Rachel's Year in South Africa with Project Trust: New Year, new memories

January

Beginning of the new school year

In South Africa the school year runs from January to December which meant new timetables and classes for us after getting back from our travels. Erica is now mainly working in Grade 4 & 6, Chelsea and Olivia are both working in the mastery unit (helping children with learning difficulties etc) and I am now mainly working in Gr 7. I spend my mornings teaching Maths and English to a small group of the Gr 7’s who require extra help and then my afternoon is split between helping out in both the Gr 1 & 3 classes. Also on Wednesday and Thursdays I take the Gr 1 and 2’s for P.E which I absolutely love doing. Erica does pretty much the same as me however just in different grades. She spends her mornings helping in Gr 4 & 6 maths then the afternoon helping various teachers with other lessons – her favourite being helping out in Art. As for Chelsea and Olivia they spend the whole day in the Mastery Unit helping out and taking kids out to do one on one work.

Hostel duties haven’t changed at all apart from now we have our own tutor groups that we mentor and help with homework. This way we are able to keep much better track on homework and the children's progress. Chelsea tutors Gr 1 – 3’s, I tutor Gr 4 & 5 and Erica tutors Gr 6 & 7. Olivia doesn’t have a tutor group so instead she helps any of the kids that are struggling and falling behind of the rest. To make sure my tutor group are always doing their best I set up a reward system. I made a star chart and if their homework is to a high standard, they have received a merit at school or if they have been well behaved then they get a star. Once they have 10 stars they are allowed to spend R10 at Spar on our weekly trip which I pay for. So far it is working really well and everybody is keen to work hard to get the reward.

At the end of last year a few of the hostel children left either moving on to high school or just moving to a different school. It really is sad seeing kids leave especially when we had formed a bond with them over our first 4 months here but there are a couple new kids that have moved into hostel and it is always nice to get to know new kids.

Some of the hostel girls invading Chelsea and Erica's room

Drak Challenge

Drak Challenge is a canoeing race held in Underberg every year and to be quite honest this year it seemed to me that Underberg wasn’t quite sure what had hit it. In the past 4 months of living here I have never seen so many cars and town so busy – you could barely walk around Spar it was that busy. Every teacher at the school had to work at the event, seeing as all the entertainment for the event was on school grounds. On the Saturday night Chelsea, Erica and I had to serve up the food to the canoeist whilst Olivia took money for entry tickets at the gate. After we were finished work joined in on the party in the massive tent where a band were playing live music.

Joburg

Towards the end of January Olivia and I headed up to Joburg to visit Alex after his accident. This was Olivia’s second time visiting him since the crash and she was amazed by his improvement. There were another few vols all visiting him at the same time so we took it in turns to go in and visit. It really was incredible to see how well he was doing such a short time after the accident. On the Saturday afternoon I met up with my cousins who I haven’t seen in over 7 years so it was great to see them again and have a catch up.

February

Interhouse Swimming Gala

The first week in February was host to the annual interhouse swimming gala. The school is split into two houses – Sangwana (red house) and Hlogoma (black house) – and theses houses compete against each other at interhouse sporting events. The gala went on for the whole day and the weather was great for it too which was an added bonus. Erica and I were the third place judges which turned out to be harder than expected especially when it is a really close race. It was great to see all the kids enjoying themselves and all the parents there for support. At the end of all the races there was a
teachers race which Erica and I took part in. (Photo creds go to Erica)

Everyone cheering on their houses

Mali after his swim

Asandile starting backstroke

Post teacher/mum race

Valentines Ball

At hostel we are always trying to come up with ideas to raise money and one idea that we put into play was the Valentines Ball. On the Thursday before Valentine’s Day we held an 80’s themed dance. It was down to the 4 of us to decorate, set up and sell tickets for the dance. We spent hours getting the hall ready and making decorations but it was most definitely worth it to see all the kids enjoy themselves.

All the hostel kids at the end of the night

Desk Officer Visit

Towards the end of February Peter, our SA desk officer, came to visit. It was great to speak to him and tell him all about how we are getting on over here. On the Friday, Peter arrived on the Thursday, we had a braai with our host Charles. The following day Peter treated us to a meal at the Grind where we got to talk more about our project and also other vols and their projects. We also had our one on one interviews where we could really open up and tell him about the past 6 months. Just before Peter left he gave us our letters that we had written to ourselves at training before coming over here. It was crazy to read them and see what was so important to me at the time doesn’t mean anything now. I have now written another letter to myself to open when I get home so I’ll be able to see if the last 6 months were what I expected.

All of us with Peter

Sister Abigail’s

Down to the fact that I only work Friday mornings and Chelsea doesn’t work at all we decided we would make use of our spare time and spend our Fridays at Sister Abigail’s house. Sister Abigail (Gogo) cares for 17 children that do not have families and lives in a house just at the end of the road. She is by far the most incredible woman I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and for somebody with so little herself she has an amazing amount of love to give. She is grateful for the smallest of things and spends her days caring for others. The house if a safe haven for the children and the work Gogo does is incredible. A lot of the children were terribly sick and neglected when they first arrived at Gogo’s but she has done amazing work to get them fit and healthy again. Her saying we repeatedly hear her say is “All children need is food and love,” and it is true, if you care for a child, give them the attention and love they require then they will grow stronger and become healthier. Chelsea and I mainly help out with the kids playing soccer, netball and reading with them. We have also taken them to the swimming pool at the school a couple times as they wouldn't get the opportunity if it wasn't for us. They are such an amazing bunch of kids with so much energy and love to give. It is incredible how welcome they have made us feel in such a short space of time, inviting us to birthday parties and braais at the weekend.

Bath time

Mbali and Bhoy - the 2 youngest

Taking some of the kids to the swings

March

Progress

March was a quiet month in Underberg with all the kids starting to study for mid year exams next term. The small group I take for maths and English have definitely improved since the beginning of the year which is great and I also feel like my teaching skills have improved. If there are 2 things I have learnt this year it is: to use my initiative and to know when to pick my battles. There is no point telling the kids off for every single thing they do wrong. If you do that you will never stop moaning so knowing when to let something slip and when to give them into trouble is a valuable lesson I've learnt. So when you walk into the senior girls dorm at half past 9 and they are in a line doing sit ups all you can do is laugh.

Gr 5 Hike

I went with the Gr 5's on their day hike to look for Bushman paintings towards the end of March. It was myself, Karie (the Gr 5 teacher) and Ash (another teacher) that took them with 2 mums also helping. It was such a lovely day and the mountains looked incredible, however we were unsuccessful in finding the paintings. We got lost half way through the hike and ended up having to turn back with 20 moaning and tired children behind us.