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.