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Hey fam and friends!
A quick update as to what Im up to:
After my first week at work I have been working hard:
- did an inventory of all the major equipment
-planned the after-school program for a week: organized self-concept theme activities, dodge ball, ice breakers, capture the flag, floor hockey, American football.
-planned lessons for sewing, and art which I will be doing soon.
-read some of the files of the orphans
-played sports and cleaned with the kids
-learned jiu jitsu from Kent another volunteer from Ottawa who has been here for 3 weeks.
I can see that the mentality is sooo different here. People are not as motivated to work. The staff are expected to arrive around 9am, but even when they do show up, not much work is done. I want to try to motivate them a bit more! And there is not always something to do. So far I have had some things to do but I can see that unless I take the initiative, I will not have very much to do.
At the centre, the kids arrive around 2pm and are at the centre until 6pm. The first hour is study period, then we do some sports, there is a theme every week, so we do an exercise or activity with them based on that. On certain days there are special guests who come. On Monday a peer-educator comes, a job skills worker on Thursday etc. There is a great variety of services here. There are also 2 social workers at the centre who meet one-on-one with the kids. At 500, the kids have a rotating schedule to clean the centre. At 530pm they eat dinner. I have been able to try a few cultural meals: maize meal, kidneys :S, papatta, fat cakes, intestine, porridge with sour milk, beef with curry....Some I have enjoyed more than others! I still want to try fried worm!
Although I havent learned all the kids names yet (there are 60 of them! And very difficult to pronounce) they have definatly warmed up to me and I often throw a football, frisbee or hula hoop or just chat with the girls about their hobbies. There are a few kids who are very talented in drawing and arts. I am looking forward to teaching them some abstract art and using the painting supplies I brought.
Some things I have noticed:
-people primarily communicate non-verbally
-goats and donkeys have the right of way when crossing the street
- I have been called "China!" and "La Coha"-white girl a lot
-there is no limit to the ammount of people who can fit into a combi (mini bus!)
Hard to believe 2 weeks are already finished!
Can't wait to hear from you!!
xoxo Meg
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