 |
| Volunteers and kids playing at Khula Nomathiya Creche. |
The first month of 2013 got off to a flying
start, as we welcomed six volunteers to begin our projects on January 13th.
Pairs from America, Sweden and the Netherlands and ranging in age from 18 to 56
made this one of our most diverse groups, and we’re so proud of their
commitment and work ethic – what a great team they made!
Read on to hear about the start of what looks
like a great year to come…
Crèche
Khula Nomathiya Crèche welcomed us with open
arms this January, as we attended their first day of school on the 16th.
Since then, our volunteers have been implementing a structure that began last
year, whereby the learners are split into smaller groups for lessons and
activities. This has worked very well over the past three weeks and despite
some hiccups mainly surrounding our volunteer’s lack of proficiency in Zulu
(although some of them are getting quite good), the structure is an
overwhelming success.
We have also begun holding two planning sessions
per week, attended by two volunteers while the rest participate on projects in
the communities. This allows the volunteers to create more in-depth plans and
prepare more resources for each day.
Volunteers started by teaching basic lessons to
the learners, aged 5 and under, which included colours, numbers, shapes and
lessons about the self. On one particular afternoon, Swedish volunteer Marie
came up with a wonderful plan to finger paint, which was a big hit with the
kids.
We continue to visit Inkanyezi Crèche every
Friday afternoon, and Mama Gumede and her children became a quick favourite of
our January volunteers.
Afterschool
Club
Our afterschool clubs are going well, and our
January group spent a total of 65 hours in both Khula and Ezwenelisha. They
played games, coloured, participated in sports and much more.
The kids at Ezwenelisha Afterschool Club in
particular loved playing “Musical Chairs” and thanks to the generous donation
of some iPods and speakers, we’ve been able to really take advantage of the
kid’s dancing skills.
One of the advantages of being at our
afterschool clubs each week is how close the volunteers get to interact with
the kids on a regular basis. This came in handy when volunteers noticed a
severe burn on one of the girls at Khula Afterschool Club earlier in the month.
After discussing the matter with African Impact staff, the girl was taken to
the clinic and by the end of the month her burn had almost completely healed.
One volunteer even said it was the highlight of her stay that the girl got the
treatment she needed.
 |
| Our first day at the AMREF garden - look at all those weeds! |
Gardens
Checking out the gardens upon our return from
the holidays is always a daunting task, but the volunteers met the challenge
head-on and cleared our main AMREF garden in two afternoons and began cultivating
Mama Gumede’s garden at Inkanyezi Crèche. Our goal is that by the end of March
all of our gardens will be in full swing with seedlings ready to grow over the
cooler period of the year.
Support
Groups
Our Khula and Ezwenelisha Support Groups
gathered once again this January and spent an entire morning catching up and
listening to stories from each other’s holidays. A busy time for all, there was
much to be said within both groups. In later weeks, the groups discussed the
importance of gardening for physical, emotional and mental health.
The groups were also treated to a morning out at the Crocodile Centre in St Lucia, where they learned about the reptiles as well
as about snakes and snake bites. They finished the very successful morning with
a trip to the beach and a quick lunch on the sand dunes.
Our Mother’s Support Group was also graced by
the presence of the volunteers for the first time! Lucky for us, volunteer
Kristina used to be a midwife back home in Sweden, and we spent an entire
afternoon with the group asking questions for her to answer. Great discussions
were had about contraception, birthing and complications during pregnancy and
delivery.
Check back for a second installment of our January update.
No comments:
Post a Comment