My third day in South Africa was a very different experience to say the least i was faced with things i haven’t done before and got an even better insight to what life is like for the people of Blanco
When we woke up in the morning we left the challets early, as school starts at 8:00am over here which i found interesting because school in belfast starts at 9. Me and my partner (katie j) had to go into a classroom and take a class for the younger people in the school. I found this challenging because they didnt speak english so i had to get their teacher to translate everything i said and i was talking infront of a group of around 30 people which i have never done before. We started the class off with a game of heads down thumbs up before talking to them about our familys back home. We then talked to them about our culture in belfast then got them to talk about their favourite things about where they’re from. After that we took them outside to finish off with a few games of duck duck and stuck in the mud.
After the school we went in the combis to the botanic garden where we were introduced to Henrietta who told us about her life and the highlights and lows of growing up in South Africa. Then we listened to a song and thought about what we want to gain from Africa, i would say this is one of my highlights from the day because it helped me think with more depth into my goal for while im over here.
Then we took a drive to Vic Bay where we had some chill time before going down to the scheme to see the children. When i got to the scheme we done some dancing with the kids before taking them down to the soup kitchen where Aunt Rose was providing soup to the kids. I was delighted to hear that the soup kitchen is now on 4 days a week as compared to 2 days like it used to be. My main highlight of the day was getting to see my wee mate Marcus because i didnt get to see him yesterday when we were in the scheme. The soup kitchen was an intriguing moment for me today, as i got to speak with Aunt Rose more than i did on the first day and she was telling me about how much she loves seeing the smile on the boys and girls faces. She also told me that they love the soup kitchen so much because at home their parents would struggle to provide a warm meal for their children, which was heartbreaking for me because at home I would complain about my dinner without a second thought, before i came here i never understood how lucky i really am to even get a warm meal every night at home.
The first 3 days have been an absolutely outstanding experience for me so far and i cant wait to see what the rest of my journey here holds for me.