Oh my word. I forgot how loud working in a township was. The December holiday was a wonderful mental break, but I probably would have been better off not getting that “quiet time”. Before holiday I had adjusted to the noise level of the screaming children, the loud music and the adults whose conversations seemed more like yelling than talking. I don’t know how, but I managed to tune it all out, put a smile on my face, do my job and have fun with everyone. Now I’m back to work and it is like starting all over with the headaches and tension again. As I drove home all last week I enjoyed the complete silence in a glazed over fog. I was exhausted and weak with no energy. It felt like when I first arrived in August and was completely overwhelmed and on the verge of tears everyday. It still amazes me how all of the people in the township sleep through the noise or ever feel rested with any quiet time. I have no idea how the kids ever study. I’m so impressed with the few that somehow manage to graduate high-school and continue their education. We really do take our quiet time for granted.
Anyway, enough of the noise, let me tell you what I have been doing. Last week we opened Kuyasa and were over-loaded with a huge donation of office furniture from a local company that had shut down. I was needed upstairs in the main class room rearranging all the new cabinets and desks. I spent many of hours sorting through books that had been donated and figuring out what to keep, what was garbage and what I could take to the township library. I love to organize and clean so I was very much in my element - but unfortunately, there is no A.C. at Kuyasa, so the intense summer heat penetrates through the plastic sky windows and the room feels like one giant sauna. We could only stand about 2 hours at a time before we were sweating so bad and felt dehydrated. We escaped to the computer lab on the ground floor, which was a bit cooler. For the rest of the week I worked on admin projects and some of the 2011 curriculums, trying to get them finished before classes resumed.
The kids return this week and I can only imagine how crazy it is going to be. They have been on holiday break for almost a month and half now without any classes or discipline. We will probably get sore throats this week trying to talk over their yelling and get them to sit down and pay attention. I think I will need to pray very hard every day for God to bless me with loads of patience! My saving Grace is that mid week I can break from the noise and take the curriculums to the University to get bound and walk around to tape up posters to recruit student volunteers. Another exciting break from classes is that I am and taking a group of 25 students to the recreation center pool for official swim lessons and practice time. The coolest part of the week though is on Thursday when I will finally take Yandiswa to MSC College to enroll and get her class schedule. Although I don’t have all the funds raised yet, I have enough to get her started, which is awesome. Since she will be taking the train in each day I am going to help her find the station, the correct stop and make sure she knows exactly where to walk and how to get to her classes. It should be so exciting for her. I can’t wait. She is very sad about me leaving, but I think once she starts her classes she will be so busy that she won’t have time to miss me. That is a good thing.
I will be sure to take some pictures of the swim lessons and enrolling Yandiswa. I will try to post them next week with my blog.
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