First Impressions

Now that you know a little more about the city of Cape Town, I can't wait to share with you about my placement and I think that you'll be able to relate a little better.

I'm working at a preschool in the township of Athlone called Silvertown Educare. Athlone is definitely one of the nicer townships, and our driver sometimes even calls it a suburb. To my knowledge and after asking some locals, I believe Athlone was first settled by the coloured population when many were forced to leave their homes in and around Cape Town in the 1960s and 1970s, most from the infamous District 6. (We're going to the District 6 museum next week so I'll fill you in more of that when the times comes). Thus, Silvertown used to only serve coloured children, but now children from many townships come to Silvertown and there is a mix of coloured and black children. The kids range from just under 2 years to around 6, preparing for Grade 1.

Silvertown, as far as I can judge, is one of the nicer placements. The school has 4 classrooms each holding about 40 to 50 children, with a very caring and dedicated staff. On first impression, I felt very welcomed and at home, and found the school quite similar to ones back home in the states. In comparison to other preschools with volunteers from my program, this school is fortunate to have running water, available resources, and a loving and supportive staff.

I am working there with two other volunteers, Natalie and Karan, and the first day, we all decided to help out with the "babies" as we call them, all about 2 years old, because we were told they needed the most help there. Tuesday, my first day, was the first day the preschool was back from summer holiday, and we had about 14 kids, but the classroom is enrolled for 47 so more kids come each day. As expected, there were quite a few whiny toddlers would have never left their parents before (think first day of preschool) and everyone was adjusting to the school and each other. Certain kids cry a lot, some not at all, and there is an abundance of peeing and puking galore... my favorite! Their schedule is pretty scheduled with breakfast, snacks, lunch, outdoor playtime, and naptime. The other volunteers have discussed a lot a complete lack of organization and compassion by the teachers, but our teachers Patricia and Patty are both extremely loving and wonderful with kids. They both speak perfect english (but are native Afrikaans speakers) but are sometimes difficult to understand because of the accent. The kids aren't really talking yet and many of their families speak Xhosa or Afrikaans at home, so I'm not sure if they are even mumbling in English. However, at prayer time, they magically sing perfectly in English. I help out with everything, feeding, washing, but mostly playing. They really enjoy just rolling a giant tennis ball around so do that for awhile. We've taught them some childhood games like ring-around-the-rosy, and the hokey-pokey, but for the most part, they look extremely confused and I judge they aren't quite old enough to fully understand. They love to just jump and climb all over me, and although is often seems chaotic, Patricia magically calms them down and gets everyone ready for mealtime. They are so so adorable, and even though I can't quite talk with them yet, you can definitely communicate. One of the little girls always walks around humming and dancing. I can't wait to show you some pictures, but we're not supposed to bring our cameras until we get to know the kids a little bit better. I will soon!

Patricia's daughter, Quanita, is helping out too before going back to school next week. I really like talking to her about her homelife and she loves learning about "the states". Today we listened to some Chris Brown on her cell phone and she asked me if I was friends with Beyonce. One can only wish! She speaks great English (also Afrikaans) and seems very smart.

So it seems like a normal preschool pretty much so far, but there are definitely a few differences. The toys are definitely older and mostly broken. There is a figurine (no joke) from that Dinosaurs television show that aired on TGIF in the early nineties, really brings back the memories. The other toys are worn in blocks and dolls, some broken crayons. When the kids pee on the carpet, nobody cleans it up. And if the kids wet themselves, they lose their pants for the day. So by the end of the day, almost no one has pants on anymore. The playground is pretty broken down. The teachers watch from the doorway, and when I went out to the play with the kids, I found logs fallen off benches with huge nails just sticking out so I hauled those off. Mind you, all the kids are running around barefoot, so I was pretty scared. Patricia is great with the kids, but sometimes threatens them with a ruler.One of the girls throws fit and makes herself throw up because she gets so upset and doesn't want to eat, and Patricia was explaining to me that you have to kinda scare them at the beginning so they eat their food the rest of the year. Still kinda freaks me out.

After the first day, when I asked Luann, the program director here at CCS, about Silvertown, she said that although the place is probably better kept then the other schools, the children come from the same places at the other preschools. She said what really makes the difference is the key staff, and Silvertown has had an amazing director for many years, Mrs. Reynolds, and she really used the government funding in the best way, and keeps a great staff. So I'm definitely happy to help out and think that they really do need the help, it just seems like there are other places here that could use the help a little bit more.

There is so much more to tell and I will definitely fill you in soon. Thanks for listening.

Jackie