Another jam-packed week in South Africa....
House update
You may recall a couple of weeks ago that a family from ikhaya had a house fire. They are still in need of a few things but the good news is that they are back in their place which has been freshly painted, new windows etc. We have seen the mum a few times since and she is so thankful to everyone who has helped them. The way this community comes together is amazing and something we won't forget.
Monday
 |
| Grades 6-8 |
We had our final cooking lesson with our class which resulted in persuading them to pose for a photo with the cupcakes they had made (food is always a big motivator here as you can imagine!). We've made them all recipe books which hopefully they can use at home...definitely have some African Jamie Olivers here!
Grades 6-8 will be leaving ikhaya on Friday so it's going to be an emotional time for everyone I think. These guys have been with the project since it started but it's def time for them to move on and there is alot of stuff in the pipeline such as a weekly Friday night event.
Tuesday
It was our turn to host "Tea at 2" where basically each staff member takes a turn at preparing refreshments after the weekly meeting. This seems to have evolved from a cup of tea and cake to 2 course lunches! Not to be outdone by the traditional African meal or cake selections, we opted for a very English Ploughman's lunch and scones which seemed to go down quite well. Afterwards we were presented with an early thankyou gift.....afternoon tea at Mount Nelson hotel (a very posh place in Cape Town) which we will be enjoying on Wednesday. In the evening it was our last formal home group which, to fit in with American thanksgiving, involved sharing the stuff we're thankful for.
Wednesday
 |
| Sharing some popcorn |
As a special treat, we took 12 of the leavers to one of the local cinemas to see Twilight: Breaking Dawn. We had a chance to look round the shopping centre first which the girls thoroughly enjoyed and as usual, were posing for photos at any opportunity (much to the annoyance of the security guards!). It's very strange to be seeing Christmas decs up...not quite the same when it's 30c! Anyway we haven't seen any of the Twilight series before (sorry all you vampire fans!) and neither had the group, but that didn't stop them from clapping enthusiastically when the baddies got killed and cheering at the end!! Afterwards we had some food where the management kindly gave us a free drink. For us quite a normal experience, but for these guys it was so exciting and even better that they had raised the ticket money themselves :)
We stayed at Nicky's place in the evening as Mark wanted to watch West Ham v Man U (her team) - Mark wasn't too pleased with the result (1-0) but was good to watch with the opposition!
Friday
After a couple of days doing bit and pieces, on Friday evening we went to Shoreline church, Hout Bay for a picnic and carols. The weather wasn't the best so everyone had blankets laid out in the main building and shared food. The carols were led by musicians and singers from Ambleside school (where the church is held) and was a short but sweet event. The best bit was that some of the older kids from ikhaya wanted to come along so, as hectic as it always is, they got to hear some of it and hopefully they will continue to get involved more in the future.
Saturday
1st December is World Aids Day and ikhaya were hosting an awareness event which involved speakers, face painting, dance, drama, music and most importantly, the opportunity for people to be tested for HIV. It was an early start as Mark was doing his braai master bit again and I was helping to put up, what felt like a thousand red balloons (not an easy task when faced with the crazy Cape Town wind!) but a great day was had by all. The mural in one of the classrooms has been repainted to basically remind people about being responsible. All the children are affected whether it's themselves or through family members so it's something that you can talk about quite openly here.  |
| Parading through the township |
 |
| Happy Feet - gumboot dancers |
After a hot and hectic day we decided to go to the pub to watch England v NZ in the rugby end of year games. With a win of 38 to 21 we were both happy bunnies and were able to share the moment with some locals and a few Savannas!
That's about all for now. Here's to our final week in SA!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment