Weeks 3 & 4 at Lynedoch

Hello Everyone!

It’s been over a week since my last entry and I wanted to share the details of my last two weeks at Lynedoch with you. I’ll start with last Monday. For our physical exercise period we played kickball and it was a lot of fun. I was really pleased with some of the boys who made sure that each girl on their team got a chance to kick. Because South Africa is an extremely patriarchal society, and that idea is reinforced in every realm, the girls tend to take a back seat to the boys during our physical activities. I wasn’t sure how involved the girls would get but, after some brief hesitation, they jumped right in thanks to Nielen and Avron’s encouragement. When it was Siziwe’s turn to kick another awesome thing happened. She’s the biggest girl in the class and tends to skip out entirely when we do physical activities. But my classmate Jeff and a bunch of the learners started chanting her name and encouraging her to step up to the plate. After a minute of cheering she stepped up and kicked a home run. I could tell she was very pleased as she crossed the plate and everyone gave her a high five. I left the game feeling very happy about the way things unfolded.

During our first classroom lesson after kickball we taught the kids about nutrition. We showed them how to read food labels, what’s good for you and what’s not so good. We split them up into small groups and passed out some food labels for them to look at and decipher. Than we taught them about the food pyramid and how many servings of each group you’re supposed to have each day. They were really happy that we gave them a worksheet on the topics because they enjoy pasting them into their workbooks. While preparing this lesson and then again while teaching it I was acutely aware of the fact that none of my learners are getting the appropriate amount of nutritious food each day. It’s important for them to understand food labels and the food pyramid, but it’s tough to know that this knowledge probably won’t help them gain access to more food.

For our afternoon lesson we diagramed photosynthesis on the marker board and talked briefly about when plants need to grow. Then we headed outside and let them plant green beans and carrot seeds in a section of the garden that belongs to Grant. They got a little chaotic outside but I think they enjoyed the opportunity to work in the garden.

Our yoga session ended a little early last Monday because Bryce had a meeting, so some of us spent the extra time sitting in on Grant’s class of 7th and 8th grade boys. While we were in there Jonathan stood up and thanked us for attending his mother’s funeral. That’s all he said, but we all knew this was a big deal for him. Jonathan is one of the quietest kids in the school and he’s never spoken in front of his own class before. My friends that work in his class have rarely heard him talk. But Grant told us that Jonathan had approached him that morning and asked if he could make a speech in front of us. It was really touching to see him stand in front of all of us, knowing that he’d never done something like that before.

So that was last Monday. As for this Monday, we began with a fun game of tag to get the kids running around. It was really hot out and I was quite sweaty by the end of it. Afterwards we let the kids teach us a clapping game that they all like to play. Both the boys and girls enjoyed playing and it’s something that the entire class can do together, so I think we’ll incorporate it into more of our physical lessons. Once we were back inside we taught the learners about human rights and children’s rights. South Africa has specific rights for children and the 6th grade curriculum mandates that the learners know about their rights. We gave the kids a worksheet with the 10 rights on it and let them take turns reading out loud. This lesson was a struggle for me, for the same reason as the nutrition lesson. One of the rights says that children should be protected from abuse, another says that they should have food and healthcare, and another says that they should be free from labor. These are all rights that don’t necessarily hold true for some children in Lynedoch. Regardless of this, or maybe especially because of this, it’s important that they know what they are entitled to at birth. After going over the rights I read the class a book (‘For Every Child’) about the children’s rights as stipulated by the United Nations.

In the afternoon we divided the class into groups of 2, 3, or 4 learners and gave each group the script for a skit that we prepared ahead of time. Each skit modeled one of the children’s rights. After giving them some time to look over the script and become comfortable with their roles, we let each group act it out in front of the class. Most of them really enjoyed the chance to show off in front of their classmates. I was most impressed with Siziwe, the unsuspecting star of the kickball game, as she was a great actress. She spoke loudly and clearly, her English pronunciation was nearly perfect, and she took it upon herself to perform in two skits. It was a whole other side of her that we hadn’t been exposed to yet; this side of her was confident and comfortable. Some of the girls asked if we could let them write their own skits for next week’s human rights lesson, so next Monday should be a lot of fun.

Here are some pictures of my learners doing their skits!

Also, if you're interested, check out South Africa's national anthem. It's really beautiful and incoporates the 5 most common languages out of the 11 official ones of the country.

Penguins and Cape Point!

Hi Everyone!

Today I went on an excursion with the other 46 students in my AIFS program. Our first stop was Boulder’s Beach to see all the African Penguins! A lot of them were motionless because they were sleeping, either on their belly or just standing up. Some were waddling around, some were cleaning each other, and one was modeling for us right next to the boardwalk. We walked to another section of beach where many people were swimming, but some penguins hang out there too. We got pretty close to a couple of them but I didn’t want to encroach too much and tempt them to bite me. After spending time at the two beaches and checking out the street vendors we got back on our bus and headed to Simon’s Town.

Simon’s Town is a really cute waterfront town with lots of shops and restaurants lining the main road. We all split up to grab lunch and do some wandering. I got a delicious plate of hake & chips for really cheap. After lunch we hopped back on the bus and drove 45 minutes to Cape Point. We had an hour and a half to explore the cliffs and the point, which is the southern most tip of Africa. It was a hot day so the strong breeze at the point felt really good. The views were absolutely incredible, but yet again my pictures don’t do it justice. We had been warned several times about the baboons that roam the point, but we didn’t actually encounter any while we were walking around. Once we got back in the bus however, we saw several of them on the side of the road. There were some really big ones as well as some tiny babies that clung to their mothers. I was glad we got to see a bunch of them, but I’m thankful it wasn’t up close. Supposedly they like to attack humans and take their bags, so that would have put a damper on our day. I’m pretty sure everyone fell asleep on the way back to school, but it’s definitely difficult to doze off when the scenery is so beautiful everywhere you look.

A Solemn Experience

Hello Everyone!

So now it’s Saturday evening and I wanted to write a little bit about the experience I had this morning. Ten of us from the service-learning course attended a funeral for the mother of two of our students. She was hit by a car last Friday while crossing the road, which is a fairly common occurrence in and around Lynedoch. When we heard about this on Monday, one of my friends who has this woman’s son in her class asked about the services and whether or not it would be appropriate for some of us to attend. Grant and the principal, Mr. Jansen, felt it would be a very nice gesture if some of us wanted to go support the family, but they didn’t pressure us at all to attend. Some of my classmates were very apprehensive about going because they weren’t sure how the family and friends of this woman would feel if strangers showed up at the funeral. I was a little uneasy about it at first, but I decided to put my trust in Grant and Mr. Jansen because I know they are both professional and respectful people who wouldn’t put us in an awkward situation.

So we collected R2 from each of our classmates yesterday and I went out and bought some flowers for the family. My classmate Paula, who is from Germany, took the extra money and used it to bake banana bread and buy fruit for the children. We were picked up this morning my Mr. Jansen and another man at 7:30am and they drove us to the farm. When we arrived we had only just gotten out of the cars when Mr. Jansen informed us that we were at the wrong funeral and the correct one was just around the corner. This immediately brought to life everything Grant had taught us about how accustomed to pain and death this community is. After arriving at the correct home we were introduced to the woman’s husband and Mr. Jansen explained to him, in Afrikaans, that we work with his children (who are in grades 8 and 4). At this point I was wondering what everyone else at the funeral thought of our presence because none of them knew who we were or where we came from. I was also thinking about the terrible living conditions on this farm, as it was far worse than Kathleen’s farm that we visited yesterday. Next to the homes were ditches where the people dumped their garbage, and the wind blew the smell of trash around. The most striking thing about the conditions was the amount of flies everywhere. If you stood still for 5 seconds there would be 10 flies on your body, so everyone was fanning themselves with the bulletin that was handed out beforehand. I cannot imagine having to deal with the smell and the flies on a daily basis.

Soon after arriving we went into the home where the service was being held. The coffin was in the living room and Mr. Jansen explained that we just circle it once and exit the room. Afterwards we all stood outside with many other people from the community as family and friends gathered inside to sing and pray. Many of the Lynedoch students were there and one girl from my 6th grade class, Abigail, came over and gave me a hug. I also got to meet the father of a boy Adrian who is in my class. His dad, Abram, spoke very little English and I was sad that I couldn’t communicate more with him. But he was able to tell me that Adrian is not very clever and is often naughty. When I told him that I thought his son was a good boy his face absolutely lit up. He just kept saying, “Adrian, he’s my boy, that’s my boy, and you’re his teacher.” It was easy to see that he’s quite proud of his son, even if he can cause trouble at home.

After a great deal of singing and praying inside the home, the pastor asked Mr. Jansen to go in and explain to the family and friends why we were there. So he went in and said, in Afrikaans, that we had come from America, Holland, and Germany to study at the University and teach in Lynedoch. He told them that we work with their children each week and that we wanted to come support everyone because we know that losing someone is painful. I was really glad that he got to talk to them because I felt badly that I couldn’t converse with anyone there. After some more singing, Mr. Jansen explained to us that everyone would be walking from the house to the road soon and the family wanted us to lead the processional. At first we were all very confused and apprehensive because this was something totally foreign to us. Why would they want us to do this? I really hoped that it wasn’t because we are all white and they feel like we’re entitled or superior, as Grant had taught us before. Mr. Jansen saw the looks on our faces when he announced this so he explained further. He told us that the family felt honored that people who didn’t even know their wife, mother, and sister would come to mourn with them. Our attendance affirmed their belief that they’re worthy and that this woman’s life was important. So, again, I trusted Mr. Jansen and we led the group up the road. Behind us was the car with the coffin and a car with the immediate family, then following behind them were all the others on foot. We walked from the house to the closest main road within the farm where the farmer was waiting in his big truck. Because very few people have cars, everyone piles into the bed of the farmers truck and he drives them to the cemetery. Once we reached this road we waited for the procession of cars to leave and then we headed back to campus.

The experience was very emotional for all of us. The children of this woman distanced themselves from the home during most of the service which surprised us. Mr. Jansen explained that that’s how many people in this communities deal with pain, by simply not dealing with it. He said that it’s really unfortunate because they never face it and they grow up not feeling and experiencing their emotions. Aside from the obvious sadness that we felt in response to this woman’s death and the hardships her family will undoubtedly face without her, it was also devastating to see the living conditions on this farm. I thought Kathleen’s farm was an unfortunate situation, but it was much better than where we were today. It makes perfect sense to me now why all the children enjoy being at school so much, because their life there is much more comfortable. The thing that troubles me the most about all this is how the farm owners can carry on and continue to exploit these families. They all make millions of dollars each year, many have 4 or 5 houses all over the world, yet they allow their farmers to suffer like this.

Needless to say it was another emotionally draining day, and it wasn’t even 10am yet. From a student’s standpoint it was an interesting cultural experience, certainly one that I will never forget. I’m really glad that the family and friends of this woman weren’t offended by our presence and I hope that we’ll be able to continue offering support to her children in the weeks to come. Lynedoch Primary has also hired two psychologists to remain in contact with the older boy and younger girl for the next 6 months. Sorry for such a long and melancholy post, but I wanted to share this experience because it was emotional and I think there’s a lot to learn from it on many different levels.

I promise my next entry will be more upbeat as we are going to the penguin beach tomorrow!

A Small Fieldtrip with an Incredible Woman

Hello again!

My Friday in Lynedoch was very emotionally and mentally draining this week. We began the day by walking to a nearby farm and visiting with an older woman named Kathleen Peterson whom Grant knows well. She has lived on this farm for most of her life and was actually the nanny of the current farm owner. She has a deceased husband, three children, and several grandchildren. One of her grandsons is fostered by Grant and has been living with him for the past few years. Kathleen’s home consists of one kitchen, one living room, and one bedroom. The bathroom facilities and wash basin (which is essentially a spout and a concrete block) are outside of the home and are shared by a few families. Right now there are three people living in her home, but at one point there were ten people there. A few years ago Kathleen’s grandson Ashlek asked Grant if there was any way he could move out of the house. He felt very uncomfortable living in such close quarters with his mother, grandmother, and sisters when he was forced to bath and change in front of them. That’s why he now lives with Grant and Grant’s mother because he’s able to have his own bedroom there and his schooling is paid for by them. He now only has one year of high school left and then Grant will pay for him to go to university. Ashlek hopes to make improvements to his grandmother’s house once he gets a good job.

Despite the abject poverty that this family suffers from, Kathleen continues to have hope. Grant asked her to share with us her story and she was happy to talk about herself. Through Grant’s translation we learned that she used to walk 2-3 hours to school in the mornings because her primary school was on the other side of the mountain. When she was 12 years old assaulted by some boys near the farm and was forced to drop out of school because she was no longer physically capable of walking the long distance. She also shared with us her duties as nanny for the current farm owner and she talked briefly about what has changed since apartheid ended. Kathleen collects R1100 ($140) per month because of her disability and she’s never travelled to anywhere besides Cape Town, yet she can focus on the fact that her life is rich in other ways. Her stories were incredibly sad, but she seems to have a sparkle in her eye regardless. Whenever she mentioned her late husband or her grandchildren she smiled ear to ear. Kathleen appears to be at peace with herself and her life, and she’s very proud that her grandchildren will have more opportunities than she did. Next week we are going to bring her a card, a picture of us, and some chocolate as a thank you (Grant said she has a sweet tooth). I’m hoping I’ll have more chances to visit with her this semester, perhaps once my Afrikaans improves.

Afterwards we went to the small chapel that’s on the farm for some quiet reflection. Grant gave us a chance to share what we were feeling if we wanted to and then we enjoyed our morning snack of cheese and croissants outside the chapel. I think the whole day was overwhelming and powerful for all of us. I’ve only known my classmates for three weeks now but I know this experience, both this day and the entire service-learning course, will tie us to each other forever. We all came away from that farm thinking about what we can do to help in any small way. My friend Malinda said it best when she shared that she’s never felt so deeply dedicated to a community before. The children of Lynedoch and the surrounding area grow up in a vastly different world than all of us, but they are so hopeful and enthusiastic about life.

I came away from our trip to the farm with many ideas in my mind of ways that I can help this community and these children. I’ve been thinking since last week and compiling a list of simple ways that I can make a difference and I want to share one small idea here. Some of the kids take the train or a bus to school, but many of them walk. The farm we visited is one of the closest to the school but it was still 10-15 minutes away. In the summer this is fine, but the winters in South Africa are very rainy and these kids don’t own raincoats. Grant said that many kids come into school each winter morning soaking wet from their walk, so I’m hoping to have some raincoats sent over here from the U.S. Any size would do as the school has kids from kindergarten through 8th grade, and obviously I’m looking for used raincoats so no need to go by any new ones. I’m certainly not expecting anyone to send coats over, but I wanted to put the option out there in case any of you have been reading my posts about Lynedoch and wanted to get involved. My address here is one of my previous posts, or you could give a coat to my parents and they’ll get it to me. Again, please to feel like you have to give anything, but I know some people were wondering how they could give something small that would mean a lot here.

Thanks to everyone who’s still following my blog! I really appreciate it!

a typical house on the farm

the communal bathrooms

the chapel on the farm

Another Week in the Rainbow Nation!

Hello!

I can’t believe I’ve been here for nearly 4 weeks already. Part of me feels like I just arrived, but a bigger part of me feels completely settled and comfortable in my new home. This past week wasn’t too exciting but it was definitely enjoyable. I have so much more free time here than I do when I’m at St. Mike’s. No work study during the day, no practices in the afternoons, no meetings at night. I think it will take some time to get used to this, and to find some things to keep me busy, but right now I’m just enjoying the opportunity to take a few naps each week and really relax. The naps were definitely necessary this week especially because I stayed up on Sunday night to watch the Super Bowl. It started at 1:30am on Monday actually, and I’m ashamed to say that I went to bed at half time. So I finally got to sleep around 3:30 and had to wake up at 6:45 because we leave our residences for the train station at 7:30 on Mondays. But I got the details of the game the next morning and am very glad the Saints held onto their lead.

Our second week in the classroom went just as well as the first. We ran with the kids in the morning then taught them some proper stretches. After going back to the classroom we reviewed the names of the muscles we stretched outside and had them write in their workbooks about what they learned. Their teacher, Mrs. Adams, informed us that the kids write very slowly and it takes them a long time to think about what to write because they are worried about it being incorrect. She suggested that for future lessons we should just discuss the activities or do a guided worksheet on them. Some of our 6th graders have the writing ability of a 2nd grader so it will definitely be easier to go over things verbally, but I think it’s important that they practice writing so they can improve. When we returned to the classroom in the afternoon for our enrichment lesson we had each student present their collage from the previous week. Some of them were really shy and spoke softly but others were excited to share their interests with us. Many of the students presented in English, but those who were less confident spoke in Afrikaans.

During our yoga session in the afternoon we didn’t actually do yoga. Bryce, our instructor, sensed the exhaustion in the room so he did some breathing exercises with us. We did a few sitting up straight with our legs crossed then he had us lay on our backs. Supposedly he did quite a few exercises with us after that but I fell asleep, as did many of my classmates. It was a lovely way to end the day. After yoga we walked to the train station as we usually do and caught the 2:50 train back to the university. The ride’s only 10 minutes, but then it’s a 30 minute walk from that station to our residences. When I got back to my room I slept for an hour, made some dinner, then headed out to the rugby game. It was the first varsity game of the year and it was tons of fun. The stadium was packed and we won 62-0! I’ve heard that our team is really good but I wasn’t expecting that. The atmosphere at the game was great and we even blended in with the undergrads because we all had on our free rugby t-shirts that came with the season tickets.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were fairly uneventful – I went to class, did a little shopping, checked out the school’s library, kept training for the half marathon, and went to the Irish bar to watch the Arsenal vs. Liverpool soccer game. I don’t want this post to be overwhelmingly long so I’ll save Friday’s activities for the next entry. Here are a couple pictures though!

the view from my bedroom window!

a marketplace with lots of African things

some of the little kids at school dressed in red for Valentine's Day

Some Interesting Updates

Hello!

Things are still going well here in SA and I’ve been learning a lot both inside and outside of the classroom. There are a bunch of things I want to share with you so I’m just going to make them into a list.

1. I registered for the Two Ocean Half Marathon yesterday. I’m running it with my friend Evan and our resident director, Hestea, will also be racing. Once she runs Two Oceans she will have competed in every half marathon that exists in South Africa. Evan and I began training two weeks ago and it’s going pretty well. I developed a 10 week training schedule that we’ve been following closely so far. We discovered some amazing trails behind the rugby stadium about a mile away, their really hilly but the view is beautiful because they wrap around a mountain.

2. Stellenbosch University consumes more alcohol per student than any other school in the world. The students here are really proud of that and they party every single night. Aside from drinking, everyone here also loves techno music, mullets, and rugby.

3. Speaking of rugby, I bought a season ticket to the varsity games and got a free t-shirt with my purchase. It was R60 ($9) for the six games and the shirt. Sweet!

4. Drinking and driving is a big problem here, but the police claim to be cracking down on it these days. Also, transporting people in the bed of your truck is completely acceptable whether you’re just around campus or on a major highway.

5. Me and the 23 other service learning students began taking the train to Lynedoch this past Monday. It’s only an 8 minute ride but Grant thinks it will help us experience the country better if we ride the train to work like most of the locals. During apartheid the bus was segregated but even now that the laws have changed the black and colored people tend to sit in the back of the train.

6. The meaning of the word colored is different here than it is in the states. Here is refers to those people who, during apartheid, weren’t exactly black enough to be considered black and weren’t white enough to be white. It is strictly based on skin tone yet someone’s race classification can be very situational. Colored people had slightly more freedom during the apartheid era, yet they struggled with their identity because they were caught in the middle. During apartheid everyone was classified into white, colored, or black, but you could apply for re-classification at any time. If a white man wanted to marry a colored woman, he could apply to be re-classified as colored because interracial marriage wasn’t allowed. One of the tests conducted by the government was called the pencil test. They would put a pencil in your hair and if it fell out you were most likely white, if your hair was thick enough for it to stay you were most likely colored or black. When our service learning class learned about this we all found it absolutely ludicrous, but that’s what it was like in South Africa not long ago.

7. February 11th marks the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison. I haven’t heard anything about any kind of celebration around Stellenbosch but we’ll probably do something to commemorate the date.

8. I went to Cape Town for the first time yesterday and it was a lot of fun. Six of us took the train which cost R7 each way ($1) and then took a taxi to the beach which cost R80 ($11). We went to Camps Bay and it was easily the most beautiful beach I’ve ever been to in my life. The water was crystal clear but very cold because it’s on the Atlantic Ocean side of the country. There was the softest, whitest sand I’ve ever walked in and the views were amazing. If you stood with your back to the water you were looking at a gorgeous mountain called the Twelve Apostles that lined the beach. To the left of that is Lion’s Head Mountain. None of the pictures I took do it justice but check out the two links in the previous sentence because I found a couple pictures of the beach online. I plan on going back to the city a lot because there are tons of fun things to do there and it only costs R125 ($16) to stay in a hostel for a night. US Travel & Leisure ranked Cape Town as the second best city in the world in 2009 and expedia.com ranked it as one of the World’s 5 Bluest Sky Destinations.

9. They're in the process of redoing the train station in the city because one of the World Cup stadiums is in Cape Town. I haven't been to Green Point Stadium yet but I've seen a lot of pictures and it looks awesome. FIFA officials went on record saying it is the most beautiful stadium they've ever seen. The stadium was designed to replicate the cloud over Table Mountain and there are views of both the mountain and Robben Island from inside. The Cape Town Airport is expecting 30,000 people to arrive everyday beginning in the middle of May. There aren't enough hotels in the city to accomodate all these tourists so cruise ships will be parked in the bay for people to stay on. I was hoping to change my flight home (my program usually charges $150 to change a flight) and stay for some of the madness, but FIFA controls all the airlines during the World Cup and I'd most likely have to buy a whole new plane ticket.

10. Afrikaans is used much more frequently on my campus than English, though all students are required to be bilingual in the two languages. By keeping all the mainstream classes in Afrikaans the university is able to prevent many black people from coming here. They disguise this racism by saying that they’re staying true to their roots because they’re proud of their language and traditions. Hopefully I’ll learn some useful vocabulary in my Afrikaans class though because that’s the first language of the students I’m working with in Lynedoch.

11. Being surrounded by the issues of race and poverty here in South Africa has led me to compare it to the United States. You can definitely draw parallels between today’s difficulties in SA and the difficulties we faced in the US during the 1960’s and 70’s. But aside from that, I’ve realized that the division between black and white or rich and poor is comparably bad in the US. I’ve been thinking a lot about the similarities between Stellenbosch University and its surrounding community versus St. Michael’s and its surrounding community. After only being here for 3 weeks I’ve become more aware of the issues we face at home, but I’ve also become increasingly proud of the service work we do through the MOVE office at St. Mike’s. Despite the fact that there are a myriad of ways in which college students could assist this community, I haven’t heard much about service work or social justice. However, there is one idea that was developed by South Africans that I think puts them a step ahead of the United States. Those who are doing service label it as ‘community engagement’ rather than ‘community service’. This is something we’ve discussed a great deal in my service class because it changes the way you think about the work you’re doing. Community engagement strays away from the idea of someone in power reaching out to help someone who can’t help themselves, instead the process becomes more reciprocal and everyone is placed on a level playing field. Grant introduced us to this idea the first day he met us because he wants us to be aware of the fact that the children of Lynedoch have so much to teach us, so it’s not just us doing a service for them. I think there are plenty of people in the US who already think this way, but as a whole I don’t think everyone views service work through this lens.

Ok I think that’s all for now. I know that was long but thanks for reading!
I have to get to bed because we’re waking up at 1:00am to watch the Superbowl.

Oh and some people have asked for my address so here it is
(the first is for letters, the second's for packages):
Sarah Regan
P.O. Box 3271
MATIELAND
Stellenbosch
7602
South Africa

International Office - Wilcocks Building
Stellenbosch University
Victoria Street
Stellenbosch, South Africa
7600

The Cederberg Mountains!

Hello again!

So this past weekend was absolutely incredible. We left Stellenbosch a little after 6:00pm on Friday and arrived at our destination in the Cederberg Mountains around 10:00pm. The car ride was nothing short of terrifying. Our driver was relatively nuts, even by South African standards. I can sum up the first three hours of the drive by saying that we went in reverse down an off ramp because he took the wrong exit. We thought that was frightening, but the last hour of the drive was really something else. The ‘resort’ that we stayed at can only be reached by a windy, narrow dirt road and we were in a 10 passenger van that doesn’t handle well. We were following two other vans that left with us from the university so we had to stop occasionally because they would kick up enough dust to completely block our vision of the road. It was late at this point so seeing anything in the dark was hard enough, though we were able to see the huge cliff to our left. My friend Chris was in the back with me and we kept looking from the road to the cliff to our driver and back again. We were all saying prayers while our driver was cruising around corners at 100km/hour. We were convinced that any other driver would be safer for the return trip on Sunday, but we were proven wrong and spent the first hour of that ride sweating too. It turns out the cliff is even bigger in the daylight and the vans tend to fishtail whenever you brake going down a dirt road.

I could elaborate more about the absurdly scary car rides but I’m still alive to tell the tale so that’s neither here nor there. Once we made it safely to the Sanddrif Nature Getaway we joined the braai that had started a few hours earlier when the first three vans arrived. Hestea, our resident director who plans all our excursions, had sausages and salad ready for us. After dinner two students took out their guitars and we had a little sing-a-long for a couple hours. My roommate Casey and I were pleasantly surprised when we went back to our little house for the night. We stayed with a few other people in a house called Mars which had two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen/living area, and a beautiful river running through our front yard. The beds were so comfortable we didn’t want to get up the next morning. But we did eventually get up and make our lunches before heading out for our hike with the rest of the AIFS group. The first hour of the hike was very steep but had awesome views because we did a zig-zag pattern on the outer edge of the mountain (very different from any other hike I’ve done). When we reached the Wolfberg Cracks we waited for everyone to catch up with us and Hestea announced that we were the fasted group of our size (roughly 45 people) to reach the first checkpoint. Once everyone was together some people decided to turn back and head home, another group took the ‘easy’ route to the top of the cracks (though it’s not very easy), and a third group took the adventure route. Hestea explained the challenges of the adventure route and most of us thought it sounded fun so we went with her.

I’m not a huge fan of hiking, but the rest of the way up the mountain was awesome because it was more rock climbing than hiking. We had to shimmy up rock walls, walk sideways through narrow passages, slide underneath a fallen boulder, make our way through caves, and eventually we made it to the top of the cracks. After some free time exploring the top of the mountain we were given another option. Some people were going to head down the mountain immediately, others were going to hang out for a while on the top, and a third group was going to hike another hour further. I decided to keep hiking so thirteen of us went out in search of the Wolfberg Arch. This part turned out to be more of a brisk walk than a hike because the top of the mountain was relatively flat. This extra adventure was worth it because the views from the arch were incredible and it was a lot easier to hike with a smaller number of people. The trek back down the mountain was tiring and by the time we reached the bottom we were all exhausted. We spent a total of 7 hours on the mountain, about 5.5 hours of hiking and 90 minutes of food/water breaks.

We got in our van at the base of the trail and drove back to our houses which were just a few minutes down the road. As we were approaching our main house we saw several baboons on each side of us. Two of them were just walking through the woods, one mother was tending to its baby, and another really big one was running around some guy’s tent. The guy then came out of the tent with a big stick and chased it away. I used to think of baboons as really cool animals (like Rafiki in The Lion King), but they’re mean. Their teeth are bigger than sharks’teeth and they do not fear humans. One of Hestea’s friends joined us on the trip to help with cooking and cleaning and she had both of her side mirrors ripped off her car by baboons. So, needless to say, they’ve quickly become a much more frightening animal in my mind.

Once the baboons ran away a few of us decided to go swimming. My friend Adrienne and I jumped in by my house and floated down the river for a while. It was absolutely amazing to be in the crystal clear water surrounded by mountains. The water temperature was perfect and I wish I could have captured the sights and sounds of our swim on camera. Afterwards we were supposed to go on a wine tour in the nearby vineyard, which is owned by the same family as the resort, but it was cancelled. It turns out there were seven noise complaints by fellow campers the previous night and the owner wasn’t very happy with our group. He actually asked us to leave on Saturday morning but Hestea was able to convince him otherwise. It came as a surprise to her because she said we were actually really quiet compared to previous groups (she’s taken students there 23 times before), but there were a lot more people in close proximity to our main house this year. Anyway, because of the complaints Hestea made a deal with the owner that if we could stay another night we’d all be inside a house by 9:00pm. So we had an early dinner and I was more than happy to get to bed fairly early because I was exhausted. For dinner Hestea and her friend made potjie which is a delicious stew of beef, potatoes, and fresh vegetables served over rice. I could literally eat it every night for the next month and be happy.

On Sunday morning we packed up, made lunches, and headed out to see the rock art of the San Bushmen. Hestea taught us a little lesson on this tribe and showed us a bunch of paintings that are over 80,000 years old. We spent a couple hours exploring the caves and climbing the huge rock formations. I hadn’t been told about this climbing opportunity so I had sandals on, but I was able to make it to the top of a fairly large rock (if you look near the center of the last picture at the end of this entry you can see my friend Dustin on top of a rock formation... I was up that high a few minutes before I took the picture). After eating our lunch we hit the road en route to Stellenbosch. Everything about the weekend was awesome, even though our drivers were slightly terrifying. Here are a few pictures but none of them really capture the true magnificence of the Cederberg Wilderness Area.

Thanks for reading this long entry!

My first day in the classroom...

Hello Everyone!

The last four days have been packed with fun things, so I’m going to split it into two entries… this one will be about my two days at Lynedoch Primary and the next will be about my weekend adventure to the Cederburg Mountains.

So on Friday we went to Lynedoch for our first ‘lecture’ day, but it became more of a catch-up day because we had some loose ends that needed to be tied up. We finished our needs assessment and skills audit, then met with the principal to gain some information for our organizational profile. We each have to submit an organizational profile in two weeks that includes information about the students in the school, the most common difficulties that they face, the families that they go home to, the surrounding community, the organization's stakeholders, and the decision making body for the school.

Grant, our professor, is very good at reading the thoughts and feelings of our class so he’s able to keep us energized and positive for the entire six hours that we’re with him. He also loves music, dancing, singing, and children, so he finds ways to incorporate all those things into our class. We began Friday by watching two clips of young children singing on the show Britain’s Got Talent. Grant doesn’t really like the show, but the message he wanted to get across to us was that each child has a talent and a passion within them, and that the children of Lynedoch simply want to be given a stage to show that they possess something special. Most importantly, he wanted us to realize that we have the opportunity to give them that stage and to allow their voices to be heard. Later in the day he played a couple Whitney Houston songs which sparked two dance parties, and we listened to Michael Jackson’s ‘Heal the World’ because he thinks the lyrics are inspiring. Grant also worked out a deal with his mother so she will be feeding us every Monday and Friday while we’re at the school. For R30 (~$4) per day she’s going to make us a meal for our break at 10:30, another one for our lunch at 12:50, and we’ll have water, juice, and tea available for us all day. Sweet, right?

So today, Monday, was our first day in the classroom! Me, Andie, and Jeff introduced ourselves to the class then took them outside for our physical activity. We taught them how to play dizzy bat and I think they enjoyed it very much. Then we gathered them in a circle and taught them about the process of becoming dizzy. We filled a glass half way with water, spun it around, and showed them how the water keeps spinning even after you stop moving it. We then explained how that’s similar to what happens to the fluid in your inner ear when you spin your body around. After that we did a quick relay race then played the ‘move you butt’ game. For those of you who don’t know the game, you put everyone in a circle with one person in the middle. The person in the center says something about themselves (i.e. ‘I like basketball’) then everyone else who shares that characteristic or interest runs into the middle and has to find a new place to stand in the circle. The person left in the center then shares something and the process starts again. After a while we went inside and the students wrote a few sentences in their workbook about what they learned.

Later in the day, during our enrichment period, we had each student make a collage using magazine clippings and markers. The purpose of this exercise is to help us learn their names and for them to discover some similarities and differences that exist among their classmates. Jeff, Andie, and I each made a collage too and next week we’re going to have each student share theirs with the class before hanging it on the wall because they need to practice public speaking. Many of the students seem to be excited that we’re interested in learning about them and their interests.

All in all I think it was a very successful first day. I was really impressed with the students’ English abilities, and it turns out their teacher wasn’t even aware of how well they comprehend and speak the language. Since coming to South Africa I’ve become more ashamed at the fact that I can only speak one language so I’m hoping that by working with these kids and by taking a course at the university I can build up at least a basic vocabulary in Afrikaans.

Alright, that’s all for now… thanks for reading!

Oh and here are a couple pictures of the kids at Lynedoch... they love being photographed!