Amy Chabitnoy - Sunday, June 26th, 2011

[Meaghan Mancini]

Hey Guys,

 

This entire experience has been completely amazing, and it seems as though each day just gets better than the one before.  It's hard to believe we've already been here for three weeks, the time seems to have just flown by.  Even though we've been in Cape Town for the past couple weeks, every day I learn something new, meet someone new, or see something new that makes the experience absolutely incredible.  

 

The other F&M group arrived late Friday evening, and it's been a lot of fun getting to know all of them.  It's great how a volunteer experience such as this can bring so many people together from different backgrounds and experiences; not only different people from F&M, but also the other volunteers staying in the African Impact house with us.  

 

Today, we left to go to the CTC field around 11 am, after enjoying the chance to sleep in and relax this morning.  The holiday camp for the children begins tomorrow, so the volunteers and program directors met this afternoon to discuss the plan for the upcoming week.  Throughout the week, the American volunteers will be paired with a youth leader from the community to coach a team of 10-12 kids.  One of the major purposes of today's meeting was to introduce ourselves and get to know each other.  

 

We started off the afternoon with a couple of energizers, or ice-breakers.  To begin, we all stood in a circle and had to tell our name, home, and reason for being there as well as either tell a joke, dance, or sing.  Not all of us were too keen on the idea of dancing, especially without a beat but we were all good sports.  After we did another energizer where the groups, still in a circle, went around asking the person to the right to "Go and buy the oomo" (Go and buy the milk) to which the person replies "the what" and the question has to be transferred back down the line to the person who originally asked the question.  It's rather confusing at first, and it all happens according to a beat, which only makes it all the more challenging.  But it was fun.  

 

Next was the Americans' turn to give an energizer and when in doubt, turn to duck, duck, goose.  Most of the young leaders and other volunteers didn't know the game, and therefore it was a lot of fun.  Some of us (Kevin Kuebler) got pretty into it.  After the ice-breakers, we went into the club house to meet our partner coaches for the week and go over the schedule.  Very excited for the upcoming week, so many good activities are planned.  I think the children are really going to enjoy themselves and learn a lot.  

 

Once we had gone over all the papers, most of us played a game of soccer.  We split into two teams and played for about a half hour.  It was really fun, and most of us played even though not all have prior soccer experience.  Everyone seems very excited to be here, and the next week should be great.  

 

After we returned to the house from the field, we were starving! So, we decided to braii! This was our second attempt at braiing.  The trick we learned this time around is to use charcoal and not just wood chips to get the fire going.  It really made a difference.  We didn't have to wait quite so long to eat this time as we did before.  We cooked some chicken, pork, and sausages (thanks Shecky!) and they all turned out delicious.  It was nice having a little family dinner in the evening.  Good way to end a great week.  Looking forward to the upcoming week and trying not to think about the fact that I only have one week left here in Cape Town.

Cheers, Chips