Tuesday 6th - What a fabulous morning, the sky was crystal clear all over the city and we were finally in for some proper sun! This is part of the view of the city from the hotel room - Table Mountain in on the other side of the bay but I didn't get any photos.
At site work continued as usual except for a break of 45 minutes to visit the local school - Mitchells Heights. By the time our group got there it was late afternoon and the smaller children had gone home for the day. It is an amazing school. The building itself is beautiful and the principal and teaching staff were welcoming and warm women. We were taken to meet some of the classes as they studied various topics from technology to personal awareness, covering issues such as diet and food, hygiene and general health.
As we walked through the school I spoke with the principal for a few moments. I congratulated her on her beautiful school and she thanked me. She is very proud of the building and of all her pupils (her 'learners'). When I asked her what the main problems she faced here were she told me of the biggest 3. Number one is getting the pupils to the school - a lot of the older children don't see the point in going to school and so wind up spending their days in the township and often sadly getting involved with local gangs. Number 2 was feeding the children who actually do go. Her main concern was getting them breakfasts. Eating rice and soya first thing in the morning means that the children are not alert enough to learn to their full potential. And 3rd, almost as an afterthought, she mentioned that she had taken out a personal loan to buy books for the school, this is something that may be considered beyond the call of duty for a lot of prinicpals but without those books this lady does not have a school.
I understand that these are issues faced by every single inner city and disadvantaged school the world over but when you see it for yourself, the pure desire in these children to learn and the brightness in their faces, it is hard not to be touched. As we left I shook hands with one little boy and asked him his name, he spoke very softly like a lot of the children I met during the week and so I bent down to ask him a second time. I put my ear to his mouth but rather than tell me his name he simply kissed me on the cheek. What a way to melt a girl's heart! We were hurried so I didn't get a photo but his beautiful round little face has kept me smiling since. Just gorgeous.
After work on Tuesday I was invited to my friend Romaney's house for dinner with her family. She collected me from the hotel and took me to her fabulous home at the foot of Table Mountain. Her family had some guests over from London and they were all very interested to hear about what we were doing for the week. They were very interested and supportive of the charity - which was lovely to hear considering a lot of the people on our trip are immediately sure that any and all white South Africans are racist. Apartheid will take a long time to truly be left behind but if people like us coming to this country believe in it, it is even harder for it to be forgotten.
After dinner we went to the Armchair Theatre in a district called Observatory to see a Xhosa woman play traditional instruments - including a lock pin! The show was being filmed for an SABC show called Headspace. Its aims are to bring artists from all walks of S.African life together to collaborate in whatever their dicipline. It was an amazing show, the lady who performed was nothing short of mezmerising. I've taken a video but you'll have to turn sideways to see it. The other group then were a group of white guys playing a sort of slow rap in Afrikaans. It was awful! Don't think Romaney, Ryan or her family enjoyed it either! But when the Xhosa lady rejoined to the stage it was worth the wait to hear her again!
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