I have been in South Africa for almost 9 months and in that time, with all the blogs I have posted, not one of them has explained my daily routine! Here is a rough breakdown of how my days go! Maybe it will give some more insight into some of the other blogs I post!
Every morning I wake up at 6 am. Now that winter is here, I am up before the sun! It also means, it is quite frigid in the morning when I am leaving for work. Most of the time I watch the sunrise on my morning taxis.
I leave the house sometime between 6:35 and 6:40 in the morning to catch my taxis. Walking down my street to the main road in Spruitview, I stand at the corner waiting for a taxi. When I can see one in view, I stick my hand out and point downwards to signal that I need a lift. From there, my journey begins.
Monday through Wednesday I take the local taxi to Goldspot, the taxi rank in Vosloorus, where I catch a taxi to Dunswart. Sometimes I am the last one in the taxi and we leave right away, and others there is a line long enough to fill four taxis that I stand in waiting for my ride. When I eventually get to Dunswart, I wait in a line for a taxi to Bonaero Park. This taxi usually has the same people in it, so we have become good friends. I usually get to the office sometime between 8 and 8:30 depending on how long I have to wait for taxis, traffic, and if there are roadblocks (aka police trying to meet their quota for the end of the month).
At the office, I do a variety of things. On Monday we have morning devotion. The staff in the office takes turns leading the devotion and preaching. I have lead devotion three times and preached once. ELCSA-DS shares the office with ELCSA staff, Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa (LUCSA) staff, and ELCSA-NT staff. LUCSA is the regional expression of the Lutheran World Federation and brings together all the Lutheran churches in Southern Africa: South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Angola, and Malawi. ELCSA-NT is the German expression of the Lutheran church, but I do not know very much about them. The three organizations come together to pray and worship; it is always enjoyable to sing and hear different sermons each week.
I share an office at ELCSA-DS with Thuli, the administrative assistant. During the day I do a variety of things depending on the time of year and what we have going on. Typically I will check my email and the ELCSA-DS Facebook page and manage any social media posts for the week. Over my time here, I helped with the planning and preparation for the Lutheran Action Against Gender Based Violence (LAAGBV) Consultation on a Competent Church, LAAGBV Victim Empowerment Workshop, LAAGBV Volunteer Training. I created a social media plan at the beginning of the year to help provide direction for managing social media during the year. I traveled to Swaziland to learn about programming there for HIV and AIDS and Community Development, as well as provided write ups of the experience and information gained. I went on an initial site visit to Nkandla and helped write a project proposal draft for a community development project there. With Ashmeer I attended LUCSA’s Migrant Workshop to learn about the challenges and obstacles countries face when dealing with migrants and refugees. I am also the go-to person in the office for computer help. While I have had a lot of downtime between these activities, it has allowed me time to reflect on all the different ways I have learned and grown from my time in this office. I am excited to continue learning about ELCSA-DS and all the ways they work to better the lives of individuals in Southern Africa. Working in this office has been a true blessing and learning experience.
I leave the ELCSA office at 3:40 to catch my taxi home. This taxi goes from Bonaero Park to Dunswart and has all the same people every day. I have formed friendships with them and if I miss a day of work, they always ask where I was. When I get to Dunswart I head over to the “6 Taxi” which takes me right to Spruitview. I get home usually around 5:15 if I catch the first taxi home. All in all, by the time I get home, I have usually spent anywhere from 3 to 4 hours on the taxis. It is quite exhausting!
On Thursday and Friday, I leave my house around 6:35 - 6:40 depending, and catch a local taxi to Eastfield. I cross through the passage and across a field towards Ayanda Pre Primary School. On my way, I occasionally pick up a fat cake (fried dough traditionally eaten for breakfast) and greet the taxi drivers.
Each time I am at the school, I rotate between all the classes so I can continue bonding with and getting to know all the children. The kids range in age from 3 months to Grade R (6 years). I have grown to love every single one of the kids and I love walking around the school going to collect my hugs and seeing my favorite kids. I love the Grade R kids because they are so smart, usually listen, and are very talkative. My second favorite class is the 5 years class because they just always want to play.
My days at the preschool vary in terms of what I do depending on the class I am in. In Grade R, I help with handwriting and math practice, as well as grading assignments (which is my FAVORITE!). With the 5 years, I help out where I can when the kids are working on projects and singing rhymes. In 4 years and 3 years I spend a lot of quality time helping dish out food for all the kids and keeping the classroom clean. 2 years and younger I really just play with the kids and am an extra hand for the teacher. I love my time at the preschool. Through interacting with the teachers and staff members I have learned a lot about different levels of schooling and education in and around the townships. The kids have taught me more than I even know what to put into words.
My favorite thing that I learned at the preschool is a song they love to sing. It goes like this: There was a big fat mama, washing the clothes with a wickey wickey here and a wickey wickey there, that’s the way we wash our clothes. The song has lots of hand movements: for “big fat mama” the kids put their arms out to mimic a large person and when they say “wickey wickey” they move their hands to mimic washing clothes but they put their whole body into it. It’s just the cutest thing ever - I will try to get a video sometime.
I leave the preschool around 3:30 in the afternoon when my friend Linda picks up and transports the Spruitview kids home. The car ride home is always a hoot. I usually sit with Linda’s daughter Lindokuhle and one other baby, Siyanda, on my lap while we pack in roughly eight kids to the back seat. Lindokuhle and Siyanda are as much in love with me as I am with them; they now get jealous if I pick up one of them and not the other. The kids in the back talk the whole time and when I get out at home they all shout “BYE TEACHER!!” and wave at me. For real, I cannot express how cute these kids are and how much I love them.
My evenings consist of working out, reading, and watching my favorite soapie (soap opera) Isibaya. We eat dinner sometime between 7 and 9 depending on who cooks, what we have, and what time we start cooking. On Tuesday evenings I usually go to choir practice from 6-7:45. Since I wake up so early, I am usually in bed by 9 listening to a podcast or reading a book and journaling.
So there you have it! That’s what my days and weeks looks like. There is never a dull moment and there is always something going on! I will try to get a post up about church in the next few weeks! It’s crazy how fast time is flying here. I often forget to share the little things because they have become routine to me. That’s one of the amazing things about a YAGM year - the opportunity to experience and recognize the little things in life such as taxi rides, playing soccer with children, and greeting friends on the street.
I can’t believe I have left than a month left, but I fully intend to enjoy every second of it and make as many memories as possible.
