When
I first met Jeanette, I wanted to hear about her story and to offer my time to
help her with anything she needed!
She
explained to me that she was in need of one more person to help the teachers.
Beauty takes care of 40 kids on average, Linda 30. The main challenge is offering
the best support for the kids when they are doing their activities. For
example, when they are trying to write, it becomes challenging, as most of them
are new to this and need one to one support.
This
is how I volunteered to become a teacher. At first, I felt REALLY intimidated:
I am far from a teacher! Besides, being European, I knew that you generally
needed to have specific training that involves at least 2 years of studies in
order to teach.
I
also felt intimidated by Beauty, the teacher. Once again, my European mind was
telling me: who do you think you are to pretend you can help here!?
At
last: I was a little bit scared! One reads so many stories about the hard
living conditions in the townships. Jeanette explained to me that she had to
secure all the windows and doors, as some people would come during the night. They
even stole the daycare’s jungle gym!
So I
arrived there, happy but lost in my crazy thoughts.
It
all went away when I was welcomed by all these kids with wonderful smiles,
screaming, laughing … they all looked so happy and it made me feel so welcome!
UMLUNGU
! UMLUNGU! The youngest ones were screaming…
It
means “white person” in Zulu. They were nearly in hysterics; I have never
received so many hugs in my life J
I
quickly adapted to the rhythm of the school: breakfast, face cleaning, playtime
for the youngest, exercises for the oldest, then rhymes and singing before
lunch.
Following
lunch, naptime until brothers, sisters or parents came to pick them up.
After
the second day, I realized that the only thing I should have been scared about was
communication; I was very naïve to believe they would speak English!!!
There
are 11 official languages in South Africa and even if the kids are from the
same place, the parents come from different cities or even countries, speaking
different languages or dialects…
So
here I am trying to explain in English how to write a D or do not go outside
the lines when coloring or even the essential phrase: SEAT DOWN!
Luckily
Beauty is here to maintain some order in the class.
There
is a lot to do: I wish we could keep the kids busy longer but paper is a
precious material. I wish we could take the kids out for them to run and scream
and play but the space is very small and it is winter now. I wish we could
teach them how to do puzzles but there are not enough for everybody. I wish
they could paint big drawings with a mixture a colour and fabric but we don’t
even have one brush per kid so our creativity is limited.
Despite
all these wishes, everyday I spend there is magical. Kids are so enthusiastic
to learn, whatever the support, the space or even the language.
PS: I did
learn the essential phrase… HLALA PHANSI
