At the daycare, I helped a boy pull up his pants, and saw that he had a green thread fastened around his hips. I asked the teacher what it was for, and she told me that it was a religious symbol, and meant that God would watch over him. Faith is very important for people in the township, and that was the first time I truly saw this.
I’m writing this blog while sitting on the couch at the volunteer house. There are three new people here, who arrived last weekend – two guys, one from the Netherlands and one from England; and a girl from the US. It’s not that easy to write with them here - one of them is listening to loud music, and another one keeps hiccupping! But they are are lovely people and I like sharing the house with them.
Another week went by, with the children at the holiday program. This week we had four days where there were a LOT of children. There was no electricity at the school at the beginning of the week, so we had to dance without music. The children really like music and dancing. Finally at the end of the week, the electricity was back up. It was much nicer to dance with music – it’s easier and puts us all in a good mood. The people here are so flexible with their hips - it’s great to watch and I’m jealous!
The weeks here as a volunteer in Port Elizabeth go very fast. Last week we had three days holiday program with children from the township at the Jon Masiza primary school. Tuesday was the start and there were around seventy children. We made four groups for the children, green, orange, white and purple. When the children come to the holiday program in the morning between nine and ten o’clock, they get a color on their face with facepainting and have to say her or his name. That makes it structural. We have four groups with children because we had four categories: sport, fun games, art and dance.
Three of us volunteers painted a township nursery. We worked on it for three mornings, but it was a lot of work, so it isn’t finished. The nursery is a house made of corrugated iron. My volunteering work is in a colorful crèche, which I think makes children happy – so we wanted the nursery to be colourful as well.
In the previous blog, I spoke about the after-school project. This week there was no after-school project due to the learners writing exams. Usually, volunteers from Izizwe coach the children in sports in the morning at the John Masiza primary school, and we have an after-school project with children at the Walmer Primary School. The children don’t train at a sports club, because that is too expensive – but sport is important for their physical and social development.
My name is Maud and I’m a 22 year-old woman from the Netherlands. I would like to share my experience at Ilitha Day Care in Port Elizabeth.
I have been in Port Elizabeth now for two months, at a volunteer programme in Walmer Township. I came to South Africa to help other people in the world, and especially children. Every morning, I wave my hand at the classroom door, to be greeted by all the children shouting “Teacher, teacher!” Then I show my face, and I see all the smiles on the faces of the children. They all run to me and give me a high five. That makes me very happy!
If you’re a prospective traveller to exotic foreign shores, you’ll have a few (or a lot!) of questions and concerns. Perhaps you’re also the type of person who wants to leave your mark on society in a small but measureable way. How can you do that? Where to go, where to stay when you get there, what to see, what to take with you?
You might be a veteran volunteer, or a noob just beginning to explore your volunteering options – either way, have you ever stopped to ponder the modern history of volunteering? Even if history has never been your “thing”, it’s interesting to discover the roots of something we might take for granted.
That font of ever-expanding wisdom, Wikipedia, defines adventure travel as follows:
“Adventure travel is a type of tourism, involving exploration or travel with perceived (and possibly actual) risk, and potentially requiring specialised skills and physical exertion…Adventure travel may be any tourist activity that includes the following three components: a physical activity, a cultural exchange and connection with nature.”
