Willmore Adventures: June 2019

Home Page: Willmore Adventures in South Africa

We have had a busy 6 weeks here in Africa. There’s been a general election, we’ve delved further into South African history, and burst onto the sporting scene as a family. Grandma has visited from the UK spending a lovely 2 weeks with us, and teaching at the township school is going well, as we reach mid-year and the end of Term 2.

Grandma Carol, visiting from the UK.

South African elections took place in May but realistically only ever have one winner, the African National Congress (ANC), the party formerly run by Nelson Mandela. It has a tall mountain to climb and has been marred with corruption in the last decade, but it does however have a good leader in Cyril Ramaphosa. There are those who are apathetic, those who are frustrated and those who are hopeful about politics and the future of South Africa. Election day is a public holiday here. Whilst we decided to go on safari for the day, people queued at polling stations to cast their vote. In South Africa, you can turn up at any polling station in the country to vote so the verification process for each person is quite lengthy. Everyone is marked with a black line on their thumb nail so that they cannot go to a different polling station to vote again. And social media is awash with photos of voting thumbs as people proudly state that they voted and encourage others to do so.

Propaganda from the biggest 3 parties.
The yellow poster is the ANC.

The ANC, who gained a majority in this year’s general election and who have been ruling for the last 25 years since the end of Apartheid, have an incredible history. Mum and I went to a suburb called Rivonia, which is 5 minutes from where we live in Lonehill, where a museum now stands on the property of an old farm called Lilieslief. Rivonia back in the early 60’s was a rural area occupied by only whites. The ANC, who had been driven underground by the ruling Afrikaans party, secretly bought the farm and covertly ran their head quarters from it. A white family lived in the farmhouse so as not to raise suspicions, and Nelson Mandela worked as Thomas, a farm helper. The ANC had tried for many years by passive means to bring about change in South Africa, but, as the rights for black people were withdrawn, the ANC felt the only way to make the Afrikaans party listen was by force. It was during a meeting where they were plotting to overthrow the government, that an unassuming dry-cleaning van pulled up at the farm. Out jumped the special forces, and the covert operation was over. ‘The Rivonia 10’, both black and white men, faced trial and it was from here that Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison, mostly on Robben Island. To top off what was an incredible morning, we sat chatting with a gentleman at the museum who told us that he himself had been imprisoned on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela for 6 years and that Mandela had taught him, with some resistance, that he must befriend ‘the enemy’, the whites, as they were also trapped in the system of Apartheid. A truly amazing story.

Luckily, the one thing that seems to subvert politics is sport and we have thoroughly immersed ourselves in it. Amelie has taken up netball with the girls at school, and after a few lessons in the garden, is absolutely flying, playing both attacking and defensive positions.

Amelie after her 1st netball match.

Elowen was quite adamant that she wanted to play soccer with the boys. I was surprisingly reluctant to let her, as I had travelled that same path at her age and know the heartache that comes with being different. But she wasn’t fooled by my subtle coercion, and now stands proudly on the soccer pitch shoulder to shoulder (or shoulder to elbow, she’s tiny) with the boys. Go Elowen!

Elowen getting stuck in at a soccer tournament.

With Grandma and Joel after a soccer match.

All 3 children are playing hockey for our local hockey club at Morningside Country Club. The girls have picked it up quickly and while Joel is happy to go along, he would rather stand with the stick up his top and with his back to the ball. Maybe he’ll be more inclined next year…

Amelie, Elowen and Joel at a hockey tournament.

I have also started playing hockey again after a few years out, both with the same club as the children and with a Masters’ team (I qualify as a senior in sport!). The former is quite serious with training and a coach, the latter is more relaxed with drinks of the alcoholic variety consumed before, during and after the games. I’m not a drinker myself but it seems to work as we are on a winning streak!

At Riversands Primary School, which is where I teach twice a week, the children are making huge strides in their understanding of English and with their reading and writing. Little Naledi *, who started out this year with very little spoken English has made great progress. She not only knows the sounds of letters but can blend them together and reads 3 letter words beautifully. Her vocabulary has grown, and we have lots of chats about home and what she is learning.

A lesson with little Naledi.

Nkosi* however is harder work. He has a very good command of the English language but is really struggling to be able to blend sounds together. After speaking to my sister, Hannah, who is a Special Educational Needs Coordinator in the UK, I am now armed with some tools to help him and make learning fun. We are progressing, just at a slower rate. I’m sure we will get there.

Practising drawing letters in the sand with Nkosi.

The charity which runs the reading and writing program, The Link, have 2 buildings on the school property. And sadly, they have both been broken into this past month, twice. The jacks supporting the portacabin have been stolen, and all the cables out of the second building were taken both times, along with our tea urn. It makes you realise what poverty is up against in this township school. Our buildings are now alarmed so hopefully it won’t happen again.

And talking of breaking in… When it starts getting cold outside here, the ants find a way of getting inside the house and become quite a problem. Like us humans they head straight for the sweets cupboard and start living their best life on the honey or in the sugar. I have found that white vinegar seems to disrupt the party, and so it has become my cleaning product of choice. As it begins to warm up again in September, hopefully they will disappear back outside. Until next year…

I hope you are all enjoying the warm summer days and long evenings. We are evermore aware of the incredible history of this country, the lasting effects on society, and all the wonderful sporting opportunities afforded to us out here. Even if it is chilly by night.