The most powerful weapon you can use to change the world

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Term two is off and running…sort of.  I decided to take a break from leading Zazi at the secondary school this term so that I could focus my efforts on the drop-in centre and the various programs I wished to help the caregivers to implement.  We worked together to develop a calendar which detailed our activities for each Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for the term.  We had plans to divide the children according to age so that we could focus age-appropriate activities on the correct group, and because it is much easier to engage two groups of 25 children than it is to keep the attention of one group of 50-60.  It was all so well-planned - I even made up flipcharts with maps of the drop-in centre and a weekly calendar so everyone knew exactly where they should go on a given day.  I went to the centre the first day of the term energetic and so excited for the day, the week, the month, but things have a way of not quite going according to plan here.

 

The Explorers Club passport, oh the places they'll go...

I heard somewhere that it is advisable to write down all that you would like to accomplish in two months as a volunteer, then to make that your plan for the two years of your service, and as I began to work in the community that advice really resonated with me.  This is not due to a lack of community support; in my community I not only have a great amount of freedom to implement various programs, but I also enjoy the full support of project managers, school principals, traditional leadership, and many others.  For some reason things in South Africa just never seem to go as smoothly or as quickly as we westerners might hope.  This could be for any number of reasons: cultural differences, misunderstandings of expectations, miscommunications, and any number of other factors.  Plans failing to go smoothly may be an annoyance to some, but to a perfectionist with a touch of OCD this can be beyond frustrating. 

 

There were a few challenges that were beyond our control at the beginning of the term.  Prior to the end of term one the drop-in centre had been burglarized by someone who stole the food that would have been used to make meals for the children.  Once the food was gone many of the children stopped coming, as a nutritious meal is one of the main reasons for the children to come each day because many receive only their school meal and their drop-in centre meal each day.  It took us about one week to spread the word to the children that the food was back, at which point they began to return, but there went one week of planning.  Another challenge was getting everyone on the same page with separating the children according to age and determining who would lead each activity.  One day I was left alone in a room with 75 children and a laptop.  I decided to teach about two countries from the Explorers Club, but many of the children were completely lost as teaching in English does not begin until standard 3 (grade 3).

We now seem to be heading toward the same path, which is remarkable just two weeks into the term.  One unexpected blessing was that the caregivers asked me to facilitate the Zazi curriculum for them, which has enabled us to interact one morning each week for about two hours before the children arrive.  This has allowed us to enjoy open discussions and many laughs together, often followed by a chance to discuss our goals for the day or week with our programs.  We have even been able to practice with the SOUNS blocks, which promote literacy and can be used to teach both English and XiTsonga, and I have been able to begin teaching them about different countries and about the earth in general.  We are currently working together on what constitutes evidence-based interventions and how to document results so that they can be reported in a quantifiable way, and how such programming can be of great benefit when applying for funding through grants.

Despite the frustrations that have accompanied the start of our term two programming, I have to say that there are brief shining moments that really show the value of what we are working toward.  One such moment was the day that I brought books that had been donated and a bookshelf that I was able to purchase using fund from the Let Girls Learn grant that I was awarded in January to use for both Zazi and the Explorers Club.  The caregivers watched curiously as I tried to build the shelf (no easy task with the humidity that comes with living on top of the Tropic of Capricorn), and began loading it up with books.  The children arrived slowly that day, but as they arrived they were drawn to the books like little moths to a flame.  I thought they would grow bored quickly and want to go outside to play a game, but they did not.  They sat down on the floor in groups and began reading the books and looking at the pictures, stopping only when it was time to return the items to the shelves and line up for their meal.  Another highlight was when I suggested to the project manager, Masingita, that we appoint students to care for and monitor our library items.  She suggested Promise, one of the older girls who I already had in mind for the responsibility.  She readily agreed to assist us, and even suggested a counterpart from among the older boys.  I am hopeful that their leadership will encourage the children to take ownership of the books in such a way that they want to care for and preserve them for future use.

 

Our student librarian, Promise

By far my greatest moment of the term so far was when I was inside with one of my counterparts, Mavis, administering a pre-test for Grassroots Soccer, an evidence-based curriculum that uses soccer to teach children about HIV and TB, to the children ages 10 through 13.  We were having a pretty good time with the pre-test, they got a kick out of some of my XiTsonga pronunciations and we all had a good laugh at some of the English pronunciations.  There was one moment when I looked outside and saw one of the caregivers, Grace, who was leading the children ages 5-9.  Grace had taken the SOUNS blocks and had the children sitting in a circle around the blocks and was encouraging them to spell their names out with the blocks.  Watching the small children become so engaged in a learning activity and listening to their little giggles as they tried to spell things out with sounds the letters make was incredibly heart-warming.  I would be a fool to think that I will not experience more challenges this year, but I have very high hopes for the children and for the caregivers.  I doubt I will get to witness them fully tap into their intellectual potential in the few months I have remaining in my service, but what a privilege to be able to help plant the seeds that may enable them to grow into free thinkers and change-makers. 

She's got the whole world in her hands