Claire's reflections on the past whirlwind of a week

  As I am sitting here writing this blog post, reflecting on what a whirlwind this past week has been, there is one thought that I can’t seem to shake. It is the thought of how the privilege of being born a middle class American has impacted my stay here so far. After having an awesome first week at Christel House and an even more amazing weekend at the Garden Route with my co-educators, this seems to be the thought that describes it all. As we made our way straight down the Garden Route this past weekend, I found myself looking out the window thinking about the people I have met and worked with so far. Some of these people, who have lived here all of their lives, have not/will never get to see half of the things I have done in just over 3 weeks of being here. I also came across this thought through having conversations with the two tour guides that took us on this trip. When asking them if they would ever consider coming to the states, their answers were simple- no matter the amount of money they make here, it will not be comparable due to the very low exchange rate.  Making 150,000 rand here in South Africa, which is hard to come by, would only convert to about $11,000. With that being said, I once again understand how lucky I am to let alone be here, but for it to be relatively inexpensive in the whole scheme of things.

This week marks the second week of my internship at Christel House. Last week was quite interesting, as I came into the internship expecting to have set things for me to do at all times. I quickly learned that this was not the case and if there was something I wanted to take part in, I had to speak up. I got placed in an entry level Grade R (similar to preschool) classroom with the kids ranging from ages 4-5. These kids came into school not knowing how to hold a pencil, write and some even with limited knowledge of the English language. After only being there for 5 days, it is amazing to see how much they know even though they were in school for about a month. It makes my heart happy to hear that almost 95% of Christel House Graduates are employed or studying at university. I can’t wait to see how much these kids grow over the next 3 months during my time here, I already can’t get enough of them!!