Grade 3 Zulu Kicks

A few weeks ago Shin and I had the pleasure of watching Lindani, one of the awesome Grade 7 boys we teach, do a little teaching himself. We walked out of our classroom because of a ruckus going on outside the windows. To our amusement and joy, Lindani was teaching all the grade 3 boys how to do a proper Zulu kick. Have a look:

Holiday Programme in Review (Finally)

Remember two months ago when it was the FIFA World Cup? I finally got around to loading some photos of the work we did at St. Leo and at 1000 HCH. MK and Shin did most of the work at Leo’s while Meg and I focused our energies on 1000 Hills:

At Leo’s we had a daily countdown to the Cup. Here is what it looked like:

Leo’s had a two week camp where we divided the kids into teams according to country. MK made sweet bracelets to keep track of the kiddos.

Lusanda, a grade 4 learner, shows his Paper Mache skills.

MK, Shin and Ayanda (the St. Leo’s Computer teacher) had Net Ball tourneys to keep the kids active and entertained.

And the kids decorated soccer kits for whichever team they were (they matched the groovy bracelets that MK made) assigned.

Over the hill, in Inchanga Meg and I kept the kids at the Community Center well entertained…

We did lots of Bafana themed art projects and face paints.

Some of our teachers, Pretty and Dumah, helped decorate the creche’s Bafana poster.

We also had a very successful art gallery to display all of the learners' work.

And an awesome inspirational heroes project. (If you look closely you can see “Spongebob is my hero because he is funny.” And the more sentimental and meaningful “Maduma (Dawn Leppan – founder of 1000 HCH) is my hero because she helped me.”)

A Poem For Alwa

There is an awesome baby at the 1000 Hills Community Center Creche who I have completely fallen for. Her name is Alwande and she has the most phenomenal smile. Our favorite thing about Alwa happens to be her hilarious hair. She comes in every week or so with a new hair style. It usually involves some sort of hair extensions. Keep in mind that Alwa is only 2 years old.

Anyways, this is a picture of Alwa, so that you can visualize her crazy hair.

And here is a poem that Shin wrote for her, which I try to recite to her at least once a week.

Poem for Alwa:
Your hair is so cray-cray
Even though you're just a baybay.

That's all there is for now, but I have faith that Alwa's hair will continue to change in crazy ways and our poetic creativity will grow as well.

Alwa is one of the brightest moments of my day when I work at 1000 HCH.

Visual Aide

After 8 months of being here, I thought I'd provide you with some visual assistance so that everything isn't left up to the imagination:

Below is a picture of our humble cottage, though the property you find it on is a little less so. The bay window opens up to our dining room/living room (which, if you have skyped with me, you will also have seen).

This (below) is the view from our house. I can see the sunrise and set every day. When I look at it, in photograph form and for real, I wonder how the hell I'm supposed to leave it in four months.

Below is a picture of what we like to do on weekends. Usually it involves laughing a lot. Most of the time it happens outside. Sometimes there are giraffes. Always its the four of us. From Left to Right: Me, Sinead, Mary-Kate and Meg.

I wanted to include a photo of Durban during the World Cup. It took me a long time to decide on this one. It doesn't show the actual city, but the colors are a representation of the excitement, joy and diversity that flooded the rainbow nation for a few brief weeks.

More photos coming soon, but I hope you enjoy these in the mean time.