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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Today I was with Auntie Babs again to go to the ELC in Pata [where I did home visits with Agnes last Thursday], called Zambuhle. This ELC had a small esthini [brick] building, but the consulate for the region said he needed the building back to use as an office [that was in May, and they have yet to use the building]. So instead they have been in what they are hoping is a temporary structure, a small room made almost entirely out of sheet metal. The walls were adorned with homemade alphabet, number, weather, and colors chart, including a crayon picture that broke my heart: "HIV/AIDS: Please hug me, I won't make you sick."

Tags: pata | ELC

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I like gardening.
Do you know why I like gardening? Because you don't have to speak Zulu to water plants. Anyone can water the carrots or the beets-- they don't know the difference. They don't even care. I finally found something that I am good at! :)

Tags: food garden | willowfontein | silwanetshe primary

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Today I went with Barbara [affectionally called "Auntie Barbs" by everyone] to the Early Learning Center [ELC] in Slangspruit, where I did my first round of home visits exactly a week ago with Jilleth. ELCs are like pre-schools in townships, serving children around the ages of 3 months to about 6 years. Many of the children are OVCs, even in households that are under Thandanani's care, and do not need to pay to go the ELC-- other children only pay R50 a month... that is around $7.50. That's amazing.

Tags: slangspruit | ELC

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I walked outside for 5 hours in 34 degree [93-degrees F] weather in the township of Slangspruit, outside Msunduzi. It was hot, it was humid, it was hilly, and occasionally a cow, goat, pig, or chicken would kick up some dust to stick to my balmy skin. A lack of adequate sleep and a mild case of dehydration made this a hard 5 hours, but it didn't mean I liked this experience any less.

Tags: housing | slangspruit | home visits | facilitators | volunteers

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