SOS Kindergarten "Market Day"

This week they had "Market Day" at the SOS Kindergarten, where the kids pay in R7.50 (just over $1) and then they went around and "bought" things at the different "shops" set up. I worked a shop "selling" magnets, stickers, rulers and balloons. There were also shops "selling" chips, pancakes, popcorn, a soft toy, a borewors roll, juice, etc. The kids all got stuff from each shop and then enjoyed all their goodies....the day is designed to teach them that things cost money and when they go into shops they have to pay for what they want. They also played music as the kids love to show off their dance moves!! They had donations from some businesses and also had a women from ActII bring popcorn and juice for the kids and a couple ladies drove up in the Red Bull car...a car that is not only painted like a can of Red Bull, its got a huge Red Bull can attached to the back of the car!! They gave each of us workers a free can of Red Bull to help get us through the crazy day!! A great time was had by all!!

Manenberg Tour!

Last week the whole team went on a tour of Manenberg, a poor area of Cape Town, it's not really a township, but it is certainly a disadvantaged area. As we walked along on the tour and listened to the different people talk, it was interesting how the issues they deal with in this community are so similar to the issues facing our inner cities in the US. Drugs, gangs, unemployment, minimal education....it was great to see the programs they have going to try to combat these issues. The organization that gave us the tour is called SelfHelp Manenberg, they aren't waiting for the government or more privileged people to come "rescue" them - they are taking the initiative themselves and doing something about it! They have various training programs going to assist the people get skills required to get a job. They train the people and also assist them in finding employment. They served us a meal made by some of the people in the catering and hospitality programs. Once they finish the programme they are assisted in finding jobs at hotels and the like. Here are pictures from the tour....first pictures along the street of the shacks built in front of apartment buildings, we visited one family who has a little convenience store in the front room of their house. They sell coffee and sugar in little baggies that residents can buy for 1 rand (14 cents!)....a picture of kids hanging out along the road....a picture from the church we visited where they talked a lot about the gang activity that has plagued the area the last 30 years but has been better lately, the house the church is in used to be a hub of gang activity but the leader became a Christian and gave the house to the church....the last picture is of a man who is a former gang member and has now also become a Christian and runs this fruit stand, he had a sign hanging that said "no Jesus, no life...know Jesus, know life!"

Grandparents Concert at SOS Kindergarten!

Sept 12th was the annual Grandparents Concert for the kids at the SOS Children's Village Kindergarten. I got to help them with the concert, both in terms of getting ready, practices and so on, and then with keeping the kids organized for the actual concert. It was crazy, but a lot of fun! Of course the kids are soooo cute!! Here are some pics for you.... This is a pic of some of the kids singing "10 little monkey's jumping in the trees" song...Here's a pic of some of the kids singing the "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" song....Here's a pic of some of the kids singing "The Little Brown Jug" song....And finally here's a pic of two of our budding actors in the play "The Old Man". Matthew is "the old man" and Alex is playing the "magical, golden fish"! All the kids were so precious!!!

Goodbye Nathan!!

Nathan also left on Sept 5th. He was our first "local" international volunteer as he is from the Johannesburg area. His family is friends with our Centre Director, Rolf, and he was looking for a volunteer opportunity for a couple months before going to college. He was quite the character! Here's a pic of him that we call "surfer dude" since he tried his hand at surfing while he was here. It was nice getting to know about another area of South Africa. Jo'burg is pretty different from Cape Town, so it was cool hearing his stories and how his life is different there. We'll miss his humor and openness to anything! He'll be going to school for graphic design and from what I've seen I think he will be very succesful! Here's another pic of him with two of our other vols when they climbed Table Mountain.....

Goodbye Vanessa!!

Vanessa left on Sept 5th, she'd only been here for 5 weeks but she left an indelible impression on all of us! She wants to be a teacher and so she was part of the team that taught lifeskills at the 6th grade class at Vissershok Primary School. She was also a leader on the Christian Union team. It was on this team that I really saw her shine. I'd watch her and the other leader, Nathan, prepare and it was clear they put a lot of time and thought into their lessons. Then I went down one of the days to take some pictures and in the small group she was leading, the two young girls started fighting in Afrikaans and finally the one girl started crying. I felt that Vanessa really handled this situtation well....stayed calm and gently kept asking what the girls were talking about until they finally confessed that the one girl had threatened to have the other beat up if she did not share in the group! Vanessa took the one girl aside and talked to her privately about how to treat others and how much words can hurt other people. She then had her come back to the group and apologize to the other girl. It was a really stressful situation, but I felt like she really handled it well, especially for a 19 yr old with not much experience! Vanessa was also great fun around the house and had a great balance of being serious sometimes and crazy silly other times. The above pic shows her silly side. She's also in the pic on my main blog page...We truly miss her lots and are praying for her future plans to study as we are sure she will be an awesome teacher!!