25/10/10

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Last night I had a long chat with Cecil about a plan for TOP Banana. It sound positive and we are going to have a meeting this morning to discuss and agree the plan for the Youth Centre…..

So it's after the meeting…… and it went well! Both Keddi and Petros seemed engaged and enthusiastic about the plan and the activities hosen. The meeting was about 2 hours long. Afterwards I typed the minutes (oh god, will I ever escape the dreaded minute taking!) and also the plan. In summary we will alternate between arts/crafts and sports/games throughout the week with the children. In the mornings (when there are no children present) we will make different objects for the craft fair we will be having a stall at - jewelry, Christmas cards and decorations and paper Mache bowls. The afternoon activities will include; storytelling, rounder's, circuits, ball games, singing, playing on the playground and badminton (Mike - I managed to find some rackets and bought some shuttlecocks!).

Can you believe it? It has actually rained! We had spots this afternoon at about 2pm but more at 6pm, where we had thunder and lightening. There is something very relaxing about sitting on the porch with a cup of coffee, watching the events of Tshesebe; I do this every time I get home from work now. Me, Sally and the Cats!

This evening we watched 'Look Who's Talking'- I know its probably sad but I forgot how funny that film was….We are all laughing out loud! It is getting really close to when Cecil and Denise are going away now. I cannot believe how quickly it has come round - I really am going to miss them both.

26/10/10

I spend the morning sorting out the arts and crafts cupboard, and actually get blisters from sharpening pencils! I spent the hours sharpening, testing the felt tips, photocopying pictures to be used for the colouring session and for the last hour experimented with making some Christmas cards to be sold at the craft fair to make money for the Charity.

After lunch a couple of children walked in, and according to the plan I was going to be doing storytelling with them. I needed to stop what I was doing and begin the storytelling somehow…. But was actually really quite nervous!

I went up to one of the children that was sitting down and asked him if he would like a story. It took a moment for him to recognize what I was asking and he nodded his head. I had already sorted out the books I would be reading and so started to show him these - as I did so about three other children came over. They seemed very interested and as it was quite uncomfortable where we were all crouching, I led the children over to a blanket on the concrete floor. It really was a delightful experience! I was sat with the children all round me and they kept moving closer and closer, until at one point I could not move my legs as they were leaning on them so much! Two of the children were old enough to attempt reading the stories and I just helped them out with a few of the words. To keep the other children interested (they were as young as 3), I pointed at the pictures and asked where certain things were.

After I had read a LOT of stories, I didn't really know what to do with them (ages from 3 to 11). I started trying to play some games and do exercises (some of the basic ones from my courses) but I soon realized that these were too advanced for the children. By that, I certainly don't mean that the children were stupid! There were some very bright ones there, but I think with the language barrier, range of ages and their eagerness to jump in and do (rather than listen fully….hmmm sounds a bit like on my training courses actually!), made it all very challenging. In the end we did some ball games and some clapping. I was exhausted at the end of the afternoon (goodness knows how teachers and classroom assistants do it!), but luckily Cecil had been waiting for me to finish and gave me a lift back to the house.

And oh what an eventful evening! I swear that in the 'Insect Telegraph' our house was advertised as a free hotel to stay! We must have seen every kind of bug and even the cats joined in…. Things were flying, crawling, jumping all over the place and both Denise and I (and even Cecil by the end of the evening) got very twitchy indeed. The worst to enter the house was the 'shrimp spider' but if I thought that the one in my room previously was big…. I thought wrong. This one was the size of my hand! I caught it (Denise said that I would never have done this a week ago) and we threw it out of the back door. But we think that this spider must have been working as part of the spider MI5 as it quickly found its way back in and this time…. It was VERY angry! It had these big pincer jaw type teeth, and I really didn't want to get in it's way. Denise decided that one chance of living was enough and attempted to get rid of it. It was fast! And she spent the next 1 ½ hours trying o get it with a brush - as she was doing so we found another one……. A few hours later, and many shrieks from Denise, all was quiet in the household. Needless to say we were all pretty jumpy for the rest of the night! I learnt later from Petros that the spider was poisonous and if it bi you, your foot would blow up to the size of a football (no sure how accurate that is, but I wasn't about to risk finding out!).

27/10/10

I was up early today (6.00) as I needed to go through a few things with Cecil and Denise before they left. I was surprised when I actually got a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes (and I wasn't even saying goodbye at this point!). After this I went into Francis Town so that I could see what was in the storerooms and whether I could use anything for the children. However unfortunately Stella wasn't there so it was a pointless trip to the museum - however I did get the chance to go to the Barclays bank - a very bizarre experience! While Lovemore waited in the looonnngg queue, I nipped round to an internet café to try and upload my blog - but the blog site was not allowing me to do it. However I did stumble on a page I had not seen before and read a number of really lovely messages from people, so I had a big smile on my face for the rest of the morning.

I waved goodbye to Cecil and Denise - and thought 'I'm really on my own now!'. Scary!

Back at TOP Banana Keddi and I got the children sitting up at the table to do some colouring - at first there were 8. Then 9, 10, 11 and the number continued to grow! Later I counted 31 children sat at the table colouring pictures. I managed to find some blue tak so was able to start putting the pictures up on the walls - and this seemed to spur the children on even more as they took great delight in their artwork being on display. It was brilliant and the children were smiling and chatting and becoming totally engrossed in what they were doing. We ended on time today and I was quite exhausted. For the first time, I was actually glad that we only had the children for half a day -a full day? Now THAT would be tiring!

That evening I was joined by Emilys daughter so that I did not have to stay in the house at night on my own. She was telling me that she wanted to be a fashion designer and a popstar!. Apparently there is an initiative to support new businesses in Francis Town and she was hoping that she might get support to do this. Khelina is an illustration of the group of Botswana people that want something better for themselves. Others are simply not interested in getting a job at all and happy to do nothing. Emily (the maid) actually has her own business which is a Government initiative - Chicken Farming. The government provides 100 chickens and feed to start with, until you get on your feet. Then she will sell the chickens and eggs and begin to make a profit. The government do seem to be doing a lot to help the people of Botswana - but I believe that it is true that not everyone in Tshesebe are prepared to put in the effort required to get themselves on their feet.

Updated up to here on blog

28/10/10

I spend the morning designing the Christmas decorations for the craft fair, and Tapiwa asks to help also. We are joined by Keddi - and just before lunch we can all be found in the Youth Centre, ripping egg boxes to make the paper mache with.

I have a 'working lunch' and then at about 1 I hear lots of noise coming from the youth centre so I pop across and there are around 25 children there! When they see me they all move to sit themselves at the table in anticipation for more colouring, as we completed the previous day. We cannot yet find any shade to take the children outside to do some school games, and a TV program starts, which the children all seem to know as they start singing the theme tune. I ask Keddi if this is a children's program as all the children are now crowded round the television and she says yes……. But then I see someone being stabbed and a fight and hear creepy music - it's the adults that seem to love the program after all!! Luckily the program is short and so we go outside with the children. As we walked out to the volleyball court, the children push each other to walk next to me and I end up holding the hands of two children and one has hold of my arm. I laugh out loud as I am carried along….

We spent the next hour singing, clapping and completing school rhymes and dances. It was lovely to be a part of and although I could not join in with much of the singing as I do not know Setswana - I was able to grasp a few words and so joined in when these needed to be sung. There were about 40 children in a big circle, ranging from 3 years old to 13. Some of the children were wearing ripped, dirty clothes; others looked smartly dressed with shoes matching the colour of their outfit. It was fascinating to observe the behaviors' and personalities of the children. Some were shy and reluctant to join in, others were more confident and strutted their stuff! One child (called Patrick) I observed had a real little attitude on him (one trouser leg pulled up with a swagger as he walked, frowning). It made me wonder what the childrens homelife was like?