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