This past week has been unbelievably busy and packed with a million different activities. I’m very excited about how my week went because my activist project is finally coming together, and on Friday I was able to start my volunteering for the first time. For the past few weeks I have been trying to organize the shipment of 375 pounds of soccer equipment (cleats, socks, shorts, etc) to an organization called Olive Leaf Foundation that runs a soccer club for orphans in the townships. On Friday I finally made it into the office to talk about the shipping logistics (South Africa actually has INSANE requirements and everything takes forever) and I think it is finally moving forward! After the meeting, I was able to actually go and volunteer with the boys soccer team. The entire program sounds wonderful; on Thursdays and Fridays they have soccer practice, on Saturdays they have games, and on Sundays they all go to church together. The aim of the program is to keep these vulnerable children off the street and involved in structured activities so they don’t feel the need to turn to drugs or gangs.
Playing soccer with the boys, ranging in ages 7 to 14 was so much fun. It was definitely something I had never experienced before, playing in a sandy parking lot thing that was covered in rocks and trash, with goals made out of wooden sticks, but it really was so much fun, despite the fact that those kids ran absolute circles around me. Having neat footwork on a rocky field is no easy thing, let me tell you. Also, the kids had very limited to no English, which made talking to them hard, but I’m hoping that after a few more weeks of volunteering I will be able to develop real relationships with them.
On Saturday I climbed Lion’s Head for the third time, this time for work. All of the newly trained Human Rights Peer Educators were invited on the hike as a bonding event. 29 people actually showed up, which is far more than I thought would come, and it made me really happy that so many people came to the event I worked so hard to plan. The hike went really well overall, despite the heat and the amount of people who thought it was suitable to climb in jeans and flip flops. Most of these students had never hiked before, and I was so happy that I got to share that experience with them. I had my own small issue on the way down when I tripped and rolled my ankle. It was extremely painful so I let everyone go ahead of me so I could hobble down in peace without holding anyone up. However, because the ankle was so sore from the first fall, I managed to roll it a second time, at which point I just sat down in the middle of the trail and cried because it hurt so much. Then, much to my amusement, a group of boy scouts (called Royal Rangers here) show up behind me, and the next thing I know they have all taken off their ties/scarves and are tying them together, making me some sort of stretched to CARRY ME DOWN THE MOUNTAIN. It was at this point that I pulled myself together, because there was NO WAY that a bunch of 60 pound 8 year olds were going to carry me down. That is even more embarrassing than being helicopter lifted off the mountain. They were very disappointed that they weren’t able to carry the crippled white lady down Lion’s Head, but I was absolutely adamant that I would rather crawl down than be carried. All in all, I made it down to where everyone was waiting patiently for me, and left without any further incidents, THANK GOD.
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