Wednesday, June 24, 2009

So much has occurred since the last time I have written. My first day of work was on Monday and it was not the best “first day” I have ever had. There are a couple things that I need to keep in mind as I assess my first day, one is that I am in the third world and second I am working for a non-profit organization. My first day consisted of my mentor for the summer handing me over a 200 page binder in a 20 minute meeting to explain what I am doing for the summer and then I was sent to work in the Early Childhood Development (ECD) Office. The office is very small and has 2 computers and one phone for 8 people. The desks are pretty much broken and no one really has their own space. There were two people speaking only Dutch in the office, another girl from Zimbabwe (Tracy), a girl from a small school in Maine (Emma), another girl from Switzerland (Nora), two girls from Yale (Adanna and Ellie), and me. Everyone was friendly but this was not the welcome I was expecting. I was not given any specific directions on how ECD works as a subsection of SAEP. I did not get information on how to use the phone or computers. I was basically left to figure things out on my own. It was truly frustrating as I was left to read 200 pages of research while I heard Dutch in one ear and a side-bar conversation in the other. Everything was just so slow, that was the worst part. The internet would go in and out and sometimes I couldn’t access certain sites. The work environment was just very laid-back in the sense that people kind of just do whatever they want. Interns work at their own speed. I have never worked at a non-profit before and this experience really highlights the patience and dedication people need to work in such an environment.

Tuesday, I got to start doing some hands on work. It was a much better day relative to the first one but filled with frustration. I went out to my first crèche (pre-school/kindergarten), which was called Sakhingomso Educare Center. About 6 of us got in the car that morning, just the interns, and we drove out to the township known as Phillipi and dropped everyone off at their assigned crèches. I was a little uneasy about this because we were just dropped off in the middle of this township by ourselves to work for 2-3 hours. Again I saw more surprising things as I drove through the townships a second time. I saw more farm animals in this residential area. There were kids playing in the dumpsters. I would often see little kids that looked about 2 or 3 roaming the streets alone. The stray dogs are also somewhat wild. They kept running up to the car in attack mode. We almost killed a couple as we were driving to the crèches. I believe I have become more cautious sense I been here because of horror stories I continue to hear. In a previous summer, two Dutch interns have had their stuff taken from them while in the crèches. Again, no one accompanied me in and there were no formal introductions, it was just straight to work. When I first walked in, about 25 kids came up to me and surrounded me. They all wanted to talk to me but I did not understand a thing they were saying. The teacher of the crèche is named Constance. She has spent all of her like in Cape Town, and she grew up in Gugulathu, where I went last Sunday for church. Constance speaks really great English. She told me Constance is not her real name but her African name is too hard for people to pronounce. We did not speak much until later on. I just mimicked what she did with kids.

The things that noticed in this crèche were very different. The entire building was made out of literally all tin-can material, therefore, there is no insulation and the room is extremely chilly. The kids must wear their hats, gloves, and coats the entire time. Even with all of this on it is still extremely cold. The school is only one room and there is only one working light. The toys they have are extremely old and very dirty. The floors are made with patches of different carpet and all of their backpacks hang from nails. The bigger children must go to an outhouse to use the restroom but many of them are still potty training and they use the bathroom inside the classroom into a small yellow plastic toilet that Constance empties every couple hours. This was the most disturbing for me as kids were playing right next to kids who were using the restroom on this yellow toilet. I had to hand the girls that were using the bathroom toilet paper as they were using the little yellow toilet. Then there is nowhere for them to wash their hands afterwards and if there is no one does…. The principal’s office is located in the same room as the kitchen where they make lunches for the children. There is also a small room for infants. However, the infants I saw in the cribs were so much infants anymore unless they just run really large here. It looked like they had 2 or 3 year olds in cribs. It cost about R200/month (a little over $20) for infants and R100 (a little over $10) for kids 5 and under to be cared for in this crèche. This is very cheap compared to American kindergarten/preschool programs but often it is too much for these African families to afford. Many times crèches feel bad about not being able to care for children due to financial burdens for the family so they allow them to attend anyway. This causes a lot of problems as the crèches are very small and overcrowding strains many of their resources.

The kids looked very sick. Most of them had runny noses which could have been caused by the cold rooms but many were coughing as well. One boy had sores in his mouth so we could not feed him certain food. Several of the boys have sores on their heads that look greenish in color. Some interns said it might be ringworm. Many of the kids in these crèches cannot receive medical care because they do not have birth certificates. By law any person receiving medical attention is required to show this document. I am still wondering why I chose ECD instead of high school students. The girl, Hannah who has been interning in this crèche for the last month has been sick for the last month…. Luckily for me, most of my work will be interviewing principals but in my spare time they want me in this crèche. Overall my first day at the crèche wasn’t so bad.

That night I went to my first professional rugby match with some friends at work. It was the Lions (the UK) vs. South African Springboks. I do not usually like any sports that imitate football but it was really great. Janine told me it would be a truly South African experience. However, I think the UK brought the entire kingdom with them. The stadium was filled with people from the UK. They were all dressed in crazy costumes. There were not many South Africans because the weather was soooo bad. I ate bvorst with my friends and went to the bar and hung out with the British guys in crazy costumes. I have to say that I did get ripped off at the match. I guess there is a first for everything. The people at the bvorst shorted me change but I guess I will learn the next time around and be more careful. The game ended in a tie. The next night we went out for Chinese in Observatory and I had my first taste of sushi. Never again….. I have really been experimenting with my food since my arrival; I am looking to have crocodile next.