Term 4, Table Mountain and (Bus) Trip

Life at Ikhaya

Well on return from our road trip last week saw the start of Term 4 at ikhaya which will take us through until 7th Dec (in SA schools have 4 terms a year, with a long break over Christmas). We will mostly be supporting grades 6-8 (top end of secondary) with Mhinti which will cover Sisa's work (he has been released to begin church planting in the township). Sessions include cooking, ICT, English comprehension and life skills. Thursdays have been handed over to us so Mark is getting thrashed by the boys in rugby and I am working with a musician called Gideon who is interested in starting a project with children with learning disabilities in the future.  We will be teaching and sharing worship songs in view for the older ones to lead worship themselves when they leave the project to begin their own thing in January. It's quite a challenge (as working with teenagers always is!) but we are beginning to build some good relationships. Language isn't really a major problem as most of the children here speak very good English, however they do sometimes need reminding to use it rather than Xhosa! (we are learning a few phrases and have become Noma (the housekeeper's) pupils :)) 

Discussing music

Table Mountain

On Friday we finally managed to take the children to Table Mountain (one of the trips we were raising money for). 70 African children + 6 minibus taxis + cable car = an interesting experience!! The taxis there alone were exciting enough...they can  only be described as mini party buses as the children asked for "volume, volume" for the music which could give any Ibiza club a run for it's money! Remember the lack of seat belt rule and you can imagine the scene :)

After waiting for the cable car, Mark, myself and the other staff took the rather unsuccessful role as crowd control as soon as the door opened. Thankfully we all survived but you have to feel sorry for the guy one the radio with his attempt at telling the group the rules on the mountain! At the top we were given some information about the natural sights including the 5 venomous snakes that live there and then we stopped for lunch ( 100 hot dogs lovingly prepared by us and some of the kids at ikhaya!) before heading back down. 

One of the things I have noticed is that the children are photographed by any tourist at any given time (we don't count as tourists if we're working at ihaya hehe). Now whilst I agree they are a beautiful "attraction" it seems very strange to me that people find it OK to do this without asking permission at least. The kids however seem to like it and will pose at any given opportunity :)

Anyway a short but sweet trip was had by all (I think Mark and I will be returning on our own before we leave though!)

Preparing lunch

Cape Town bus tour

So like all good cities these days, CT has it's own hop on hop off bus tour which we took over this weekend. 

Saturday - Peninsula tour took as round the beautiful beaches and into the city where we stopped at Victoria and Alfred waterfront, Company garden, canal cruise and South Africa museum to name a few things. 

Sunday - City tour which included Table Mountain (viewed in 101 ways!),  District 6 ( a residential areas which was wiped out during apartheid) and ended with the wine tour. We only made it to one vineyard but nice to sample the local produce and share with friends at a braai in the evening :)

So we are now settled into our flat where we'll stay for the remainder of our trip. We are right next to the harbour, shops and access to public transport so a bit of comfort at the end of each day. It is blowing a bit of a gale today though so I can definitely say "oh my hat" (a phrase used at ikhaya or possibly SA in general!). Til the next time..Nay x