Day 6

Hello again from South Africa!

There is a lot of pressure from Salina and Kristen to write a blog that does justice to explain our day. We started off with an early morning breakfast at 7:30am and departed for Table Mountain shortly after. We took the cable car up the side of the mountain, and while looking at the breath taking views, we were rotating 360 degrees so we could really experience how far the ground was from our feet. On one side of the mountain was the city of Cape Town and the other side was the endless ocean. We spent an hour walking around the top of the mountain and thankfully no causalities. Haha. We were taken back by the stunning view while 1067m above sea level.

In the morning we hung out at the Rainbow centre with the S4H staff and then went to Mzoli’s together for a “light” lunch. The lunch consisted of a traditional South African braai (BBQ) including beef sausage, beef steak, lamb, South African corn, and salsa chutney. No utensils were provided so we had to be creative with our fingers.

Around 2:30pm we left for Khayelitsha Site B to assist the girl’s regular Friday after school tournament. We were surprised when we got to the field as the kids were playing on astro-turf, which was completely unexpected as the field was surrounded by shacks. This is the only astro-turf in the townships and was donated in 2008 from Chris Campbell. We were each paired up with a team and helped the MVP coach with warm-up and the games. Among dancing, hanging out, and playing with students we tried to coach as best as possible while countless children were hanging off each limb. The music was quite a distraction for the players and the coaches; however, the South African girls can sure shake their booty!! Even the young girls put our Canadian dancing to shame. Finally we got organized and the games began. There were 4 fields and 12 teams that participated in the tournament. We were asked to play the other American volunteers and won in shoot-outs, obviously. A few games later we played a South African U-16 team which was a fun experience. The best part of the afternoon was playing, dancing, and taking pictures with all of the kids after the games. We were sad to leave the group as it was, hands down, the best afternoon we have had together thus far. Despite their living conditions, the girl’s created a joyful and energetic atmosphere that we will never forget. We definitely were taught today that there are more important things in life than materialistic goods, of which we take for granted daily.

After getting cleaned up, we went to Ferryman’s for dinner at the waterfront, which was highly recommended to us by Craig. We enjoyed a variety of meals from fish & chips to spicy chicken curry and then although we left completely full we went to another restaurant for dessert. Highlight of the dinner was Morena’s comment: “do forks actually have 4 tines?” Poor girl, she doesn’t get out much.

We came home early for bed because we were exhausted from a long day with the kids. We are excited for a day in the country and wine tasting.

Salina & Kristen