Another plus is that we were all ready to go at 8:30! Or thereabouts. Ish. However, we weren't entirely sure at this point exactly where we were going to go, as there were rumours (...so i applied basically) that we might be going to visit the local school that day. Or we might just be going to the Barn. We ate the rest of our cheese on toast and drank tea discussing our unknown destiny for the day, until we decided that the best thing was for Max and myself to go to reception and to ask, and if we could, to put an end the uncertainty that faced us.
We met Gerhard in his office (Gerhard always knows, and if he doesn't then you're probably asking the wrong question) and he told us that Tammy was already on her way to pick us up, and that yes! We were going to the school! Something we've been looking forward to since we arrived. We hurried back to the house to find Tammy there waiting for us, and Ines and Kira preparing to leave with the hockey sticks and balls, donated very kindly by Kira's hockey club in the UK (Thank you! Oxford Hockey Club!). We all jumped in the Landie and rattled off down the road for an hour's drive, Tammy answering every bird and animal related question we could throw at her on the way.
We arrived at the school, named Braceville Elementary which is a fairly typical example of a rural school over here so we're told, and as we were wondering whether to open the gates and just drive in, a very softly-spoken young man came and met us, introduced himself as Aquarius, and invited us all in.
He knew about our visit as the Head (who unfortunately couldn't be there as he was away at a conference on teaching children of all ages - a great shame as we'd have really loved to have met him) had told him of our visit previously, but he didn't seem to be entirely sure what exactly we wanted to do while we were there. As we hadn't really planned anything beforehand, other than handing over the hockey equipment, he wasn't the only one!
We unloaded ourselves and the donated hockey sticks, Tammy said goodbye and that she would return around 1pm to pick us up again, and left. Aquarius began by showing us around the school, which consisted of two dormitories - one for girls, one for boys - the kitchen area and dining room, a small admin block and last of all two regular-sized classrooms. All the while with schoolchildren going from here to there, giving us curious looks as they did so, and some shyly peeping around corners.
Aquarius explained that he wasn't a teacher, he was there to look after the kids when the Head was away, and to be involved with them in after-school activities (the children stay at the school all week then go home at weekends), so more of a social worker for the children, and then introduced us to the two immediately lovable nannies, who cooked and cleaned about the place, Wendy and Pinky.
To start with, we decided, Kira would teach them the basics of hockey with Max, and I would take a handful on the five computers they had there. Picking out a mix of ages for me, he called them in and let me get on with it, while the rest would learn hockey in the relatively small and dusty playground.
I asked them to show me what they liked doing on the computers, which was looking at (a very dated version of) MS Encarta. I asked if they had ever used the Paint program, and judging by the 'oooh!'s and 'ahhh!'s when I began drawing a flower with it, I guessed the answer was no. I showed them the basics, and one of the girls, Wandra, seemed to pick it up very quickly and drew an even better flower than my rubbish attempt.
After a while though, unable to communicate well enough to go much deeper into the subject of computers I sensed a little boredom creeping in, and then I remembered I had the videocamera with me, and in my experience, if there's one thing kids find fascinating it's seeing themselves on videos! And so it was this time... the excitement level raised another notch and they really seemed to enjoy dancing and waving, and then watching themselves doing so immediately after. I think they could have done this all day, but eventually it was time to go back to class, as heralded by the school bell.
During this time, outside in the gorgeous sunshine (now this is what all winters should be like) Kira and Max were busy going through the rudimentaries of hockey with Aquarius translating the finer points of whacking a small ball around with an odd shaped stick. They did some practice moves, and then a few mini competitions of relay games and so on, until the break ended and Aquarius clanged the school bell.
All the children gathered in front of us in two very orderly lines, placed a hand on the person in front's shoulder and walked obediently and quietly to their respective classrooms.
With all of us somewhat unsure of how we should proceed, none of us (including Aquarius) having really been in that situation before, we decided to just go and introduce ourselves to the children. With Aquarius translating in Xhosa, he explained to them that we had come to see them and their school, and spend some time with them. We introduced ourselves and wrote our names on the blackboard. A blackboard full of the neatest writing any of us had ever seen on a blackboard before.
He had each stand up and introduce themselves one by one - bringing back memories of how we had to do the same sometimes in our school... something I distinctly remember hating to have to do! - and then asked if they had any questions for us, or about life in England.
A slightly awkward moment followed as it appeared that no, no they didn't have any questions about life in England. Okay... Fortunately one of the older girls, I think feeling a little sorry for us, asked what the food was like there. I don't remember what our answer was, but I don't recall it being particularly interesting, to be honest. As that was pretty much it, we moved quickly along and asked them what they wanted to do when they grew up. As before each child was instructed to stand up, but remembering my aversion to it, I asked if they could just say it while sitting down. They seemed relieved!
Surprisingly, a very large number of them wanted to be policemen (I discovered later that a couple of local policemen had come to visit the school recently, and talk about what it was like to be a policeman, so not too surprising after all). One cheeky one though, likely the joker of the class (he's the happy chap in the blue jumper in the first picture) said he wanted to be a criminal, much to the amusement of his classmates :) The other most popular choice was a nurse, particularly among the girls, but a few boys too, and one lad said a pilot. You could tell he was quite serious about it, and it seemed that as far as he was concerned, it was a matter of when, not if. He had such an air of quiet intelligence and confidence that I believed him.
Then, just as any initial awkwardness was starting to fade, someone suggested we sing an English song. Trying to think of an appropriate song for a class of children that mostly didn't speak english, but also who's ages ranged from 15 down to 6 was terribly difficult, and the best we could come up with was Old MacDonald. We sang a few verses, and initially some of the more older english speaking kids trying to join in where they could, until the whole thing finally crashed to an embarrasing, juddering halt. Ines was up for another verse with another animal (despite getting some of the words and grammar wrong :) but for our sakes, and theirs, we convinced her that enough was enough.
It's just occurred me that in our desperation, we didn't even sing it correctly. We forgot to add each animal sound to the last chorus, as you're supposed to (and is the key ingredient as to what makes the song fun to sing in the first place). One of the simplest songs known to man, aside from Happy Birthday To You, and yet we still got it horribly wrong! As a quartet, I don't think we should consider giving up our day jobs...
Skillfully avoiding another awkward moment, Kira suggested that maybe they would like to sing a song, and between them they decided upon a tribute song about Nelson Mandela, who had in fact personally opened the school in 2000. Theirs was much better than our somewhat disjointed attempt and they seemed to enjoy it a lot more! As did we, even if we had no idea what the lyrics were or meant.
After their song, we abandoned the standing at the front of the class idea and instead asked them to carry on and do whatever they normally do, and we would just join them in their small groups or individually, and have a chat with them. Most of the older ones could speak a certain amount of English, so as so long as it was kept relatively straightforward, we could talk to them easily.
Ines was a big hit with them, especially the younger ones, delighting them with the emu hand puppets she had brought, while Kira was always constantly surrounded, most of them utterly fascinated with her long hair! It was great to see her being so comfortable in the situation, building a rapport with them so easily and effortlessly, it was a joy to watch. I would have liked to take pictures, but feared the appearance of the camera might spoil the moment.
After being proudly shown some of their workbooks, and myself again having some video camera fun with them, Max and I left the girls to it, who were clearly proving themselves much better at this kind of thing, and talked with Aquarius about the school itself for a while. He told us that there were 32 children there, and they stayed there throughout the week and then went home at weekends. This was partly due to the distances some of them lived from the school, as well as easing the strain on their parents, as in most of the areas, particularly the more rural ones, poverty is a hard fact of life.
The school is free to attend, has just the one teacher, the two (adorable) nannies, and of course Aquarius to help and mentor the kids outside of schooltime hours. The hours were from 8am till 2pm, and they were served breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper. The school is entirely funded by the government, but as is usually the case, always in need of more funds and resources.
However, the kids were clearly very happy there and very well looked after, and lacked neither love or attention. They were polite, well-behaved, interesting and bright, and a truly likeable bunch of young people that were a credit to themselves, as well as to the four main people in their lives for the time they spent at school. It was our pleasure to have met each and every one.
I chatted to a few more of the kids (I really wish I could remember their unusual names), and was even taught one to ten by Jonathon. Not in Xhosa or Africaans, but in English! I think he misunderstood me when I asked to learn it in his language, or thought I must be a bit slow and didn't know how to count yet :) Still, it was good to know that I've been getting it right all these years, at least. Then I went outside and joined Max, who was having fun high-fiving some little ones, and showing them some of the cooler handshakes, and filmed the hockey match Kira had organised, something everyone playing seemed to be enjoying a lot.
It seemed like no time at all that 1 o'clock came around, so the children went back to class as we prepared to leave and said our goodbyes, until Tammy arrived shortly after to come and take us back to Kuzuko. We weren't sure if we would be back again, we'd hoped to spend more mornings there, but of course it would be determined by availability of transport and someone to cart us back and forth. Having a much better idea of what to expect would mean we would better prepared if we did get to go again, but we would have to wait and see.
On the way back, we were all a lot quieter than on the journey there, I think we were all letting the experience soak in and considering it all. We all agreed it was a very positive experience and thoroughly enjoyed it, and personally I found that it not only gave me hope for the future of not just the children we met, but the future of the country. That may be too bold a statement, as obviously this was but a tiny glimpse of life here, but even so, it certainly strengthened my faith in humanity, something that is sometimes tested to its limits back in the daily life of the more 'advanced' world of where we come from.
We all hope that our visit was as a good an experience for the children as it was for us (our rendition of Old MacDonald notwithstanding...) and that although we didn't spend more than just a very short time there, it was something that they'll remember positively, and that they got as much fun and joy out of it as we did.
Our sincere thanks to Aquarius for helping us have such a memorable day, and to the kids for putting up with us and making us feel so welcome. And of course, a big Thank You to Catharina, for organising the visit on our behalf. Thank you, all!
After we got back, we had a very late lunch, and then cadged a lift from Jonathon at reception to pop down to the Barn to see how the guys were doing on the steps. We were pleased to see they had so far they had done a great job on them. They weren't there, but we knew they wanted to cement the steps and platform as soon as possible, but as yet we still hadn't been able to take casts of various animal footprints.
They had also finished plastering the wall for the storage space area at the back wall of the Barn. We were going to paint it the same colour as the walls but now we're thinking a nice blue might be better. Whatever we choose, we've got to wait for it to fully dry out first.
As there wasn't enough time left to get any serious work done, we watched Max and Kira try to capture the nearby wildebeast. Their plan was unintentionally thwarted by Joseph and Wellington whose timing couldn't have been worse (or better, if you happen to be a wildebeast) as they came up the road in their Land Rover, causing all of the wildebeast to panic and run away just as they were getting close enough to take a really good pic.
 |
| Wildebeast - in cahoots with Jospeh and Wellington |
 |
| Ostriches - also secretly working with Joseph and Wellington |
We had a lovely time with them both, most of the early evening spent with Frankie and myself outside getting the Braai going, (which was a nightmare as the wood was so damp, but as always my fire-making skills came through in the end...) talking about South Africa and it's people, which was interesting and insightful as it always is with Frankie, and Max and the girls inside planning our itinery for the next two weeks touring the southern coast. They've done a great job of it, some spectacular planning, and I think we're going to continue having a fantastic time here in SA.. and there'll be an awful lot less hard work. And hopefully, there'll be no cement involved at all..... :D
