Exactly this time last year, I was having the most incredible of experiences over in Knysna, South Africa, volunteering in one of the township schools.
During my first year of university, I won a £1000 bursary courtesy of a local charity, The Hervey Benham Charitable Trust in Colchester, which was to be put towards a voluntary trip relevant to my studies. I’ve always ALWAYS wanted to visit Africa and I found the perfect placement teaching Dance and Drama and a little bit of everything at a primary school. I funded the rest of my placement, which I booked with Travellers Worldwide www.travellersworldwide.com and set off for two weeks of challenging teaching, eye-opening experiences and incredible opportunities. Due to university commitments and funding, I could only stay for two weeks but even still, the things I got to be a part of were some of the most memorable yet. A year on, I’m reflecting on the children I met and worked with there, and also the personal achievement I felt at doing this. I’d love to go back someday, to teach again and to also explore the rest of the beautiful country.
During my time there, I wrote a blog just dedicated to my experiences. You can have a read here: www.enchantedafrica.wordpress.com as I’ve written a day by day account of the things I got up to, and how I found dealing with a completely alien culture.
However, I’ve decided to share some of my pictures and videos below to try and capture just some of the things I got up to.
This is a P.E/Gym class which is held at the community playground, a short walk from the school. As you can see, it is very basic but the children still have a great time. These are some of the youngest pupils of the school, most aged 4-6. It is very difficult to gauge all their ages and sometimes they can be kept back in a grade for one or two years, until the teachers are happy for them to progress. Some of the girls are playing netball (bottom left photo; I think it is great that they have been taught the logistics of the game despite having no courts or goals etc. The Gym classes are very casual, letting the children just round around and let off steam. They did have some stretching and mobilising of their joints at the beginning however, and at the end they had a bit of a sing song, and impressively sang some songs in English!
A drama class with Grade 7
Although I think a lot of these children are tiny for their age (understandably), these are some of the eldest children in the school, referred to as learners rather than pupils. These are Grade 7 (aged roughly around 12/13 if I remember correctly) and it was these groups of children that I spent the most time with during my trip. They were such an entertaining and enthusiastic group, although occasionally there were some issues with the language barrier as I suspect they said a few things about me in Xhosa, their native language – but that’s teenagers for you! I taught several drama classes to this group; this photo shows a group of girls who had created an informative and persuasive piece showing the attractions of South Africa for an audience of tourists. During my time teaching, I tried to incorporate drama with as many different study topics as possible, as well as working on their confidence and speaking skills.
This is one of the most rewarding things I did on my placement – teaching a Street Dance class! I had so much fun with the Grade 7s, some of whom were brilliant dancers! We even had a dance off at the end, albeit to Adele as this is the only CD they had. It was a really gruelling session, trying to teach 60 teenagers a dance in unbearable heat but so worth it. The class took place in a section of their playground, and in the background you can see a little insight into the set up of the township, the houses/shacks and the simpleness of the community.
My little bunk bed in my dorm room which I shared with two other lovely volunteers, and the gifts I was presented with on my last day at the school. Numerous cards made by the pupils and staff, who all signed their names on my t-shirt. The staff presented with this gorgeous hamper of fruits and South African delicacies which was such a lovely gesture, especially since they have so little.
I’m having a little trouble uploading the videos I wanted to end this post with so once I’ve worked this out, I’ll hopefully be able to put these up too!
Thanks for reading! 🙂
Journal of a Million Beginnings 