Sawbona Spring!

(i wrote this first part last week...tried to upload some pictures but my connection is too poor)
Today was the first official day of spring. Winter was short, but brutal, and I would be lying if I said I was sad to see it go. Spring in my village is amazing partly because of the warmer temperatures and the tan skin (I guess that only applies to me), but mostly because of how they celebrate it. Yesterday the young girls came up to me and said “Tomorrow we are playing summer”. I didn’t realize what that meant until today: pure awesomeness. The kids fill up buckets of water and throw them at each other—basically a massive water fight. However, “team water fight” quickly turned into everybody gang up on Sbongile and drench her from head to toe. But water fights with buckets are WAY awesomer than water fights with squirt guns. Because not only do you get to assail your opponents with cold water from your bucket, but you also can catch the water from their buckets, and then throw it right back at them. Also, I got to wear shorts and a bathing suit.
Later this afternoon I played soccer with about 15 high school girls. They were having fun, but their skills were definitely…lacking. They asked me to help to coach them and play with them, which was great considering that I actually know the rules that govern this sport (see former post about Netball), and have been working with another woman around my age to start up an informal youth sports league.

Well the 3 week strike is now officially over? postponed? I'm not really sure. But thankfully the schools, clinic, and my organization (still, why were you on strike?) will resume tomorrow. This week we will be submitting our proposal for the OVC center, which should have been sent 3 weeks ago but I won't start with that, and I am formalizing my girls club. The principal of the Jr. High has agreed to let me use the school facilities, which is great. The club will meet once a week after school, and we will use one hour for exercise and sports (even though nobody here seems to understand or share my love for yoga I'm not giving up) and the second/third hour for discussing things like future goals, family struggles, HIV/Aids, and just the general hardships of being a 14 year old girl. Ohhh I do not miss those days at all. I got a bunch of materials donated and have a great resource that is helping me to structure the meetings. This club of about 20 girls will hopefully last at least a year, and during the July holidays next year I plan to put on a week long camp with another volunteer that will highlight many of these same issues, and just be a lot of fun...I hope.

Cheers to spring!