Week 3

           This week has started out quite slow; classes and homework are now becoming a part of the daily routine.  I have classes on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and so far they all seem to be going quite well.  For my Community Service Learning class I have selected to volunteer at a homework club in the townships called Sinethemba.  We were informed that it was less structured than other programs, but feedback from the past students led me to believe it would be an amazing experience. I will be volunteering every Thursday from 3-5pm helping children from a wide range of grade levels on homework ranging from math to reading.

Volunteering Sinethemba Day 1

          We arrived a bit early, and the kids were not going to be there until 3pm.  Phillip, a man who helps to organize the homework club began to show us around, it’s relatively small. There are girl’s rooms and boy’s room each in separate buildings.  There were many more older children attending the homework club, however they didn’t have enough space for them all so the organization had to determine and age range to keep their numbers down.  It is sad to see them turned away from an organization like Sinethemba, because the children in the townships do not generally receive attention like that from their parents. As the children begin to arrive, they are instructed to change from their uniforms into their street clothes, then to join us at the table with their homework.  It was challenging to assist the younger children because they do not speak very good English.  The majority of my time was spent helping two girls in grade five learn multiplication tables, subtraction and other math activities.  It was difficult to get them engaged at first, and they try to get you to do everything for them, even though the two of them were really smart!  After so many times of complementing them for doing it right you could see the confidence begin to build.  They were a lot of fun to help, and the one challenging thing I faced would have to be remembering the math I did 10 years ago.  It was fun to see them catch on to the little tricks I would show them. 

          

After Sinethemba and off to J-Bay!



The view on the way to J-Bay!



Friday – Sunday

A group of 12 of us decided it would be a great time to go to Jeffery’s Bay.  It is about a 2 hour drive (if you don’t get lost and stop a million times ha!) We decided to rent three cars, two of which belonged to two guys who live in Annie’s Cove, which was very nice.  We had a hard time getting everyone together to leave by noon, and turns out we got on the road around 2-2:30 and we didn’t arrive to J-Bay until about 5.  The flats we stayed in fit 6 people each! They were really nice, nice size kitchen, two rooms, one bunk bed and a lot of places to sit.  The first night was spent relaxing, playing card games and having a large Braai (South African way of saying barbequing) for dinner.



Our Sitting Room!



The kitchen

Jack Sparrow and I

On Saturday the guys decided to surf and the 8 girls went shopping and horseback riding on the beach.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day!  My horses name was Jack Sparrow, now you can imagine how excited I was about this! Ha! (For those of you who did not catch on Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean Movies) He definitely had a mind of his own at times but other than that he was a blast.  I was joking around and talking to my horse referencing the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and the girls were just laughing at me.  The ride started out slow, but once we were allowed more freedom it was a lot of fun, riding on the sand dunes, and I was most excited about walking right on the water’s edge.  As soon as we approached the water the guide immediately warned me that Jack loves the water too much, so I had to do what I could to keep him away from it! It was a very relaxing day!  That night our group went out to dinner at the Kitchen Window.  The food was great, and it was located right on the beach and had a great view!



Walking along the Indian Ocean



Our group at the Kitchen Window



We had to be out by 10:30 am Sunday, so we decided to spend the rest of the day doing some last minute shopping and head to the beach to relax.  It was nice to relax on the beach, and I took full advantage of napping while I could! We were unable to do much while we were there, so we plan to head back and see more soon.

Miss you all!