Camp II: Nankhonde Full Primary School

The beginning of this week has been an adventure! Sunday we had the chance to take the day off and go hiking, and some of us just stayed around the house to recover from the first camp. Monday the 12th was supposed to be the first day of our second camp at Mnkhupa school, but we had a few ‘mud mishaps’ with the bus, which included a lot of pushing and some trudging up muddy hills. Luckily, Dennis our bus driver is well-trained in unfavorable conditions, so we were able to make it back home without incidence. Some villagers were incredibly helpful in getting our bus out of the mud. Unfortunately, we had to cancel our trip to Mnkhupa due to the slippery conditions of the road and the inability to get there safely. We did luck out on the way back, because we stopped at Nankhonde school and they agreed to do a two-day session starting Tuesday morning.

When we returned from the rough bus drive on Monday, a bunch of us jumped in the pool for a game of pool volleyball, and then a few of us made a trip to the Crisis Control Nursery to play with abondoned babies. After returning to the house for some yoga and a warm meal, we got to bed early to start Tuesday morning fresh.

Tuesday we started an abridged two-day camp at Nankhonde School. Andrew and I (Brittanie) had a chance to learn from the teachers about their community and the reactions by community members to people who are HIV positive. We also learned that it was very hard for the teachers to teach about HIV/sexual education because community members looked at them as being interested in sexual encounters instead of being educational. They said that World Camp volunteers coming in to teach about these sensitive subjects helps the community to be more accepting of their children learning about these personal topics.

The teachers loved learning about solar ovens and promised to use the oven we constructed for them. We also had a chance to plant trees donated by MokuZoku with some of the company founders (one is an original founder of World Camp!) which the kids were very excited about.

At the end of the day, we had a chance to give out trees to every student and teacher as well as certificates for the teachers (they were quite proud!). Through light rain, we were excited to see the presentations that the students prepared about important information they had learned. The teachers gave a presentation, too! This is the first World Camp season where we’ve been able to get the teachers to perform for the students during every camp.

Even with the frustrations of mud, rain, and the lack of preparedness, all the World Camp volunteers stayed positive and continued to work hard throughout their time at Nankhonde. We’re all in good spirits and hopeful that tomorrow’s camp (camp 3) will run as smooth as the first one did. With lots of warm weather and t-shirt tan lines to prove it, we’re doing great!