Day 5 – Sinethemba and Alexander Road High School

Today we had an amazing experience; first waking up to the spectacular wildlife in the Kragga Kamma Game Reserve. We saw giraffes, springbok, ostrich, zebra and even a cheetah…all from the doorway of our safari tent.

After breakfast, we took a drive to Sinethemba Children’s Centre for a short visit. Mama Signoria and a few of the youngest children greeted us with warm hugs. Mama and Mr. Osborne took us to look inside the centre to look in the living spaces and bedrooms. There was 3 bedrooms altogether, 1 for the little kids, 1 for the middle aged and 1 for the elder kids. The rooms were small and cramped but very tidy and with very few possessions visible.

After about half an hour visiting Sinethemba, we drove about 10 minutes to Alexander Road High School. Visiting Sinethemba and then ARHS, it really let us understand that life can be very different just a mere 5 minutes apart. Once inside, we were invited to join the whole school assembly. In the assembly, we witnessed a heart-felt tribute to the late Mama Winnie Mandela who recently passed. Overall, we enjoyed the vibrant atmosphere of the proceedings. At the end of the assembly, we were treated with a student-led rally to get their school teams pumped up for a series of sporting contests the next day. After the assembly, we were given a tour by Mr. Kevin Golightly and a few of his students. We were shown various classes and felt for the first time that we were the exotic ones, with our Australian accents being a great source of entertainment for the ARHS students and perfect material for a particular maths teacher, and resident comedian.

We met with Kyle and Declan, both students of Mr. Golightly, and we worked together to organise activities for Sinethemba later in the afternoon. We meet a few more of the students from ARHS and set off to set up for various sporting activities we had planned. The Sinethemba children arrived at 3:00pm. The St. Stephen’s students made an effort to stick to our plans but soon enough, children were everywhere. Various forms of sport and hysterical laughter covered the school oval. A 6-on-6 soccer game with some of the older Sinethemba children turned into rugby and lasted over an hour. It and was an amazing spectacle to watch some of the older boys demonstrate their skill and enthusiasm. The younger Sinethemba children enjoyed the attention and their laughter fuelled our hearts and pushed us well into the afternoon.

All the Sinethemba and the Alex kids joined us on the bus as we drove back to Alex High School. The ARHS students cooked up an unbelievably tasty traditional South African Braai. As we approached the venue we could smell the amazing food cooking from a long distance away. We really enjoyed ourselves chatting with all the Sinethemba and ARHS kids and playing with a hacky-sack.