"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!
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As always, lovely to know that you are following our progress!
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