S'mores and sleep over

Kristen is the PCV who lives closest to me. She came over and we enjoyed some beer, home made pizza, Saturday Night Live (at 9:00pm) and then s'mores on the coal stove. It was a much needed break from our everyday lives and helped fill our tanks, mentally and emotionally, for the week to come.

Gone Native...

The more time I spend here the more experiences I have that connect me to the culture. I see things that make me sad and want more for the people here. But I also get to experience what makes these people so beautiful.


Mma Gogo came to pull the dried maize (corn) off the cobs we harvested from our maize field. Be bagged it up and sent it to town on a donkey cart and got four big bags of milie meal to make bahobe (staple porridge) with. Between my Sepedi and Mma Gogo's English, we had a really fun time together. She loved teaching me the technique of shaving off the corn. It's not as easy as you think and it's hard on the hands. I have so much respect for the old women of this culture.




I know I look stupid but the winter mornings are very very cold and when you don't have all your winter clothes you make due with what you have.




This was so much fun. They taught me the rhythm to beat on the drum then they all started singing and dancing. The energy in that circle was amazing and the kids got a kick out of watching me drum.

Dressed for Winter

Tracksuits are the school uniforms that children wear during the cold winter months. Many of our children don't have them and are very cold when at school. So I wrote a letter of request (with the guidance of another PCV, for I'm learning as I go) and sent it to 30 different funding organizations in South Africa. It only takes one to respond with a "Yes" and that's what we got. With a huge thanks to the Pick N Pay Foundation (Pick N Pay is a major grocery store chain in SA) we were able to purchase tracksuits for 40 of our children. We held a small event and invited the children and their guardians. Nico, below, was the worker who took on this project. He said it felt so good to hand the children their new suits. He has already talked to me about taking on another project. It's the empowerment that the workers gain from these kinds of experiences that will keep Aletuke moving forward after I leave.





Each guardian signed for their child's tracksuit.




These boys are so happy to have a brand new tracksuit. Frans, the tall boy in the middle, is in the 11th grade and a wonderful role model for the others at Aletuke. He stood up and gave a wonderful speech of thanks to Aletuke for all that they do for him and the other children. It was extremely heart warming.




This photo needs no explanation.

Keeping warm

In late May I went to speak to the Mayor of my municipality to see if he could help me with a project I'm doing.  He was very interested in what we are doing in our village and came to see our center a couple weeks later.  He said that he is really glad to start a relationship with our organization and fully supports the work we do.  This month he showed up with a group of people from the municipality and a representative from the local mine who was the donor of the 150 blankets they had delivered that day for our children.  We made a small event out of it and distributed blankets to the children who were there that day.  We continue our door to door search for orphans and vulnerable children and are so happy to hand them a warm blanket for these cold winter months.  

Niko is one if two male volunteers.  He is helping to stack the 150 donated blankets.

This is the Mayor, his people and a rep from the donating company.  

This was a moment of singing and celebration for what we were receiving.  These women are all volunteers at Aletuke.

The Mayor is the man on the right in black.  He's a really great guy.

David, Aletuke's project manager and my supervisor, is like a pig in shit.  It's moments like these that he lives for.  This is what his work is all about... providing for the children of his community

Nothing warms your heart more than seeing the smiles on these children's faces.

I love my job...

   

Eye Screening

I saw a sign in the window of Specsavers, an eye glasses place in my shopping town.  It said "Free eye screening for all children 12 and under."  I went in to speak to them an we made arrangements for them to come to Aletuke and screen our kids and others in the village.  We ended up screening 87 children that day.  We will be taking 6 or 8 children to town for a full examination and if they need glasses they will be free too.  We caught a few eye problems that will need surgery at the hospital and many children with eye infections that will be treated at the clinic with drops.  It was a hugely successful day and another connection was made that will continue to help Aletuke provide better care for the children in the future.  Below are some pictures from that day and outside the children were playing on the playground while waiting to be tested.  I couldn't resist some of the cute faces.

These children are waiting in line to be screened.

Pauline is a volunteer at Aletuke that helped out with the eye screening.

Rose is another volunteer who helped out.

Who's the geek with the dorky glasses?

I love watching the kids be kids at Aletuke.

Simply precious...

This is Mma Mahowa with 5 or her 8 children.  These little ones all got screened on this day.  Mma Mahowa is becoming quite famous on my blog for she is the one holding  "slide condom off penis" in the condom demonstration and she was one of the recipients of the food parcels.  She is a dedicated volunteer who is at Aletuke every day.

  

Pancakes 101

I taught the ladies who work in the kitchen how to make pancakes and follow a recipe.  They had so much fun that morning.  Especially when they sat down with a stack of hot cakes to eat with their morning tea.  We discovered that they are cheaper to make than buying bread and yummier too.  Another score for Aletuke.

I went in to work this morning and they were busy flipping jacks for all the children today.  HOW COOL!

It was so cute to see them take turns pouring and flipping.

A spatula is not a common household utensil in this culture.  I brought mine to work this day.  I actually had to teach them how to use it to get under and flip without landing on the other pancakes.  They were fast learners.

I think the smile on her face says it all.

Another "proud mother" moment.  God, I love these women!

Next week we're learning how to make banana bread and brownies.  These ladies are so dedicated to the children and love to share their new cooking skills with them.   (from left to right) Mma Digashu, Mma Kekana and Mma Mabusela have certainly found their way into my heart.

Panty Party

A group of students from a near by high school did a food and clothing drive for Aletuke.  They delivered their donations and put on a wonderful event for us with readings, poetry, and my favorite, singing and dancing.

We then placed the clothes into outfits and distributed them to all the children.  It was so awesome to see the kids trying on all their "new clothes."

Thanks to the Somesville Union Meeting House Mom and Dad were able to hand-deliver a suitcase full of panties and socks for the children.  We also distributed them that day.  Oh happy day!!!

This little girl belongs in a pair of Cinderella panties.

There was lots of laughing, silliness and celebrating going on.

Socks, socks and more socks!

Me and Mary J (supervisor) joining in the fun.

Empty Bowls

On Tuesday, July 3oth Aletuke proudly distributed food parcels to 30 very needy families throughout my village of Moshate.  The staff of home-based care workers and the people targeting the “vulnerable” children in our community signed up families they felt were the most needy.  Thanks to the Empty Bowls project run by Kathleen Slack at Mount Desert Island High School we were able to put together parcels with a variety of staple foods and some soap for washing clothes and their bodies to encourage and maintain good hygiene.  The gift of money translated to R3000 (Rand).  We did an additional food drive for food items and money and raised another R700.  Two young women who have been volunteering at the center volunteered to take on this whole project.  They learned so much along the way and I was so proud of their efforts and dedication to the project.  The most beautiful part of the whole project was watching these two girls send families away with a bundle of food that they made happen.  When you live in an environment where food is often used as currency it was extremely humbling to talk to the different people who came to receive their parcel and find out what their story is at home.  Here are pictures of some of the people who benefitted from this project.  I would like to thank Kathleen Slack and the students of MDIHS who participated in this fundraiser and who chose my organization as the recipient of their hard work and this years Empty Bowls project.  Peace to you all.

Sara, left, and Precious, right, are the two young women who took this project by the horns and turned it into a great success.  I had a lot of fun getting to know them too.

Sugar, anyone?

This is what each family received.  Our bigger families of 7 or more got additional items like an extra bottle of oil, more salt and tin fish.

David is my supervisor and Aletuke project manager.  He was so please with the success of the project and that more and more people got to see what Aletuke is doing our community.

Sara enjoyed packing up our first customers of the day.  We used the church next to our center as the pick-up point.

Precious kept track of all the families and had each family sign for their parcel.

Myday is one of our orphans at our center.  She lives with her older sister, three younger brothers and her sister's three children and no one in the house is working.

This woman was so thankful and appreciative for the food.  With most of her teeth gone she had to work not to smile for the picture because I was making her laugh.

These are two very typical "youth" in our community.  They are no longer in school, unemployed and the girl on the right is pregnant.  They are probably living with very large families too.

This is a child-headed household taking care of her younger brothers and sisters.

This woman lives with her husband and they make traditional beer at their home and sell it.  She said that they don't sell much because they don't have the loud music to play like the bottle stores do.  She was most excited about the soap because now she could wash her clothes like the people around her do.

This man didn't talk much but he said "danky" (thank you in Africaans) over and over and over.

This young girl took my heart that day.  She is 22 and lives completely alone.  Her brother and mother died last year and she doesn't know where her other brother is.  Her home is not secure putting her safety at risk.  She has no work so she has a "boy friend" who gives her money at times.  Her eyes opened big and wide when we gave her the food.  She couldn't believe it was all for her.  

These two women care for a household of grandchildren left behind by their children who have died (most likely of AIDS)  They almost fell to the ground when I started speaking to them in Sepedi and they laughed and laughed with me as I showed them the pictures I took of them.

I didn't talk to these two boys but they loved having their picture taken and thanked me for doing it.

This is Mma Mohowa.  She is one of the dedicated volunteers at my center.  She has eight children of her own and neither she or her husband are working.  It was nice to be able to help out one of our own at the center.