2/2/2018 0 Comments Visiting community sitesTo prepare for our semester long service-learning commitments, we went as a group today to visit all four locations that we can choose from. Many of the locations had evidence of past Ubuntu students' projects! We will not start service until the week of February 12th so over the next week we will work together to decide who will work at each location and to brainstorm possible project ideas. The first community we stopped at was Erasmus which has a community center, primary school, and early childhood development (ECD, serving students through about 5 years old). In the past, Ubuntu students have worked closely with the ECD to strength its teaching and to improve the building. In Soshanguve, we visited an after school program which mainly serves foster children and whose grounds include a library and garden that Ubuntu students have helped create and maintain. Nearby there is also a secondary school that would like help with organizing their library and implementing an after school program for 8th graders. The Funanani Community Project serves Soshanguve and Mamelodi with an ECD, a primary school, job training for 18 to 25 year olds, and support for mothers. For lunch, we stopped to get sphatlo, a South African sandwich that is stuffed with sausage, french fries, and anything else you want including cheese and eggs. Our fourth and final stop was at a creche (or ECD) in Pretoria West that serves a community without electricity or running water (the ECD has recently installed solar panels) and that has a high population of undocumented immigrants. While this ECD works hard to teach the students English for primary school, many of the students are unable to attend primary school in the end because they do not have papers. Initially, I was worried about taking pictures and being disrespectful. However, as soon as we arrived at Erasmus there was a man from the community taking pictures of our every move. Once we got to the ECD the teachers wanted pictures with us taken on their phones. Despite this, taking my own photos was still unsettling and I tried to think of what photos I would take at a school in the US or the photos that I took working at a summer camp and focus on capturing similar ones. Our only restriction was not to post photos of children in which they could be identified. Today was our first real exposure to the lower part of South Africa's unequal society. We drove out of our comfortable accommodations in the city to see one or two room houses and even tin shacks where entire families were living. The communities we visited were gracious hosts. Throughout the day we could tell that many people, especially the young children, were surprised to see us. We have been told that many of the whites in South Africa will go their entire life without entering a black township. It is definitely a lot to process but I am glad that it was not a "one and done" visit and that we will have the opportunity to return and work to make a sustainable change.
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