Host Family and Eikendal Primary School

Hello, Hello!

So I have realized that my last couple of blogs have been pretty emotional, but this experience in general has been an emotional one for me. After visiting the townships, we headed to one of the churches to finally meet our host families!! Corvell's sister, Ginny prepared finger foods so we could mingle around and talk with the host families.

My host family: My host mother is named Veronica and she has been teaching at the primary level for almost 25 years. She is a third grade teacher and is heavily involved with athletics as well. She has a 25 year old daughter named Xenthia and has adopeted her nephew Braedan, who is 9. Xenthia doesn't live at home, but with her boyfriend a few miles away. So far, everything has gone great. Veronica and Braedan have been wonderful to me the first couple of days. Braedan is a lot of fun, it has been great having a little brother. He loves asking me questions about America. ALl he knows about America is from the television, so he thinks I know all of the celebrities. Very cute. The first night he brought back play-do in my life. Together, for a couple of hours, we created a bunch of different things with play-do and just talked. Last night we played monopoly after he came home from karate. I have a small bedroom that has a lot of cabinets for storage. There is no shower in the house, just a bath. It has been hard adjusting to taking baths every night, but it's better than nothing.

Tuesday was the first day of school and I had no idea what to expect. Veronica introduced me to all of the staff and they have been so welcoming. Anne, who is another girl on the trip with me, is also placed at the school, so it is VERY nice to have a familiar face around. I am in a third grade classroom and there are about 40 children. Veronica has amazing classroom management. She is strict and hard on the kids, but she tells me that these kids are only going to respect you if your hard on them. The kids don't get much discipline or guidance at home, so she plays many different roles on a daily basis in the classroom. Everyday, she tells the kids how much she loves them and cares for them and how she wants them to focus on their school work, so that one day, they can go to a university. Many children don't make it too far in the school systems in South Africa, and Veronica tries so hard to keep these students together.

On Wednesday, a letter from the principal came to the classroom addressing the fact that the school fee's have not been paid. In all South African schools, parents must pay for their child's education. At Eikendal Primary, many parents choose not to pay the fees, which means that 3 teachers have already been laid off and the technology program can not be integrated. Additionally, the sports teams had to be cut. This is a big problem for Veronica because she is a coach for many of the teams. She is the teacher who is the most vocal during staff meetings and is very assertive in general. She has given up on fighting for the school teams, and has instead embarked on a new mission. She and another man have gotten together and are planning on producing a youth community program at the sports complex (there currently is not one). She is determined to make sure there are activities for these learners because if there isn't, they will fall into societal trends that usually brings them to drugs, alcohol, dropout, prostitution, you name it. I have been so inspired by Veronica and truly respect what she is doing. These are current issues, just to keep you updated.

Back to the third grade room, the kids are wonderful. They call me Teacher Meghan or m'am. They are so respectful, but very quiet. Most of the children speak 3 or 4 languages and haven't quite yet mastered English. They sing songs everyday as well as pray. It is interesting how much religion is integrated within the school day. Veronica doesn't teach religion, but focuses on the life skills one can learn from the bible. Pretty interesting.

On the first day they wanted to have question and answer time with me. They asked me questions on what it is like being an American, do I know MIchael Jackson, do I drive a car, Have I met Obama? etc. etc. Many of them kept telling me that one day they would like to go to America. It was very interesting, however, they are so excited to have me in their classroom. Every morning when I greet them, they come running towards me and give me hugs and have more questions for me. I have already learned a great deal from the kids, the teachers, and the family I live with.

Tonight Anne and I are going to a jazz club with our host families and tomorrow we meet up with our group! We can't wait to see everyone and see familiar faces. We are also going to a rugby game with the group, it shouls\d be great. Well I have to go, more to come

Love and miss you all!!!!!