serendipitysue

The real Farewell, Friday night fling and the Apple Express Friday was the last day for all of the volunteers and, in order to get us all to our last assemblies, the driver, Xolani, said he would pick us all up earlier than usual. I was first drop off and got there at 7.30. There were no cars outside. After the others waved goodbye and the bus left, I went round to the entrance to the staff area to discover it was locked and there were no other adults. I did have a moments panic. After 15 minutes, the staff started to arrive and I was there for a whole assembly for the first time. It followed a similar pattern with plenty of singing and swaying except there was a visiting minister who told a bible ... read more

Desert Storm and out for tea. Tuesday Today was hot. In fact we are in a heat wave at the moment. We keep being told that the weather is unusual. It was uncomfortably hot yesterday and worse today and then at midday the wind started again. At Joe Slovo with the general dryness it was like being with Laurence of Arabia and venturing across the courtyard at lunch time was risking your eyes being full of dust so I kept my reading glasses on and my eyes almost shut. Every surface was covered in the staff room and in the classrooms. Someone dusted off the table in the staff room when I tried to put my lunch down. They are really looking after my now that I am their sole volunteer. They are all speaking English ... read more

On my own This was the first day on my own at Joe Slovo. The grade 2 teachers were checking up on me. I have to say that the timetable ran amok again. I think timetable in Africa just does not have the same meaning. Suffice it to say that the day went and some groups happened and some learning took place. I tried to get photos of my groups and technology failed again and my camera seized up after the second group and refused to take any more pictures. Luckily, I have not lost what was already on there. It seemed rather ironic as I had a meeting today where we negotiated that my contribution would go on a digital camera for the school to go with their new computer. It was purchased last week ... read more

Surf and Two Gone Friday was hot in the afternoon and there were lots of people on the beach. The surf was good and Boozy Susie (I managed to pass that name on quickly although I think we are neck and neck) joined me for a great swim. She is my fellow swimmer. Some don’t venture and some just paddle or dabble on the edge. There were plenty of real surfers out and there are a few kite surfers.I have not seen any wind surfing here. There is plenty of wind but it must not be the right sort. It is a great beach although not a particularly attractive sea front. We had another trip yesterday to Kragga Kama, a game park, where we saw giraffe, zebra, wart hog, impala, wildebeest, bontebok, waterbok, bushbok and vervet ... read more

Last Big Cleaning Friday Today school stopped at 11 again at least for us. The bigger children, over 7, are involved in the cleaning process which involves taking all the furniture out before the vigorous sweeping. I wonder how it would go down in Daisy’s school. It is a losing battle at Joe Slovo because of the dryness, although today we saw that they have planted trees in the front of the school which will stabilize that bit of ground if they take root and grow. It doesn’t look very fertile but the vegetable garden is growing well and they have got top soil or created compost which looks quite rich. One or two of the Mandela houses and shacks are trying to make gardens and one has a small but vividly green lawn. There is ... read more

Thontsi and water and another choir We were first today but actually there was a huge traffic build up and we were delayed. We all thought it was an accident but it turned out later that it was a boycott by the traffic controllers. I am not sure why but all roads lead to the World Cup at the moment so it may have been connected with extra work dealing with all the setting up. Our driver, Kulani, has come interesting strategies for getting around and avoiding traffic which usually involve going the wrong way down a stretch of road and this morning wa no exception. We did somehow circumvent the worst of the traffic but the process is slightly hair raising. I assumed we were on the Wednesday timetable this morning but having carefully tried ... read more

Big Books and Bingo At the regular meeting yesterday with Calabash and the teachers involved we were able to discuss the placement and progress. In general, considering the faltering start, it seems to be working. It was interesting to hear how the teachers have selected the groups. It would be impractical to work with all the children in all three classes. Two of them have selected the brighter children to give them some stretch and the other teacher has sent a random mix. I did point out that I was hampered by the fact there were no sets of readers for me to use. Although they said they would find them they have not yet materialized. It limits what I can do as I have to make flash card resources and play games and devise activities ... read more

Mufti Monday Last night we had the enthusiastic staff choir singing after dinner. There was lots of energy but a little lack of tune and coherence at times but it was great fun. Started what is really week 3 by getting to Joe Slovo first - our turn again. We were hoping to get there in time for assembly. As we bumped up the track there was a sea of vivid colours in front of us. Normally the children wear their best approximation of the school uniform. It looked like a party. We went through into the school and asked one of the staff who said it was a fund raiser. The children had to pay 2 rand (about 20p) and they could wear what they liked. The money is for the school fund. We turned ... read more

Red Museum and another weekend. I have just reread the last entry and see that my editing is at least as bad as last time. Apolgies to the pedants! It is Sunday night so I have packed up my bags for tomorrow. It seems to have been a full weekend now I come to reflect. On Friday night, we managed a beach walk. We saw an egret and a cormorant on the rocky beach which is to the west of the hotel. We normally walk and swim on Humewood Beach which is right in front of us and a long sweep of sand and sea. We have seen on several occasions a local person who travels with his dog perched on the rack on the back of his bike with front paws resting on his shoulders. ... read more

Halfway mark This is the end of the second week although we all feel it has taken a while to get going. I had a bit of voice this morning so decided to go in. There is so little time that I don’t want to miss any more. Joe Slovo was last again _-I missed our turn at being first yesterday. We picked up three older children who the driver recognized by uniform. He realized they had a lengthy walk to get to school and we were on our way to do a volunteer drop off there. I was struck by the way the detritus was flowering on the buffer zones - the dead areas between townships. Polythene bags and food containers and bits of newspaper wrap themselves around the scrubby vegetation. I also noticed that ... read more