The Children!

It is all about them.

Now we are on the road. We have left Zithulele and are on the road trip of destiny. I didn’t write anything for a few weeks because I was super busy but lots of cool things have happened so I am gonna try to catch up.

The Pre-school graduation was in the middle of December. Carlos (the cameraman who is shooting promo films for Jabulani and the hospital) had to leave it at lunch time, but he got a good lot of footage before that. The kids were really cute in their smart clothes and with new hairdos. The parents had organised the whole thing and financed it (Jabulani, ie me, is not in the business of spending donations on parties) to the tune of R125 each. I had to bite my tongue a bit over the fact that they had reserved so much energy and money for this event, compared to the everyday stuff like nutrition and so on. Parties and events are big here. On the other hand, I think it is awesome to mark transitions and we do not do it well enough in Scotland (Donald Ewing was right).

Carlos caught some lovely singing and parading and cuteness. Sod’s Law did come into effect though, with a series of very cool things happening in the hours after his departure. Thandeka was up front at one end of the line of cute children and she was about to start a skit that they had practiced. “My name is Teacher, my name is Teacher, my name is teacher, what is your name?”, she began. But before the first kid could pick up, a teenage boy burst out of nowhere with a mixture of school uniform and traditional dress. He got right into Thandeka’s face and started to shout at her with a sharpened paint brush pointing in her face. I got my hackles right up and started to get ready to get up and hit him in his face. My mind was racing with imaginings of the dodgey Lima guy Jackie having been slighted into not speaking at our ceremony having instigated a tribal curse thing against Jabulani and the pre-school. The crowd were silent and Thandeka’s face was ashen.

My gut was churning as it went on and I felt vulnerable and foreign. But I could see her face changing and I started to perceive a change in the audience too. Woopin and a hollerin, probably describes it best. They were enjoying the young lad and Thandeka’s eyes welled up with tears. It went on for a bit longer and then he stoated out. It was only after the ceremony when I was able to ask for an explanation. He was a poet, brought in to honour Thandeka and to praise her efforts teaching the pre-school children and the community in general.

Poet or no, pointy stick or without, I reckon I could have had him. And that will go on record.

Following that Dr Taryn Gaunt (Jabulani person) spoke and she was fantastic. She started by asking the kids what they wanted to do when they grew up. Then she went on to give a long spiel about how if they try to do that, people will probably say they can’t. She went so far down this line that I was starting to feel disheartened, but at the last minute she pulled it back and explained that you have to follow your dreams and ignore discouragement to make them happen. Inspiring stuff, in that setting, and the crowd went wild too.

I got some lovely thankyous and two of the most horrific cuddley toys that you will ever see. They will feature more as we go on.