VOLUNTEER TEACHING

I was very lucky to meet another lady who lives in the same apartment building as me, who has been volunteering at a very poor school in downtown Johannesburg for the past six years. Her name is "Beanie" and she is a South African who teaches Afrikaans twice a week at the school.  The school has approximately 500 students who are mainly Zimbabwean refugees. The school is funded by the Methodist Church which is also based in the city district. The church alone caters for 3000-4000 refugees and needy people on a daily basis! Many of the children have lost parents and family members and live in an orphanage in Soweto. Many children have little or no food and often ragged uniforms, but they have the biggest smiles and hugs, and they are so eager to learn! The children are all polite and helpful. They have no outside playground or ovals to play on. The school building is old, damp, dark, dilapidated and has been without electricity for a month now! They have little resources, using very old and weathered blackboards. I even use the wall to write on! There is a lot of written/copy work for the children. The teachers are dedicated and try their best with their limited resources. They get paid pittance. I now volunteer to teach reading and writing twice a week too. Most children speak English, but there are a few who do not. I travel with Beanie on the days she goes. I do not like to drive on my own to the school as the highways are very chaotic with crazy taxi drivers! Plus, I get lost at the best of times, even with a GPS! I always take a loaf of peanut butter sandwiches for children who have nothing to eat and I bake the teachers some "goodies" to enjoy with their butter and jam sandwiches. I always come away from my mornings at this school with the biggest smile on my face and in my heart. These kids give me such a buzz!

Enjoy the photos of them. Please check out their website, too!
Albert Street Refugee School

Grade 1 has 32 children  crammed into a dark room with one teacher! The class has three
 teenagers in the class who have never been to school before! I take these three for lessons.

Grade 1 classroom.

Grade 2 classroom has 17 children and one teacher and
better windows to allow the natural light in!

Happy Grade 3 children.

Learning "There were 5 in the bed and the little one said…"

My classroom….the kitchen!

Plamedi, Tanaka and Rumbuzai 

Learning to recognise letters to spell words.

 

JOHN & RUTH COME TO VISIT

John and Ruth, Australian friends living Maputo, came to visit us for a weekend. It was so lovely having them as our first guests in our new apartment. We took them to Mandela Square and to two our favourite restaurants called "Buhkara" and "The Grillhouse". After a morning yoga class, we took them to  The Neighbour Goods Markets to introduce them to champers and oysters for morning tea! We also did the Red Bus Tour and stopped off at the Apartheid Museum where we spent hours and still didn't get to see it all! We had a great visit and  look forward to the next time they are down in Jozi!

ORANGE BABIES - SOUTH AFRICA

Upon returning to Johannesburg, I knew no one and had nothing to occupy myself with. During my first week back, I met a lady who also lives in the same complex as me. Her name is Silke and she is Dutch. She works as a volunteer promoting the ORANGE BABIES Foundation.

From their website….

The Orange Babies foundation was established to help pregnant women with HIV and their babies in Africa. Orange Babies also supports children who are infected with the virus or who are otherwise directly affected. Orange Babies helps  by offering information programs and medical care and by building orphanages, maternity clinics and shelters for these women and children. Orange Babies is well aware of the immense scale of the AIDS problem. However, sitting idly by is not an option. That is why we devote ourselves every day to the people who need us most!  I had the privilege of going to THE ORANGE BABIES MONTESSORI PRESCHOOL. It was such a beautiful place filled with beautiful children. From their website….  In 2009, Orange Babies funded the construction of a Montessori pre-school on the premises of New Jerusalem for children living in the Home as well as children from surrounding impoverished communities. Orange Babies' assistance with this project was motivated by a belief that vulnerable children deserve the opportunity to develop to their full potential and a hope that, by integrating orphans and vulnerable children with children from the community, the situation would be normalised and the stigma around HIV/AIDS reduced. Initially, parents from the community were afraid of sending their children to school with orphaned, vulnerable and, in some cases, HIV infected children.  The outstanding results achieved by the school and the awards won at primary school by the first graduates helped to  overcome these fears. Now, over 80% of the 100 children attending Orange Babies Montessori Pre-school come from the community. The school continues to thrive and to provide high-quality early childhood development free of stigma. Beside, the preschool is an orphanage called NEW JERUSALEM.  From their website….  New Jerusalem Children's Home provides residential care to 80 orphaned and vulnerable children, many of whom are infected  or affected by HIV/AIDS. The Home was founded by sisters Anna and Phina Mojapelo, both of whom continue to run the Organisation. Orange Babies had supported this project in various ways since 2004. Most recently, Orange Babies helped to fund the construction of an environmentally–friendly house for a third of the children living at New Jerusalem.  The house enables the children to live in families of 12 children, each with a dedicated housemother. Each child has his or her own space within the house and there are communal dining, recreation and homework areas. For many of the children, this is  the first real home and family they have ever had. Constructed out of 28 recycled shipping containers, and a number of recycled materials, the house uses solar power for lighting and hot water and recycles all effluence into water used for irrigation. With the exception of drinking water, the house is completely off the grid. Moving into the house has given the children a new–found sense of community, pride and dignity. Lining up to take turns Washing hands before snack time. The children are given a bread and butter sandwich  with water for snack.                         Smiles Laughter The teachers Curiosity Mirrors reflecting their beautiful faces! Well resourced classrooms Very tidy, too! Dancing for the visitors And singing for the visitors New Jerusalem Orphanage constructed from recycled shipping containers Whilst I was there, a camera crew was filming a short informational documentary to be used as promotional material for the ORANGE BABIES launch here in Johannesburg. Watch it carefully, you may see me!

 ORANGE BABIES FILM