Visiting Schools and Prepping for Rural Homestays

Today was awesome! We visited a school for mentally and physically challenged children in Durban. It was a truly touching experience.

We went to the RP Moodley School. The student body consists of about 120 students with a variety of over 25 types of learning disabilities. The majority of children had more severe forms of autism. The school focuses on life skills and fundamental basics (letters, numbers, days of the week, etc.) A group of 6 of us arrived at the school and met the principal. He was extremely kind and spoke highly of South Africa. We then met Sherrie, a teacher at the school who gave us a tour around the campus. She took us to their morning exercises. The kids meet in the gymnasium and do simple Tai-Chi moves. All the children loved it! It helped them get focused and get out all their extra energy. As we visited all the classrooms, Sherrie explained how the school functioned. After visiting all the classrooms, we split into groups of 3. I went with a group that was making scarves with the kids. I partnered up with Nakita, a little Indian girl who was about 8 years old. I'm not sure what kind of learning disabilities she had, but she was very highly functioning. Together we made a white scarf with red felt cut into flower petals. With some of the leftover fabric I helped some boys make superhero masks and we pretended to be ninjas. After spending an hour with the class, we went to the main gym for team time. The staff provided tea and cookies as well as samosas and chili bites (SO GOOD). After tea time, the children all came into the gym for music class. They performed their dance to Shakira's "Waka Waka". We then performed the dance with them. The kids were so happy. I was so impressed by how well taken care of these kids were. For being kids with learning disabilities, they were so well behaved! After dancing with them, we saw some of the little ones and then learned how they teach the kids to make beaded projects. It was an amazing day, I had so much fun with the kids.

Tomorrow we have our final exam for Zulu. Wish me luck! We also have our rural homestays on Monday and Tuesday. Should be a truly interesting experience. No running water, long drop toilets and no electricity. Roughing it South African style. We'll see if I survive... We're going to the mall today to buy water and snacks as well as more bug spray.