Yesterday all the schools in South Africa opened their doors to welcome back the children of this country with open arms... It's the start of a new academic year, along with the usual reports in the news of establishments without any equipment, overcrowding and disputed exam papers etc.
However, down at Inchanga, there were none of those problems. The first thing I noticed when I popped in at lunch time was that there were so many kids milling around and yet it was so quiet! It was like a reverent hush was over the place. I imagine it's the awe of being back in a place of learning, or the new experiences for the Grade R's just starting. Or maybe they were all just in shock at being back at school!
In any case, I managed to track down a few of the children on Grapevine Foundation's programme to say hello and check they are ok. We're still establishing who exactly is on my programme. I started with a list of 40, over Christmas that number of names went up to 100. Some will have moved up to High School and there will be new children joining the school right up to Easter who might need help. As there are over 300 orphans in the school, there's no shortage of kids to help. So next week, when term is underway, I'll be sitting down with the teacher responsible for the orphans and we'll work out who's on my programme. Despite the apparent confusion, there are still a few kids who I already know and so it was good to spend a little bit of time with them.
As I wandered around the playground, it was amusing to hear the littlest pupils gasp when they saw me and whisper 'umlungu' (white person) to their friends. These children live right in the valley and there aren't that many white people around, so it really could be a shock for some of them. (Incidentally, they are always fascinated by the veins in my arms, as they can't see them on their arms. Also, my fingernails seemed to be popular yesterday for some reason... ) A few of the children were bold enough to just come up and start talking to me, or touching my hand to see if I was real. Wherever I walked, there would be a small train of children desperate to be in a photo - they shout out 'shooter' which means photo/camera in Zulu (nothing to do with guns!) and then all pose. There's a fair bit of pushing around and shouting at each other to smile but it's usually good-humoured.
It looked like the majority of kids were happy to be back. For the orphans, school is a source of regular food and some of them can get their clothes washed too, so they would be especially happy that term has started. Children were chatting with their friends, climbing on the mound of gravel (supposed to be on the road but it's not been finished yet), scavenging in the rubbish pit for interesting papers, looking longingly at the soccer pitch or just cleaning up after lunch. The Gogos who sit on the peripheries of the playground to sell the kids little bags of sweets and crisps were back in force and doing a roaring trade already. Children were making the most of whatever they could find to play with, writing in the dirt with sticks or practising a bit of zulu dancing. School is definitely underway!
