Week 6: Grassroots Soccer Weekend

This weekend we headed out quite early again in order to make it to the school in De Doorns by 8am. This weekend we focused on Grassroots Soccer (GRS), a program they've been running in De Doorns for a while now. Its a program that teaches kids about HIV/AIDS and life skills through soccer. The GRS organization trains "coaches" to implement their program, and that way they can reach far and wide with their program. They've trained some of the members of our organization to be coaches, so last year they've been implementing this program to the kids in the area.
This week we presented certificates the kids who had passed the program at the end of last year. They had a short assembly/meeting before school, so we stood in front of the school and handed out the certificates. We also announced that we'd be starting the GRS program again.

As for our community organization, this weekend they were focusing on being re-trained to be GRS coaches. They had a 2 day training workshop, to tighten their skills and work on team building. Now, they're all ready to start implementing the program again! :)

Whilst the team members were in the training, Sergio (my project manager) and I worked in the garden. Its growing quite big and very green! Unfortunately its also growing loads of weeds.
So we spent the whole weekend weeding the garden, on hands and knees, in the hot sun!
But it was worth it! Take a look!

Before: WEEDS EVERYWHERE!

After: Weed free! You can actually see the rows! :)

Hard work is paying off!! :)

Its great to see the little plants grow, and now you can actually tell where we planted! :)

Over this week they'll work on transplanting the veggies, as some are too close together!

Can't wait to see the progress!

So it was a lovely weekend, and sadly next weekend we wont be going to De Doorns, as my manager will be in Lesotho [pronounced Le-sutu](cool country entirely surrounded by S.Africa!), so we'll see how the garden is progressing in 2 weeks time!

Lots of love!

Lo

Week 5: BITE ME...

... is apparently what I said to the ferocious-looking stray dog on the porch of my host family's house.
OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH!
I never thought a beagle could be so nasty, but their bite is most definitely worse than their bark.
Well to be fair, its merely a blue-ish/purple bruise now, no blood drawn [don't worry!], but yes, I guess township stray dogs don't mess around.
So that was a lovely end to a long day in De Doorns! Oooch.

This week we left around 5.45am on Friday, to make it to the school in time to announce our new round of Grassroots Soccer training sessions [a grassroots program that teaches kids about HIV/AIDS and life skills through soccer]. We made it there bright and early, and watched a lovely sun rise on the drive there.


Going to the school was a neat experience, and  it will be exciting to get to work with the local kids more through out the next few months.

The rest of the day we ran errands:

• We met with a farmer, who signed a contract for our associate organization to start the solar panel project in town [building a small plant & generating a moderate amount of power in the valley]. 
• We met with the local banks to see how difficult it would be to open an account for our new organization (TDG).
• We bought new tools and chicken wire to add to the fence to keep the rubbish [burning & other kinds] from floating on into our garden.
• We added the wire to the fence, watered the plants, and weeded the terrible weeds away from their death-grip on our poor baby seedlings.

                                                          All in all it was  a pretty productive day!

The radish is still doing the best!

Friday night we then had a meeting to plan the budget for TDG, which took a few hours of long, concentrated work. After the long, intensive meeting I headed back to my host family, where I was unwelcomed by that ruffian beagle dog. Long day!

Saturday we couldn't stay around for long as we had another meeting at 12 back near Cape Town in Philippi, so we got up early and headed back. 

The meeting Saturday was for a separate program that we're working on [one of the many!]. This other project is the Unite As One Campaign, promoting Unity in Africa and acceptance of cultural diversity. This year the campaign is focusing on local High Schools, getting them involved in various aspects of the campaign. We have cultural diversity workshops in 12 schools, documentary screenings followed by empowering discussions, mural paintings, awareness days [World Refugee Day in June], and a Film making project. Saturday we went to announce our film making project to the schools chosen. We'll select 12 kids to take part, and through training and facilitation, they'll learn and produce a documentary that tells a story about their area, and views on cultural diversity. Super cool! I wish I could take part!

So we showed up at this meeting, and waited for our turn to make the announcement. As we arrived there was a lady from a department of the South African government there talking about xenophobia. She proceeded to claim that at present, there is no xenophobia in South Africa, and that since the attacks in 2009, South Africa hasn't had any problems besides minor threats here and there. WOW. I found it so hard to believe that she blatently lie to all of these kids so easily. Not only is it a lie (as our interns here compile a weekly report of all the cases of xenophobia in the country/continent), but its a lie to this group of kids that have themselves experienced the xenophobia, and had to live in the camps themselves. At least it looked like a smart group of kids, and I hope they're being taught to question this "authority figure" because she was lying through her teeth! geez. 

Either way, the kids seemed very motivated to combat issues of xenophobia, as they were all at this meeting because of their motivation to be Peace Ambassadors at their school, promoting Peace and Ubuntu (borderless-ness). They were also very receptive to our proposition, and were enthusiastic to write the essays to be selected for our film making program!

The weekend was very full and also quite successful!

"Giiiiiiiiiiirllll, your trash is on Fiiiiiire"

This week on Tuesday we went back to Philippi, for a meeting and we saw these crazy black billowing clouds coming right from the area we were supposed to have our meeting. Well it turned out it was about 100meters from the office space, but still, a bit too close for comfort. As an extension of my commentary on the problem of rubbish burning in the townships, here's a great big example of how bad it can get. Not only do all of the people in the area have to breathe in this soot, but the dry landscape seems to scare me a bit, although somehow they manage to control the burns (I think/hope).

More to come next week!

Keep the Peace!

-Laura

AfriROCK!

Coolest rock ever (had to superimpose the stencil on top).
Currently sitting in our garden in De Doorns.
If I weren't so heavy I'd definitely try to bring it home with me. :]

Week 4: Smells Like Burning

Wow! I've already been here for a month! (and only 30 days until Dan visits!! :) )

The new thing I noticed on this visit was the very strong smell of burning in the morning. Mixed with the dust and dirt, it smelled a bit of Camp Shelly/Lake Tahoe back home, but that smell quickly passed, as the true smell emerged. It was burning trash/rubbish.
The Hex Valley (in which De Doorns is located) is such a gorgeous area, in a nice crevasse between two mountains, surrounded by grapes and vineyards; picturesque in many ways.
Unfortunately, there is a terrible problem with garbage here. There is not any sort of infrastructure that helps get rid of the trash, and so it accumulates all around the once gorgeous land. The common solution seems to be burning piles of trash when it gets to be too much. Not only does that sound like a dangerous idea, as it is so dry here, but also terrible for the environment, and lungs of those nearby. Yet, as there is no other solution here, it seems to be the only way they can at least attempt to control the amount of rubbish accumulated here.  With the garden project we see a lot of this garbage fly into our yard, and we spend each morning clearing our the new trash that's accumulated. Luckily for us, we can drive it out of town, back to Cape Town, if needed, and dispose of it in a much more safe way. Yet the people in town have to wake up to the smell of burning, on a daily basis. Somehow I hope to help tackle this problem, although it seems like a huge task. Perhaps we can organize some community clean up days with our community task team, or the high schoolers. Either way, its a very sad sight to see, in such a beautiful community. Its humbling to realize that so many people live without the infrastructure that we've grown up with, and find trash all over the streets a normality. Here I'm thinking that its such a bad thing to litter, and I want to protect the environment as best I can, but this is all that this community is used to, and seems that there are so many issues to try and tackle here, that the environment, sadly enough, may be low on the list. But alas, I still have hope that we can make a difference here! :)

This weekend was quite eventful!!! We showed up in the early afternoon, and before our weekly meeting, worked a bit in the garden. We had brought a secret fertilizer recipe (pee from the compost worms + water) to sprinkle on top of the plants, to help them grow mighty and strong! The plants themselves were already doing quite well for themselves! Especially the radish! It just loves the sun! The corn/maize had gotten quite big itself!

Crazy bug we found whilst gardening.
Doesn't it look like the grub that
Simon & Pumba eat in the Lion King? :)

Amazing soil, where our compost pile used to be.
Soon to be a spinach patch!

Each week its so exciting to see the progress--almost as if its sprouting instantly! Although the community members are definitely taking care of the plants while we're gone during the week, it does feel like a quick process!

Aside from the amazing garden progress, our weekly meeting was very productive as well! Friday night, after a good 2.5 hour discussion, our group agreed upon and passed the Constitution! Their CBO now has a founding document, and guidelines for how their community involvement will help to make a difference to those around them. They've decided on their mission and vision & objectives, and I couldn't agree more:
Vision:Thol’ulwazi Developmental Group  (TDG) works to provide information that can bring positive change within the community

Mission: Thol’ulwazi Developmental Group intends to assist De Doorns community members in general with access to information by running programmes voluntarily
Objectives: 
The Thol’ulwazi Developmental Group is a public and open organization, non-politicised, non-religious, multicultural, all-inclusive established to achieve the following objectives:
a.    To educate and inform the community about social issues.
b.    To change people’s attitudes
c.    To share skills with the community members
d.    To offer direct support to the community (currently with the garden project)

Signing the Constitution!!

And with that, and organization was born! The Thol'ulwazi Developmental Group, then voted on officers, and now has their own structure, Constitution, and foundation for a group that can empower themselves, and make a difference in their community!
Our project will still be to help facilitate the community involvement, but now this organization can also act independently, and apply for their own funding, and most importantly, exist on their own, and not have to rely on outside organizations in the future!


So that was a great accomplishment this weekend! Now TDG just needs to open a bank account and then they can receive the grant money that's been waiting for them! Its been very exciting to be a part of the progress as it unfolds!


Lots of love, 


Laura

A

Week 3: A Sheep-ish day

So this weekend in De Doorns was a bit eventful. I never thought I'd be able to say I rode in a car with a sheep! But thats exactly what happened!
We were on our way out to the township, and one of our Task Team (community member of De Doorns) called to ask if we could pick him up. And oh yeah, he had a sheep with him!

Poor baby

Apparently he was given/got the sheep for a wedding present, but the guy who was supposed to deliver it was inebriated at the time, so luckily we were there to help. At first I was excited to sit in the car with the sheep! How cool! But then as I saw the poor baby tied up by her legs, I started thinking that maybe she wasn't just going to be a new pet for the happy couple.
Well you probably guessed it. She was to be a sacrifice in their wedding celebration (a bit of a sad story for a vegetarian!)
So we put her in the trunk and drove her into town. Luckily I got to pet her for a while to calm her down, but my heart was a bit sad that day.
I'm sure it is a great blessing for them, and an important part of their cultural ceremony.

After we delivered the sheep (rest in peace), we headed to the church to prepare for the weekly meeting. This evening we were discussing constitution building for a non-profit, Community Based Organization/Voluntary Association. I am now well versed in this topic, if anyone ever has questions about writing constitutions for these groups! The guidelines & necessary aspects, I've got drilled into my brain now!
I had to make a powerpoint presentation about the reasons why our organization needs a constitution, and how it helps, and all that jazz. So we presented that Friday evening, and continued our discussion on the parts of the constitution that we still needed to finalize.  It was a pretty interesting discussion, but we'll have to finish it up next week, when they plan to sign the constitution and vote on who will be the office bearers of the group.

Radish!

Saturday morning we woke up early to work in the garden some more! Our little seeds that we planted last week are starting to sprout & show!!
So exciting! However, because its so hot (100*F/ 38* C) we had to add a bit of shade to the plants, to make sure they don't get scorched before they can even grow up!

My fence building skills.

I also helped fix/make the barbed-wire fence, because some sneaky goats managed to get in last week, and they definitely would destroy our garden if they had the chance!



So it was a lovely weekend. A bit of shovelling the compost, and bending the barbed wire makes a nice well rounded work out for the day! :)

Next weekend we'll work on signing the constitution and bringing their CBO to life!
Never a dull moment!

All the best,

Laura