May Update

It has been an exciting month or so since we have last emailed. Parent’s Day turned out to be a success. Just a few hiccups in trying to braii (BBQ) for about 1000 hungry parents and students, but we managed. My hands smelled like the chicken for a day or so after marinating the hundreds of chicken pieces. South Africans certainly enjoy their food and they like to buy! So it makes fundraising efforts here pretty easy. The braii’s here using coal make it taste so much better than using propane. Our popcorn machine couldn’t keep up with the demand…only Durocher’s will understand when I write this but I think they beat us in our love for popcorn (I know… hard to believe anyone could beat the Durocher’s!).
Sport’s Day was also a fantastic day! The learner’s astounded us! The learner’s were grouped into houses: lions, cheetahs, etc. Each house had to create a cheer. Well, this was more than a cheer… it was a performance! Their cheer included everything you can imagine, including back-flips. It was amazing to experience.
We also really enjoyed watching our first ever Rugby game. It is thrilling to watch and Vuyani and Sphelile (the two boys we took along with us) constantly were saying “Hibo!” as the huge Afrikaan’s men crashed into each other.
As far as our work goes at the school, Caleb is hoping to finish the auditing reports by the end of this week. That will be a load off his shoulders. Myself, I am helping Olga in the office gather funds from the students, as well as the normal library classes. I now tutor a darling young girl in grade 9 in her English after school before I go to St. Vincent’s. I am really enjoying my work at St. Vincent’s. The struggles of the girls I have recently been working with often bring me to tears. Their constant smiles and bright eyes amaze me despite it all. The computer lessons are also still going well. I was challenging the boys to get 100% accuracy in a particular exercise. Sindiso was really getting into it and completed a set of arm, wrist and head exercises before putting his hands down on the keyboard to begin…it was adorable!
On the weekends we were enjoying some visits with some locals. A former student from my last visit to SA came to visit again and it was great to catch up on 5 years. I will soon be attending her graduation from college in Business Management. As well we visited with a former employee from Tre Fontane guesthouse when I was here last. She lives just in the township close to Mariannhill. We enjoyed visiting her home and playing with the children. After a long day of playing, the kids were exhausted and the one girl fell asleep on Caleb’s back during a piggy-back. Caleb finally got to do some work out of the office and enjoyed helping them clear the land where they are going to build another small house.
Just this past weekend we attended a wedding of an employee at Tre-Fontane guesthouse. Typically the white wedding and traditional wedding are on separate days, sometimes even a year or two apart. But she had them both on the same day. It was a busy and exciting day. The white wedding was just like a wedding we would have back home. They rented a hall, etc. It ended with a lunch and then after pictures everyone headed to the groom’s parent’s residence. They changed into the traditional Zulu outfits and there they did many symbolic ceremonies. It was very interesting to experience. They will live at the groom’s home for a couple months or so, so they can be sure that the wife can cook well, take care of her husband and then they will move into their own home.

Well that’s about it for now. We hope everyone is doing fine and also enjoying the nice weather we hear you guys are having.
16 days till the World Cup…
Love Caleb & Brittany