Our first week back at LI was spent in meetings and making bracelets till our brains turned to mush. We had meetings in 2 of the schools which some of us will spend most of the next few months in to discuss what we will be doing, we were encouraged by these meetings and can't wait to get back into Amaoti 1 (the primary school) and to go into Brookdale secondary (a school next to the office which we haven't worked in yet) and creche. We really want to work with the children struggling at school especially after hearing that grades in recent exams were very low. We decided to make bracelets to sell to raise valuable funds for LI, by Friday evening we never wanted to see another bracket again, we had been sat in the same place for hours not even moving to eat lunch, although we did manage 2 trips to the new shop down the road for food to keep us going (they were keen to encourage us to get our eyebrows done next door too.) At times it seemed to be a full scale military operation (as I type this I can hear kez downstairs talking about how many bracelets she has made today!) We have been given some opportunities to sell more bracelets in coming weeks which means we need to make more!
This week we are painting a room in the safe house and helping out at the LI pageant organised by Melissa (daughter of Theo and zanele the project leaders) to give the children something to do in their holidays otherwise they will just go and beg. The schools are off again this week having only had 2 weeks since their last holiday, we are in a period of excessive public holidays and with 2 days off this week the department of education decided it wasn't worth schools opening.
We have loved being back at LI and are getting used to our living in our team house again, me, Emma and Hannah are slowly adjusting to having a bed room light (something we didn't have till last week.) Music has always featured heavily in our team but now we have found our favourite south African artists which adds something different to the normal selection of Mumford and sons, Taylor swift and one direction which we sing as loud as possible. Our new faves are Matthew mole http://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=EZvHZgii7XI and gangs of ballet http://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=qFINg3DWhfY
Goodbyeeeeeeeee
Catherine (on behalf of the team trying to watch lord of the rings)
Xxx
have the Malawi mouse boys and their music made it to SA ? Happy half way- time is flying by. can start the count down to your return now. But still so much for you to do, hoping and praying that in the coming weeks you will be a real blessing to the schools/crèche and develop your skills and relationships further. lots of love xx
ReplyDeletecouldn't get the link to work but good to hear from you anyway.
ReplyDeleteYour comment about "excessive public holidays" is interesting. I wasn't expecting you to become more political as a result of your time in SA, but it's good to see that you are. So....How will your time in SA influence the way you vote back home?
It's hard not to become a bit political, there are election posters everywhere you look! Including a ANC poster that uses a photo I copied for gcse art! One thing I have been struck by is the corruption, there is always stuff on the news about Zuma spending money on new houses and its well known that the amaoti councillor is corrupt, how can you lift people out of poverty if money is just taken by councillors??! - Catherine
ReplyDeleteknotty little problem isn't it!
DeleteIf the money that we send in aid is likely to be used corruptly should we stop sending aid?
Have enjoyed reading your weekly blogs. Sounds like a lot of fun as well as hard work! love and prayers .
ReplyDeleteSorry we've not been the best of correspondents. We have been catching up on the blog - you've done some amazing things. Annelie likes the mural you've created. Time passes so quickly, but I'm sure you will be working and playing hard over the next few months, making the most of your time. Love and prayers, Karon and Annelie xx
ReplyDelete