Chatham Hall in South Africa 2008

“We haven’t even begun to fulfill our planned obligations at the school, but the joy with which we were greeted today made us all excited about the rest of the week.”

- Kyle Kahuda

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That about sums up our day. The students and adults alike dove right in after some brief introductions, working with the students in their classrooms with great enthusiasm from the first moment.

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“I enjoyed geting to know Mr. Green, an English teacher at Lawrencia School, who, together with Mr. Peters the Vice-Principal, traveled with us on a shopping trip to look for books for the new school library they are putting together. Eleanor Earle ‘46, Nancy Tebeau and Julia Morrison (mother and grandmother of Kaitlin), Hae Min Bang, Axi Walker, Kyle Kahuda and I selected books for the new library and classroom use. We all pitched in, and through individual donations started the ball rolling.

After dinner tonight, Dr. Fountain, Sherry Slayman, and I went down to bookstores at the Victoria & Albert Waterfront to buy many more books, in both Afrikaans and English, this time using the wonderful donations that many generous people gave us for our trip. After meeting with so many of the children this morning in grades 1 through 9, it was great to anticipate the pleasure they will take from reading everything from Leperit die Sebra to a simplified version of Treasure Island to a Multilingual Illustrated Dictionary in all three of the languages spoken at the school: Xhosa, Afrikaans, and English. Four additional books rounded out our purchases, and we can’t wait to present them to the learners.”

-Ann Beal

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Among today’s highlights included:

• A soccer game played using a brand new soccer ball we brought to the school, which resulted in lots of fun for the learners and two own goals and sore legs for Mr. T! The 7th-9th grade boys who played were really amazing, and several are hoping that soccer will be a means for them to escape their current socioeconomic situations.
• A grocery store trip interrupted by a store-wide power outage, which trapped Dr. Fountain, Sherry Slayman, and several other students and adults inside the store! Power was eventually restored, and the group purchased breakfasts and lunches for the next three days (pictures coming soon).
• A dichotomy of activities aside from soccer ranging from intense game of “net ball” (a game similar to basketball) to the learners teaching us how to lose at chess! Whitney Henderson, Chelsea Hermann, Ridgely Knight, Rebecca Schwartz, Rebecca Smith, and Amanda Stewart exercised their brains and brawn (pictures coming soon).
• An experience with hair and an anonymous serenade that can best be explained with photographic evidence and student contributions to the blog!

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