Township Tour

Today was a great day! The day they take the newbees on a tour of the townships, and placement information and a small history lesson. Although I've been here before, and skipped the placement orientation (I'm returning to the same creche as last time), I chose to do the tour and the history lesson again.

The last time I was here the goverment was just starting a housing project where they would tear down the shanty towns and build solid structures for the residents of the townships. There were just a few homes built in Feb 2008. It was awesome to ride around today and see the progress of this project. You can see what I mean with the pictures below. It's exciting to see the progress, however they have a long way to go. But I'm hopeful.

The tour was the same as before...same townships, same monuments and same tour guide! Mama Ivy did our tour and she is just awesome! No two tours are the same so I learned things this time that I didn't the last time.

Had a history lesson this afternoon "South Africa 101." It was done by the In-Country Director, Louann. She was great. It was really nice to get her perspective on the state of things as a South African white woman. I've talked to the blacks and the coloured's but never really had an opporunity to really talk to a South African white woman, so it was very cool.

What started out as a cloudy, chilly morning...quickly turned into a warm bright sunny day! Blue skies, puffy clouds. Just perfect.

All of the volunteers are great! We have a couple Canadian's, one from Switzerland and I believe the rest are from the U.S. All ages, all backgrounds, different ethnicities...it's a really nice diverse group. I have a roommate this time. Julie is from Ohio and she is great. We seem to get along very well and she is a hoot!

Tomorrow will be my actual first volunteer day at placement. I can't wait to see those little smiling faces! Right now there is a volunteer that has been there for 6 weeks or so. It's a guy named Dann. I will work with him this week, but then he goes home next weekend. Then I am on my own! I think they bring new volunteers in every three weeks so there is a chance I'll have another volunteer with me at Home from Home, the last week I'm here. Either way is fine.

Well...that's all for today. I'm going out on the porch to socialize! Early in bed tonight. My body is still trying to catch up with the time difference and we have to be ready to leave tomorrow morning by 0730!

Okay...after about 5 attempts of uploading photos and using up my precious paid for KB's....I'm giving up on pics tonight. Will try again tomorrow.

Much love,
Me