IS HE WEARING A FLAG?...NO, I THINK IT'S A GYPSY COSTUME

Yesterday High Court passed a new judgment that refugee camps must be closed, so there is some unrest at Youngsfield, The camp where I go teach Ouwa. As a result, we were told that we can’t go this week, and volunteering has been suspended indefinitely. I’m really worried that Ouwa and her family have been forced to evacuate and I don’t know what the situation is. I am just praying for the best and hoping that this all passes.

Ellen and I also had our first day of volunteering with SHAWCO today. After being duped into buying SHAWCO raffle tickets to support this cause (literally, we were hustled by our own RA and both woke up with raffle tickets and sans cash) we decided that we should look into the organization a little more. SHAWCO stands for the Students’ Health And Welfare Organisation (I’m even spelling it with an “s” instead of a “z”—how’s that for assimilation?) and it is the biggest student-run NGO at UCT. It encompasses a bunch of different programs aimed at helping the community and the Ellen and I found one that fits our schedules and our interests called KenSTEP. Every Tuesday we will be going to the Kensington Community to tutor English to students at schools without programming or funding. Today was our first day and we walked into it with no training and no idea of what we would be doing. Perfect. Someone from SHAWCO half-heartedly attempted to explain on the bus over to Kensington, but ended by saying something to the effect of “you’re on your own!” I walked into the cafeteria and was immediately overwhelmed by how many kids were sitting there. At each table there were kids from grade 3 to grade 7 shouting over to each other. We immediately got the sense that there wasn’t much structure to the day. In a flurry of activity, Elle and I got assigned to two different tables of 3^rd and 4^th graders whose tutors apparently weren’t there that day. After getting their workbooks (sounds simple, but this was no easy task) I started the lesson for the day about Greek mythology. It was fun and I think the kids enjoyed it but it was hard for them to focus in an environment with so many things going on around them. At one point, I saw a Cirque De Soilel-esque performance when one boy balanced perfectly atop his friend’s shoulders to grab a paper that had been launched as an airplane into oblivion. This performance was complete with gaudy costuming, since hey were both draped in cloth that looked like it had been a flag in another life. These kinds of distractions would sidetrack an Adderall junkie, so I really couldn’t blame it on these kids attentions spans. It seemed like the afternoon was over before it started, but I am excited to see how next week goes.