Der letzte Beitrag aus Afrika

Obwohl Kathrin noch 10 Tage in Claire vor sich hat, wird dies hier wohl der letzte Beitrag sein den sie auf afrikanischen Boden verfasst. Einen abschliessenden Artikel wird sie aber sicher noch auf dem Heimflug schreiben – der dauert nämlich 30 Stunden und führt von Johannesburg über Atlanta, Chicago, und dann endlich San Francisco. Die Themen diese Woche sind übrigens etwas ernster..

Today I’m sitting outside in the warm sun of one of the student’s homestay to write the new blog post. My person and probably my nice laptop attracts several of the kids living in this compound and the neighboring ones. They try to read what I’m writing and teach me some words in Xitsonga. The grandmother at my homestay is very pleased with my attempts to speak Xitsonga and today she said her first sentence in English to me: “It is hot.” – it’s never too late to start learning a new language.

We still have one week left in our program and it is too early to conclude, but it is clear that our stay here was a cultural experience for both sides. We have learned what it means to live in a rural South African village and we were able to explain some parts of our culture.

With two big schools Clare is not really a small village: the primary school has about 600 students and the high school about 1000 students. Students don’t have to pay any school fees in South Africa, except for higher education in college and university. Since we are living in homestays and most of us have younger host brothers and sisters we learn a lot about how schools word in Clare. Usually, the students don’t have any books. The teacher has a few books and dictates the homework. In the evening I try to help my host sisters, Akani and Mitchell, with their homework. That’s not always easy since they don’t have any materials that explain, for example, how to calculate the volume of a figure. The pressure to find the right answer is pretty high, students get beaten if they don’t have the right answer.

Some of the teachers of the primary school asked us to come to their classes and help students to practice English. The teachers told us that their students are not doing very well in English and don’t have much confidence to speak. Our group agreed to help out and each morning from 7:30 to 9:30 two students of our group teach English (in addition to their busy schedule with the program). They teach the 7th Grade which will soon be transitioning to high school. The class has 83 students (in one room), which is a difficult learning environment and it can get really loud especially if the teacher leaves the classroom. We have noticed that teachers leave during class time or don’t show up at all. When I get home for lunch I often meet Akani and Mitchell who come home early from school because there was no teacher.

During our time here we heard about many funerals and got invited to some of them. As a pastor my host father has to organize and preach at least at one funeral a week. Two weeks ago his cousin died and after the funeral he told me that she died of AIDS like her husband two years ago. I asked him about the other people that died since we arrived in Clare and he said that they were all infected by HIV. But most people don’t consider to see a doctor or get treatment since HIV is still a stigma. Children learn about HIV/AIDS in school, but there seems to be no opportunity for people to receive counseling or support.

Our work with the women’s group is progressing every day. The women named their group Ti Akeni (Build Yourself). And the students work very hard to help to jumpstart a shop and better connect the women’s businesses. Together with Ti Akeni we developed a constitution that determines membership, leadership and the management system of the group. We are also working on securing a physical space for the shop and met last week with the Community Development Forum (CDF). This group is let by the Induna (head of the village) and several other community members. They informed us that we have to write an application letter and the women might receive a space from the community. Lastly, we are trying to set up a preliminary shop with Ti Akeni on Pension Day - once a month the government pays out pensions and during that day a small market comes to the village. Next time our group will be part of it and use it as a test-run for the shop.

Last Tuesday we got support from the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA), a South African Organization that ThinkImpact invited to Clare. All our community members and those of Susannah’s group came together at the church and SEDA gave an introduction about the programs they offer. Next week the women from Ti Akeni will receive 3 days of training and learn basic business skills. We hope that all this will help them to set up a strong and sustainable business.

Besides all that we have to think already about our farewell party. We invited the village for next Saturday to celebrate with us one last time…

Und auch diese Woche wieder ein paar Bilder (ich find’s übrigens echt erstaunlich wie “winterlich” es immer auf den Bilder aussieht – diese Woche sehe ich, glaube ich, zum ersten Mal eine kurze Hose)..

Tags: AIDS, HIV, School, SEDA