#mpilonhle

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Into the scenic and very rural Drakensberg

 The Drakensberg is the largest mountain range in South Africa, reaching altitudes of over 11,000ft (3,400m).  The last town in Southern Drakensburg is Underberg, where we visit a small cottage that serves as a base for an organization called Family Literacy Project (FLP).  Let’s set the stage a bit.  Life has a funny way of keeping things in perspective.  I lived in rural South Africa all of 2011, but when I visited the villages surrounding Underberg, I realized that where I was living was not super rural.  These villages were rural, and people have very little resources. Here is a picture of one of the villages in the Southern Drakensberg.

(photo thanks to Family Literacy Project)

These rondavels are built by hand, starting from the sundried, cement bricks.  This is the most rural place I have visited in South Africa, and this is where Family Literacy Project work. 

Family Literacy Project  started in 2000 to address the low levels of literacy improvement in pre-school children and what role the family could play in building literacy skills.  What they found was that many of the adults were not literate themselves, but wanted to learn.  They currently work in six villages in the Sisonke District and their programs range from literacy groups, community notice boards, community libraries, and book clubs to child-to-child groups, teen sexuality groups, and home visits that teach mothers about early childhood development. I went to an adult literacy group meeting and a home visit as well as visited one of the small community libraries.  Follow us this week on Twitter for the pics and come back for Recap Friday!

-Lorrie, CTAOP Head of Programs

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Recap Friday with food gardens and artwork!

Hey all!  For those who missed the week of photos, you’ve come to the right place.  And for those who followed the past few days of pictures on Twitter, we’ve got some great additional photos for you!

Please enjoy these photos from the Umkhanyakude District of South Africa…

  (photo courtesy of Mpilonhle)

This little sign denotes which proud group in the grade 11 class that planted this spinach!

  (photo courtesy of Mpilonhle)

At Madwaleni, this pretty lady in pink couldn’t be happier about the way the garden has grown!

  (photo courtesy of Mpilonhle)

These students prepare to take part in the art project to decorate the toilet block at Madwaleni.

  (photo courtesy of Mpilonhle)

Students in the change room…notice the birds perched on the clothing pegs! So creative.

  (photo courtesy of Mpilonhle)

At Malabela, an artist painting a local scene!

  (photo courtesy of Mpilonhle)

Artwork on the wall…perhaps depicting the benefits of running?

  (photo courtesy of Mpilonhle)

A picture of a giraffe, or indlulamithi (in-dloo-lah-MEE-tee) in Zulu.

  (photo courtesy of Mpilonhle)

Beni and three men among the artfully done walls of the toilet block. (photo courtesy of Mpilonhle)

  (photo courtesy of Mpilonhle)

I think my fav…a rhino has chased a poacher up a tree! (Photo courtesy of Mpilonhle)

(photo courtesy of Mpilonhle)

Very creative…this cheetah is actually stepping onto the bench in the change room. (photo courtesy of Mpilonhle)

Join us next week as we drive down the coast to Durban and inland to Edendale, just outside of Pietermaritzburg, where we visit with an organization called Whizz Kids United.

Have a great weekend everyone!

-Lorrie

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Lorrie's Blog!

Hey all!

With the buzz of a wonderful week behind us we are now getting all the little things worked out that make the project spectacular.  This following week we are having a different kind of training.  EnviroLoo maintenance!  Basically, we don't want the schools to have to outsource the maintenance of these waterless toilet units, so EnviroLoo is sending out an instructor from Johannesburg to teach the schools how to care and maintain these toilets so that they will be odor free and the ashen waste can actually be used as fertilizer in the garden.  It's difficult to convince people that it's okay to use on their gardens, but at least this is a step in the right direction.  More to come on that.  The landscaping is coming along nicely, and the parking areas are being defined soon (with grass at three locations and stone at Madwaleni).  We will be receiving some recycled plastic benches for the team seating areas as well as seating for the mamas around the laundry facilities. Malabela, the last to get done, is finally finished drilling the borehole and although it is not the great yield of Masibonisane or Madwaleni, we are installing a pump that will work with the smaller volume.  It will just take a bit longer to fill up the tanks. Now I realize that many people haven't seen the fields in a while so here is a little view of how nicely they are coming along. Here is Madwaleni's finished ablution block.  Once the landscaping is done it will look fantastic.

From CTAOP

Here is the laundry facility and garden.

From CTAOP

Their garden is amazing...you can see spinach, cabbage, and beetroot among other things.

From CTAOP

...and they have already had a training for the community members who wish to garden at home as well as here at the school.

From CTAOP

Here is Masibonisane, whose grass has taken off.

From CTAOP

There is a beautiful berm around the whole field which makes it look like a bowl.  Trees have been planted on it to provide wonderful shaded seating for the entire field.  It also will help keep the soccer balls from going to far.  Here is a picture of the buildings from the top of the berm.  Masibonisane's garden will go in the area behind the toilet block.

From CTAOP

And finally...Malabela...the grass has not been planted there due to the borehole not being connected yet, but we are expecting that to happen next week.

From CTAOP

Oh, I almost forgot the goals.  They are a wonderful spectacle...the wheels serve both to make them mobile as well as a counter balance so they don't fall over on a windy day.

From CTAOP

Finally, it wouldn't be a Lorrie blog without something out of the ordinary... On the day before the close of the season, our neighbor, William Davidson, invited Jason and I, and Tony and Stacey (a married Peace Corps Volunteer couple staying with us) to go with him to hunt crazy fish...oops...I mean crayfish in Mapelane. I was thinking of the freshwater things that resemble miniature lobsters...however, we soon found out that here in South Africa, crayfish is the term they use for what we would call rock lobsters.  Oh yes, that's right.  We were going lobster hunting!  While William got his gear on, an amazing array of wetsuit, heavy clothes, long socks over his arms, a weight belt, heavy duty rubber gloves, water shoes, and a snorkel, we kept our shorts and tees on and slipped rubber gloves on.  Here is a picture of William sans the gloves and snorkel...but he does have the socks in his hand that would eventually go under the gloves.

From CTAOP

And here is me, gearing up for battle, getting hungry for rock lobster

From CTAOP

We walked into the ocean and immediately William disappeared underwater, with only his foot in sight.  He wrestled with the rock like it was the Greco-Roman Olympic sport.  He was playing a game of wits with a stubborn lobster.  The lobster won...In the meantime, we were getting so hungry and frustrated that we started shucking oysters and mussels off of the rocks and eating them.  It was lunchtime after all.  We changed locations to a different set of rocks and hit the jackpot.  I was guarding an exit under one of the rocks (William calls it wicket keeping), and no sooner had he gone to the other side to grab them, one came shooting out from under the rock directly at my face.  As brave as I thought I was, a let out a huge underwater scream and of course didn't grab it.  It was a lot quicker than I imagined and it quickly went back under the rock after seeing my snorkel covered scream.  In the end, William caught six lobsters and gave us three, which we didn't deserve.  Jason, Tony, Stacey, and I didn't resist though...we were tired from wrestling with the rocks and the rough water for five hours.  In absolute utopia, and along with 20 fresh mussels, we ate these...

From CTAOP

I'm just gonna stop the blog at that.  Next week is EnviroLoo training and close encounters with cats. L

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Lorrie's Back

It's Training week for the coaches! We are fortunate enough to have a master instructor from the KNVB (the Royal Netherlands Football Association) here with two coaches from the Johannesburg based organization Stars In Their Eyes.  They are running a coaching certification course for the people who will be the boys and girls soccer coaches in the new school leagues. coaches from 15 schools were invited and most are represented, along with a number of community coaches ranging from Durban to KwaMsane township. Eric Whittie, our master instructor, flew all the way from the Netherlands to bring the famous Dutch model of coaching to KwaZulu-Natal.  Gramwill "Shortie" Peinaar and Sharon Lombard, both South African players and life skills teachers assisted Eric and brought an element of life skills training to the coaching environment.  It is very important that the coaches realize that their influence on the soccer field can reach far beyond the confines of the white lines, and sport has the capacity to introduce lessons and teaching moments that are applicable to life.

After a shaky Monday morning start, with coaches on Zulu time (super late) and computer issues, I was a little worried that the program was going to be a bust.  But in no time we figured everything out, and Eric and company grabbed the coaches with their enthusiasm and charisma, and have yet to let go.  We have had zero atrophy despite the coaches having to find their own transport to the site as well as their own lunches.  Throughout the week the coaches learn how to read the game, what their role as coach should be, how to identify challenges in the game, and prepare a training session to address those challenges.  On top of all that, they will be able to organize and run a 4v4 tournament with 80 kids and only five soccer balls, which is very relevant for this part of the world.  Without giving the coaches a list of training drills, they will be able to create their own training sessions, which is exactly the kind of capacity development they need. The days are organized into a classroom session in the morning followed by a field session in which the coaches themselves are participants in the training, and then there is an afternoon classroom session followed by a field session in which a youth team serve as participants.  The first afternoon, however, an under-17 team was supposed to play a match, but didn't have enough, so a bunch of the 'old guys' played against them.  I was included in the 'old guys' as well, some of whom told me afterward that it was the first time they had ever shared a pitch with a female.  It was young v old, fit v fat, energetic athleticism and skill, vs....well, experience?  They should have killed us, but we managed to eke out a 2-2 tie, and the coaches were ecstatic at the result.  Of course the U17s were furious with the tie, because there was no way we could run with them, but it made for very interesting observations for Tuesday's classroom session.

Over the next two days, observations of both teams, attacking and defending were made, naming challenges and successes.  And then the challenges were analyzed in terms of five different aspects and the group was taught how to formulate and prepare for a training session according to which challenge they wanted to address.  By the end of the third day, the coaches were running a training session that they had prepared with a youth group.  Tomorrow their training session will be analyzed...

More to come on that later!

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Guest Blogger & Shoe Drop

Hey all! It's winter here and it is supposed to be dry season...but as weird weather is seeming to infect the entire globe, it was no different here.  We have had unusually large amounts of rainfall for this time of year, which has been terrible for keeping our cars free from mud.  Brown cars clearly have an advantage here.  While most of KZN have been cursing the horrible weather, we are very happy as our newly grassed fields are getting wonderfully large amounts of vital water.  We are hoping that the fields will be ready to play on by November. This week I have a special guest blogger for everyone.  Casey Cousineau is a 16-year old from Altadena, CA who decided that she wanted to come to South Africa to volunteer for Mpilonhle for two weeks.  So as her two weeks are coming to an end, I asked her if she could give the followers at home at glimpse of Mpilonhle, South Africa through her eyes...and her thoughts.  Enjoy! Whenever I travel anywhere, I try to picture myself at my destination...I try to picture myself meeting new people...and most importantly, I picture myself smiling. It’s a simple smile, nothing but a symbol of enjoyment. Then I completely strike those thoughts from my memory, because after sixteen years of traveling I know that nothing works out like you expect. That fact may be frightening to most, but it's reality.  It's also what drives me to see new places and experience the thrill of the unknown. This trip symbolized more for me though, as I is my first time flying across the ocean on my own...an adventure in and of itself. When I finally touched down in Richard’s Bay, I knew that I had welcomed in a new chapter in my life, and what better way to start that with Mpilonhle.  My two weeks opened up with a heavy dose of jet lag and a nice breakfast of macadamia nut pancakes (I have heard that the only way to counter jet lag is with maple syrup). But it was still really hard to leave my expectations "at the door". What I saw and what I assumed I would see were completely different. Yes, the Richard's Bay Airport is a tiny whole in the wall, even smaller than Bob Hope Airport (Burbank, CA), but everything past baggage claim seemed like home. When you think of Africa... well I can't paint that picture for you, but trust me it is not what you see when you land in Jo'berg. It is a country of progress that has been hindered by history, and it is hard to remember that. It just takes time to adjust, I guess.  By Monday, I was fully immersed in the office life, planning the rest of my week, and extremely excited to get started… too bad that the next day was a national holiday. Tuesday - On National Women's Day there was no work, so we took the opportunity to get a little South African wildlife into our systems.  “Game parking”...this is a term I will always associate with sleeping in the back of the car while everyone else makes jokes at your expense. I guess I’m just not cut out to look at zebra for 8 hours. I could blame it on the jetlag, but the pancakes had settled that one.  My drowsiness in cars is just something I brought with me from home. However, I was awake enough to see one of nature's more unbelievable scenes.  (warning...this first picture is not for those who hate national geographic)

Look closely...that's not a stick in its mouth...

Umfolozi River

Isimangaliso Wetlands Game Reserve Wednesday - TOMS visit. Between my mom and I we own quite a few pairs of the life changing shoe.  Before this trip my number one reason for getting a pair was their look, and the second reason was because they help. After discovering the impact TOMS makes in lives and seeing it first hand the rest of the week, it was inevitable that I would fall in love with their work. Tracy, the Director of TOMS Africa, came to Mpilonhle to see the work that they do, and I was assigned to follow her and report on her visit. I not only learned a lot more about the work that happens here in Mtubatuba, but I also learned all about the TOMS company and what it means to Mpilonhle, who by next year is expected to receive 100,000 pairs of shoes. I am no reporter, so it was a challenge to remember that I was "on the job", but with time it has gotten better. And like my reporting, so did my trip.

Mpilonhle's first shoe drop at a primary school Friday - It sounds cheesy as I write this, but I will remember this day for the rest of my life. I fell in love with smiles that day. I fell in love with CREATING smiles. These smiles stretch from dimple to dimple and mean so much more than they appear to.  These smiles came about when I showed a child the new pair of shoes they were getting.  While distributing TOMS to children at Nqiwaneni Primary School, their beautiful faces touched my heart.  But it was their bright personalities that tugged on my heartstrings.  Truly a day that cannot be expressed by words.

Smiles are universal The weekend flew by and now it is Wednesday. Leaving will be one of the hardest things to do. Saying goodbye to everyone who taught me how to appreciate the simple gesture of a smile. Saying goodbye to everyone I have fallen in love with in these short two weeks. Saying goodbye. Sala Kahle. (To read more about Tracy's visit and the TOMs shoe drop, check out the Mpilonhle blog here!)

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Friday blog!

Hi All,

This past week was an exciting week for any of you who are interested in permaculture.  Permaculture was coined by two Australians David Holmgren and Bill Mollison back in the mid-seventies to describe a design system of sustainable food growing methods that look beyond traditional gardening to explore the harmonious relationship between humans and the environment, and finding ways to follow nature's patterns.  It is derived from PERMAnent agriCULTURE. For example, one specific bed, the trench bed, is made by digging about 50cm (~20in) down, placing cardboard (for water retention) on the bottom and then alternating carbon rich layers and nitrogen rich layers, with soil in between each new one.   So after the cardboard comes the straw (carbon rich) to provide aeration, then soil, then comes the nitrogen rich green matter/manure, then soil, then carbon rich, soil, nitrogen rich, etc, etc, etc....you get the idea.  Finally, the layered pile of earthy goodness gets topped off with compost and then straw for mulching.  For those of you who would like to try this at home, don't forget to water every layer before adding the next.  Anyway, we have photos and videos for you from the classroom training at Manukelana (mah-noo-keh-LAH-nah) Nursery and field training at Indukebandla (in-doo-keh-BAND-lah) Primary School.  Tim and Claire organized the training with African Conservation Trust (ACT), an organization whose focus is sustainably alleviating critical environmental and heritage needs by incorporating innovation, training, and education. The idea is that these field assistants will help pass on their new knowledge to the schools and communities and gardens can be replicated in both schools and homes. To learn more about the food tunnels project click here. TOMS Shoes were given out at Masibonisane and Nhliziyo, and it was a sight to see.  Over 3,000 pairs of shoes were given out to students at both schools and Mpilonhle's man in charge, Nathi (NAH-tee) was kind enough to let me interview him about it.  He explains why TOMS shoes are an awesome gift...

Oh, it's been a while since the Mpilonhle garden got a shout out...the carrots have gone crazy! They are so big that I get hungry every time I walk up the stairs...I have this wonderful thought of a fresh veggie lunch.  Around 12:30 I start to sneak over to the garden to uproot them, and before I even get to carry out my delicious plan, Claire, the wonderful garden keeper (in picture), foils my plan.  She tells me to be patient and wait for them to start to show above the soil...and then pick them!  Woo hoo!!! Claire is totally on my team!  She's just making sure the carrots are not picked prematurely.  Don't worry, we'll get video when it happens.

Speaking of video...Gugu is BACK!  Now that she's a big hit, I followed her around with the camera, biding my time.  Her birthday was over the weekend, and a few of us in the office decided to get her a cake!  Perfect distraction...Watch as we follow up to our 'Chasing Mama Gugu' video with this absolute gem! 

Until next week,

Lorrie

P.S. Check our youtube for more videos and our twitter for daily updates!

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Lorrie's Blog: Unbuntu

Hey All,

We've got update pictures from Madwaleni!  The field that once was slanted and a guaranteed ankle sprain is now level and beautiful.  The topsoil was completely removed and set aside, and then the leveling ensued.  The machinery took the soil from the high side of the field and moved it down the hill to the low side, eventually bringing that annoying little bubble in the level to the center where it should be.  On to the ablution block...the first thing I notice is that there is a wall up! It's the wall of the changing rooms.  The trenches they had been digging are in the process of having concrete poured in and troweled into the foundation of the ablution block.

At Silethukukhanya this week we undertook a huge task...normally the principal, Bheki Nomandla, uses weeding as punishment for things like being late or misbehaving.  But over the long December break the weeds grew uncontrolled...needless to say, it was time to take drastic measures.  So we organized a day to have all of the students weed an area of the field, one classroom at a time. Our logic was pretty simple...It would take a couple of groundskeepers a couple of weeks to weed the whole field.  But if each student takes care of a small section and weeds for about 20 minutes, we could have the field done in a day.  It was actually done in two days because the first day was Sports Day and there was a community soccer match that was scheduled to start at 1pm.  During the weeding there were some students who thought that the people who play on the field should be the only ones weeding...to that I was told the response should be, "Unbuntu." Ubuntu is a philosophy...It is a way of life.  There is a Zulu maxim, umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu  which is translated as "I am what I am because of who we all are."  It is a concept of the interconnectedness of humans and how we cannot exist as individuals. Archbishop Desmond Tutu explains it wonderfully here: "One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu - the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality - Ubuntu - you are known for your generosity. We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity."

It's finally time for us to introduce Thokozani Hlope.  He's Mpilonhle's Sports and Health Coordinator, and he's always smiling.  The kids love him, the staff love him, and so do the school faculties.  We thought it would be fitting to video introduce him, so please enjoy the video as we caught him in a rare moment in the office.  Notice after he sees the camera, he doesn't break stride.  TK, thanks for being such a sport.

The TK dance from CTAOP on Vimeo.

See you next week!

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Lorrie's Blog: Site Handovers and Construction!

Hi all!

Finally!  After a two week delay due to a land issue, we finally were able to hand over our two remaining sites in Phase One of HFA, Malabela and Masibonisane High Schools.  Malabela is a new school for Mpilonhle, while this is the fourth year that Mplionhle has worked with Masibonisane.  Masibonisane is Mpilonhle's biggest school, with 1441 students to Malabela's 605.  The turnouts at both schools was much bigger than our last site handover.  Included in these meetings were the school, community, local Ndunas, representatives from both the Department of Education and the Department of Sports and Recreation, social services representatives, and even the Mayor of the Big Five False Bay Municipality. We arrived at Malabela at 10:30am and sat in a large circle under a tree.  Similarly, when Charlize came to visit this particular school two Christmases ago, the Deputy Vice Principal wrote her a poem that was read to her while everyone sat under a tree in the quad.  Although we weren't sitting under that particular tree, the people who were present a year and a half ago still talk about it with wide grins.

If you didn't read the blog about the last site handover, you can go back to read the details of everything that the architect and professional team have to discuss, from safety to local employment, and then finally a site walk through to physically see where the sports field and buildings will go.  Most of the community and school members really appreciated this because everyone could really visualize how the piece of land would be transformed; There were many questions, comments, and concerns.  While this project has the potential to make a huge impact on the community, the responsibility to maintain it and run programs is also huge.  But having the community members there really strengthened everyone's commitment to making sure this project is sustained.

After spending two hours at Malabela we drove to Masibonisane, where they had lunch for us because they heard that we weren't fed at the last site handover...The principal, Mrs. Ncube, always finds ways to care for Mpilonhle staff and visitors.  Derek goes through his spiel one final time, questions are asked and answered, and then we eat lunch.  It is going to be very important that the safety message gets to all of the 1441 students because the fencelines will not be put up before the borehole is drilled (check out the video below). The walkthrough goes on as planned with a little treat for those community members who have not seen Mpilonhle's mobile health units in action...two of the three units are at Masibonisane this week and were set up on the far side of the field.

Finally, a few of us zip over to Madwaleni to see the progress on the construction.  Last week we saw the beginnings of the ablution block, this week that digging is almost finished, and the foundation can then be built.  The earthworks have started as well, as a backhoe is used to remove the topsoil from what will be the soccer field...exciting stuff!

Lastly, Mawaleni's borehole was drilled.  The drillers are very happy with the flow coming from the water supply...I guess that diviner was right again!  The school sits on a ridge that is made up of very hard rock and clay soil.  Needless to say, seven hours and 137 meters (450 feet) later, they finally struck water...we are going to try and film the borehole drilling at Masibonisane to share with everyone for next week. Until then, enjoy the photos and videos!  Oh Ukuthula is getting much bigger and our garden is looking very nice.  I am resisting all urges to pull the carrots up and eat them.  -L

Lorrie interviews Garth about the new water source for the school at Madwaleni:

Interview with Garth at Madwaleni from Jason Allen on Vimeo.

Check out more videos of the construction site and handovers on vimeo!

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