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We were up early for our first day at school. I was a little nervous and if Si was then he didnt show it. Our first job was to help the little ones (5/6 yrs) with extra literacy work. This consisted of reading with them and talking through various letter/colour books and talking about items from containers all beginning with the same letter. Naturally the kids were most excited and tickled by the items that made noise, e.g) a toy that croaked when you pressed it and one that made a 'mooing' noise. The resources were fairly basic and I wished i'd bought some books from home to help. There also seemed to be no visible plan of what to do with the kids, something that was soon to be a commom feature in all our time with them as you will see as I continue to write. Having said this, most were a delight to help and very sweet. Most are so willing to learn and when I said we could stop working they reached for another book!! Not sure that would happen at home. We then gathered kids from different classes to help them with a computer programme they
have been working on. Again fairly basic stuff... dragging and double clicking. They are all being put through the same programme to achieve a certificate on its completion. The guy who is co - ordinating us has set the programme up after much deliberation and persistence. The kids get a lot out of it even though we have found it pretty boring doing the same thing most days. We are generally helping with this programme most of the time apart from when we may go to the high school. Here I help with netball and football. I say help, more like drag the girls around the pitch to warm up and constantly bark at them to join in a game usually resulting in only a few playing or lots of dancing and singing. This is better than nothing but obviously not what they are meant to be doing. We have soon picked up that the primary kids are far easier to control and are more eager to learn. On Wednesdays Si is teaching a guy guitar. It was a priviledge to watch the last session in which seven boys hung around Si and his pupil's guitar (less one string) as
if they could not get enough of it. It was a great sight to see them so enthusiastic and hear Si and the pupil play. Most kids have amazing rhythm and this guy is particularly influenced by reggae. The group are also hoping to start up a band which Si hopes to help with. On Thursday the kids from the local township met at the community centre and messed around with dance moves;they are very much into break dancing and locking/hip hop and entertained us. They are so talented and happy to dance and sing and hang around your neck for as long as you can take it! There are of course a few very talented kids that have been spotted, one who is being sponsored by a previous volunteer and is an absolute inspiration. She is fifteen and comes to the community centre most days for us to help with extra tutition. So far she has had a lot of maths which I have gladly passed onto Si to do! Not my strong point. She looks after her house and sister whilst her mother works away all week, on top of doing all of her school work and having
the voice of an angel. She has a very strong Christian faith which she believes helps her to be positive about everything in her life. There are other kids that our co-ordinator Kevin does all he can to help. For some its getting them to extra soccer games, or buying them a ball, for others its providing taxi money to make sure they get the best education. He is a renowned taxi service and you cant go anywhere without someone flagging him down for a lift, the back of his pickup sometimes carries 10 + kids to make sure they get to a match/ centre to do their homework.
Friday was a public holiday 'workers day' which we soon found out meant that a lot of things were closed!! However we did manage to visit the famous Aquarium down on the waterfront. This was a fantastic experience, allowing us to see a vast aray of marine life from tiny sea horses to sharks. Naturally we spent a long time soaking up all of the information (Si had to read every single information board to make sure he did not miss anything). A highlight was seeing the penguins being fed
and reading about an injured shark that was kept at the aquarium and released into the wild when it had recovered. We then made our way to see the local gardens.
On Saturday we hired a car and went through the winelands. We were keen to hire a 'Chico' : Volkswagen Golf mark 1 as they are everywhere here and something we dont see at home so much as they stopped making them about 20 years ago. They are still making them here in Port Elizabeth. The winelands are truly beautiful with seriously high and expansive mountains to rally a volkswagen golf mark 1 around funnily enough and much to Simons amusement. Not always to mine or my blood pressure.....!! However, we were permanently surrounded by fields of vines and pretty flowers enticing you to taste the wine at the many cellars of which we did and wished we could have sampled more. We were advised to try one particular tasting centre in Paarl. Here we were able to try six different wines for the small sum of 20 rand (approx 1 pound 70) and taste as much cheese as you wanted. This was our favourite bit and took
Franschoek
Loved the car!full advantage of trying the different cheeses, mainly made with goats milk from the herd of over 200 goats on the premises. As we walked in we were greeted by a tower structure that the goats walk up and down as a fun thing for them to do but Im not sure if it was not more fun for us watching them! From here we took a long detour over the high roads and mountains, discovering lakes and beautiful scenery at every turn. Now we felt like travellers!! Our final destination was Stellenbosch, the most famous of the areas to taste wines but not nearly the most picturesque. We walked through the town and saw the University and many beautiful (mainly white houses) influenced by the dutch. We made our way back to Cape Town and enjoyed a drive around the city before eating out at 'Jimmy's Killer Prawns' and sampling a seafood platter with crayfish, prawns, muscles to name a few of the delights!
Another early start and this time we headed for Cape Point, visiting various bays surrounding such as Camps Bay and Hout Bay where the school we are working in is based. We then headed
for 'Simon's Town' and Boulders beach where we visited the famous African penguin colony and got up close with some, much to my amusement, but not to Simon' s fingers that quickly found out that that they have sharp beaks!! We spent a long time around the bay area watching their waddling movements and protective behaviour of their young. They make a braying sound like the sound of a donkey and are hence were previously known as 'jackass' penguins. From here we ventured to Cape Point through the National Park and the meeting place of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. We stopped at a bay along the way to happen upon a very friendly giant tortoise who Simon quickly became aquainted with and was reluctant to leave until he had prodded and poked it from all angles. He loves the wildlife and I love watching him loving it! We walked up the steep hill to the top, the walk made easier due to the presence of blueberry cheesecake ice-cream (!) and enjoyed the fabulous view from the top. We were not, however, able to see the line between the two oceans meeting and are yet to find out if this
is a myth to entice custom but its something that people regularly mention. We started back to behold one of the most special points of the weekend: a mass exodus of baboons heading towards the cape point, possibly to feed on tourist left overs or for some other reason that only they knew about. We watched mothers carrying their babies on their backs and stomachs and sat for at least ten minutes to view one mother feeding her tiny baby while she looked at us nonchalently, not realising just what a sight she had allowed us to see. Sunset began to fall as we headed out of the park and back home.
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Jenny
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Memories...
Hey guys... You're bringing back so many memories - i would have been in Cape Town on Sat 6 years ago!!!!!! I didn't see anything at Cape Point where the seas meet - much better from Cape Reinga in New Zealand if u head up that way (far north past Bay of Islands!) Have fun with the rest of the teaching :) xx