Educational Outreach

Outreach:  Yellow Wood Primary School

            Community workers scurried around the Safe Line office gathering supplies and people for today’s educational outreach program.  I stood against the wall of the office hallway offering to help and greeting my new colleagues.  Everyone smiles and says morning, but deny my request to help.  I can see the director running in and out of offices taking phone calls and talking with other workers in Afrikaans.  I stay flat against the wall and observe.  Victoria, a community worker, and the director rush past and inform me that I am going to observe a community outreach program.  The program is a presentation for young children about hygiene, their body, and safety.  Six of us pile in the five-seated Safe Line Car to head to Yellow Wood Primary School in Mitchell’s Plane. 

            After a long car ride, we arrive at the primary school.  The school is large with an office area in front, cement play courtyard and surrounding classrooms.  The windows have bars and the walls are painted a sunny yellow with colorful posters. The principal, a tall man in a suit and pink tie, meets with us briefly to discuss detail with Victoria.   After their talk, he shows us the office areas and sits us down in the teacher lounge for tea while we wait.  After tea, a teacher tells us that the teachers for grade R (Kindergarten aged) and Grade 1 are ready for us.  We are led to a small, but colorful classroom.  About 60 Grade 1 children file in one by one and sit on a mat at the front of the room. 

            Victoria begins by introducing all of us and describing some of Safe Line’s mission to the young ones.  She starts the program by teaching the children several songs she repeated throughout the program.  She moves into knowing your body by asking the children to identify body parts she points at on a volunteer.  Eventually she talks to the children about what is considered to be your private parts.  She teaches the children about the vagina and penis.  She also talks about how no one should touch your private parts because it is your body not their body.  She repeats over and over that each one of us is “special.  Our body is special”.  She also discusses safety issues and hygiene with the children.  I only observed for today, but I look forward to helping conduct one or more the school programs.  The program is clear and age appropriate.  I am in awe of Victoria’s skill, confidence, and enthusiasm.  We repeated a similar program for grade R before heading back to the Safe Line office in Athlone.   We return to the office around 2:00 pm.

           

Cavendish & Water Front Malls

            I returned to home base late this afternoon.  Auntie Lynn had saved a plate of lunch for me.  After my late lunch, I read for a bit and decided to join one of the other volunteers on her way to the Cavendish Mall.  The volunteer needed to print out some picture for her last day at her placement.  I walked around the mall and purchased a map of Cape Town including the Townships.  I have noticed that many of the tourist maps don’t include the name of Townships.  Eventually I receive a text letting me know that there is a problem with printing the pictures.  I head down to the photo lab to meet the volunteer.  She tells me we have to head to another mall, because she can’t print her pictures here.  I agree to go with her.  In my opinion, the best way to see someplace you don’t know is to run errands.  We taxi over to the Water Front mall.  The mall is large with many upscale stores.  On the drive, I see all of down town Cape Town lit up like a string of lights.  The points of light spread out and end at the shore.  Soon we arrive at the mall and the volunteer prints out her pictures.  I can tell that she is relieved that she can give each of the children she works with a picture before she leaves.  I think about my own experience leaving organizations and children I have worked with.  Service work is difficult.  Social Services are difficult to receive and to give.  The emotional exchange can be overwhelming.  I have to remind myself everyday to focus on the little wins that fit into the big picture.