Message from Michelle

The following is a blog update that current community volunteer Michelle wrote to her friends and family back home in Canada. It's a great sneak peek into what it's like to be a volunteer, so read on! 

Sanibonani!! (Hello from Africa)

Well we have reached our two week mark and I have to say we are loving every second of it here!! I have had the opportunity to work in three different creches (a creche is a preschool/orphanage for some). 

I have worked in Malibongue (a really small creche with lots of babies), Impemelo (a creche with about 50 or so children not including the wee babies in the side room) and the at Dukuduku (there are probably 40 or so kids if I had to guess) the buildings are so small, and there are a lot of kids in each room. They are learning English- but a lot of the lession is taught in Zulu, but we are teaching them their Alphabet, numbers, farm animals, wild animals, family members, foods, lots of basic english words some catch on really well but it helps a lot when we sing it into songs. I have a lot of songs I will be bringing home with me if anyone wants me to sing them to them!

It is really great working in the creches every morning. The first days were very emotionally draining - it was very had to adapt to the way they are living mostly because it is just SO different from the way that we are living here. But the children are just so happy, and as soon as we got there they just smoothered us with hugs and love - it was amazing. 

It is impossible not to fall in love with them all they are just so great. 

There is a lot of learning time, and then they play outside - they have a small playground but we bring a ball that they can play with which they love, and they play a lot with tires which they also love and others well... just chase the chickens around the school yard!

Michelle with some of her HIV Education course graduates.

This last week I have also been working in the school with another volunteer teaching HIV ed to 8 grade 7 students. I absolutely loved every second of teaching them, they are amazing kids. They were so eager to learn and made the class so much fun. There was so much benificial information jammed into that course that it was so good to see them all taking it in as HIV is such a big thing within their lives. It was so great though, then they got their certificate at the end once they passed the final test. They have to have our African Impact Certificate in order to pass grade 7, if they do not pass the course we teach (a 2 week course) they have to repeat it in one of the other 2 week periods. But Friday was my last day there which is honestly really sad I am going to miss those kids!! They were so great.

In the afternoons I have done a lot of gardening (we bring the vegetebles to people within the community mostly to people who are part of our "home based care" program) We also have a support group garden that I have yet to work at where people help us garden and can take home the produce. (Apparently people were stealing their crops so this is a protected area where they do not have to worry about that). We are growing beans, carrots, beat root, spinach and potatoes right now.

I have also built bricks as well - again in the 30 degree weather talk about a work out! We made about 30 in our 2 hours so apparently that was really good. One of the creches that was made of stones, mud, and sticks is starting to fall over so we are building bricks and we are going to build them a new creche where the children can go. So that was an amazing project to be part of.

Michelle at Khula Afterschool Club. 

Another project we work on in the afternoon is our "after school club" we have a couple at different schools. It is an amazing program where the children can stay after school and just have fun - for some of the children are ophans and actually live at the school in a small shack behind the school building it is something for them to do after class has ended. 

There are about 20 children who live at the school, there is no parent that lives with them only a girl about my age who is also orphaned - she stays with them and helps them there. They eat lunch there, and then we feed them supper when we arrive. That was a very emotional day knowing that those poor children had to live there - but what amazing kids they are. They taught us some new dance moves and laughed at our " white girl rythm.. or lack there of haha" it was a lot of fun working with those kids.

As for "free time" on weekends, we have been on a croc and hippo tour- which was really cool there are about 1200 crocs in the estuary and about 800 hippos. We saw our first hippo out of the estuary last night.. we were walking back from downtown celebrating St. Patricks and mom had our flash light shinning it on the road and we were kind of following the light but just talking away and then she all of a sudden shined it right on a hippos face!! Talk about a scare those things are MASSIVE!!! but we learned that you just have to keep calm keep talking (it is when you scare them that they charge at you.. and could potentially kill haha) so we walked by him and he couldnt have cared less about us.

We spent the day yesterday at the beach- Cape Vidal - and Mission Rocks - to get to the beach you had to drive through a game reserve the sites there were breath taking - it was absolutely beautiful every corner was just amazing!!!!!

We saw Zebra, buffalo, hippos, warthogs, and tons of antelope. It was amazing- all of that amazing drive and we hadn't even reached our destination of the beach yet!!! Yesterday was honestly so amazing!! Such a beautiful place!!!

But that is about it from me, we are in a cafe or else I would type and type and type!! But I know some people were wanting an update so here you are :)

It is so amazing here, I feel so blessed to be able to be a part of such an amazing orginization!!!

Miss you all back home!!

Michelle