Apologies for not updating the blog for a while….Kate, our wonderful gardener and photographer is the UK doing fundraising for us, and I had not mastered the use of digital cameras and transferring photo’s…..However, this changed on Friday gone by, when I took the photos, found the cord to connect the camera to the computer and VOILA, the photos are on my desktop – how easy!!!
Our 3rd term is going along very well and we have had some very kind, generous visitors, like Davidde (from Italy) and Saul (from JHB) who came up and to the school and joined us for circle time and play time, They then handed out brand new t-shirts and socks, with price tags still on of 40 Euros….. the children were well stoked – thank you guys!
Next we had a visit from Charlene Quest, all the way from the US. Charlene came with a suitcase full of goodies for the school. She spent a morning with us up at the school and at the end of the Fun Friday, she gave each child a Nike school bag, with a sun hat and a pack of crayons in the bag. Photo’s of this will follow. Many hugs were exchanged and the children looked well “cool” when they left school that day with their new bags and sunhats. Charlene also gave 4 really good, funky school bags, which we will use as prizes at the year end for the children who have the highest school attendance. Inside the bags were various flash cards, a Usborne art book, stop watches and pencil crayons. Charlene, thank you very much for lugging all the things you gave us, half way around the world – you are a star!
Robin Gwatkins from 4 Winds returned from a trip to the USA. Hidden inside her ugboots were dropper and smelling bottles for us – YEAH!!! AND a whole toybox full of educational toys and English story books! A HUGE thank you to Robin and her friends from the US for their very kind, much needed donation – we appreciate this greatly!
Dr Ettienne Raubenheimer (dentist) from Zitulele Hospital came to visit us on Friday to tell us about teeth. He brought along his various models and showed the children how to brush their teeth and why we need to look after our teeth and how to look after our teeth. We all had a practise turn on the set of big false teeth and then it was time for the real thing. He gave each child their own child-size toothbrush and child-size toothpaste and then they collected their rinsing cups. We all went outside and started making small circular movements on the outside of all our teeth…. one of the little boys (4) had never had a toothbrush in his mouth- this was a 1st for him! The children persevered in making the circular movements on the tops and the insides of their teeth – it was classic to observe! Photo’s will follow. Thank you very much Ettiene for the new practical life activity you have created – much appreciated!
In addition to all our lovely visitors this term, our wonderful garden that was created by Kate and Ninti, has been providing us with amazing lunches almost daily! Nontsha, our Assistant, has displayed some great cooking skills, as can clearly be seen when the children go and wash their empty plates after lunch. I have attempted to provide lunch on 2 occasions, but unfortunately both my cheese and tomato sandwiches and my tomato soup did not go down well with the children. I have since left the lunches to Nontsha. She has been making delicious lunches with cherry tomatoes, tomatoes, beetroot, spring onions, spinach, skwashumba and green peppers – ALL from our garden 🙂 The carrots and cabbages are nearly ready, the potateos are coming up and unfortunately the pumpkin was unhappy, so we removed it. We supplement our fresh veggie intake with a staple of mielie meal/rice/bread and soya mince. Nontsha has been cooking at Mama Pat’s and at Coffee Shack – thank you both for this, as we do not have a cooking area. I am currently fundraising to build a 2.4, zinc kitchen which is about R2100.00. That way the mama’s of the children can start doing the cooking and get directly involved with the school.
We are currenty preparing for a Transkei pre-school Workshop which we are hosting on the weekend of 3 -5 September 2010. 13 Teachers from surrounding pre-schools will come and join us for a weekend of learning and fun. I will be sure to take photo’s and share it with you guys!
Peace – Dawn