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| Volunteer Amanda using a balloon with the learners to demonstrate the destruction of the immune system by HIV. |
HIV Education
A total of 19 members from both the Khula and
Ezwenelisha community have passed our HIV Education course during the month of September, with much credit being owed to Mama Gumede for finding us two large groups.
Community
coordinator Shwele has reported that volunteers have used a variety of ideas
and techniques in order to help the students learn more. She says the
volunteers improvise and put so much enthusiasm into what they are teaching
instead of reading from the booklet and translating she follows the lead of the
volunteers.
We also had some very innovative lessons being taught at HIV Education in the primary school, thanks to some very enthusiastic volunteers who have made the lessons easier by adding props and interactive activities for the kids. With our newly revamped "You Me and HIV" workbook, the volunteers are already seeing an improvement in the performance by the learners - 11 out of 13 of our one September group passed the test.
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| The blackboard on the container has also come in handy! |
Reading Club
Even a holiday weekend can't stop the
Khula kids from joining volunteers at our library by the Induna's office to
read and engage in learning games.
A clear favourite among volunteers, on
Friday afternoons volunteers have spent their time reading with children of all
ages. Some of the younger children prefer to have the volunteers read to them
and repeat back certain words, however the majority like having an English
speaking person to read to. Volunteers help out the kids by correcting their mistakes, answering their
questions enabling them to improve - helping with our goal of making learning fun!
Adult Literacy
September saw the completion of our first
Adult Literacy Course in Ezwenelisha. We had two ladies successfully complete
the course. Both ladies had a good grasp of the English language, and informed volunteers that they had come to the course to improve their English levels to
help when applying for jobs. This lead to the volunteers tailoring the course
to the need of their students by teaching them how to write and
present a CV, to write a letter of application and take part in a mock
interview.
The ladies were delighted with how much their English had improved
over this seven week course. 'I want to thank African Impact for teaching me
English' says one of the students (also an Ezwenelisha Support Group member).
Nokwethemba told volunteers the students now have much more confidence and
enjoy speaking English during the weekly support group meetings.
What have our volunteers not done at
Afterschool Club this month?! Along with taking the Ezwenelisha Afterschool Club to the beach for an afternoon in the surf, the following activities were all ideas from our
volunteers that they planned and executed themselves: a talent show, 'mini'
Olympics, soccer baseball, and a fun day involving water races and obstacle courses.
This month, the groups also did loads of crafts including paper flowers made using empty egg cartons, coloured paper and pipe
cleaners as well as mask making using cups, paper plates, pipe cleaners and lots of
various arts and crafts resources. Both afterschool clubs also had great fun designing and creating music makers made by making holes in bottle tops,
threading string through them and tying them around the children's
wrists/ankles resulting in afternoon of Zulu dancing!
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| Volunteers and staff attending a traditional Zulu wedding. |
Extras
September was a month filled with small projects, and entertaining weekends. Firstly, the volunteers were able to attend a Zulu wedding near the end of the month, which was surely a highlight for many. Although a long day for most, the wedding provided great insight into Zulu culture, and we were awed by the dancing and singing of the families and the traditions throughout.
Small projects like the painting of one of the local churches was started and nearly finished in September, and a much-needed cleaning of the container was done one week before Reading Club. We are proud to say all of our gardens are doing wonderfully, and with the end of winter we are preparing for the changing of the seasons, and with it the planting of our summer crops like beans and potatoes.
Over the coming months, we'll continue to update you on the progress of these small projects (like the brick building we are continuing to do for our extension to Inkanyezi Creche), and many more, so stay tuned!
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