches & more.
At the end of the day we went on a guided 3 hour night drive which was definitely the highlight of our Kruger experience. It was truly amazing. We saw a scorpion on the road & hippos lumbering across dry land to graze. We got within a few metres of a pride of lions - 3 males, 5 females & 7 cubs were resting together, just by the roadside, after a kill. To be so close to them was breathtaking, exhilarating & scary all at the same time. It was a half-hour that we'll never forget.
After a night camped out in tents (yes! Howard actually slept in a tent!) we made another early start, soon after dawn, to spend a second day of driving around. In addition to spotting more of the wildlife that we had seen the day before, we also saw kudus, a black mamba, crocodiles, terrapins, lizards & tortoises. Sadly, we didn't see any leopards or rhinos - but we don't feel too deprived.
The Garden Route
Before we left Cape Town for our next project, we took a few days to drive in a clapped-out Toyota Tazz along the famous Garden Route, which stretches for about 120 miles along the south coast of S Africa. It's famed for its magnificent forests watered by the rivers that tumble down from the mountain ranges in the north to the Indian Ocean. In total we drove nearly 900 miles & the scenery was fantastic all the way - whether mountains,sandy beaches, lagoons, surf, rocks, feynbos, woodlands, fields .......
Our accommodation was varied. In Mossel Bay we stayed on the Santos Express in a converted railway carriage with our own little balcony & swing seat on the edge of a north-facing (difficult to get used to idea that north-facing is a good thing!) palm-lined beach with dolphins swimming in the bay. At Storms River Mouth, in the Tsitsikamma National park, we stayed in a hut in a forest clearing just yards from the surf crashing onto the rocky shoreline. In Knysna we were based for 2 nights in a beautiful modern house perched on a hillside with panoramic views over the Knysna lagoon.
The hiking trails we took were all fabulous, if often challenging in the baking sunshine (& once in the pouring rain). In Mossel Bay, we walked part of the St Blaize Trail, along cliffs & past a cave where it's amazing to realise that people lived, up until the 19th C., for possibly up to 100,000 years.
In Tsitsikamma N P we followed part of the Otter Trail, scrambling through forests & over rocks for 3 miles along the shoreline to swim in a pool between the ocean & the foot of a 50 metre waterfall. In Tsitsikamma, too, we walked over a suspension bridge across the Storm River mouth & took a boat trip up into the Storms River canyon, which was dramatic & eerie. (It would have been even more atmospheric if 3 German tourists hadn't decided this was the moment for shouting & laughing long & loud!!) Damp green cliffs, dotted with caves which were home to colonies of bats with 18" wing spans, rise up from the peaty water. The boat trip is very dependent on weather conditions. At times there can be a 6-7 meter sea swell and when there is a storm, the river becomes a raging torrent.
At Plettenberg Bay we had our toughest walk on the wild side, out on the Robberg peninsula. We clambered along more cliffs, ploughed through sand dunes & slithered over rocks. The weather was hot, overcast & humid to start with - & then the heavens opened. We struggled to get back to the car through drenching rain & thick mist.
At Knysna we followed the Jubilee Creek in the Goudweld Forest, past abandoned goldmine works, to a beautiful pool where we washed off mud & sweat by skinny-dipping in the shade of the yellowwoods.(Yes, we were quick & discrete!) We also walked in the Diepwalle Forest through the lush Valley of the Ferns, a jungle of ancient tree ferns arching over us. Although we were miles from civilisation, we managed to gate-crash a wedding there! Picnic rugs & hampers were scattered over the grass. Women in pastel outfits & big hats drifted past as we clomped over the rose petals, scattered along a path decorated with flowers & ribbons, in our hiking boots & shorts! It was a tad surreal!
We had another surreal experience in Knysna when we crossed over a causeway from the Waterfront to Thesen Island Harbour Town. We felt as if we had wandered into the set of Jim Carrey's "The Truman Show". It felt like a newly constructed ghost town - very weird! We resisted the temptation to dine in the "baroque zen" restaurant - not sure what that might mean & now may never know ........ We wanted to escape back to reality as fast as we could.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Beth Uriel Reflections
When we 1st arrived in Cape Town, we wondered whether 6 weeks would be too long in one place, but in the event, we wished that we could have stayed longer. We'd also been apprehensive about how we would cope with young men from such troubled backgrounds but that was another needless worry.
It seemed to make a huge impression on them all that a couple of our age had chosen to be there & we were welcomed with warmth & respect. Some were even referring to us as their mother & father by the time we left! During the obligatory volunteers' farewell ceremony, we were very moved by the touching speeches & messages of thanks & appreciation. We, in turn, tried to convey to them what a huge impact they had made on us.
We'd had some fascinating conversations over the 6 weeks as they shared the stories of their lives. A few of the "family" were coloured, one was from Rwanda & one from Zanzibar but most were from the Xhosa tribe, many from the Eastern Cape. We learned the initiation rituals young men go through, usually at age 18, when they go to "the bush" (not just a rural phenomenon - initiation camps are attached to most black townships) & what it means to be a Xhosa man. The initiation lasts for a month of isolation from the world, beginning with circumcision without anaesthetic. We learned about the tensions between traditional practices & the christian/western world. In fact, some of the most interesting conversations were sparked off by our celebrating Channukah & lighting our Friday night candles with them.
There were many sad stories. We don't know exactly how many have lived on the streets. One had lived rough for 3 years & said he grew to like the freedom while another told us that he'd lived on the streets for 2 months. One young man's family had "lost" him on the streets when he was 5 years old. Many had experienced violence in the townships & on the streets. Alcohol & drug abuse had been a feature of many of their backgrounds, both personally & in their families. They arrived at Beth Uriel in a variety of ways - referred by the courts or schools and by word of mouth, sometimes having met existing family members at the weekly soup kitchen run.
Despite all these problems, most were dedicated to furthering their education, either by going back to school (often in classes with much younger children) or by going on to further education. One was going to study medicine, another history, at university. Some were training to be cooks & we had a working actor (very thesp, darlings) in our midst. Others had ambitions to be a film & TV director, a pilot or a park ranger. Needless to say, we pray that they will all succeed in leading successful, comfortable, independent lives off the streets & away from crime. Under the watchful eye of the ever-energetic & resourceful Lindsay we think they have the fighting chance they deserve - they were bright, intelligent, charming company. We miss them all!
It seemed to make a huge impression on them all that a couple of our age had chosen to be there & we were welcomed with warmth & respect. Some were even referring to us as their mother & father by the time we left! During the obligatory volunteers' farewell ceremony, we were very moved by the touching speeches & messages of thanks & appreciation. We, in turn, tried to convey to them what a huge impact they had made on us.
We'd had some fascinating conversations over the 6 weeks as they shared the stories of their lives. A few of the "family" were coloured, one was from Rwanda & one from Zanzibar but most were from the Xhosa tribe, many from the Eastern Cape. We learned the initiation rituals young men go through, usually at age 18, when they go to "the bush" (not just a rural phenomenon - initiation camps are attached to most black townships) & what it means to be a Xhosa man. The initiation lasts for a month of isolation from the world, beginning with circumcision without anaesthetic. We learned about the tensions between traditional practices & the christian/western world. In fact, some of the most interesting conversations were sparked off by our celebrating Channukah & lighting our Friday night candles with them.
There were many sad stories. We don't know exactly how many have lived on the streets. One had lived rough for 3 years & said he grew to like the freedom while another told us that he'd lived on the streets for 2 months. One young man's family had "lost" him on the streets when he was 5 years old. Many had experienced violence in the townships & on the streets. Alcohol & drug abuse had been a feature of many of their backgrounds, both personally & in their families. They arrived at Beth Uriel in a variety of ways - referred by the courts or schools and by word of mouth, sometimes having met existing family members at the weekly soup kitchen run.
Despite all these problems, most were dedicated to furthering their education, either by going back to school (often in classes with much younger children) or by going on to further education. One was going to study medicine, another history, at university. Some were training to be cooks & we had a working actor (very thesp, darlings) in our midst. Others had ambitions to be a film & TV director, a pilot or a park ranger. Needless to say, we pray that they will all succeed in leading successful, comfortable, independent lives off the streets & away from crime. Under the watchful eye of the ever-energetic & resourceful Lindsay we think they have the fighting chance they deserve - they were bright, intelligent, charming company. We miss them all!
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