Life Skills Program

Sometimes I am at awe at how many angles Thandanani tries to tackle the emotional, physical, and mental sensitivities of orphans and vulnerable children in the area. That is why I love being here with them.

Today I went with Fikile to the Richmond Municipality, which is a long combi ride out into the more rural areas around here. I actually loved how small-town and rural the area was, with their first Spar [grocery store chain here] opening up less than a year ago. It was so green and between the houses you could see the plush trees decorating the hills behind them. We went to KwaMlalili Primary School and held the second session of the Life Skills program for a dozen newly identified orphans. Thandanani goes to many schools and finds children that have been recently orphaned to invite them to a 14-week program to give weekly lessons on empowerment, community support, bereavement, self-esteem and other practical matters such as AIDS. It is great because it gives these children someone to talk to an a safe space to express their feelings with adults who want to listen and other young children who empathize.

We started the session off with drawings of cars they had brought in-- What kind of car are you?

The body of the car represented what you like about your body

The doors: your boundaries

The wheels: what goals keep you going

The engine: what drives/motivates you

The fuel type: what rejuvenates you when you are down

The children also filled out a chart of the people around them-- their family, friends, school, community, government... despite their loss, there are still people out there who want to support and help them. They ended the session writing a letter to themselves to be opened again in 3 months. Hopefully by then they will have found a way to think about their loss in a healthier way. This is a great program and I think the exercises that they give to the children are great for them to go through... I am glad I can help. We gave them hotdogs and soda after, which was very exciting.

I noticed most all of the students there had holes in their socks and uniform sweaters that were faded into a different shade of blue and/or had holes that had been stitched and restitched time and time again. Even the condition of the school was apparent from seeing all the broken windows into the classrooms. Unfortunately, this is still nicer than many of the public schools in South Africa. I really wish that children in America would realize how fortunate they are, especially since the U.S. is one of the few countries where "public" school is actually free-- in the two countries I have done service in [Indonesia and South Africa] and many other countries, public just means cheaper. I am so fortunate to have gone to such great schools! Thank you, Mommy, for always teaching me that education is important and a blessing... it makes all the work I do here really mean something.