More Than I Could Have Imagined

This morning was by far the most amazing day of the trip, and something I will always remember. After months of planning by me and my teammate Claire, we visited a local primary school in the rural village of Clau Clau, about an hour outside of Nelpruit. The entire region is a former "homeland" settlement, where natives were forced to during apartheid. Many of the people still remain here, where there is little opportunity for jobs (roughly 80% unemployment), poor land for farming, and many live in houses that are not much more than a room or two with a metal roof held down by bricks, and "facilities" are pits in an outhouse. HIV/AIDS, rampant drug use and a general communal hopelessness greet the children everyday, and most families cannot even afford the roughly $10/year of school fees.

Despite the challenges, the school principal, teachers and local officials are doing everything they can to provide the best education possible. In return, the children very clearly have the utmost respect of their elders, with "yes, ma'ams" and "thank yous" in unison whenever they are addressed.

Our day started at morning assembly, with roughly 700 children singing morning prayers and dancing. I will never forget the faces of the children singing to us, and of my teammates, all of whom were soaking in the amazing welcome that we were being given.

After assembly we met with two classes of about 100 kids each, 6th and 7th graders who were about 11 - 12 years old. We showed them a video that I had made of kids in New York asking questions of them, and the kids here asking questions back. The question from the New York kids asking "what are your favorite foods?" seemed to have the most overwhelming response --- at least 15 kids excitedly answered the question, and I can only guess that it is because food is probably something they appreciate given its scarcity in their daily lives (some rely only on the school for their daily meals).

The kids then asked us many questions, some of them very tough --- "What are your hopes and dreams?" "Do you want to have children?" and the awkward "Do you have money?" They also asked us to show off some of our talents --- Roland sang a verse of his church music, Shweta sang and showed a Bollywood dance, and Jen T hopped like a kangeroo across the front of the classroom! In between classes, a group of the girls dressed in traditional tribal dress and performed a song and dance in honor of the local king of their tribe. The singing and dancing were truly beautiful, although it did take us "westerners" some time to adjust to the revealing clothing of the tribal outfits.

It was an amazing experience to be around kids that have so many challenges ahead of them yet try their best as the teachers give every bit of energy to provide them with a quality education. We were all touched, and I know that I personally will go to bed tonight dreaming of ways to help make their lives just a little bit easier in the future.....





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