Good Food, Good Conversation.

I recently had the opportunity to partake in an Afrikaaner Feast. Catered by some good friends of Refilwe, I sat down to experience some of the cuisine unique to the Afrikaans culture here in South Africa. The spread consisted of biltong soup and cheese bread for entree, springbokjies (cherries wrapped in bacon), pumpkin fritters and steak kebabs for main and mini malva puddings for dessert, giving us more culinary delight than we could handle.

The feast was thrown for some of the teenagers that live here at Refilwe. Jaco and I arranged a time for them to come and enjoy themselves, eat a good meal and to give them an opportunity to talk and ask questions about their experiences here. You should be aware by now that I have been working with most of these teenagers at Refilwe's Hands of Hope school in the role of teacher and counselor. In my conversations with Jaco about some of the issues that seemed to be themes for many of the teenagers, we came up with the idea of giving them some time and space to forum some of these issues for themselves.

After an hour or so of wonderful food, we settled down with coffee and dessert to get to the business of talking. Having had conversations about the various topics with most of them, I was able to facilitate some discussion around issues such as relationships and dating, feeling trusted, discipline procedures, etc etc. One of the most interesting topics that has come up for me lately with my students has been 'outsiders' views of the children here at Refilwe. To quote one of my students, he asked of Jaco 'Why do they say we are orphans? We all have families that we live with here.'

This idea is a good reminder to me of the work that Refilwe is doing. Yes, some of the children living here have been orphaned and many have come from difficult and unlivable family situations, but the moment they became 'Refilwe Children' they were no longer orphaned or vulnerable. There is keen significance in this fact for the children who live here- their identity is not in that they are orphans, but in that they are part of a family who loves and cares for them no matter what. The struggle comes for many of the teenagers when they read and hear donor and other volunteer organisations' descriptions of Refilwe's role in their lives. It seems that the idea of 'neglected and orphaned' children draws sympathy (and money) from the public, inaccurate as it may be.

Ultimately it is the teenagers' individual decision which identity they choose. Refilwe receives a lot of different support, donations both financial and in kind as well as regular volunteering. It is easy to assume the role of needy and vulnerable child here, what with the amount of donors and volunteers coming ready to 'help the poor children'. The kids must take some responsibility in how they allow themselves to be viewed, not just choosing when and how they want to be indignant about the misunderstanding of their situation. In all of this, the challenge for Refilwe is to direct some of this good intention to the many children just down the road who truly are vulnerable.

Science Week

After three weeks of holidays, Term Three began for us with our Science Week. It was a crazy, chaotic week that ended with a very successful Science Fair and some Very Proud teachers! We gave every student a project that consisted of an experiment they had to publish and present at the end of the week. 

Not coincidentally, we were also visited by a group of students and teachers from a school in Canada. The group is connected with a Rotary Club in Canada that is hoping to invest in and support the construction of a larger and more permanent school at Refilwe (at the moment we hold classes in modified house!). They were a great help with assisting our students with their projects.

Instead of normal classes, we focussed only on science experiments all week, with our main aim to teach the students the vocabulary and process of the Scientific Method. After every one of us made the students recite "aim, hypothesis, apparatus, method, observations, conclusion" at the beginning, middle and end of every class you can be sure they learned it! We often find with our students that learning and repeating technical English vocabulary can be challenging (one student called experiments 'experiences' all week- so by Friday we were all getting mixed up and saying the wrong word!) so have to concentrate on making sure the terminology is understood before starting on complicated concepts.

As I said, our Fair on Friday was a big success! All of the students worked very hard (some were even knocking on my front door at 7.45am on Friday morning asking me to hurry up and get to school so they could work on their finishing touches!) and produced excellent work! Everyone learned something new in the process of their experiments, from how aeroplanes are able to take off to how hydroelectric power is produced to how sound waves move. We all had so much fun and it was a great way to begin the term. Next week we begin our normal time table again, hopefully with as much energy as we produced this week!.

Happy Birthday, Madiba

Today is Nelson Mandela's 91st birthday, a day of notable celebration in South Africa. Mandela, affectionately known by his nation as Madiba, will have his birthday celebrated by the entire country as well as in many places around the world. As I write this, 'Madiba's Birthday Party' is being televised live for all South Africans to watch; in fact, the children at Refilwe were invited and are attending the party here in Johannesburg.

Nelson Mandela almost singlehandedly led South Africa through one of its most tumultuous periods. Imprisoned for life because activism against the apartheid regime, he chose to dedicate his life to the reconciliation of his nation. Rather than promoting violent revolution against the apartheid government, he sought instead a path of negotiation and communication. In the early 90s, this approach enabled him to convince the president of the day, F.W. Klerk, to unban Black political organisations and release political prisoners. Mandela was released from prison in 1991, after 17 years' imprisonment.

Leading the ANC to victory in 1994, Madiba became South Africa's first black president. 15 years later, although retired from politics, he continues to play a vital role as a symbol of peaceful progress and hope for a nation plagued by ongoing social difficulty. There is genuine affection in this country for Mandela, evidenced by the way people speak of and honor him. As we learn more about the role he played in South Africa's history, it is clear to us that he is one of those men who, through persistence and commitment to his cause, actually changed the world. It is because of his leadership that we can be in SA today, working alongside and empowering those who were so destroyed by the system he fought so doggedly against.

Happy Birthday, Madiba.

The Kruger

To say the very least, our trip to Kruger National Park (known by most people here as "The Kruger") was incredible. Not only did we get to go with my wonderful parents, but we also got to spend an entire week driving around a completely wild sanctuary of almost 20,000 square kilometres. Our days were spent staring out the windows of our car at sights like this lioness stalking her prey

and this giraffe practically posing for the shoot

and this elephant being none too pleased to have us in his space 

And herds and herds of zebra, often doing funny things

and plenty of animals just chilling in the trees by the river

Not to mention these incredible sunrises every morning!

South Africa, as we are discovering, is a country blessed with a myriad natural resources. Just before the holidays I covered a unit with my Year Eights on 'South Africa's Natural Resources' and the lists we came up with were extensive: from iron, coal, gold and diamonds to fertile soil and great climate to a huge coastline to incredible scenery... not to mention the Big Five! With so many international visitors coming to SA in the next 12 months, it is exciting to think of the potential the tourism industry has for playing a vital role in economic growth that is so needed.

A Refilwe Wedding.

On Saturday we attended our first South African wedding. It's not every day that you get invited to an African wedding, but in actual fact, we were invited almost as soon as we'd arrived at Refilwe back in February! The happy couple, Richard and Dudu, have both worked at Refilwe for a number of years. Dudu (or Mama Dudu, as she is known by everyone) has been a God Parent to six children for almost three years. Until now, she has been parenting them alone, which has presented more than a few challenges! Richard works in Refilwe's health care programs and currently works closely with Amanda during the week. The couple met here at Refilwe and fittingly had their wedding here as well.

The African Wedding is a very Big Deal. This wedding involved many people and a huge amount of planning and preparation (no different to anywhere in the world, really!). All of Dudu's foster children were in the bridal party, along with several other Refilwe employees and volunteers. Ever since we arrived at Refilwe, the bridal party was having weekly dance rehearsals to master the different steps involved throughout the day. Richard's family came from Zambia in order to take part in the day: there were literally people from all over the world at this wedding!

Something we have recently learned is that many South Africans do not get married because of the great cost involved. Not only do you have to pay for dresses, suits, food, a church, photography and all the other wedding paraphernalia, but in the African cultures there is also the issue of paying a lobola. Traditionally, the lobola is a monetary or material gift paid by the groom's family to the bride's family to secure a marriage. A long time ago it would have been negotiated in terms of numbers of cows, but these days it is more likely to be discussed in terms of money. The bride's family can set an amount that is considered to be an honorable price for their daughter's hand and any prospective husband must be able to pay this before making her his wife. With so many people living in poverty, many men are not able to pay the necessary amount, so do not marry their partners, further adding to some of the social problems in some areas.

Being a tradition that stems from ideas of male dominance and of women as possessions, you would think that younger generations would be baulking at paying lobola in this day and age.

Yet, in my conversations with different women and girls about this issue over the past couple of months, I have learned that they do not see it in this light (must be my feminist side coming through!). One of the Mamas here described to me how disrespected she would feel if a prospective husband of hers discarded the tradition of lobola. Another girl explained how the tradition is important for her family to ensure that she is well taken care of. It seems that there is a sense of honor and pride that comes from the expectation of lobola and that this sense is more prevalent than notions of ownership and dominance. To be honest, I am still a little skeptical of the whole thing, however I am realising how necessary it is to look at everything from more than one, or even more than two, angles to understand its meaning.

My mum and dad arrived in South Africa on Thursday, which meant they were just in time for the festivities! We have so far had a great time catching up with them and letting them spoil us! We are heading off later in the week for a holiday at Kruger National Park. You can expect lots of photos upon our return!

Below is some of the video I took of some of the many occurences of dancing at the wedding. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

June 16th: National Youth Day

June 16th, 1976 marked the beginning of significant change in South Africa. The Apartheid Government had recently introduced an edict stating that all students were to be taught in Afrikaans or English only, and many black students had had enough. In the township of Soweto, situated on the outskirts of Johannesburg, several high schools in the area began to protest for their right to education in their own language.

Black children's education standards had been in a steep decline since the early 1950s. The government systematically removed large amounts of funding from the black education system, redirecting funds towards schools for white children. A law passed in 1963 prohibited black children from attending 'white' schools, forcing these children to make the choice between attending underfunded schools or not attending school at all. Although populations in townships such as Soweto grew, no new schools were built to accommodate the rising numbers of students in these areas until 1972. When the government did begin to build schools, it was for the sole purpose of training black students to be labourers in specific industries. Black students had very little control or power when it came to their education; the edict that they must now learn only in the language of their oppressors was, in many ways, the straw that broke the camel's back.

June 16th was the day of what was planned to be a peaceful protest. Thousands of students streamed down one of the main roads in Soweto, picking up students from the high schools along the way. Unfortunately, the Authorities did not allow the protest to progress, raising tension levels and giving way to violent riots in which many students were killed. Outrage at the unnecessary brutality and violence by the authorities gave way to protests and riots throughout South Africa for the remainder of 1976, with over 600 individuals killed as a direct result of the movement. Suddenly, the black population was no longer quietly allowing injustice to dictate their future. South Africa was changed.

Thankfully, the world began to take notice, too. A photo of a 12 year old boy called Hector Pieterson (below), the second child to be killed by the police during the riots, became a symbol of the violence and brutality behind the Apartheid regime. The photo was given global attention and the world began to take serious notice, with many world leaders publicly criticising the government system, introducing economic sanctions and calling for immediate change.

It took another 18 years of struggle, but in 1994, instead of engaging in a civil war that would probably still be raging today, South Africa peacefully ended apartheid and began the road to healing and justice. June 16th, now a national holiday, is a significant reminder of the day it all began.

A Week (or so) of Netball Madness

Since coming to Refilwe, I have been very involved with the girls' netball team. Every Wednesday as an afterschool activity another teacher and I take our team of 10 girls up to Refilwe's netball/tennis courts for netball training. Now, in my early years I was a keen netball player (I may be using the term 'keen' loosely here; my memories of netball games involve me as Goal Shooter having friendly chats with the Goal Keeper the whole game while the ball never came down our end...) but since I was about 11, netball was a PE only sport for me. Needless to say, over the past three months I have grown much more affectionate towards the sport as a whole and have even started tearing up the court as the Wing Attack for Refilwe's All Star Ladies Team.

The girls that play for our school team have varied abilities, but are quickly learning to play together as a team. Last week we took them to a nearby high school for their first 'real' game against another team. What an experience it was for our poor girls: we drove in to the carpark, got out of our cars and had to walk the length of a large quadrangle, feeling the stares of the 200 students watching us arrive. The "netball" court (which was actually a tennis court with chalk-drawn lines and circles) was then surrounded by said 200 students, singing and cheering for their home team. To say that our girls were intimidated would be an understatement: they had strange bewildered looks on their faces the entire first quarter. As they grew more comfortable their confidence grew, to the point where they even scored a couple of goals. At the end of the day I was quite the proud coach! 

Now, I realise most of you reading from the US probably have no idea that netball is even a sport. I'm not going to explain it to you here; get your uneducated selves on to Wikipedia and learn all about it.

Netball has also been the topic of the week for many of the ladies here at Refilwe. Friday afternoon we also had a 'real' match against a team sent by one of our corporate donors. (The photos dispersed throughout this blog are from our game- I was too busy [badly] umpiring the girls' game to take photos. Next time!) In preparation, we had a couple of practice matches during the week that consisted of half of the Refilwe mob heading up to the courts for some crazy netball times. You know you're comfortable with a group of people when you're running around screaming their names and jabbing them in the ribs! It was certainly hectic, but such a reminder of the way in which sport can bring people together.

Community development organisations often use sports as a way of connecting with and building communities that may otherwise be difficult to reach. I remember learning in my uni days about soccer programs started in some African countries as a means of HIV/AIDS awareness and education. Sport can be a universal language that teaches about healthy living, teamwork and community building. For young people it can be a means by which they become engaged in something new and productive, drawing them into an organisation without any strings attached. In South Africa, there are so many things going up against young people living in poverty: difficult home lives and a lack of resources and/or motivation to engage in positive activities mean that many young people end up using alcohol or other drugs and entering into unhealthy relationships (either friendship or romantic). Both have the potential to put a young person at a higher risk of contracting avoidable diseases and making unwise life choices. It sounds simple, but just providing free alternatives such as regular sporting activity can be life changing for some.

Some of you netball enthusiasts may have scrutinised the photos well enough to notice that the game we played on Friday was not the most professional of matches. It was good fun, though. Playing against a corporate sponsor's team, we had the chance to put faces to an otherwise faceless body and teach them a little bit about what Refilwe is all about (as well as a few netball rules to some!). And this time our team won, 16-7. Not that winning is the point, but it's still nice!