Last Week Volunteering

Well, I cant believe I am saying this, but today was a very, very bittersweet goodbye to volunteering at Sinethemba.  Through all the frustrating times and all the chaos, in the end, volunteering defiantly taught me a lot.  Today, since it was our last day, and somehow, none of the kids had homework, we did fun things!  We brought suckers for all the kids and also, thanks to my fantastic boss at Martins Sport Shop in Nisswa, we made snow! None of the kids had ever seen, let alone touched anything like snow before, so they went WILD for it!  They had a huge "snowball" fight and things got a little bit crazy, but it is defiantly the happiest I have ever seen this kids.  It was a great feeling to see them all laughing, playing and just simply having fun together.

Making the snow...

Stirring it up!

Snow FIGHT!

LOVING the "snow"

The snow created many smiles!

Snow fight round II!

After the snow and the snow fights, a bunch of the kids got a hold of my camera again, and enjoyed taking lots of pictures!  Here are just a few:

Lashay, with "snow" in her hair!

She got snow in her hair, so the corn-rows had to go!

Bye-bye corn-rows!

Lashay and I!

Haley with a bunch of the kids from Sinethemba!

Cutie-Pies!!  The youngest girls at Sinethemba, about age 3

SUCH a CUTIE!

Also a total cutie.  His laugh makes EVERYBODY laugh :)

Today was by far the happiest day at Sinethemba and I am so thankful things were able to end on such a happy note.  There are so many things I learned from this experience I dont even know where to begin.  First, although I some what knew it before, volunteering taught me even more that life is never, ever what you expect it to be.  I went into Sinethemba with expectations and ideas of what it might be like (which may or may not have been a mistake) and not only did it turn out COMPLETELY different, but because of that, it changed my life.  Some times its best to go in with no expectations, with a completely open mind and just learn and let life happen.  Sometimes we really have absolutely no control over what it going to happen, but that can be a wonderful thing.  Secondly, although during the middle of my volunteering time I was the furthest from believing this, one random act of kindness, one simple helpful thought put toward something that seems impossible really does help.  Call me a sucker, call me naive, call me idiotic, thats fine-because it probably sounds that way, but I truly believe that doing good things for other people, no matter how small can have an impact.  A lot of times, although I may have not helped these kids much with the homework they had, I can honestly say I did my best to simply be their friend, which I think goes a long way.  These kids live in a place where there are over 30 children, of all ages, with only a few people raising them.  They go to school where the classes are too large to give individual children attention and then they come home to complete chaos.  This is my own personal judgement, but I think that maybe sometimes the kids really just need a friend.  Lastly, this experience has shown me that it really is the little things in life that really matter.  At the end of the day cars and technology, money and possessions arnt going to be what matters most in life (or at least it shouldnt be) its going to be the experiences you have and what you did with your time.  I have noticed that since the kids dont have cell phone, computers or really a whole lot of anything, they spend time with each other, make up clever games to keep themselves entertained and they are constantly finding and discovering new things.  They notice things in life that I never would.  One of the other blog posts I had about Lashay, and what she told me about being an artist really hit home.  Sometimes its not all about what you have in life.
I think overall, this experience really did change my life.  At times I wont lie, it was sad, frustrating and chaotic but I walked away today knowing that Sinethemba and the kids there are something I will never forget and that even though there were bad times, it was all worth it.

Hogsback

39 Steps Waterfall

This past weekend, for four days, four friends and myself traveled to Hogsback, which is about three and a half hours away from Port Elizabeth, up into the Hogsback Mountains.  Hogsback is famous for being the place J.R.R Tolkin got his inspiration for The Lord of the Rings books.  Overall, I can see why!  I felt like I was in The Lord of the Rings movies every day! Thursday and Friday, it rained unfortunately  so we couldnt do much but walk around the small village of Hogsback.  Despite the rain though, we were able to see one waterfall and some gorgeous redwood trees!

Giant Redwoods!

On Saturday, it was finally sunny, and we were so glad, because there were so many things we wanted to do!  We started out with about a six hour hike, through the jungle and forest of the mountains, overall, seeing three waterfalls, and a 1,000 year old tree!

1,000 year old yellow-wood!

After the long hike, we made it back to our backpacker just in time for a sunset horseback ride!  This was very eventful to say the least!  A few of the girls that went on the ride had never been on a horse before, and so we thought it would be a very relaxed ride.  However, the instructor had a different idea.  We were just riding along, at a pretty slow pace, when he instructed the horses to begin trotting, and then galloping!  I dont especially prefer horseback riding, so going on this ride initially was kind of a tough choice, and then when we started galloping I was not thrilled!  I had all I could do to keep myself on the horse, and honestly, it was kind of scary.  That was just the beginning though!  After we watched the sunset, the instructor decided it would be okay to take us back to the backpacker via a very steep, scary, wet (because of the previous rain) ans slippery hill-in the DARK!  At this point, especially because I am not experience with horses- I was TERRIFIED.  At any second, I felt like my horse would slip, fall and either crush me or I would fall off.  I literally could do nothing but close my eyes and pray that some how, I made it to the bottom of the hill in one piece.  About half way down the hill, as my horse was blindly feeling its way down, it lost its footing and straight up SLID/FELL/GALLOPED down the hill at full speed.  This was one of the most terrifying five minutes of my life, no joke, but somehow, we made it to the bottom still standing and in one piece.  Oofta.  Through it all though, this will be an experience I wont forget, and the sunset was pretty amazing, I have to admit!

Also, I should mention the backpacker we stayed at while in Hogsback.  It was defiantly the most unique place I have stayed here yet in South Africa!  Terra-Khaya is a backpacker that prides itself on being super eco-friendly.  There is little to no running water or electricity, so needless to say, I needed a shower when I got back to Port Elizabeth!  It was also very, very cold at night with no heat and being in the mountians at a higher elevation, and so I was also thankful to be back in my nice warm bed when we got back!  Terra-Khaya grows nearly everything organically and raises all the meat it uses as well through free range chickens, pigs and cows.  Since they do this, all the meals they served us were very healthy and mostly organic- so they were super delicious!  Overall, I really enjoyed seeing all of the amazing scenery and fun things Hogsback had to offer, and it was nice to get out into nature, but after four days I defiantly had my fill.  Hogsback is defiantly be one of the most challenging and different places I visited in South Africa.

The inside of our dorm-note the tree!

The dorm we stayed in

The inside of the "living room" of our backpacker

The Fruit Man

This is probably going to be the cheesiest post yet- so I apologize- but I was just so struck today by this that I had to share.  Every day, on the way to school, about a mile walk one way, I pass an older man selling fruit.  The first few weeks, I didnt buy anything from him because I didnt think anything of it, but then one morning, on my way home from class in February, I randomly bought an apple from him, and I realized his fruit looked and tasted better than any I found at the grocery store, so I made a habit out of it!  Every day, on the way to class or on the way home, I buy grapes or an apple or a banana and stop to say hello.  Every day, he tells me to have a good day and give me the biggest, toothless smile!
So, today, as I was walking to campus, I didnt eat breakfast at my flat, because I knew I would buy grapes on my way to class.  However, it was raining, and so the man wasnt there this morning.  While in class, and hungry, I hoped the man would be there later.  Sure enough, on my way home-there he was!  He saw me coming, and waved, and when I finally reached him I told him I thought he decided not to come out today, and that I thought I had missed him, which meant I had missed my breakfast!  He laughed and said "No, I could never miss a beautiful day like today!"  Thinking he was joking, since it was currently down pouring  I said "What do you mean?  Its raining!"  He smiled again, while getting my grapes and said: "Yeah, but that dosent mean its not beautiful!"  I must have given him a confused look, because then he explained.  "It might be raining, but that means a lot of people in the townships, including me, will have clean drinking water for a week.  It means your pants and shoes and clothes might be wet from walking in the rain, but that means you have legs to walk with, and warm clothes to wear. So, see, rain can be beautiful!"
Super cheesy, I know, and some may call this man a simpleton, but hes right, and it takes someone like him to make us realize it.  Yes, the rain may suck, but that dosent mean your day is bad or your not extremly fortunate in life.  This story about a man that sells fruit isnt the same experience as traveling to Cape Town, or Victoria Falls, but it is honestly one of my favorite memories I will have from Africa.

Volunteering Week 10

Yesterday marks the tenth week I have gone to Sinethemba to volunteer.  Up until this week, and especially after last week, I was feeling especially down and pessimistic about volunteering.  This week, I left Sinethemba still frustrated, still slightly sad, but this time I finally felt like I might have made a difference.  I helped on of my favorite students, Lashay, with her homework.  Lashay is one of my favorites because she is always interested in her homework, she listens and I can tell her school work is very important to her.  She also loves art, and is very talented.  Yesterday, as soon as she saw me she walked up to me and said that she wanted help with her homework by telling me she needed "materials."  Unsure of what she meant, I asked her to explain.  She said she needed materials to tape onto a piece of paper and then identity what they were in English.  Still not quite understanding, she drew me a picture, and a really good one at that, with perfect detail to explain what she meant.  Finally understand, we then went on a "scavenger hunt" for materials outside.  We found wood, plastic, cardboard, paper, foam, rubber and yarn.  While we were looking Lashay asked me questions again, about The U.S, and where I was from and I asked her several questions too, like if she likes sports, what her favorite subject was in school (art of course) and what her favorite type of music was.  When we had found all the materials she needed, she started to glue them onto the piece of paper, and then write the names of the objects below.  There were a few words she needed help on, but every time she seemed unsure, and asked for help, she insisted that I not give it away, she only wanted help sounding out the words, because she wanted to get it by herself in the end.  This was surprising to me, because usually the kids beg to have answers given to them, but it dosent take much to tell Lashay is different.  While she was writing and working on her homework, I asked her about her art.  I told her she was really talented, and that she should go to art school someday.  In my head, I thought this was a compliment and that she would like it, but her expression said otherwise.  She looked shocked-stopped writing-and just looked at me for a minute.  Then she said something I would have never expected, and something I dont think I will ever forget. "I cant do that."  When I asked her why, she said: "Because Im poor.  I wont get to do things like that."  I honestly was so shocked I didnt even know what to say.  She wasnt sad or upset when she said it, she just acted like it wasnt a big deal.  I then asked her why she thought she couldnt do it anyway.  This is what she told me: "I dont need to go to art school to be an artist.  I know how to draw myself.  I dont need someone to tell me how to do it.  If I say Im an artist, then I am."

Up until this point, I thought I was the one teaching the kids, but I think this volunteering experience has been a lot more than me just teaching them.  I have learned more in these ten weeks, about different walks of life and different lessons in life more than I ever will in a classroom.  I think Lashay telling me what she did had a lot to do with me finally realizing that.  I think education is extremely important and that is the solution to a brigher future for a lot of the children at Sinethemba, but Lashay is right-sometimes a degree dosent define who you are and sometimes you cant learn everything in a classroom.  This is defiantly a week of volunteering I wont forget.

Volunteering Week 9

This week at Sinethemba Homework/Children's Home was especially difficult for me for several reasons.  For the past couple weeks, there have been some issues with discipline and organization at Sinethemba, and so this week, more volunteers were brought in to have a better volunteer to child ratio.  The new volunteers however, were Xhosa speaking, which may have been a great thing in the kids eyes, because it was someone they could relate to and speak their native language with.  However, from an educational standpoint, it was not beneficial.  We were told that while at Sinethemba, the kids were only supposed to speak English to improve their English skills.  The entire reason NMMU has us students volunteer at Sinethemba is because we can bring a culturally diverse experience to the kids and also offer them specific help with English speaking and spelling.  Since the kids could easily relate and talk to the new volunteers they flocked to them, and the rest of us were kind of just left sitting there.  When I finally did help one boy with his English spelling and attempted to explain things to him when he didnt understand, I noticed the Xhosa volunteers laughing at me.  This just made me feel like a fool.
Another thing that is very frustrating for me is trying my best to help the kids at Sinethemba, but knowing what their education system is like, where they will return to school the next day and how they will continue to be educated.  The education systems in the townships are very, very poor, receiving less than $400 U.S dollars per child A YEAR- and there are usually nearly a thousand children in a township school.  With numbers like that and such little money the education system is very poor.  Most of the teachers do not even posses a college degree because it is not a requirement at the township schools since they cannot afford to pay teachers who hold degrees.  Its overwhelming to me when I want to help so badly, but at the end of the day I am only one person, helping one child for an hour and a half with their spelling.
This week however, a few of the girls were going through my purse and found my camera- so I have a few pictures to show this week!