Monday saw Women’s Day 2010! This is the South Africa and follows on from when women marched against oppression in Pretoria in the 1950’s. Being a bank holiday Monday the school was closed and with many of the girls left in the hostel we organised some activities to keep them all occupied….
We spent the morning getting the children to make news reports to explain what Women’s Day is about / why it is important etc. Some of the news reports that people came up with were extremely good and taught us more about what Women’s Day in South Africa is about. The only problem was trying to overcome stage fright whilst getting them to perform in front of the camera. To add to the difficulty it was extremely windy meaning it was important to make sure that the girls spoke loudly and confidently so that it was clear what they were saying on camera. One group did a play, which we all found quite amusing although we have to say we are not quite sure about its relevance to Women’s Day!
After grabbing a quick bite to eat for lunch we took the girls for a hike up one of the hills next to the school. This was good fun and we had to work hard as the girls got cold (yes it gets cold in SA, it was like hiking in Scotland – most the girls were wearing hats and gloves…!) and tired! Still the vast majority made it to the top and the smiles on their faces showed it was worthwhile!
On Tuesday the dreaded teacher’s strike actually started – we all covered as many classes as possible in the morning, before the school was actually locked up and closed for the day at 10am. It was a real shame that the school was locked as it meant that we could not carry on covering the lessons for the teacher’s on strike. To make matters worse it was the worse day of weather we have had since we have been out here. This meant that it was not possible to run other sporting activities etc. for the girls – many of whom just went back to the dorms and slept most the day. Additionally all the boys (who do not live in the dorms) had to go home so I had to cancel rugby practise. Still we made the most of the day, sorting out various pieces of admin that needed doing. I managed to edit down the video’s the girls made on Women’s Day which hopefully those involved will enjoy watching.
Yesterday and today saw the school back to normal although this may be temporary measure as unless the teachers’ demands are met they will be striking again tomorrow. We are still waiting to hear any news...
Sadly it has come to the time for Kara to leave so that she can prepare for her teacher training course. I think it is fair to say that she will be greatly missed by the pupils and staff at St Matthew’s along with the rest of the volunteers out here. The house will certainly be a lot quieter without her endless and mostly interesting chat! Kara has done a great job out here and will certainly go on to make an excellent teacher. There is one plus point though… spicy food is back on the menu and so we are having a massive curry tonight!!!
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