Waka Waka on V-Day

Valentine’s Day in South Africa ROCKS. First of all, Sapphire had a Wear What You Want Day (They call it American Day here, haha) where the students could dress out of uniform for R2. It was so fun to see the kids in their play clothes--and their play attitudes. All the students gathered in the central courtyard at noon for “Assembly”, which really just means lots of music and a short message, followed by a long round of chaos. The kids were ushered in single-file and sat according to class, although the sitting did not last very long. The first few songs were in tribute to Whitney Houston, they LOVE her over here. I started a lip-sync serenade to my class when “I Will Always Love You” came on. They just put their heads in their hands and laughed.  With the first hint of electronic pop music these kids started movin’—and so did I! I did my moves like Jagger in front of the crowd and it didn’t take long before I heard the kids chanting, “Go Teach-ah! Go Teach-ah!” It took me a second to realize that they were actually chanting for me…haha, I guess I do have moves after all. Even if my lack of rhythm and Rage with Gage style moves were just making them laugh, at least I could make them smile!              

A faculty member (I cannot remember her name to save my life) gave a message to the school. Reading that verse from Corinthians that they always read at weddings (yeah, I know—how do I not remember this) in English and then Afrikaans and speaking to the children about the importance of all the elements of love. The kids were surprisingly good during this portion and I was impressed with their attentiveness. Not five minutes went by before we got back to dancing—this time the kids were allowed to get up and dance. So I rushed upstairs with my camera so I could get the aerial view. This is when the pandemonium set in. Kids pulling, running, screaming, jumping and toppling over one another. I mean, I felt like my mother, or my grandmother even. I was yelling down to anyone who could hear me, “Please! No! Be Careful!” When I looked around and saw none of this phased any of the adults in the area (or the kids for that matter—my voice didn’t stand a chance against their echoes) I tried to chill out a little bit. Sure, there were some spills and a few tears, but none that weren’t almost immediately wiped away in favor of the party. I decided to relax, passed my camera to Troy, a volunteer who was more than thrilled to take pictures. He became to photographer for the afternoon and I went down for some more dancing. Bombarded by children saying, “Dance for us Teach-ah! Dance!”, I got back into the swing of things. I felt slightly hesitant and more than just a little silly, but the enthusiasm that came from everyone in the school erased it.

By the time school was out less than an hour later, I was dripping sweat from head to toe and couldn’t have felt better except for the fact that everyone at the school LOVES hugs. I had to use my standard response to their hovering over my neck, “Space. Space. Teacher needs space.” It was easily the best Valentine’s party I have ever been to at school.

Next came the adult Valentine’s party. Our advisor planned a party at the Red Location Community Center in a black township about 20 minutes from our apartment. This was really cool. It was set up at a cooperative run by 16 previously unemployed “Mommas”, who hosted an absolutely fabulous evening. It started off with girls from the neighborhood doing some of their dances for us outside. Then a group of dancers, dressed head to toe in traditional South African festival beads and jingly bottle-cap anklets that I HAVE to recreate for festival season, put on a show that was really amazing. I had the best fried chicken of my life last night, by the way, but somehow I missed the sheep tongue and chicken livers! A few glasses of boxed South African wine later, we said our goodbyes and got back on the bus headed for home. I didn’t realize how exhausted I was until I fell on my couch at home and fell asleep twenty minutes into “Breaking Bad”. Days like this make me feel like there is a reason for being who we are, where we are, when we’re there. I can’t wait to get started on my project with the students where we will hopefully be painting the fence around the school clinic with fruits and veggies, and hopefully planting a variety of indigenous healing herbs and plants by the front of the clinic! Details to come; as soon as I can figure them all out. Till next time, I’m headed to a soccer match at Nelson Mandela Bay stadium. Super-stoked.