Today was the day....

I actually got to go to my placement. What an experience. The children are incredible! I am actually working in a preschool/daycare that is run by the organization that also keeps the orphans. Some of the children are the orphans and some just attend the daycare and are dropped off by their parents.


The school is very cute and the teachers are incredible! They are so good with the children and totally teach from their heart. They love these children and it shows. The majority of the children there are HIV+. Some of the kids look totally healthy and fine and some look not so healthy. But they are all little angels and seemed happy to have us there. It's myself and another volunteer. The center is located right in the middle of one of the townships. We are driven by van, and buzzed into a gate. We aren't permitted to leave the gated area, as our sponsor feels that it wouldn't be safe for us to walk in the township. The center is surrounded by an iron gate with barbed wire across the top. Once inside though....I felt nothing but love and warmth. It was very easy to forget where we were located.


The school is really nice and the teachers do their best with what they have. There is no comparison to an American school....they are sorely lacking resources. The outdoor play yard, isn't the safest, and I'm trying to organize a "clean up" with the other volunteers in the house, however, we'd also have to have it okayed by the school. There are just objects out there the kids could get hurt on and there are sharp pieces of plastic, a little bit of glass here and there and some trash in the yard. All the kids come to school with shoes on, but many of them take them off shortly after arriving. I worry for their safety.


The classroom time was great fun! It's very structured. There are two classrooms, each one has 10-12 children. One classroom is filled with the bright shining faces of children that are between the ages of 2 1/2 -4. The other room the kids are 4-6. The children speak almost no English, but they are learning. Most of them can sing their ABC's and can count to 10. And they can sing a few American children's songs. They are also teaching them the days of the week in English and Xhosa. So, as one can imagine, the language barrier was quite a challenge today. BUT.....we have a Xhosa lesson this evening, to teach us key phrases...so that should be very helpful.


The kids were incredibly sweet...and very different from most American children. For instance, we played a game where the teacher was singing this song "There's a fire on the moutain...." a song she sings to them in English and parts in Xhosa. The kids sing along with her. They follow her in a circle and when she stops marching and singing, everyone is to freeze...those that move after she stops are eliminated. I know most of you have seen preschool aged children do it, and without a doubt at least one child (usually more), either get mad, pout or cry when they are eliminated...some even argue that they weren't moving. Not these kids, when they were called out, the moved against the wall and continued singing and clapping and smiling. They were just generally happy. Another difference, they are all so very well behaved. They listen to everything the teacher tells them. Line up for lunch, sit down, come here.....they are very obedient. It was quite refreshing to see, actually. I think the adults here just command a different level of respect, then what it is at home.


We helped them with their writing assignment when we first got there....there were making zeroes on their paper...you know....."0" they would write it and say "zero." Then we combined the two classes where they did the calendar, with the days of the week and the date in both languages. Then it was free play. I sat on the floor and played with lego's and stuffed animals while the kids climbed all over me. They love having visitors. After free time, they got to play outside. I was so glad to FINALLY get out in the beautiful South Africa Sun! Today was the first beautiful day since I've been here! We played outside until lunch time. We helped round the children up, and got them ready for lunch. We helped serve and I fed a couple of the younger ones. They were all very hungry and for the most part inhaled their meals. It actually looked delicious...it was rice with cooked vegetables over it....it was cabbage, peas and carrots. Everyone ate....no picky eaters in that group. We cleaned up the rice that was left behind as the children were put down for their nap and then our driver arrived to return us back to homebase.


There was one little girl in the classroom that was so funny and very percocious. She looks to be close to 4 years old. She was the talkative one of the bunch. She was always more worried about everyone elses zeroes they were writing instead of her own. Her teacher laughed and said that she was definitely the chatty one of the bunch. And when I was attempting to communicate with her, she would repeat everything I said in English. She was so very outgoing and terribly cute. She had these really cute little pink shoes on that she kept taking off and I would hold up her shoe and say, "Is this your shoe?" She'd smile and giggle because of course she couldn't understand me and I'd just hold up the shoe again and say, "shoe." She would always repeat shoe. The kids understand "Very Good." Because their teacher praises them with that. So if I could get any of them to do something I wanted I was always give them a big "very good!" and they would smile at the praise and I would smile that somehow we figured out a way to communicate.

It was an incredible day and I can't wait for tomorrow!