Afternoon all,
its about 3:15 right now we just had lunch and placement feedback with Luann and now we have an hour or so till we need to get organised for our Afrikaans or isiXHOSA lessons. The lessons are important to help us grasp some basic words which we may need at our placements so very worthwhile. Its pretty darn cold today and the sky is grey so lots of tea and coffee.
This morning at 7am i was up and at breakfast ready to board the buses at 7:45. We have 4 minibuses which all take us on different routes to the township placements. Myself Joanna and Alex where dropped at Blossom Primary which is in Silvertown a coloured township area. I didnt really know what to expect so kept expectations low. On arrival we met the principal and vice principal who where extremely welcoming and friendly. There are about 700 children in the school with only about 10-12 teachers max so things can get pretty hectic. Im going to be working with a grade 5 class who are about 10-11 years old. There 44 children in the one classroom which is pretty cramped. The teacher who was called Mrs.Abrahams was amazing, she has taught there for over 35 years..I quickly realised that this was not what i really had expected... The kids all had uniforms on and were so bright. They asked if i had been to th eLondon bridge and where so keen to know everything. It was a very mixed class some living in basic housing and others in shacks. The kids where all so well disciplined and respectful - completely different to kids in UK schools. The classes are taught in Afrikaans and English so the children are ulimately blingual which is brilliant. I got to talk to Mrs Abrahams a bit before break time which they call 'interval' at half 10. We went to the staffroom and had tea and met the other teachers. There was a big discussion about the food situation becuase the school has a feeding programme for the children whose parents cant afford to feed them - the basics even 2 slices of bread. this was pretty heart wrenching as before break the kids all had to say if they had brought food (which is basically 2 or 3 slices of bread, with butter if they are lucky) the children that hadnt brought anything where kind of forced to stand out and i guess this is where i began to notice the difference in how schools are run over here. parents dont give their kids bread becuase they know if they dont the school can sometimes provide so this becomes a little bit of a tricky situation. One boy Jason was pointed out to me, he lives alone in a township with his alcoholic mother. Jason is 10 years old yet he does everything for himself including walking to and from school through a high risk, dangerous area. He came to school this morning and told his teacher that he was worried becuase his mum was out at a friends till 3am leaving him alone and she got attacked whilst on her way home by men with a bottle. She was drunk and didnt make it to work today, He was worrying because he knew no work meant no money which meant no rent. The thought that this is what a 10 year old boy has on the weight of his shoulders is pretty tough to deal with...
I am so excited for tomorrow already and hope that we can do alot with these kids. They are so bright and eager to hear about the western world....I am lucky i was hesitant about my placement but in feedback sess. today the 25 or so of us sat around and everyone had to say how first day went. There was alot of emotions floating about. Some of the girls are working at an Aids hospice and their are very little resources in these places. Annie my room mate is working at one organisation which helps immigrants and migrants. Today she helped a Zimbabwean refugee find clothing, 3 items - shoes a shirt and pants thats it. She got to talk to him about why he is here and she heard how he is currently living under a bridge... I know this is going to sound so cliched but we really have no idea how lucky we really are....xx
its about 3:15 right now we just had lunch and placement feedback with Luann and now we have an hour or so till we need to get organised for our Afrikaans or isiXHOSA lessons. The lessons are important to help us grasp some basic words which we may need at our placements so very worthwhile. Its pretty darn cold today and the sky is grey so lots of tea and coffee.
This morning at 7am i was up and at breakfast ready to board the buses at 7:45. We have 4 minibuses which all take us on different routes to the township placements. Myself Joanna and Alex where dropped at Blossom Primary which is in Silvertown a coloured township area. I didnt really know what to expect so kept expectations low. On arrival we met the principal and vice principal who where extremely welcoming and friendly. There are about 700 children in the school with only about 10-12 teachers max so things can get pretty hectic. Im going to be working with a grade 5 class who are about 10-11 years old. There 44 children in the one classroom which is pretty cramped. The teacher who was called Mrs.Abrahams was amazing, she has taught there for over 35 years..I quickly realised that this was not what i really had expected... The kids all had uniforms on and were so bright. They asked if i had been to th eLondon bridge and where so keen to know everything. It was a very mixed class some living in basic housing and others in shacks. The kids where all so well disciplined and respectful - completely different to kids in UK schools. The classes are taught in Afrikaans and English so the children are ulimately blingual which is brilliant. I got to talk to Mrs Abrahams a bit before break time which they call 'interval' at half 10. We went to the staffroom and had tea and met the other teachers. There was a big discussion about the food situation becuase the school has a feeding programme for the children whose parents cant afford to feed them - the basics even 2 slices of bread. this was pretty heart wrenching as before break the kids all had to say if they had brought food (which is basically 2 or 3 slices of bread, with butter if they are lucky) the children that hadnt brought anything where kind of forced to stand out and i guess this is where i began to notice the difference in how schools are run over here. parents dont give their kids bread becuase they know if they dont the school can sometimes provide so this becomes a little bit of a tricky situation. One boy Jason was pointed out to me, he lives alone in a township with his alcoholic mother. Jason is 10 years old yet he does everything for himself including walking to and from school through a high risk, dangerous area. He came to school this morning and told his teacher that he was worried becuase his mum was out at a friends till 3am leaving him alone and she got attacked whilst on her way home by men with a bottle. She was drunk and didnt make it to work today, He was worrying because he knew no work meant no money which meant no rent. The thought that this is what a 10 year old boy has on the weight of his shoulders is pretty tough to deal with...
I am so excited for tomorrow already and hope that we can do alot with these kids. They are so bright and eager to hear about the western world....I am lucky i was hesitant about my placement but in feedback sess. today the 25 or so of us sat around and everyone had to say how first day went. There was alot of emotions floating about. Some of the girls are working at an Aids hospice and their are very little resources in these places. Annie my room mate is working at one organisation which helps immigrants and migrants. Today she helped a Zimbabwean refugee find clothing, 3 items - shoes a shirt and pants thats it. She got to talk to him about why he is here and she heard how he is currently living under a bridge... I know this is going to sound so cliched but we really have no idea how lucky we really are....xx
No comments:
Post a Comment