End of Week 7

Hi Family and Friends,

Wow! I cannot believe my 7th week is over and I have one more week here. I have mixed feelings for sure, and despite some of the wonderful people I have met here, it is the children it will be hard to say good-bye to. They and a few parents / grandparents have asked me when I am coming back! It causes an internal gasp! While I am ready to dump the bunk bed and total lack of privacy, and the carb diet, it will be hard to leave the kids.

Amy, Australia (play equipment :))

Some good things have happened during my time here. Together with other volunteers, we have created a sustainable structure for the tutoring program in Steenberg School and the tutoring program in the Capricorn Township, which hosts the high school tutoring program. The township is like a prison for these children and teens and the only way to escape it seems to be education and some luck!

Capricorn Township...library corner

The play program will occur whenever the kids are on holiday from school which is 3 times a year for six weeks.The program thanks to the donations of several people has soccer balls, basketballs, cricket equipment, tennis balls, arts and craft materials. Here is a group of 1st graders on the Twister game and a couple of girls who made a Chutes and Ladders game out of cardboard! I have learned how a small group of people working together with heart and then mind, can make a difference in children's lives; and, how that effort elevates all of us. This sense of communal togetherness is a gift unto itself.

Twister!!!

Chutes and Ladders

Here are a couple of kids I worked with this week, who study with great focus when encouraged and given positive feedback.

This little guy, William, had the wiggles and jiggles and he and I are proud to say he completed his first assignment in the tutoring program....I cannot tell you how proud of himself he was. He 'high-fived' me at least a dozen times...and here is his successful outcome.

I have met 3 young men Jordan from California a musician, David, a recently graduated high school student from Denmark, and Ben, from England, who I have had a lot of fun with. We have had the best conversations at the cafe's and it has been fun for me to hear their views on volunteering and life in general. I haven't gotten their photo yet, although I notice Ben is in the blue T-shirt, on the video I uploaded on FB earlier today.

I have enjoyed some of the new round of roommates, the majority of whom are international. Anna, who is from Moscow and not in the picture, is at a safari, has spoken extensively with me about life in Moscow. It is interesting to see the adjustment we make when people from different cultures come together and how easy it is to mis-communicate, but, also how easy it is to realize how we are all the same in many ways, and how many different and successful ways there are to accomplish things.

Hyang, Korea, Erin, upper NY, Marie, Quebec, Amy, England

I am hanging out at the beach today and tomorrow, Erin and I are going to the Botanical Gardens. After that I will just enjoy the ocean and the week and hope my separation anxiety does not get the best of me!!
Until next week, much love, Elaine