From South Africa

Hello Everyone from South Africa. If you didn’t hear we made it safely and without a hitch. We have now been here two weeks and we can honestly say it has been an amazing experience so far, as well as an eye opening one. For the last two weeks our group of 19 have been working with local schools close to the townships (informal settlements is the PC name). The school Gina and I have been working in is a two part experience. Each day we spend an hour and forty minutes teaching a classroom of students. We have been able to teach on a range of topics, from respect and teamwork to about the different countries in the world cup. Then in the afternoon, the group of six of us that go to this school, coach soccer for an hour. At times it is hard but just seeing how exited the kids get when we show up makes it all worth it.

We could tell you many stories and experiences so far but to save your eyes and time I will just tell you two to give you an idea of what we are doing. So flexibility is something we are definitely learning here. On any given day a teacher may say their class is switching with another class, so we have to teach a different set of students that are also a different range of ages. One day we came to the school and were not supposed to coach the students until 2, from 2 to 3. While we were sitting at the school eating our lunch one of the teachers told us that the kids were on their way to the field. The next thing we know the principle walks in and says to the effect of “oops I forgot to tell you, you have the kids from now (12:30) till 2”. It doesn’t sound like that big of a deal but when you have a plan and it gets changed it can be challenging, especially for me and Gina. Another thing that happened was on the first day. We showed up to coach soccer, we walked onto a big field of rocks. No joke, a soccer size open area of rocks. Literally you couldn’t roll the ball straight if you tried. Then a hundred and twenty kids from age 12 to 18 came out at the six of us and we were told to teach them how to play soccer =) It was definitely a learning experience and challenging but we also reason that if we could handle that the first day we could handle anything else that came our way.

It is hard at times to see the living conditions the kids live in and to hear about things that go on with the kids at home. In my class of fifth graders one lesson the teacher gave was about not drinking, fighting, doing drugs, and having sex. She told us that all those things were almost normal for kids even at that age. Our teacher told me and my partner Peta (from Samoa) stories from when she worked with abused children, and even about how one girl in our school who had been raped. It is not easy to hear about and really puts into perspective the needs that are still out there in this world. I have been blessed with a Christian teacher who is open to us sharing with the kids and praying with them, which has been amazing. They really seem to respond well and I can only pray that God uses the words we say to really make a difference, if not now at some point in their lives.

A few other things you may find interesting. First that our school is not taught in English but in Africaans, most of the students we work with speak English but a lot of the time it can be challenging to communicate. I find we have to explain things many different ways and with simple words for them to understand well. This next week our schedule is the same but once the world cup starts the kids go on holiday so our schedule changes a little. Obviously the teaching part will go away, but the coaching part wont. The plan is to still coach our same kids for two sessions a day, I believe, and then to watch a world cup game with the kids. I am really excited about it right now, but also I am trying to keep an open mind because I wont know if the plan will change until it happens.

Enough for now, again we can never say thanks enough for the prayer you all give us. We don’t get many chances to get on the internet here, but we will try our best to post again soon.