Holiday club was an interesting but enjoyable experience for these three days. Tuesday I was up in KwaHaza, a township up in the hills above Mpophomeni. We were told that there would be around 20 children but when we arrived, over 100 children greeted us! Luckily we had some American volunteers with us as well as a lovely family visiting from the UK. The children played outside in the boiling heat, they definitely coped better than some of us who had to retire under a tree for a small time to recharge! Although there wasn't a clear plan, the children had a chance to relax and be kids, which for some of them is usual as they are heads of their households by the ages of 15 and some of them have very young mothers whoa er still at school. It was really good to see them have fun playing different games and eating marshmallow eggs! The evening was also interesting - we discovered, after going into Howick for dinner that everywhere here for food shut by 8.30pm, so after a long search we ended up getting food from a petrol station - I don't think a Cornish pasty from a service station has ever and will ever taste that good!
Wednesday was polar opposite weather from Tuesday - rain, rain and more rain, I felt very at home with the English weather! There were less children and the games in the school where we were went really well. It was well organised and was a lot of fun despite the surprising cold! We also experienced when we got home, hail stone the size of marbles!
Thursday's weather was perfect, not to hot but still sunny. Because of transport the whole team was down in Mpophomeni on the playing field. It was great to get more involved with the games and spend more time with the children. We spent the late afternoon and evening relaxing at Sarah's and I fell asleep for a good hour, I was definitely tired, a busy but rewarding few days.
Saturday 13 April 2013
Friday 29th - Monday 1st April - Stargazing with hyaenas
We were lucky enough to spend the Easter weekend with a friend and his family at the game reserve called Hluhluwe Imfolozi. Its is around 4-4 and a half hours away from Howick and has the Big Five - Lion, Leopard, Rhino, Elephant and Buffalo. We stayed in a staff camp, a camp which no members of the public are usually allowed into. When we were told what the camp was like we were told that it was very basic and not to have too high expectations. However, when we arrived after driving for at least 40 mins away from the main gate, through the most stunning scenery, it was better than I could have ever expected! There were four tents that could fit up to three people inside that were raised off the ground on wooden structures. There was a 'kitchen' area which was a reasonably large hut, also raised off the ground, with a thatched roof and a veranda attached. One of our first experiences with wildlife in camp was a small green snake up in the roof of the kitchen , slightly disconcerting when you walked under it! The camp was in the middle of the the bush, with no fence around it apart from a single electric wire called an elephant fence. The shower was also interesting .. it was simply a bucket that hang from a rope over a beam , with a shower head attached to the bottom. You had to get the other bucket, fill it with water and take it to the shower and fill up the shower head bucket You then pulled the 'shower' up using a rope and secure it - it was one of the best showers I think I have ever had!
We were so lucky with the weather, it was beautifully sunny every day. We went for early morning drives, up by 5.30am and afternoon drives! We saw so many different animals - lots of zebra, impala, giraffe and rhino, one time we almost drove into a rhino, it was standing in the middle of the road, we spent a long time watching it - an amazing experience. It is incredible how close you get, you have to keep your eyes open all the time but when you do see something, it makes it all worth the wait. In the evening we made a fire and all sat around it, relaxing, chatting and star gazing. On our first night there was a stunning full moon, and the refection of it in the river that our camp overlooks was breathtaking. We also had a braai and were warned that hyaenas may pay us a visit when they smell the meat and sure enough I saw two large, round yellow eyes! It didn't seem to get much closer which was a relief!
Over the three days in the reserve we saw three of the Big Five, all but leopard and lion. It was actually on our way into the camp that we saw the backside of an elephant, that was all we saw of them close up but we spotted some further away on the hillside and next to the river. We were also lucky enough to see the very rare Wild Dogs on Easter Sunday. There aren't many of the dogs in the reserve and we practically drove into them. There was a pack at the side of the road and walking in front and behind the cars. They are oddly beautiful creatures, orange and back and white with large ears and a big fluffy white tail.
When driving home on the Monday, between the reserve and the highway, there is a stretch of road. I couldn't take my eyes off it,. It was similar to a scattered Mpophomeni. There were women walking along the side of the road carrying huge bags and buckets on their heads, stalls selling apples, children playing and houses made of breeze blocks and some of mud, scattered along the side of the road. It was shocking to see such wealth, with the people in the game reserve and houses off the highway, only meters away from his poverty at the opposite end of the spectrum. It doesn't end when you are on the highway either, there was stall after stall of apples and people hitch-hiking every 2 minutes. The sad thing is that this is their main and sometimes only form of transport, it definitely makes you think.
We were so lucky with the weather, it was beautifully sunny every day. We went for early morning drives, up by 5.30am and afternoon drives! We saw so many different animals - lots of zebra, impala, giraffe and rhino, one time we almost drove into a rhino, it was standing in the middle of the road, we spent a long time watching it - an amazing experience. It is incredible how close you get, you have to keep your eyes open all the time but when you do see something, it makes it all worth the wait. In the evening we made a fire and all sat around it, relaxing, chatting and star gazing. On our first night there was a stunning full moon, and the refection of it in the river that our camp overlooks was breathtaking. We also had a braai and were warned that hyaenas may pay us a visit when they smell the meat and sure enough I saw two large, round yellow eyes! It didn't seem to get much closer which was a relief!
Over the three days in the reserve we saw three of the Big Five, all but leopard and lion. It was actually on our way into the camp that we saw the backside of an elephant, that was all we saw of them close up but we spotted some further away on the hillside and next to the river. We were also lucky enough to see the very rare Wild Dogs on Easter Sunday. There aren't many of the dogs in the reserve and we practically drove into them. There was a pack at the side of the road and walking in front and behind the cars. They are oddly beautiful creatures, orange and back and white with large ears and a big fluffy white tail.
When driving home on the Monday, between the reserve and the highway, there is a stretch of road. I couldn't take my eyes off it,. It was similar to a scattered Mpophomeni. There were women walking along the side of the road carrying huge bags and buckets on their heads, stalls selling apples, children playing and houses made of breeze blocks and some of mud, scattered along the side of the road. It was shocking to see such wealth, with the people in the game reserve and houses off the highway, only meters away from his poverty at the opposite end of the spectrum. It doesn't end when you are on the highway either, there was stall after stall of apples and people hitch-hiking every 2 minutes. The sad thing is that this is their main and sometimes only form of transport, it definitely makes you think.
Monday 25th - Thursday 28th - A week of planning, painting and an English lesson
Although Monday's are normally our day off, because we have quite a lot of work to do and planning to do as a team, we are taking advantage of the time when we are together and planning our projects. We spent Monday morning at the library finalizing our plans for the English lessons and the pre school. It was a productive day and we headed home for a chilled out afternoon.
We managed to get started on the preschool this week, armed with sand paper and sugar soap we prepared it for an afternoon of painting the main background sky blue colour which we managed to get done in a couple of hours on wednesday.Wednesday was the day of our first English lesson with the Ethembeni staff. We had 16 members of staff and it went really well. We took the lesson under the tent outside the family center with two small children's blackboards and some chalk. We had the chance to find out a bit more about their levels of English and to see what they wanted to get out of the six week course. Many of them can speak fairly good English and can understand basic conversations but they need help with their tenses and extending their vocabulary. I am really excited for the other lessons, it will be interesting to see who does their homework!
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