When things get busy, they sure get busy! Sorry for the delay, but I'm now out of Africa and looking back on some good times. My last week in South Africa was quite a memorable one.

My final trip out to De Doorns was jam-packed with festivities.

my De Doorns

Questions in the Cultural Diversity workshop
that the learners discussed and evaluated

On Friday (May 11) we left Cape Town quite early to arrive at the schools where our cultural diversity workshops were taking place. This was the 2nd workshop with this class, and a few of these learners were also involved in the mural workshops last weekend too.
Once this workshop started we were soon called over to the De Doorns Health Clinic where a documentary screening had been scheduled at the last minute by one of the members of our CBO. It was really impressive to see things come together with the group in this last week. They finally started to take charge and plan events without us having to step in and organize things. I'm so proud of the group, I have faith that they will do well on their own, especially as they know when to ask for help and how to prove their commitment to the group.

While the group was independent enough to organize, plan and facilitate the documentary screening, they did still need to use our equipment, as they do not yet have their own. So we headed to the Clinic to help set up the screen and audio equipment.

We screened a documentary to everyone in the clinic, some who were waiting for appointments, and others stayed to watch. The documentary focused on HIV/AIDS and mothers who were HIV positive. The film touched on some prevalent issues for the people at the clinic, and our facilitator from the CBO was well versed in the topic too, so was able to answer people's questions and refer them to the services at the clinic too.  There were about 50-75 people in the clinic, with about 15 fully giving their attention to the screening. It went well, and when audience participation was a bit slow our facilitator made sure to translate everything from Xhosa to Afrikaans, to hope to reach more viewers.  All in all the screening was a success, and the Clinic staff invited TDG to come back every Friday if they like to screen more related films! Knowing that the Clinic supports TDG's mission and is willing to help them facilitate screenings makes it a lot easier to leave the group, knowing they have at least some support in the community, that they wont be on their own.

After the screening we headed to the second high school of the day, Hex Vallei, where the cultural diversity workshops were also taking place. This one went well, as did the first, and the school was also quite helpful for TDG too! Hex Vallei agreed to let TDG run their grassroots soccer program (that teaches kids about HIV/AIDS through soccer skills) starting next week. Again, I was impressed with our CBO as they made contact with this school and organized a group of kids that would start the program next week.
Things seem to be falling into place for them!


After that school we re-grouped and I worked in the garden a little bit. There's always more weeds to pull! The garden was definitely a huge part of my time in De Doorns and I will miss working out there. Maybe I'll stay in one place long enough to have my own garden some day! Until then, I'll just have to appreciate how much work a big garden is, and will never forget this one in De Doorns!
They've promised to take good care of our seedlings and make sure to harvest the veggies in time!

 After some garden work we had a second mural workshop with the learners from Van Cutsem school. This workshop focused on the kids' ideas from last week. This week we worked on ways that their drawings and symbols could represent the ideas of Peace, Unity, and Humanity (the goals of the Unite campaign). Here are some of the ideas the students came up with: 

At the end of the workshop 

the students added all of their ideas together 

to make the plan for their mural:

After this Mural workshop, we had our normal Friday night meeting with Thol'ulwazi (TDG). The meeting went well, with great attendance. We discussed the past week and what a great job everyone had been doing in keeping up with their tasks and duties. Grassroots soccer had already been administered at one school and there was talk of a second round at the same school, along with the other schools. We discussed the screening, and plans for future screenings. Mainly we all decided that we need to be clear in our screenings that we are not the professionals giving advice, but that there are professionals at the clinic that do offer those services, as some of the topics of our documentaries can be quite heavy subjects.

Our final discussion topic was the garden and the need to harvest. As a group we decided that we should harvest some of the vegetables on Saturday, and that because there was interest from Scalabrini employees, we could sell this round of crops to Scalabrini members, and the next harvest would be donated. This was a great way to help people at Scalabrini feel more connected with De Doorns and at the same time, help secure the cost of seeds for the next season. Plus! That meant more harvesting for my last weekend, Woo! :) I love those veggies. 

Just before we adjourned the group turned a bit more sentimental. Starting with Sergio, everyone went around the table and thanked me for my contribution to the group and really helping them get their CBO started. A few mentioned how grateful they were for my organization skills, and others of how open-minded I was, coming into a new community.
I can definitely say that their words brought tears to my eyes, and I had a hard time talking with out happy tears.

 But I was able to thank everyone in their group for really accepting me into their community, especially Sabi who let me stay at her house every weekend for the past 5 months! I really felt welcomed and incorporated in the work in De Doorns, and I couldn't have imagined a group that was more friendly and inviting than these people. 

It was a sentimental night, but we all knew that we'd have one more day working together, so I decided not to let the sadness bring us all down. It was a cheerful night in the end. 

Thol'ulwazi Developmental Group!!!!!!! :)

The rest of the festivities came on Saturday: Mural, Screening, Harvesting, and Farewell Party!

Mural: The students finally put their money where their mouths were.. and made a beautiful Mural.
{Pictures  speak louder than words}:

 What a great mural! It took us 4 hours.. and a lot of organizing, a bit of a messy job, but we did it!!


After the Mural, the kids got to relax in side and watch a documentary, put on by TDG. While the Mural was being painted some of the veggies were being harvested by TDG too. Luckily they saved some for me to harvest too! So once the documentary started, I made my way to the garden and picked me some veggies!

 Aren't they beautiful!!?!! :) A good 5 months of work, totally worth it :)

We harvested beetroot, maize, carrots, rocket, and spinach. They made wonderful veggie baskets for the staff back in Cape Town, and the profits will definitely make sure the garden keeps running for the next batch of crops. And believe it or not the garden hardly looks like we harvested anything! So there's much more they'll be harvesting in the next few weeks. Gorgeous veggies!


So after the painting, documentary facilitating, harvesting, and basically a full day's work, it was time for good byes.

I said good-bye to my host family. They really took care of me and made me feel like a part of the family and community.

And then as a surprise the TDG group had a little going away party for me, with cake and presents, and we all thanked each other again for what a great few months its been.

Luckily it was such a long hard-working day, that I didn't feel too sad, and I was able to appreciate the bittersweet end to my time in De Doorns.


If ever there was a weekend to have felt like we'd made a difference, it was this one. With a visible mural and edible crops, I could see the work of our hands, and it felt so inspiring. We made a (at least a little) difference in the community--one that will keep growing with TDG.

It was such a real experience. I will never forget my time in De Doorns, and I hope that I can return to De Doorns and see the progress that TDG has been making on their own. Even more so I hope to come back and see the gang again! Plus! Sabi's baby is due in June, so I'll have to go back & meet the newest and youngest member of TDG!
For now I'll just have to send postcards, but they'll forever be in my heart!

Good-bye TDG!
Until next time!!!

We drove off into the distance... hoping to come back before too long!!!

 South Africa is such an interestingly wonderful place. I highly recommend that people at least visit, if not stay for a little while to get used to its diversity.

In coming back from South Africa I've found that its such a hard place to describe and even harder to summarize my time there. Its been a big learning experience. I've learned a lot about working with NGO's, working at the grassroots level, learning the ways of a new government in a new country, trying to understand the dynamics of every-day-life in multiple areas of South Africa... and the list goes on. I guess when people ask me about my time there I should refer them to this blog, as I feel I've been able to capture each experience as it happened. And to give a broad summary and overview of it all wouldn't do it justice.
South Africa is full of surprises, and I challenge everyone to go and find their own adventures there!
Africa is waiting!

Thank you all for following along!
Hope you've enjoyed my accounts of my time in South Africa. I hope to have further adventures abroad, so maybe the adventure blog will continue!


Lots of love,


Laura

2nd to last weekend...

A bit of sadness crept in this weekend, as I started to tell the group that next week is my last week here in De Doorns. It has gone by so fast! And I feel like I have so much more to give. But at the same time, I know that this group is trying to make it on their own, and Scalabrini is slowly withdrawing their presence. In that sense, I guess its good timing that I'm leaving now, just as the CBO is now running their own programs and Scalabrini will only be visiting once a month. Plus, next weekend I'll go out with a bang! We've planned a mural painting (for part of our Unite as One School project) AND we'll be having a big harvest! The maize, beetroot, spinach, and carrots are all ready to go! So I'm looking forward to that! It'll be a great final weekend, if not bittersweet.

Divine light reaches all places

This weekend was a good one though. We went out early Friday morning to continue with our School Project in 2 schools in De Doorns. This weekend we had Cultural Diversity workshops with our partner organization IHOM (institute for the healing of memories).Their work focuses on decreasing prejudice, and encourage cultural diversity and acceptance.

   I helped facilitate one of the workshops at the Afrikaans speaking school (I helped in English) and it was a great experience! The students really engaged and had fun making their posters and discussing these topics. Next weekend we'll continue with these workshops in both schools and after the 3rd workshop, the students will have another film screening to conclude our School program.

In the afternoon, after the school project, I decided to work in the garden. I did a bit of the usual, picking weeds, cleaning up rubbish, chasing chickens out of the garden. And this week, I was pleasantly surprised! The veggies were growing so nicely! Little green tomatoes and green peppers were finally visible! Other veggies were flowering and the garden finally looks happy and fruitful.
I also noticed the new addition: a sprinkler system!

With the new funds for their organization, the group bought and installed an irrigation system. The improvement was uncanny! The broccoli was finally growing and the plants looked so happy and hydrated! I was very proud to have worked in such a flourishing garden. All we needed was  a little love and a lot of water!

Later that night, we had our regular weekly meeting with the CBO group. This week we were focusing on planning their next documentary screening. (It was supposed to be Saturday, but lack of communication within the group led us to reschedule for next week).We set up the equipment and watched all of the new films we had, so they could pick the one they'd use next. The goal with their screenings is to inform the community of relevant social issues (HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, gangs, ect), so these were the themes of the documentaries we watched. The group decided on a few films that we'd narrow down next week before the screening. The group also decided that their target audience would be teenagers. So on Saturday they approached the students at our mural painting workshop.

Kids drawing their interpretation of Cultural Diversity topics

Saturday was another workshop with the high schoolers. From the cultural diversity workshop, some students, along with other artistic students, agreed to come to the church Saturday for a meeting to discuss and plan the mural. This workshop focused on cultural diversity themes too, but also helped the kids to think about how these themes could be displayed with images. The kids seemed to have a lot of fun working on these drawings. I'm excited for next weekend, when we'll see all their hard work pay off with the mural!

Our CBO also approached these kids and offered to screen a documentary for them after the mural, so it should be a long & fun-filled weekend next weekend!

I'm sure I'll have a lot to write about for next weekend. So sad. But it just means that a new chapter in my life is about to begin!


Lots of love,


Laura