A week in pictures !

Thought of the day... by Patrick

Patrick is our driver. He is a great, funny and moody driver. 

If you think a driver should stay quiet and respect your space and privacy, think again! Patrick will jump in your conversation, comment on the news, tell you to remove your jacket if you need air con and even argue with you on your choice of destination! 

But we love him; we have so many laughs together that I decided to share some of his thought. 

Oh ... one more thing before I start sharing his thought: Patrick is a black South African father of three from Limpopo. He moved to Joburg to make enough money to take care of his family. These thought are backed by a strong African culture.

So here it is:

Here, customers are always wrong but they always try to have it wright.

I told you ... try to tell him that: The customer is king!

Another day in a township

Yesterday, we were driving through Kliptown, a suburb of Soweto.

Even if the government built 4 room houses or brick houses to improve the living conditions of post-apartheid townships, one can still see a lot of shacks and informal homes.

The poorest areas are considered by some as a memory of what Soweto use to be: an accumulation of old “matchbox” houses, with no running water, no electricity, often isolated from public facilities and facing a lot of disease, crime and other natural element issues.

Even the township’s habitants are disgusted by these areas and the people living in the poorest camps as they bring many problems.

There, to survive, to cook or keep yourself warm, you have to lite a fire. The fire is not only a commodity; it is also a place to meet with your neighbors, friends, and community.

But often, the fires become uncontrollable. This is what we experienced yesterday: a few shacks caught fire, creating huge flames and very heavy, dark smoke.

Soweto’s fire station is only a few minutes’ drive from here but nobody came. The fire ended up being controlled and stopped by courageous young men walking on the top of the shacks with big buckets of water to stop the disaster.

What we saw was solidarity of a community, amazing men not afraid of climbing a shack that could be the next to burn. However, there were also a lot of drunk guys lying on the street, freezing kids, rubbish everywhere and in all this… no firemen. 

TGIF !

Who said that dress down Friday was only for us: busy, stressful and grown up people?

Even at school, Friday means fun! No writing today, no drawing either. Not even poems. Today is about fun!

Usually, on Friday, even the gates disappear and the kids go to play outside: Races, balls, screams and everything a kid can do when space is not an issue and safety is well managed by Beauty, the teacher.

Unfortunately, today we could not get out of the gate: construction work on the road is under way so it is not safe for us to be outside.

The school is too small for the kids to play outside… But Beauty is full of resources. Today is about dance, catwalk and singing! It is amazing to see them moving and singing.

I can’t understand one word of what they are singing: it is in zulu! But I can tell you one thing: they can move!!! Some are shyer but nothing to worry: the big ones take over and teach the small ones.

After all this fun, time to clean the hands and have some lunch J

Well behaved spectators 

Enjoying a warm meal 

Welcome to Ebuhleni Day Care Center

Jeanette opened Ebuhleni Day Care in 2000. It all started when she invited a couple of young kid to share her breakfast and lunch. They were desperate for food, looking in the bins… After only few days, it was not just a couple of kids but many, many more joining her for lunch.

This is how Ebuhleni Day Care is born. Since then, Jeanette has put all her love, soul and heart into this project.

With her team, she takes care of more than 70 kids a day!

Jeanette is amazing with these kids, she is making everything possible to give them what they need: warm breakfasts and lunches, snacks, a place for a nap, a great pre-school program and much more.. But she needs help to keep her day care running.

Her wish list is simple. It includes electricity, blankets, carpeting, chairs, baby mattresses, fixing the roof,  groceries … 

In this blog, I want to share the courage, the love and the energy of people behind the border of the township.