School Visit in Klipfontein

Today I went with the volunteers of Kariega Project to an after school day care in the township called Klipfontein. Klipfontein is a coloured community and they speak mostly Afrikaans. This was the second time I visited the school and I absolutely fell in love with these kids. This is why I decided to write a little piece about them.

When the volunteers of Kariega Project are going to this ‘Klipfontein Skool’ the lessons are mostly about teaching the kids English. These kids speak much better English compared to the kids in the township Ekuphumleni where I also wrote a little piece about. There are different games being done and from what I’ve witnessed till now the day starts with a story. After that the kids are being asked different questions to see what they’ve remembered from the story. Paige was doing very well, I really admire her for her ability to improvise. For example, one game she wanted to do wasn’t complete so she just gave a totally different twist to the game.

While I was actually just standing in the back to make pictures and to observe Cynthia managed to get me involved in the lessons (also very impressive because I’m not really teacher material). All the kids had to tell me an English word they had learned that day and I have to say they did actually very well. After the lessons a group of kids ran at me to hug me. It was so cute, I think there were about at least 10 kids hugging me at the same time. The other ones were standing in the line to give me a hug as well. Adorable.

It was so beautiful to see how grateful the kids were for the lessons. Besides this it was also funny how curious the kids were. When one girl touched my hair, and I allowed it, some other girls had to touch it as well. After that they were also touching my nails (I had nail polish on) and my tattoo on my wrist.

But it’s still hard to see all those sweet, studious, enthusiastic and curious kids because I know that their future won’t be as rosy as I would have liked it to be. Life in the townships is a poor life and they are going to face much difficulties like unemployment, diseases, poor healthcare, early pregnancies or even rapes or drugs. Luckily the after school day care allows them to be a child for how long they can and I think that is one of the most beautiful things to see. 

Beachcomber Horse Trails

One of the first things Jenny ever asked me was: ‘Do you like horse riding?’ So when I told her I did Jenny immediately started talking about Beachcomber Horse Trails and about the beautiful beach trails. Because I always wanted to go on a beach trail but it just never happened for some reason I decided that I definitely would get in contact with Jono from Beachcomber Horse Trails.

So last Tuesday I sent a text message to Jono about when I could join him for a trail. I received a message back after only two minutes (well done Jono) that I could join a trail the next day. I then decided to go with my roommate Paige. While I actually was expecting a kind of riding school as we have them in The Netherlands I arrived at a meadow. This wasn’t a bad thing though, I was just surprised. It was going to be a slow ride because there was a family joining with little kids. But I actually didn’t mind that because it has been a while since the last time I went horse riding.

After everybody climbed on their horses we were ready to go. A little while after we left we saw impalas in the bushes behind the fences from the reserve of Addo. Awesome. Just before we entered the beach we had a stunning view of the beach and the sea.

I can’t say anything else than that I enjoyed the beach trail very much. The beaches here are just so stunning that you actually can’t do anything but enjoying them. The only thing that was a pity was the fact that my horse wanted to be as last while Paige’s horse wanted to be in the front so we couldn’t really chat. I would love to go again but next time I’m going for that fast gallop ;).

Volunteering Review

This review is written as a result of a very interesting wednesday morning. Volunteer Paige Orness went to do some homevisits together with our social worker Zelda from Child Welfare.

"Sad, interesting and eye-opening are the words that first pop up in my mind when I think of yesterday morning. Together with a social worker I went to a primary school in the township Marselle to meet three siblings. Those three siblings moved to Marselle from Port Elizabeth to live with their dad. When we arrived at the school we could only find the older brother. He told us his two younger sisters do go to the school in Marselle but that they aren’t in the school system yet. This was the interesting part because in the U.S.A. this could never happen. You just can’t show up at a school one day and go there without any transfer record or anything like that.

Anyway, the fifteen year-old boy told us his story about his mom and dad and about that they haven’t been together for 5 years but that they aren’t divorced. The sad part is that his parents really are not getting along and that he wanted to live with his father in Marselle. So he took a cab together with his sisters and they went by themselves.

Altogether this really was an eye-opener for me and I’ve learned so much about the crazy differences between South-Africa and the U.S.A. through the story of this little boy. I mean, you always hear the stories but you never realize how bad it actually is. I’m very glad I can be a part by helping these children."

-Paige Orness, 24 years old.

The real beauty of Kariega Game Reserve

At the 10th of February I had a real privilege to see some of the stunning landscape and animals of Kariega Game Reserve. Two of my roommates are doing their internship at Kariega, they are landscape designer to be. Anyway, that Thursday I went with hem to get a little taste and feel of how Kariega looks like. First I arrived at the restaurant of the main lodge and by then it all started with an absolutely breath taking view:

When the boys had to make some pictures of a house in the valley I was allowed to go with them. Lucky me! This unexpected but secretly wanted ride through the reserve was truly amazing. A really nice volunteer from the U.S. drove us around and showed us some of the amazing animals. She also told us some fun facts about the animals like how to recognize a male or female. So while our guide told us all about the animals we were enjoying the beautiful animals and the environment. We were very lucky that day because there was a lot of game out like giraffes, impalas, zebras, waterbucks, buffalos, bush bucks, wildebeest, baboons, vervet monkeys, nyalas, some beautiful birds and even a rhino.

But I think that the real beauty of Kariega is hidden in something else than the stunning views and fantastic animals. Kariega is namely a little piece of the South African East Cape that we don’t see that often anymore. This is because of the fact that a lot of volunteers and employees are working every day to keep the indigenous plants out of the reserve so that Kariegas nature goes back to how it used to be.

In short, I think Kariega Game Reserve is the perfect combination of seeing all kind of wild animals in their natural habitat while you’re experiencing the real beauty of the East Cape.

School Visit in Ekuphumleni

On the fifth of February I visited a school in the township called Ekuphumleni. Ekuphumleni is one of the townships nearby Kenton on Sea. I attended a class in the afternoon given to the fourth grade. This class had three teachers. One teacher only speaks English while the other two also speak Xhosa. This is the mother language of the children. 

When I woke up in the morning and went to the kitchen for some breakfast there was a friend of my 'landlady' sitting at the dinner table. This friend told me that she volunteers at a school in Ekuphumleni and that she had lots of work to do for that afternoon. She had to make about 40 sandwiches and she had to prepare a creative work for the kids. Because she actually couldn’t finish everything in time I decided to help her out.

So after a morning of cutting and preparing the creative work for the kids I also went along to go the school. The school in Ekuphumleni is a pretty big school with many children in one class. That thursday there were 31 children present while there supposed to be 40. The English teacher told me that sometimes some children don't come back after lunch time because the school is too far away or because they just don't want to go anymore. That is one of the crazy differences between The Netherlands en South Africa. While children in The Netherlands are obligated to go to school everyday the children in South Africa just decide for themselves if they are going or not.

Anyway, I really liked the lessons which were given. Most of the lessons were about teaching the children English. This is very important because the children need to speak English to go to the university or to get jobs. The kids were taught English through songs, games and stories. It was nice to see that the kids were very enthusiastic. They really wanted to give the right answers and when the teachers asked a question almost every kid raised their hand. You could also see how proud they were when they had given the right answer.

But besides all of this I still got a little sad while I attented this class because of various reasons. So is there not much to work with for the teachers. There is a shortage of all kind of teaching equipment like books, stories, games and so on. I was also told that there is a shortage of qualified and concerned teachers. A lot of the teachers just don't care about the children as long as they are getting paid. Luckely this wasn't the deal with the teachers I met. I also noticed that the children aren't on the level as the children in The Netherlands would have been at the same age. There were even two kids who were already 12 years old.


All in all there is a lot to improve for the education system in South Africa. This is why I am glad to see that there are different organisations working togheter with volunteers and teachers to do the best they can to improve the education of all these children in the townships.