Jac’s Africa Diary: 6th Sept - an emotional visit

The weather has closed in and it’s now quite chilly, misty, wet and damp (can you believe it!) and we’re all wearing jumpers.

We set off again to the site by bus for day 2 of the build, but this time we detoured through a small shanty village and arrived at a guarded gate to a local school.

We were greeted by the Principle, a lady who’s been with the school since 1985, who was to show us round.

We meet the Principle of the school

As we parked and got out of the bus we could see at every window, happy little faces looking back at us and waving.  Then one of the windows swung open and the we could hear the children excitedly calling out and clapping.  The children at the back were all straining to see us, so little heads were bobbing up and down as they jumped up to catch a glimpse of us.

It was overwhelming.  There are 230 children at the school, taught within 6 blocks of 2 classrooms each.  In 1985 the school was just a hut and as the number of children grew the villagers built one school block themselves, making the cement blocks by hand.  Over the years they have built 3 more blocks and the government paid for the building of two more.

A lot of these children are orphans whose parents have died from HIV.  Families are poor and many of these children would starve if were not for the school feeding them.

We asked if we could see the kitchens as we could smell food cooking.  The Principle lead us to a hut, little more than a shed.  6′ x 6′.  In the centre of the floor was a fire and on top, a large cauldron.  The pot is left on all day cooking a stew of meat, maize and vegetables. 

Smoke was bellowing out from the hut and as I walked in it choked me and my eyes were watering so much I had to leave.  How the women cooked in here each day I don’t know.  But they provided one hot meal a day for each of the children.  There is a school garden where they try and grow vegetables but there’s not much at moment as they’re just coming out of Winter.

For most children this was the only meal they would have in a day.  Many of the children walked to school from local villages, some up to 6km each way, even the little 5 year olds.  No breakfast before they leave, and no dinner waiting for them after their long journey home.

By the time many of them arrive they are exhausted and we saw some of the younger ones having a nap in their classroom with their heads resting on their hands at their desk.

One of the women we met was a care worker.  She visits the school once a week to check the health of each and every child here.  At the school they don’t test the children for HIV but the care worker explained that they can always tell first by the child’s eyes and then if they have sores.  She also looks after the children with general illnesses.

As we visited each class we had a chance to chat to the children.  We asked some of them what they wanted to be when they grew up. Most said policeman, teacher, nurse or care worker….as these are the people they normally come across in their daily life.  A couple of the children said they wanted to be white, but didn’t know why and one wanted to be Chinese but didn’t know why! 

We asked them what games they liked to play and football was very popular, although they had no sports gear or equipment whatsoever…and they had never heard of David Beckham…hardly suprising really!

At the end of our visit Habitat for Humanity and the various agencies in the project donated some games and equipment to the school and we were treated to a Tribal dance as we left and the children gave us an overwhelming farewell.

The visit left us extremely emotional and the bus was very quiet on the way to the building site.

The fundamental thing, what hit me the most, was that out of all of this was that the children were so pleased to see us and so open and loving and so willing to learn and better themselves.  A stark contrast to the UK where our children have everything - and take it forgranted.  These children have nothing, not even electricity, yet they have such incredible enthusasm for learning.  But they do achieve some great successes.  One child went on to university, another works at a supermarket.

One of the School blocks

Arrived at the site for another day of hard, but enjoyable graft.

We were told that we worked well and that we been there for the full 5 days (the usual volunteer build period) we would definitely have completed the houses.

For the last two days we’ve been working with a lady called Bongiwi and her mother.  The mother is a great character and although she can’t speak a work of English, I suspected that she could understand more than she was letting on.  She had spent most of the morning on site with us, singing and dancing and saying how wonderful the house was going to be.  She was a great encourager and helped us to speed up and put in that extra effort.

So, the final day of our build came to an end.  We tidied up the site and we all gathered for a final Zulu prayer.

We were then invited into Bongiwi’s Kraal (the enclosure within which a series of huts are built as and when the family grows) to meet the rest of her family.  It was amazing and a privilege to be invited in.  Each of the huts were very clean and had a small amount of electricity, just enough for a light and perhaps one cooker ring, but most families still use fires.

Then we said our goodbyes with lots of hugs and a few tears. It was very hard to leave and a very emotional experience.

We all felt so humbled by the stamina, the resilience and the overwhelming sense of determination the villagers have to help themselves, to push for change within their close community. I felt honoured to have had the opportunity to work alongside them and empowered by their determination and enthusiasm to make their world a better place to live in.

Back in the bus, we were driven to two huge two-storey shells of buildings, just steel girder frames, which will eventually be a training centre for the villagers to be taught constructions skills. Here we were offered a welcome cold drink and snacks whilst we watched a video showing how the Mziki Project was first started by Peter Cornelius as an ‘idea’ in 1997.

It took another 14yrs to get the infrastructure to support over 200 houses before he met with Habitat for Humanity and shared his dream of creating a model that is so very unique and now quite established that other communities can use the Project as a template.

Then it was back to ‘Kings Grant’ for a lovely hot meal and a good night’s sleep.

Tomorrow….it’s a flight to Phinda to stay at Phinda Private Game Reserve’s beautiful Mountain Lodge and ….SAFARI!

Just to prove I did do some building…