Here I go…off to volunteer bright and early with my Xhosa cheat sheet on greetings, pleasantries and great phrases to use with the children (i.e. yes, no, stop, sit down, play nice, be quiet) ready for an immersion filled day. I signed in and made my way down the hall only to be greeted by the children on their way to breakfast. I said hello (Molo) and moved on to the staff in the nursery. Let’s just say that although they appreciated the effort on my part, I haven’t exactly gotten down the pronunciation right just yet! They were super sweet and when I started using some Xhosa they immediately responded back in Xhosa which then left me dumbfounded and speechless…I hadn’t really prepared for conversational Xhosa and had no clue what they had said back to me. I immediately reverted back to the wisdom of Grandma Schneider and smiled. They smiled back, laughed and patted me on the back in addition to giving me the easiest or Americanized version of their name possible…I guess I have a lot more practice and probably should be making note cards for tomorrow!
I got to spend more time in the nursery today and talk with the staff on live in Cape Town, their story and all about Nomzamo and what they do there. It was nice to get first hand accounts of what they do there. I will admit that care giving here does have some differences that I am not accustomed to in the US. Since there are so many children it is hard to bottle feed all of the children by holding them so they do have to use pillows and blankets to bottle prop and often times the other children help each other with things like getting dressed, putting on shoes etc in addition to how the woman interact with the other children and how quickly children are forced to grow up here based on how hard their life can be and the responsibilities they may have. However, they really are like their own little family with how they care for each other as well as sibling rivalry like episodes. I tried out my Xhosa in one of these situations and one of the older children laughed and corrected my pronunciation…hopefully the third times a charm! I wish the US education system didn’t fail me in the foreign language department…if only I knew more languages and it would be easier to pick up more quickly. I think we are the only country where it is not deemed important enough to be multi-lingual and every time I travel abroad it is a reality that firmly slaps me in the face. I can only imagine how challenging it is going to be once I have to incorporate the clicking into Xhosa. The children seem to be getting attached and some of them cried today when I left. They really are adorable and it is going to be so hard to say goodbye once I move on to my next placement. I am hoping that I can come back during my 4th week to work on a photo book project for my supervisor to share with the community on the services Nomzamo provides to the community and the children that need its services.
After we volunteered today we went to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela and many others were imprisoned during the Apartheid. This was a very moving experience for me. As we were touring the property and seeing the actual cell Nelson Mandela was in the tour guides shared very detailed information on the tour and eventually disclosed that they were once inmates in the prison because of their political activism during the Apartheid. If you have never really read about Robben Island I would highly recommend it. There is so much history to it that goes beyond the Apartheid and plays a big role in South African history and the price many paid for freedom. Feel free to check out the website: http://www.robben-island.org.za/. The way that these prisoners were broken down is completely appalling and how they methodically worked to get privileges they rightfully deserved is truly inspiring, motivational and demonstrates the strength, dignity, will power and determination these prisoners found deep within themselves time and again is remarkable, dignified and heroic.
One of the other things that is powerful is the soccer team that they created, how they went about creating it and getting it approved and how it aided the moral of the prisoners. During the Apartheid rugby was seen as a white sport of privilege while soccer was a sport played by blacks and very popular in the Townships. This is something that you may have seen if you watched the movie Invictus.
After Robben Island we went out to dinner at an authentic South African Restaurant called Karibu which was really great! Got to get some rest! Over and out-M
No comments:
Post a Comment