This one is going to be succinct and to-the-point (famous last words for me)
So, what is it exactly that we do here? I’m glad you asked. Here’s a breakdown of an average week for us, as well as a few sneak peeks at what is coming up!
Monday-Thursday we work at Slangspruit Primary School, helping out in the classrooms
Ariana helps Mrs. Nkubane with Grade 7 English and Life Orientation
I help Mr. Biyela with Grade 7 Natural Sciences, Mr. Khuzwayo and Mrs. Qoma with Grade 7 Social Sciences, and Mrs. Qoma with Grade 6 English.
We are mostly in the Grade 7 classes because the kids only start learning English in Grade 4, so the younger ones can’t really understand what we’re saying (still a blast to hang out with, and honestly talking is overrated when there is monkey bars to conquer and isiZulu dances to learn (or butcher, as the case may be)). We help teach lessons, mark exams, and come term 3, which is up starting after our July holidays, we will be running a sort of education assistance program for the learners who need that little bit of extra help. School is from 7:30-2:30 everyday, and on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s we are starting up an afterschool homework club, again just to help out those learners who need that support. Wednesday’s we are running an afterschool club that’s more camp-themed: games, crafts, sports and the like just to get some extra facetime with the kids who aren’t in our support programs.
After all that, we take the kombi home – sometimes efficient… sometimes you are driving up and down township dirt roads for 30 minutes in the heat, looking for that one extra passenger… never a dull moment.
Friday’s we aren’t at the school – we reserved that day for all extra ‘community outreach’ activities we are gonna be doing with Ukulapha. Things like shadowing a social worker (Ariana), sitting in on an archaeology seminar at UKZN (Jess), or visiting other schools in the area to get some comparison between government-run and private-funded schools. Sometimes Friday’s are just working from home – writing blog posts or reflections for CAPI, finishing work for Ukulapha, or just generally trying to stay on top of ‘real life’ while down here… which can sometimes look like me, answering emails with my feet dangling in the pool 🤗
This past week and the one coming up have been camps for us… we chose to do a camp for both boys and girls, making it an ‘around the world’ theme with lots of different camp games, indigenous arts, stories and activities, and some yummy food – we pulled off a ‘Canada day’ this past Thursday where we actually had a campfire and got the kids to make bannock!
Weekends are our adventure/relax/everything in between times. We have joined a gym here, about a 5-minute walk from our house, and somehow Ariana has convinced me that morning workouts are a thing. Cut to me cursing her, the instructor, and every god I can think of in an 8 am spin class on one of my days off.
We have been hiking in nature reserves and explored Durban, but up to this point weekends have mostly been either camp prep or holiday planning. This coming week is our second and final week of camp, and then Friday we head off on our first big adventure: a road-trip down the coast of the Eastern Cape, through the Garden Route and into Cape Town for a week of true hikes, city exploring and more wine than can possibly be imagined. If I’m missing out on a summer of Naramata wine tours, I most certainly am making it up by spending 3 days in the Stellenbosch, praying I don’t eat it on my bike tour while wine drunk🥂
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