Katie, my volunteer partner at the school in Ingwavuma and Patrick, who is volunteering in Manguzi about an hour from us and I all got a greyhound coach from Jo'burg to Richards Bay which took ten hours! We were fortunate enough to sit at the front of the second floor of the coach so we had a great view. We were sat next to a family with a little girl who was the most adorable child ever- so easy to please and very content with being placed on our laps to be entertained. Her dad was afrikaans and the mother was an English South African and they told us lots of stories and asked a lot about england. Some of their opinions regarding black people were a little bit surprising to hear but then I remembered that they were brought up in a time when that was all they were taught and you have to accept that. I had to bite my tongue a few times and just listen.
The journey went surprisingly quickly and we were met in Richards Bay by Janice Hall- who has hosted 'gaps' before and we were to stay with her the night before beginning our journey to Ingwavuma the next day. Even though it was evening when we arrived, it was incredible humid outside and we nearly cried with happiness when she asked if we would like to go in her pool when we got to hers! We literally got changed into our swimming stuff and jumped into her pool after meeting her husband Mike, and his mum Jean (the sweetest 89 year old I've ever met!) with their sheep dogs Jess and Jamie. It was so funny when Jamie kept jumping into the water with us and running around the edge of the pool. We had a braii which was so good! The Hall's were originally from England but moved out to Richards Bay over fifty years ago and we could not have asked for better hosts. The next morning Janice showed us around Richards bay which was incredible as the water was so blue and we ran down to the water on the hot sand and even saw a monkey just chilling on the beach! I would love to go back there!
We started the two hour drive to Mkuze which seemed like the perfect place to put a Wimpy in the middle of nowhere! We had lunch there with Janice and then had to wait for Allan who is looking after Patrick at Kosi bay to pick us up and take us further into the mountains towards our placements. He brought a mini bus which was great as we each had a seat each and a great view of the journey. A highlight was seeing the Jozini dam which is so beautiful. Stopping there and seeing some school children just waiting and not looking at the view made me think “why aren't you looking at the beautiful view?” but then they are surrounded by this all the time and it's just home to them. We finally reached our point after Patrick decided to play some songs on the cd player such as 'Africa' and some Lionel Richie which was hilarious, at the town of Bombanana (I still think this name is funny) with a t-juction where Katie and I were being met by our principle to go left to Ingwavuma and Allan would take Patrick right to Kosi Bay/Manguzi.
After looking for a grey polo and lots seeming to turn up at the same time, our principle Linda Sikonyana (this is a guy for any confusion about the first name!) finally arrived and drove us up the mountain to Ingwavuma. It was really strange because we were in this really backwards place but everyone had their radio's on playing modern music. We drove past Nansindlela school to where we are staying which is in a teachers compound which consists of about four houses which is where two teacher families stay and the rest are teachers who leave their homes in the cities to live here when they are working. Matt, our country manager was already here and we all went down to the school before he departed and I was surprised that the school was fairly big and the buildings were in good condition. The primary school and high school are separated by a swamp with a path running between them and because it was evening and very quiet we could hear all these frogs screaming and it was such a tropical sound. You don't even notice it when the place is full of students! The path is a bit scary when there are students going either way because I'm worried I'll get pushed off into the swamp- better be a nice teacher to them! The principle and his wife invited us to their for dinner and we had pasta and watched TV with them and their four year old daughter who is very naughty and cheeky and showed us her dance moves. She was so excited to have us here! We had to stay in another house for that night because our one had not been lived in for a while and so they had no electricity. Katie and I shared a single bed in Rose's room (Rose is now living with us) and it was a fairly uncomfortable night as we hadn't had a wash and it was quite cramped in the single bed.
Our first two days at school were hot and full of meeting different teachers. I still can't remember anyone's name!! we were introduced to everyone at the staff briefing in the morning by the principle and everyone came up to us to introduce themselves which was lovely. In the mornings before the briefing starts, all the staff start singing a prayer and then one person says a prayer afterwards, which was really nice to hear in the morning. It is about half an hours walk to school in the morning and you see students on the back of 'bukkies' which are small trucks and the law not to sit in them as it is clearly quite dangerous has not been enforced in this area yet. The children at the school, especially the younger ones, treat us like we are famous and are always saying “Hi, how are youuuuu?” and following us. One little girl gave me an apple with both her hands after I sat talking to them at break time and we were taught in orientation that this is a sign of respect- I felt like a proper teacher getting an apple on my first day! Some of them asked to touch my hair which I thought was a little bit strange but it was because their hair is so different and they all said “it's so soft!” to me. We just sat in on a couple of lessons to get the feel of how the school works which was useful because I forgot what it was to be like in a school environment. It was very hot though- there has been a heat wave here and it has reached up to 35 degrees! One thing that really shocks me is that lots of the people here are still wearing their jumpers- I just don't get it, it's boiling! There are chickens and dogs running round the school which took a while to get used to at first but they leave you alone and are quite fun to watch.
Bongi, is a teacher at the school and is looking after us whilst we stay here. She is one of the most sweetest people I have ever met and looks after us so well. Katie and I were feeling really down and trapped here over Friday and Saturday and she has been so good to us, inviting us to her house and talking to us to sort our problems out. We felt like we were not needed at the school any more because it seemed that the person we were meant to be replacing for maths and science has been replaced by someone else so it was all a bit confusing about what we are actually doing. Also the house has really been getting us down as it was left in a horrible state. The people living here last year did not clean and so we were confronted by a kitchen and toilet full of huge cockroaches. They are the most horrible, disgusting creatures I have ever come across and it's not fair that we have had to work so hard to get rid of them. Finally after hours of cleaning, spraying and killing it seems that they are going away. We must have killed hundreds of them and we find them in our room. Sometimes it's funny because we scream at each other when we are concentrating on getting one and there is another one heading for our feet, but after a while you get so tired and just want to cry because they keep coming. Flip flops are no longer a shoe, they are a cockroach killing device! Hopefully our efforts will pay off soon.
After looking for a grey polo and lots seeming to turn up at the same time, our principle Linda Sikonyana (this is a guy for any confusion about the first name!) finally arrived and drove us up the mountain to Ingwavuma. It was really strange because we were in this really backwards place but everyone had their radio's on playing modern music. We drove past Nansindlela school to where we are staying which is in a teachers compound which consists of about four houses which is where two teacher families stay and the rest are teachers who leave their homes in the cities to live here when they are working. Matt, our country manager was already here and we all went down to the school before he departed and I was surprised that the school was fairly big and the buildings were in good condition. The primary school and high school are separated by a swamp with a path running between them and because it was evening and very quiet we could hear all these frogs screaming and it was such a tropical sound. You don't even notice it when the place is full of students! The path is a bit scary when there are students going either way because I'm worried I'll get pushed off into the swamp- better be a nice teacher to them! The principle and his wife invited us to their for dinner and we had pasta and watched TV with them and their four year old daughter who is very naughty and cheeky and showed us her dance moves. She was so excited to have us here! We had to stay in another house for that night because our one had not been lived in for a while and so they had no electricity. Katie and I shared a single bed in Rose's room (Rose is now living with us) and it was a fairly uncomfortable night as we hadn't had a wash and it was quite cramped in the single bed.
Our first two days at school were hot and full of meeting different teachers. I still can't remember anyone's name!! we were introduced to everyone at the staff briefing in the morning by the principle and everyone came up to us to introduce themselves which was lovely. In the mornings before the briefing starts, all the staff start singing a prayer and then one person says a prayer afterwards, which was really nice to hear in the morning. It is about half an hours walk to school in the morning and you see students on the back of 'bukkies' which are small trucks and the law not to sit in them as it is clearly quite dangerous has not been enforced in this area yet. The children at the school, especially the younger ones, treat us like we are famous and are always saying “Hi, how are youuuuu?” and following us. One little girl gave me an apple with both her hands after I sat talking to them at break time and we were taught in orientation that this is a sign of respect- I felt like a proper teacher getting an apple on my first day! Some of them asked to touch my hair which I thought was a little bit strange but it was because their hair is so different and they all said “it's so soft!” to me. We just sat in on a couple of lessons to get the feel of how the school works which was useful because I forgot what it was to be like in a school environment. It was very hot though- there has been a heat wave here and it has reached up to 35 degrees! One thing that really shocks me is that lots of the people here are still wearing their jumpers- I just don't get it, it's boiling! There are chickens and dogs running round the school which took a while to get used to at first but they leave you alone and are quite fun to watch.
Bongi, is a teacher at the school and is looking after us whilst we stay here. She is one of the most sweetest people I have ever met and looks after us so well. Katie and I were feeling really down and trapped here over Friday and Saturday and she has been so good to us, inviting us to her house and talking to us to sort our problems out. We felt like we were not needed at the school any more because it seemed that the person we were meant to be replacing for maths and science has been replaced by someone else so it was all a bit confusing about what we are actually doing. Also the house has really been getting us down as it was left in a horrible state. The people living here last year did not clean and so we were confronted by a kitchen and toilet full of huge cockroaches. They are the most horrible, disgusting creatures I have ever come across and it's not fair that we have had to work so hard to get rid of them. Finally after hours of cleaning, spraying and killing it seems that they are going away. We must have killed hundreds of them and we find them in our room. Sometimes it's funny because we scream at each other when we are concentrating on getting one and there is another one heading for our feet, but after a while you get so tired and just want to cry because they keep coming. Flip flops are no longer a shoe, they are a cockroach killing device! Hopefully our efforts will pay off soon.
We are living with Rose and another teacher who has not come back yet (people are very relaxed here) will be moving back in next week and apparently he is lovely. We make a special effort to clean up after ourselves and Rose has been amazing sorting out our electricity and replacing the broken cooker. I have seen the occasional lizard but they don't really bother us and I think they are quite sweet! Due to not having any running water, we have to collect rain water from a water tank and if we use the toilet, to flush it we put water into the tank. To have a bath, we boil water and put cold water into a basin which sits in the bath and you kind of have to lean over it to wash which is an art I'm still trying to master! So basically, we try not to waste any dirty water as it is used for flushing the toilet! Our meals so far have been basic and i'm ashamed to admit I have not cooked yet and Katie has done them. I really don't have a clue! I tend to stand by and kill roaches and then wash up! Mienky and another male teacher (I am terrible with names here!) are frequent visitors to our house which is nice because then it's never lonely here in the evenings.
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