Hey everyone J
First of all I would like to thank everyone for reading my
blog. I have had over 200 views in just a few days which is so much more than I
expected! The more people who read this, the more people will be aware of Saint
Anthony’s Home and the amazing things they do for these (88) children!
So Friday was my third full day in South Africa and it was a
real eye opener in terms of traditions, culture and life in a township. The day
started off slowly with Malume (this is what everyone here calls the Director
of the home but it actually means uncle in Zulu) being away. Therefore I worked
for a couple of hours on a new project called Reach for a Star, which is a
project carried out every year near Christmas time. The purpose of this project
is to ask each parishioner of all the surrounding parishes to buy one piece of
clothing for one of the children currently living at Saint Anthony’s. The way
they do this is by creating a card for each child with the child’s photo, name
age, item of clothing needed and its size. All 88 cards are then hung on a
small Christmas tree and places in each of the churches in the surrounding
area. Each parishioner can then take a card and buy that specific piece of
clothing the child needs. This not only ensures the children receive items
which they desperately need but it also means they have presents to open at
Christmas. Although it may seem like we are starting early, many of the
parishioners will need to save up in order to be able to buy the item of
clothing. My responsibility in this project is to collect information from the
social workers regarding what each child needs, take a picture of each child
for the card and finally to design the card itself.
After that I decided to make the most of the gorgeous
weather. So I went and sat outside with the rest of the social workers who were
watching the twenty children who had not gone to school. I then went and had
lunch in my house during which I watched one of their very cheesy South African
soaps e.g. the bold and beautiful... (I think you get the picture!). I then
decided to go back outside to play with the kids which is where I met Father
Matthew. He is also relatively new in Blaauwbosch as he only arrived one year
ago. He is originally from Kenya but has been in Italy for the past 7 years. He
introduced me to the nuns who live next to the Home where we had tea and
biscuits... it felt like I was in England again! The South African drink tea as
much as we do! I was then offered some of the liver of the cow that had been
killed that morning... It had been a gift from the priest, who is leaving the
parish of Blaauwbosch, to the local community. As I have come to learn, it is
very rude to not accept food here so I had to be brave and taste some. Surprisingly
enough, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be but that might because of how
fresh it was... After that, I was introduced to another priest and a few altar
servers who were also cooking and eating some of the liver (this cow must have
been HUGE!) and what did they do......? They offered me some more liver! He
gave me a huge chuck which again I had to eat.... I think I have had enough
liver now for the next year or so!
We then went a visited Father Matthew’s parish which is in
Madadeni 7. I had a nice chat with three of his young parishioners and also got
to see some of the nearby townships. We then headed in to town, Newcastle,
which is a 20 minute car journey away. It was around 7 pm by the time we
arrived and it was really interesting to see how different life in a township
is to life in a town. At first I thought town would be very lively, especially
as it’s a Friday but I was completely wrong... by 7 pm, Newcastle is dead and
all shops are closed (even food stores) whereas in the township everyone is
walking around, chatting and playing in the streets. However if you come back
at around 9 pm, there is barely anyone around. All you see are lighted windows
and one or two people walking (I have been told that those still around at that
time are normally fairly dangerous!).
Driving through the township, I also saw a few large tents.
These are normally erects for a funeral, for remembering someone’s death or for
a wedding. However weddings are normally celebrated in November or December
(summer) therefore all of the tents that I saw were to mark a sad event rather
than a happy one. During these sorts of events, a cow would normally be killed,
cooked and then eaten by the guests.
So that pretty much summarises my third day in sunny South
Africa. Trust me if you like food (just as I do) you will love their culture J
Until next time...
Isabel x
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