day one

I have successfully completed my first day at Bonginkosi. It was a long day even though we were only there from 9:15-2:15pm. I'm not sure that the day went better than I had expected or if I just went into it with a more positive attitude than I previously had. I think it was the latter. My group, Katie, Nick, Sarah, Rachel, and I started our day off with prayer and discussing our goals and ideas for the next 4 weeks. It was encouraging and inspiring to hear how dedicated and willing we all are to word hard in order to transform the program. They hadn't figured out a ride for our group, so we patiently waited 20 minutes for a driver. We pulled up to Bonginkosi finally....but it was the wrong Bonginkosi. Our driver had taken us to the old building. So he hopped back in the car and we drove down the bumpy dirt road a little further to the new building we had previously visited. Off to a great start, right? Luckily we were all positive throughout the morning. We entered into our new "home" for the next 4 weeks and were immediately greeted with waving hands and squeals of excitement. It felt good to be wanted.

We met Zodwa, the principle of the school, and she told us, "You can do whatever you want." ....Alright then! We have decided to take the lack of planning and use it to our advantage. We are going to take control of these next 4 weeks and fill it with activities, projects, and events for the kids! I am actually really excited. I know our group is determined to accomplish our goals, so I think it will be great!

Today we sang the hokey-pokey, danced to akeko ofana, and colored. We also played outside in the tiny playground. So you know how I estimated in my last blog that there were 50 kids in the preschool? Yeah, I was way wrong. There are 96 rambunctious and wonderful kids at Bonginkosi! All of them crammed onto the swings, monkey bars, and tires. Those that didn't fit made jungle gyms out of us! At one point I had been sitting on the grass with one girl. Then 2 more kids came over to climb on top of me. Another 5 decided to join in the efforts of fighting for my lap. Another 2 came from behind and pulled me flat on my back by means of throwing their arms around my neck and putting me in a choke-hold. By the end, I was buried under 15-20 kids. I couldn't breath, and I couldn't get them off. No matter how much I screamed "CHA!" (NO!) they didn't budge...more just joined the fun! I started panicking, picturing them finding my dead body underneath a mound of children. Luckily Katie saw me and got the attention of Zodwa, who scared them off of me. When I resurfaced I had lovely red marks all around my neck. I promptly received a mass apology after Zodwa had lectured them about what had just occurred. Note to self: NEVER sit on the ground at a South African preschool...death may occur. I decided one of the phrases I need to learn is, "Please don't kill me, children!" :)

Overall it was an exhausting day but I feel accomplished and encouraged regarding our plans for the next 4 weeks.