You think that a primary school in a township is not able to have a library? You think that the school can’t look very nice? If so, you are completely wrong… because this was realized by 10^th grade students from Epworth School with the Malala primary school in Snating! And it took them only 4 days:

When we from Thandanani arrived at Malala primary school together with the Epworth students we saw toilet houses under very bad conditions, classrooms with big holes and a sad looking playground. This meant a lot of work to us.

First of all the pupils from Epworth got divided into different groups: Some were responsible for painting the walls, others for the Library and again others for the beds. All the groups spread through the whole school and sometimes you saw a kid from Malala primary school as well who was just curious about what was going on.

The first day was for the most urgent work to found a basis. The big holes in the classrooms were filled with concrete, walls got painted for the first time and the beds were cleared out of weeds. After this it was time for the detailed work:

Some groups painted the wall of the toilet house and it was up to them to paint whatever they liked so the wall was painted in various colours at the end and looked very nice! But the Malala kids seemed to be more interested in the paint pot than in the painting: They were running with various colour on their faces across the playground: some boys had realized their dream of a beard and the girls were proudly showing a red heart on their cheek.

Other groups started to build bookshelves and lacquered them and again others planted beautiful flowers in the beds.

Even if there was a lot of work, there was no reason to be bad-tempered. Everybody was enjoying the time in Malala School: Here and there were big circles where all pupils were singing together Zulu songs (even if you didn’t know the Zulu language) and everybody was dancing the way he liked. Lots of Epworth students and me included didn’t know the games but this was not a problem at all – it was the amusement for the others and nobody felt bad because of it. By and by the Malala kids started to chose their favorite pupils from Epworths and it seemed that we had adopted at least one Malala child. My little “adopted” girl was very interested in my camera and it took me two hours to get it back… but I have to say that the pictures she took are really nice! =)

After 4 days the project was finished and Malala primary school was not recognizable: Instead of the uncomfortable ground in one of the old classrooms there was now a soft, fluffy carpet and lots of pillows were on it. The windows got their first curtains and of course there were lots of books in this library! Now you can get there books in Zulu as well as National Geographic Magazines in English! And this is still not the end: The first TV of Malala primary school is now situated in the library so that teachers are able to show videos in classes as well! And the kids obviously loved their new library: After only 10 Minutes they were all lying on the carpet and enjoying it.

The beds on the playground now look very cultivated and have lots of lovely flowers. The walls of the toilet houses are decorated with paintings in various colours and the whole school looks now prettier.

… and what’s in for the Epworth students? A lot! For many of them it was the first time they were in this area of the city even if they were born in Pietermaritzburg and lived here their whole live. It was the first time for some of them to see a township and they all got an impression of the daily life of the kids from Snating. Most of the Epworth students want to come back and visit their new “adopted” Childs, because they love them. And of course, the whole project was a lot of fun for everyone!

At the end the Malala kids gave us a small dance show so I was able to see the traditional Zulu dances, which was a new experience to me!

The farewell was hard and everyone couldn’t give enough hugs to the childs…. We love Malala primary school kids!

Du denkst dass eine Grundschule in einer Township unmöglich eine Bibliothek haben kann? Du denkst, dass die Schule traurig und grau aussehen muss? Dann liegst du falsch… denn genau dieses haben Schüler der 10. Klasse der Epworth Schule in der Malala primary school ermöglicht! Und das in nur 4 Tagen...

Am Anfang fanden sich die Epworth Schüler vor zerfallenden Toilettenhäusern, Klassenräumen mit großen Schlaglöchern und einem traurig aussehenden Pausenhof vor und es  war klar: viel Arbeit stand vor der Tür. Angefangen wurde mit dem Dringendsten: Dem Stopfen der Löcher in den Klassenräumen mit Beton, Erstanstrich der Wände und Wiederherstellung der Beete. Überall wuselten 10. Klässler rum, die fleißig am arbeiten waren und ab und zu sah man auch einen kleinen Knirps von der Malala school, der neugierig war über das was mit seiner Schule geschah. Am zweiten Tag gings an die Feinarbeit:

Die Wände zu den Toiletten wurden nun in allen Farben verziert: Jede Gruppe bekam einen Teil der Wand und konnte dort nach Lust und Laune malen. Doch die Malala Schüler fanden in dem Moment jedoch die Farben  viel spannender als die Gemälde: Nach nur 1 Stunde liefen jede Menge im Gesicht geschminkte Kinder rum… einige Jungen haben auf diese Weise endlich ihren Traum von einem Bart verwirklicht, andere wiederum zeigten stolz ihr Herz auf der Wange.

Die Beete wurden nun mit schönen Blumen bepflanzt, sodass der Schulhof gleich wieder viel freundlicher aussah und andere Gruppen haben den Teppich für die Bibliothek verlegt.

Trotz der vielen Arbeit gab es keinen Grund zur schlechten Laune: Sowohl Epworth als auch Malala Schüler genossen jede Sekunde: hier und da bildeten sich große Kreise in denen Zulu Lieder gesungen und getanzt wurden. Singen und Tanzen – davon leben die Afrikaner. Musik ist hier alles, jedes Kind kennt die traditionellen Lieder und getanzt wird nach Lust und Laune, hauptsache man bewegt sich zur Musik. Auch wenn die meisten Epworth Schüler diese Spiele nicht kannten, hat doch jeder mitgemacht – es ist völlig egal ob man nun die Spielregeln kennt oder nicht.

Mit der Zeit hat sich  jedes Malala Kind seinen Lieblingsschüler von Epworth ausgesucht und es sah aus als ob wir alle mindestens 1 Adoptivkind an unserer Seite hätten. Meines war ganz hin und weg von meiner Kamera und ich habe gute 2 Stunden gebraucht, um sie wieder zurück zu ergattern. Aber die Fotos sind zweifelsohne sehr gelungen!

Nach 4 Tagen war das Werk vollendet: Der alte Klassenraum war nicht mehr wiederzuerkennen: Statt kaltem Steinboden mit großen Löchern fand man nun einen weichen flauschigen Teppich , dazu noch viele gemütliche Kissen – vor den Fenstern hingen zum ersten Mal Gardinen und natürlich standen jede Menge Bücher in dem Raum. Die Auswahl reicht von Büchern in Zulu bis hin zu Ausgeben von National Geographic in Englisch! Aber damit noch nicht genug: Auch der erste Fernseher hat hier seinen Platz gefunden, damit die Lehrer endlich Videos für den Unterricht zeigen können.

Die Beete auf dem Pausenhof sehen nun auch wieder gepflegt aus und werden von bunten Blumen dekoriert.

Bunte Wände zieren nun die Toilettenhäuschen und die gesamte Schule hat nun ein freundlicheres Gesicht.

Zu guter Letzt gab es dann noch eine kleine Tanzeinlage von den Malala Kindern und somit habe  ich zum ersten Mal die traditionellen Zulu Tänze gesehen. Der Abschied fiel allen schwer und man konnte am Ende gar nicht genug Umarmungen verteilen… Wir haben die Malala Kinder sehr ins Herz geschlossen, um nicht zu sagen wir lieben Sie!

Tags: Malala primary school Epworth

Hits: 6 | Read more...

Thandanani even works on Sundays. I had to realize this today when I got up at 6.30am. We had a meeting with two guys from the Maritzburg College. They wanted to play soccer and other games with the children of Slangspruit primary school. That’s how Thandanani got in it: we organized the children for this project and today was the first time it was implemented.

When we arrived at Slangspruit primary school together with the boys there were already waiting some children, who were very curious about what was going on.  Because the school unfortunately has no own playground we went to a big field behind the school. After some warm up exercises the children were divided into 3 teams by getting a star of the color of the team. They really looked cute with their stars on their front. There were children from all ages running through the field with green, yellow and blue stars.

Then lots of competitions started and all were obviously having fun. After half an hour the whole ground seemed to be converted into a sports ground: the two boys had made up playing fields and balls were rolling everywhere. By and by there came more and more kids from the township because they saw the others playing. After 2 hours we had a full sports field and it was time for lunch.  The children got some hot dogs and cool drinks to regain energy and we from Thandanani were enjoying the meal as well.  After the little break the kids continued playing for about one hour and at the end the winners of the games got a football as a present. But there was no reason for the others to be disappointed: They got sweets and went home happy, but exhausted.

I hope this project can be hold on so that many other children are able to join it. Even if there were lots of children this time there are further more that could come. Maybe it could get a regular event in this area.

Thandanani kennt kein Wochenende. Diese Erfahrung musste ich heute (Sonntag) machen, als ich um 6.30 h geweckt wurde. Auf der Tagesordnung stand ein Treffen mit 2 Jungs aus einer privaten Schule in PMG. Diese Beiden hatten ein Projekt herausgearbeitet nach dem Sie mit den Kindern aus einer township ein Sportevent veranstalten wollten. Und so kam es dass Thandanani mitverwickelt wurde : Wir haben die Kinder organsiert, die in diesem Fall aus Slangspruit kamen.

Als wir morgens um 8.30h in der Schule ankamen waren schon ein paar Kinder dort, die gewartet haben. Weil die Slangspruit primary school keinen eigenen Schulhof hat, mussten wir auf eine große Wiese hinter der Schule ausweichen.

Nach ein paar Aufwärmübungen wurden die Kinder in 3 teams eingeteilt, indem sie einen Stern auf die Stirn geklebt bekommen haben. Nach nur einer halben Stunde war die große Wiese wie vewandelt: Die beiden Jungs haben Spielfelder aufgebaut und Bälle waren überall zu sehen. Mit der Zeit kamen immer mehr und mehr Kinder dazu, die wohl die anderen dort spielen gesehen hatten. Nach 2 Stunden war der Sportplatz voll und es war Zeit für eine kleine Essens- und Trinkenspause, um danach mit neuen Kräften gleich weiterzuspielen. Das Projekt endete damit, dass die Gewinner der Wettbewerbe einen Fussball geschenkt bekomen haben . Aber es gab keinen Anlass für die anderen, traurig zu sein: Jeder der teilgenommen hatte, bekam am Ende eine Tüte mit Süßigkeiten und verließ den Platz mit einem breiten Lächeln.

Ich hoffe dieses Projekt kann aufrecht erhalten werden, sodass noch mehr Kinder daran teilhaben können. Denn auch wenn der Platz voll war, haben noch lange nicht alle Kinder mitgemacht. Vielleicht ist es ja möglich, dieses Projekt zu einem regelmäßigen Event zu machen.

Tags: sports slangspruit

Hits: 17 | Read more...

Today I saw another 15 households, which were in Slangspruit. We walked the whole day through the area and listened to the problems caregivers have. It was hard for me to understand them, because they spoke Zulu, but it’s funny they sometimes use an english word. They do so because some Zulu words are so long that they prefer saying it in English. That’s how I roughly knew what they were talking about.

I saw a little girl in one household who was washing her clothes while we were speaking to her caregiver. She did her best but the clothes didn’t want to get white.  This was really cute and I realised that South African children learn to do the chores very early and in an easy way. Even if the clothes weren’t white at the end, the mother didn’t say anything. Here the mothers just let their children do what they want, they follow the slogan “learning by doing”.

Some households we visited had a garden. It is a project of Thandanani to help people to make up their own garden so they can plant legumes and other healthy foods. There was one woman in Germany who asked me to tell the people to have a garden when I am in South Africa and I was very surprised and glad to see Thandanani already was working on it. The reason why this woman told me this is that she has heard of people who have the same symptoms as HIV Positives even if they are not infected. They just have a vitamin deficiency and get better by eating food that contains vitamins. The gardens I saw looked very good: there were several different vegetables and salads - enough for the whole household.

Heute standen 15 weitere Hausbesuche auf der Tagesordnung. Diesmal in Slangspruit. Den gesamten Tag waren wir hier auf Achse und haben uns die Probleme und Sorgen  der Erziehungsbeauftragten angehoert. Leider war dieses nicht so einfach, da meistens Zulu gesprochen wurde… Manchmal aber tauchen ganz kurz einzelne Englisch Brocken auf, weil einige Worte in Zulu zu lang sind – ganz zu meiner Freude. Somit kann ich immer ein bisschen den Verlauf des Gespraeches mitverfolgen J

In einem Haus war ein kleines Maedchen, welches gerade dabei war, ihre Waesche selbst zu waschen, waehrend wir mit ihrem Erziehungsbeauftragten geredet haben. Es war so niedlich anzusehen und ich habe gemerkt, dass suedafrikanische Kinder spielerisch lernen den Haushalt zu fuehren. Am Ende waren die Kleider nicht wirklich sauber, aber die Mutter hat nichts gesagt . Hier laesst man die Kinder einfach machen, statt ihnen eine Regel nach der anderen vorzugeben.

Einige Haeuser die wir heute besichtigt haben, verfuegen inzwischen dank Thandanani einen Garten, was grossartig ist. Thandanani zeigt wie es geht, und dann fuehren die Leute ihren Garten selbststaendig weiter. Lediglich 1 -2 mal im Jahr kommt ein Mitarbeiter von Thandanani und schaut ob der Garten noch in Takt ist. In Deutschland hat mich eine Frau kurz vor meiner Abreise gebeten, den Menschen die Wichtigkeit eines Gartens darzulegen da viele Menschen in den townships die Symptome von HIV infizierten Menschen aufweisen, dabei jedoch nur an Vitaminmangel leiden. Mit dem Verzehr von viel Obst und Gemuese klingen die Symptome dann ab und die Menschen sind wieder gesund. Von daher war ich sehr froh, dass Thandanani bereits die Gaerten anlegt. Alle Gaerten sahen sehr gut aus und es wuchs genug Gemuese und Obst fuer den gesamten Haushalt.

Tags: home visit slangspruit food garden

Hits: 18 | Read more...

Today I was really excited because it was the first time I went an informal settlement. After a short drive with one of the various mini buses we arrived in Copesville (PMB). There we met our volunteers which took us to the household we were supposed to visit. During our walk I didn’t see any regular house or road. There were just small huts built out of mood and some trials through the informal settlement.

When we arrived at the household I was astonished about the friendly people living there. They welcomed us with a big smile on their face and were obviously very glad to see us. I always believed this people would be sad – faced and bad – tempered, but they weren’t at all.

Thandani supports an orphan who is living in this household. His parents died and now he lives with relatives. But he is only one member of this 4 – generation – household. And that’s why they need the help of Thandanani.

The youngest child in this household is a 1,5-year-old baby which played with me the whole time. It was so great to see how children gain your confidence and how easy it is to make them laugh. I won’t forget the cute smile this little girl showed me today.

Nun ist es endlich soweit: Mein erster Besuch in einem “informal settlement” stand vor der Tuer!

Nach einer kurzen Fahrt mit einem der vielen Minibusse sind wir in Copesville (PMB) angekommen, wo die Freiwilligenarbeiter von Thandanani auf uns gewartet haben. Diese haben uns dann zu einer Familie gefuehrt, dessen Haus sich in einem “informal settlement” befindet. Auf dem Weg dahin habe ich kein einziges normales Haus gesehen, ganz zu schweigen von einer richtigen Strasse. Ueberall waren Huetten aus getrocknetem Matsch und ein paar Erdwege schlaengeln sich durch die Siedlung.

Als wir dann ankamen war ich erstaunt wie freundlich und offen uns die Familie aufgenommen hat. Ich habe frueher immer gedacht, dass diese Menschen traurige, leidvolle Gesichter zutage legen aber dem war ganz und gar nicht so. Stattdessen empfingen sie uns mit einem breiten Laecheln.

Thandanani unterstuetzt ein Weisenkind, welches in dieser 4- generationen – familie lebt. Seine Eltern sind gestorben und somit kuemmern sich nun Verwandte um ihn. Da diese jedoch nicht genug finanzielle Mittel haben um noch ein weiteres hungriges Maul zu stopfen, hat Thandanani eingegriffen.

Das juengste Familienmitglied ist ein 1,5 Jahre altes Baby welches den gesamten Nachmittag mit mir gespielt hat. Es ist so schoen zu sehen, wie schnell Kinder das Vertrauen zu einem gewinnen und wie leicht man sie zum lachen bringen kann. Ich werde dieses niedliche Laecheln nie vergessen.

Tags: Home Visits Copesville

Hits: 22 | Read more...

Tags: redbull box cart

Hits: 356 | Read more...

All of this past week I was at a place called Highover, past Richmond and Mgxobeleni, out in the middle of nowhere. It was a camp/wildlife reserve-- but I believe the only only wildlife there was perhaps about 95846094 different type of insects for me to find flying in my face, biting my feet, in my pants, buzzing in my ears, falling down my shirt, smacking into the light/window of my room and in my bed over the course of the week. I really do not like bugs. Except for lady bugs. And butterflies.

Tags: camp | life skills

Hits: 202 | Read more...

This year I thought I would have zero Thanksgiving, seeing as it is an American holiday and [surprise, surprise] I am currently in South Africa. But instead I got to celebrate my holiday with my friends in the Thandanani office! I was happy as I shared/forced my culture with/on the people around me.

Tags: holiday | american | thanksgiving

Hits: 204 | Read more...

You may remember my post when I went to the Zamokuhle ELC in Pata with Auntie Barbs.
Well today Auntie Barbs spent the day there again and came back in my office today to tell me that the young kids there remember me. The first thing she said is "Your friends in Pata really miss you!" Ha, like kids under the age of 4 who I have only seen every once in a while would miss me. "Really?" I said, "How do you know" She explained to me the role-play they were doing as she was sitting there talking to Lindiwe, the teacher.

Tags: ELC | pata | Zamokuhle

Hits: 199 | Read more...

I have one-year old baby in my office. He was found today locked alone in the house, abandoned there for who knows how long. Mthobisi, a Thandanani social worker, went with the police to get him today and now he is sitting in my office.

Tags: orphans | social work | abandonment

Hits: 217 | Read more...

Doing these evaluations for Thandanani is a bit terrifying. My first evaluation session was with the volunteers on Tuesday, and after I had thanked them for their time and participation, I left the room to put the dirty cups in the sink. When I came back, they were still there. "We need our money." What? Apparently I was supposed to reimburse them for their transportation right there on the spot, an important detail that I didn't know... oops.

Tags: evaluations | caregivers | gogos | gratitude

Hits: 265 | Read more...

I spent all of yesterday hiking through mud and brush in the small village of Mgxobeleni in the Richmond municipality. It is a very rural community-- to get there you had to drive through miles and miles of open farm land... the perfect rows of vegetables backed by the plush green mountains were beautiful. You could see how rich the soil is here, and it is a shame that all the big farms are only owned by white people-- with a nation that is so diverse and so much for the land to offer, it saddens me that others are not benefiting from it. Yet another residual effect of the apartheid.

Tags: mgxobeleni | richmond

Hits: 258 | Read more...

Happy Dental Week, everyone! This week reminds me of my elementary school days when my mom would send me to school with toothbrushes instead of candy on Halloween and Valentine's Day.

Tags: pata | dambuza | snathing | willowfontein | dental week

Hits: 311 | Read more...

Every year South Africa celebrates their rich culture on September 24th, Heritage Day. In an address marking Heritage Day in 1996, (former) President Mandela stated:

"When our first democratically-elected government decided to make Heritage Day one of our national days, we did so because we knew that our rich and varied cultural heritage has a profound power to help build our new nation.

We did so knowing that the struggles against the injustice and inequities of the past are part of our national identity; they are part of our culture. We knew that, if indeed our nation has to rise like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes of division and conflict, we had to acknowledge those whose selfless efforts and talents were dedicated to this goal of non-racial democracy."

Yesterday I went with Auntie Barbs to the grocery store, where we loaded up two shopping carts with food for some of the Early Learning Centers. When we got to the ELCs the children were very excited to see us with so much food and very eager to help us take the food out of the jeep. We started at the Zamuphila ELC in Willowfontein and paid a short visit to the Zamokuhle ELC in Pata, where I had made good friends with the children a couple weeks ago.

Tags: groceries | sunfield home | pata | willowfontein | ELC

Hits: 269 | Read more...

I have dirt under my fingernails, and no matter what I do it doesn't seem like it wants to come out anytime soon.Today I went back to Silwanetshe Primary School's food garden, this time with Phumlani, and we harvested spinach, beets, and lots of carrots for the caregivers of OVCs at that school. In the end, we put fresh vegetables at the dinner table for 11 families tonight, and they were so happy! And I was covered in mud. I tried some of the carrots and they were delicious.

Tags: volunteers | distribution | food garden | home visits | silwatneshe primary | willowfontein

Hits: 277 | Read more...

Sometimes I am at awe at how many angles Thandanani tries to tackle the emotional, physical, and mental sensitivities of orphans and vulnerable children in the area. That is why I love being here with them.

Tags: life skills | kwamlalili primary | richmond | Schools

Hits: 293 | Read more...