The Children Are Coming! The Children Are Coming!

Hello from Cape Town!

Sorry I haven't updated this in awhile. There's been internet issues...This Is Africa!

First, and most importantly, Happy Belated Groundhog Day!

A lot has happened since my last post. I've decided to focus my time on Kuyasa. I will be spending Monday-Thursday at Kuyasa and Friday at Pneumatix. The programs began this week and it has been great! Kuyasa touches 300+ kids a day and it absolutely comes alive with them. In the mornings I've continued to tutor a couple guys who didn't pass their Grade 12 maths and physics/chemistry exams in December. Their exams are quite difficult and remind me a lot of an AP exam. It's been interesting to begin to understand the education system here. To go on to the next grade a student must pass exams at the end of the year. They don't call it "taking an exam" but "writing a paper." I initially thought they actually had to write a math paper or something like that and I couldn't figure out what they wrote about! For every subject there are 2 separate exams with each taking 3 hours to complete. "Pass" usually means above a 40%. I know these guys are smart. It is immediately obvious when you have a conversation with them. The problem is they aren't taught to problem solve or think independently. So, when they have to do that on an exam, the success rate isn't so good. For example, of the 85 Grade 11 students at Kuyamandi High School, 15 advanced onto Grade 12. There was the same passing rate at the other high school in Kayamandi. However, 100% of the students who attended Kuyasa advanced to the next year.

After I tutor I help prepare for the preschool-Grade 3 students to come. Before they attend class, there is a feeding scheme. Imagine, 250+ kids who just got out of school, are hungry, and are waiting for their only hot meal of the day! There's definitely a sense of organized chaos. Once the kids are done eating they come to the Learning Center and are split up into their classes. I am teaching the preschoolers...no easy task! Xhosa kids are first taught English beginning in Grade 1 so my kids, obviously, don't speak English and my Xhosa is horrible. I usually have a translator to help but yesterday my translator disappeared after 30 minutes of my 1.5 hour class! Now I had 25 crazy 3-5 year olds and they can't understand a word I'm trying to say. The pandemonium certainly motivated me to learn some more Xhosa! I really have no idea how to control that many crazy kids but I'm sure the Xhosa won't hurt.

After the preschool-Grade 3 classes, the Grade 4-7 and Grade 8-10 students come. I've been teaching the Grade 7 students. They are so much fun!!! We've been able to play some games and have competitions to get everyone involved and, theoretically, make math & science less horrible for them. I think it might be working...yesterday, after class, 6 kids stayed around to do more math with me!

In addition to all of this, on Monday nights I'm going to be a small group leader for a group called Women of Wisdom (WOW). The goal of WOW is to create strong female leaders in the community through the teenage girls. We're going to go through a study of Job which will, hopefully, allow the girls to be vulnerable and honest about their life experiences and build them up into strong and courageous members of the community.

At the end of the day I am exhausted but with every day I am falling more and more in love with these kids. There is something about a little guy running up to jump on you and give you a hug or a student saying "thank you Sis Nora, I understand it now" that makes the chaos and exhaustion so incredibly worth it! I was also fortunate enough today to walk around Kayamandi for a couple hours and really understand the situations and conditions my kids are living in. 20,000 people in tin houses, communal bath rooms and sewage running down the road makes me astonished my kids even have enough energy and stamina to go to school and get excited about everyday. But they do! Everyday they have a smile on their face that shines so incredibly bright!

It's been a fabulous week and I am so excited to go back tomorrow and do it all over again!

Shout Out Section
I thought I'd wrap up my red head theme...
Hi John!!! I was talking about Athletics with a couple kids and they were quite impressed I know someone who could jump over 2m. You're a legend!