Willmore Adventures: July 2022

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Being let loose with a paintbrush at a preschool has been one of the most fun things I’ve done here in South Africa. And being let loose with a group of volunteers and some struggling Grade 2s at a primary school has been one of the most rewarding things I’ve done here. Being trusted with both these projects as a foreigner has been a massive privilege too. Buttercup Preschool, which I fondly got involved with in 2019 has had a 2022 makeover, and the Riversands Primary School which I helped at until COVID struck in 2020, is back up and running! 2022 is going full steam ahead!

Since the original build at Buttercup Preschool in 2019 where an outside area was enclosed for the children to play in, it was time for an injection of love to improve the inside and outside spaces for the babies, toddlers and preschoolers. The update was not just a fun idea though, it had become a necessity for Tari the preschool owner too. Little did we know that back in 2019 we had enclosed and secured the preschool with such success that no one walking past knew that it even existed, and numbers were down to just 6 (COVID also played a part in this too). Tari charges the equivalent of £22.50 a month per child, which covers full time childcare and 3 meals a day. With rent for her family and the preschool to pay, plus all the food to buy, she was not covering expenses and more children were desperately needed to keep the preschool afloat and keep Tari with a roof over her head. Whether foolish or not, Tari asked me for some help to turn things around. Instantly my Pandora's project box flew open, and my unqualified and inexperienced cogs started turning. What could we do to advertise the preschool? The answer we arrived at was flyers, posters and a painted wall along the front of the preschool. So, off to work I went to help achieve this.

As an aside, this past year has been a wonderful friend making year for me. I have met some fabulous British people where the excuse of being British to justify a conversation has led to some amazing friendships emerging. The reason wouldn’t hold much weight in the UK but in a foreign land, it is strangely unifying, and my British network has grown.

So, to my British friends I went for some advice about Buttercup Preschool. Two friends, Katy and Alicia, had preschool experience and were able to help with the flyers and posters, and one friend, Emily, who is a vet was willing to get her hands dirty and help with the painting. It was great to have a little team around me and to be able to share the experience with others. After about a month of work, the outside wall looked better than we could have imagined, and the inside space looked fresh and inviting. The garden gained a gazebo for shade and some garden toys given by my mum, and we fixed Tari and Martin’s car to provide a transport service as well. With posters up and flyers distributed we waited for some enquiries…And then it began! The phone starting ringing and people started to visit. New faces started to arrive at the school and as of June 2022, there are 17 happy children running around, with new ones arriving every month. Tari and Martin have a thriving preschool once again and I get to enjoy the energy and high spirits of the children every Thursday that I visit.

Emily and some local children
hard at work on the base layer.

Me and Emily painting the finer details.

The little ones helped with their hand prints too.

The finished front wall!

With Tari painting the inside.

Dropping off the finished
flyers and posters.

Alicia testing out the new blackboard with the
little ones after teaching them some songs.

Me, Tari and Alicia.

Practicing letters in the sand.

Spotting the 'a' in the sentence.

Making a 'ssssss'

The children testing out their new garden toys.

Back in February when the Buttercup update was taking place, the South African government relaxed the COVID rules in schools allowing children to return to fulltime education and not be restricted to small classes on a rotating timetable. With the children back to 5 days a week, the Riversands Primary School was now able to let the children who struggle with reading and writing in English be taken out of class for some extra help. So, our team of volunteers who had done this prior to COVID, needed no encouraging when the law was changed. We were back to school in a flash, preparing the classroom and all the equipment, ready for the chaos that excited 7- and 8-year-olds bring. This return to school had also afforded me the opportunity to take on a leadership role alongside a good friend Kate. Liaising with teachers, structuring the mornings, organising volunteers and children… It’s perhaps a bit late in the game to be stepping into a role like this now but I’m so enjoying a newfound confidence in myself and the satisfaction that comes with doing a job well. The little ones are such a pleasure too. Some cheeky, some quiet, some frenetic, some competitive, they are a real bag of all sorts where there is never a dull moment. But despite all their differences, they are however united by their extreme poverty, their complete lack of necessities like clothes and shoes that fit, and a learning difficulty to top it all off. So, as teachers, faced with these obstacles, we find ways to make the children feel able to achieve, and we use different methods of teaching, often involving a healthy dose of fun and games to realise this. Our hope is that by the end of the South African school year in December, most children will be reading and writing, and that the intervention that we have provided will put them on a better trajectory in life, however small that change might be. And such is the bond that we form with our pupils, that children in the older grades who we used to teach in years gone by come up to visit us all the time. It’s a wonderful community which I love being a part of.

Kate and I who run the reading program together.

Learning his first phonics sounds.

Some of this year's cuties in the reading program.

This year's Grade 5's coming up to visit.

So, June draws to a close, and with it the end of the school year for Amelie, Elowen and Joel. They have had such a happy year filled with friendships, French, rugby, chess, cycling, rollerblading, hip hop dancing, graffiti, and so much more. We look forward to a lovely long break now before we start again in September. And for that break we have chosen a top destination to visit….

Look out England, the Willmore’s are heading home!

We look forward to seeing friends and family soon.

Lots of love

Jess xxx

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A few extra photos...