Masiphumelele
Today in South Africa we visited a township called Masiphumelele. A place that is still affected with poverty and left with the remnants of apartheid. This was truly a once in a lifetime experience for me and is something that will stay with me forever. We had the privilege of visiting schools and creshes in the township and seeing how they live and feed their children. In the picture above you can see the children of Ukhanyo primary school with their lunches. This is a very common dish in their school and consists of rice and pilchards (fish). These kids loved their lunch and didn't waste a bit of it. Their lively personalities and infectious smiles are indicative of a wonderful system filled with amazing people who are working endlessly to provide education and nutrition to this community. I feel so blessed and honoured to have been given the opportunity to watch and learn how this community and masicorp are coming together to provide the resources and tools needed for these young children to thrive.
When I first arrived I was overwhelmed with emotion; Excited to be there, but nervous because I didn't know what to expect. As soon as I met the directors leading us on this tour, I became calm and had an overwhelming sense of peace. They were kind and welcomed us with open arms into a community that is obviously very dear to their hearts. I hear about people doing wonderful things like this all the time, but to see it in action first hand was an experience I will never forget.
 |
They love the camera! I was letting one of the young boys hold my camera and he helped me snatch this shot. such a sweet face.       
The kids made some lovely posters to present to our group. They presented it in Xhosa and English.
 |
After the school tour was over, we were then asked to head back to the bus to visit the three creches in the township. Creches are daycare/preschool facilities. The first Crech we visited was a work in progress. Thanks to masicorp and its funders, the new crech which will accommodate comfortably almost double the amount of children and will hopefully be up and running in the next few months. These women have been working hard to make this happen, so it was very exciting to be able to see the work in progress.
This was a picture from the 2nd crech we visited. These kids were just lovely. As soon as we walked in the doors, we were greeted with hugs and smiles. No hesitations, no reservations. Just openness and full of trust of whoever walked in the door. Im harping on this because I find it amazing. I think these children and how they are so loving is a direct reflection of their strong, tight knit community. here are some of the children waving bye to us as they leave.
I took this after leaving the third crech. This photograph is of the wetlands.
These are the children from the first crech. Such happy and smart children they are! As soon as we walked in we were greeted with songs. here they are eating lunch which consisted of rice and other grains funded by end world hunger
The last part of the day was truly amazing. We were invited into a local woman's home named nonny. She calls her home Jesus House. So before we ate we said a beautiful prayer and began to eat her amazing home cooked meal consisting of: beef stew cooked in Potjje, Curry chicken, Mielie pap ( a corn dish) Morogo (spinach & potato) Chakalaka (a curry vegetable dish) and then steamed bread which was amazing!! Im not the biggest fan of bread, but obviously her authentic style of cooking made all the difference in the world. Everything was just so pure and full of delicious flavors. This was an experience like no other and we will stay with me always.
 |
| Here we have "walkie talkies" AKA chickens feet! Chicken feet isn't necessarily new to me, but the way they eat it definitely was. It is very common to find children in their township chewing on these for afternoon snacks. I've used them in my broth many times for added collagen, but never heard of people eating it like this. Im not gonna lie, even I, a proclaimed foodie, had trouble getting this down. Hopefully over time I will be a pro though!;) Oh and we ate smileys! Which is a traditional masiphumelele meat dish consisting of sheeps head:) |
