This is one in a series of posts from the six Kentuckians volunteering at the first ever overseas Reading Camp this year in Grahamstown, South Africa. Bishop Stacy Sauls, Ginger Sauls (teacher), Mary Jane Amick (nurse), and three counselors (Drew Eclov, Connor Egan, and Vibh Forsythe) have joined the South Africans on the Reading Camp team for an overnight camp at the Assegaai Trails Conference Center.
SATURDAY night we arrived at and were blown away bythe scenery. Like the Domain, the trails are nestled in a clearing on a high point that looks out across mountains valleys and plains. The peace and beauty are almost overwhelming, from experience we can say, this is the perfect place for camp. We spent the evening with the South African counselors teaching and learning games and songs. Drew, Connor, and I were, and still are diligently learning out Xhosa...we still need work. After running ourselves ragged playing the snake game, (which, you'll be happy to know, is one and the same with the Amoeba game) we sat down to enjoy a traditional South African Braai. I am sorry that I cannot leave a sample of the delicious chicken and boerovurst for you to taste over the internet. Sincerest regrets. After much laughing and talking we settled down to sleep and get ready for the day ahead. Amazingly, we stayed asleep all night.
One of the first things we did on Sunday was recieve our Holy Cross Reading Camp Grahamstown South Africa shirts. To our delight, the pine tree remains in the logo, despite the fact that it is most certianly not indigenous to these parts. A little piece of Reading Camp's Kentucky roots will live on in this project forever!
Excitement!
The Children arrived on buses and were greeted with Mulwheni Mulwheni...A welcome song sung in Xhosa by the other counselors. Drew, Connor, and I made do with clapping and humming until we got the hang of it. The children refused to do anything other than smile shyly at us in the beginning. But now thay have learned to tolerate our funny accents and are warming up to us quite nicely. The purpose of this camp is a little bit different that the reading camps we are used to. The children here are among the brightest in their other classes but need help with ENGLISH. Unlike the United States, South Africa has 11 national languages. All of the children here begin to learn English in about the 3rd or 4th grade. Their classes will be taught in English beginning next year for many of them. This reading camp is geared toward those who need help learning. We are still getting used to the fact that sometimes they do not understand the words we speak, and the way they will turn and speak to each other about us or about our direction in Xhosa and we will have no idea which way the debate is going until the outcome. But even with the language barrier we're all getting along quite well. We're helping them with their English and they are humoring our attempts at Xhosa. Lovely!
Yesterday we had the amazing opportunity to hear a story from one of South Africa's well known writers and strorytellers Gcina Mhlope. The children loved her, but it wasn't until today that we had the opportunity to read about all of the wonderful books of South African folk stories she had written, shows she has performed with theatre companies, and the Mother of Books campaign she started to distribute
boxes of no less than 100 books each per year to area schools. I am continuously amazed by the way the activities in which the children are engaged are centered around learning and maintaining their own culture. We went on a nature hike with Basil (imagine a Ben from Pine Mountain Settlement School mix with the Crocodile
Hunter ...eating plants off the trail and so on) who told folk stories about Tikolosh (the akin to the boogeyman) and his soldiers, and the 17 million uses for native Aloe that I did not know. We called to the spirits of the lake before walking past it to prevent hexes and some of the children were worried because their mothers had warned them never to speak to the lake people. It has been evident all the way through how much the children are enculturated continuously to understand and respect their folklore and the environment around them. All in all, good times. More soon.
-Vibh Forsythe (along with Drew Eclov & Connor Egan) is a volunteer counselor from Kentucky at the first overseas Reading Camp in Grahamstown, South Africa
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