Expanding young minds November 4, 2009

It has been both fascinating and frustrating to observe the extent to which the remoteness of Nqileni Village has impacted children’s experience and basic knowledge. As an example, during a recent classroom exercise, several children in the Grade R class referred to the South African currency as the ‘Pound’ (pronounced Pont).

Until recently, the children were not able to name animals that do not live in the area. They could not for example identify a monkey or an elephant! Given the fact that these children seldom / never venture beyond the village and that they have no access to books, toys, or television in their homes, their lack of basic knowledge is not surprising.

In an effort to change this, we provide opportunities for the children to enjoy new experiences – using all five senses. Noting for example that the children had VERY limited knowledge and experience of any fruit and vegetables that are not grown in the village, we have been introducing them to a variety of new tastes, and to the previously unheard of act of eating uncooked vegetables!

Here they are, enjoying a platter of new tastes.

The start of our after-school tutoring programme November 4, 2009

The Jujurha preschool is a feeder school for the local primary school, No-ofisi. The Bulungula Incubator is committed to working with No-ofisi to ensure a continuation of education excellence for the children graduating from the ELC. However, we recognize that it will take some time to improve the quality of education at No-ofisi. As such, we have begun an after-school tutoring programme for foundation phase learners from No-ofisi.

Children in Grades 1 to 3 are invited to afternoon sessions at the ELC. These sessions include opportunities for supervised play with educational toys, structured numeracy and literacy lessons and story time in the Jujurha library.

At the moment, the tutoring programme is structured to accommodate Grade 1 learners on Mondays, Grade 2 learners on Tuesdays and Grade 3 learners on Wednesdays. We have consistently had over 20 children attending each day.

Our work with the children to date highlights significant gaps in their knowledge and skills, and points to the need for more concentrated and frequent contact with each child in order to raise their level of skills on par with peers at better schools.

Great kids, great staff – a winning combination November 4, 2009

Over the past few weeks, we have seen tremendous progress in the children attending the Jujurha Early Learning Centre. They are far more outgoing, demanding (in the best possible way!), and engaging. We are also seeing the impact of the educational programme on their ability to do puzzles (children who could not piece together a 4-piece puzzle 3 months ago are now happily completing 24-piece puzzles), to recognize and write numbers, to order and sort objects, to construct toys etc. And the daily creative activities have filled the children’s classrooms and workbooks with delightful artwork! We have also introduced musical instruments into the weekly routine, and library time.

 

Story time with Xolisa and Nokonwaba

All of this is made possible by the dedication, creativity and commitment of our teachers and trainee teachers (Funeka Jija, Xolisa Dayimani, Nangamso Debe, Nokonwaba Mbi, and Phikiswa Gashe) and the excellent leadership of our education projects co-ordinator, Annette Champion.

We are also very fortunate to have the support of a visiting volunteer from the USA, Karen Kievit. Karen has 15 years experience in special needs education and has already assisted in developing tools for use with children who have behavioural problems / severe developmental delays, and in teacher training and development.

Our staff development programme currently includes weekly teacher training sessions and classroom support and supervision. Staff also attend ad hoc training courses, and are encouraged to share their newly acquired skills with the rest of the team, in this way consolidating their learnings and developing valuable workshopping skills.

We plan on expanding our staff development programme next year by enrolling our teaching assistants on SETA accredited training programmes to enable them to work towards a National Certificate in early childhood development.

Essential Oils update November 4, 2009

The Essential Oils (EO) project is one of several Sustainable Livelihoods projects run by the Bulungula Incubator. The EO project began in February this year, with the establishment of one project plot of lemongrass (about 50mx50m). This plot enabled us to grow sufficient lemongrass to supply root stock to our first 5 community farmers. It also allowed us to test various land preparation techniques to ensure maximum yield.

We have been anxiously watching the horizon for the arrival of the first summer rains so that we could plant our first five community farmers. The rains have arrived very late this year, but some good downpours meant that we were finally able to get the first of our volunteer farmers crops planted in late October.

Out initial aim was to start with 3 farmers but we had such a positive response from community members to participate in the program that we have had to limit our first batch of farmers to eight volunteers. The first five farmers are planting now, with an additional three scheduled to plant in January after the Christmas and New Years break.

Planning meeting to work out practicalities of planting

Each farmer is responsible for farming their own private plot of land. The size of each of these plots may vary, and are referred to as either family of homestead plots, but are generally around a quarter of a hectare in size.

The project farmers are responsible for ploughing and preparing their own land, as well as ensuring that their plot is fenced in such a way that the crops are protected from sheep, goats, donkeys and cattle.
They are not paid in any way for these efforts, their only financial reward will come when their crops are sold, at which stage they will earn all money raised through the sale of their crops.

During discussions about planting, the initial eight volunteer farmers decided independently to work as a collective. This was a heart-warming decision to observe. They all arrived at one homestead and planted that one plot before moving onto the next site the following day. This has made the planting process very fast and has its own intrinsic checks.

Because the majority of the farmers are volunteering their time helping the owner of the plot, they work in a very efficient way and the speed with which each plot is planted has been quite astounding. We have then carefully shown the owner of the plot how to ensure that a good job is being done, so he, or she, generally moves behind the others to ensure that the group is doing a good job, and not sacrificing quality for speed.

Working as a team has proven very effective

Many hands make light work

Other benefits to this team approach include the advantages of establishing a collective skill set and knowledge base.

By acting as a collective, and electing a committee, the group has also taken the first steps to establishing a functioning co-operative. This will be important for the growth and sustainability of the project.

A team photo to mark the occassion

The project is very closely linked to food security and each of the project farmers has been supplied with a good amount of vegetable seeds.

Discussing the distribution of vegetable seeds

One of the conditions of participating is that they plant the vegetables as well as the essential oil crop to compliment their family diet. We have actively discouraged planting essential oil crops at the expense of subsistence crops, and it is pleasing to note that the essential oil crops are being planted alongside mielies (corn).A few of the project farmers have divided their fields and are planting half with mielies (corn) and half with essential oil crops.

In addition to the vegetable seeds, each project farmer has also been supplied with half a dozen fruit trees and a variety of herbs. The project farmers have been shown haw to plant these to achieve their maximum potential.

There was much interest in the tree-planting lesson!

Between now and February 2011, the project will grow to include at least 20 families from Nqileni and surrounding villages.

A volunteer’s perspective October 26, 2009

Bulungula is a magical place to visit! Not surprisingly, many visitors to the Bulungula Lodge ask about opportunities to volunteer at the BI for various lengths of time. Much of the work that we do depends on the generosity of volunteers and so we are always open to exploring possibilities. However, the challenges of living in this remote rural area are felt by even the hardiest of volunteers. Every day brings new thrills and challenges! One of our current volunteers wrote this honest and amusing account of her first 5 weeks in paradise…..

I arrived at Nqileni Village on Sept. 10 to a whirlwind of activity. Within the first week I was drilling holes into concrete walls to build bookshelves for the freshly painted periwinkle rondavel; the new community library. Other workers were installing state-of-the-art composting toilets and building basic plywood enclosures for them. We were all sharing one drill on two or three extension cords. Back and forth, and we got the jobs done. A week after that, in tandem with the village women, I was chiseling apart racks of frozen-solid mutton ribs to prepare for the celebratory launch of the Jujurha Preschool and Early Learning Center. At the same time, I was living in a canvas safari tent and battling a “Welcome-to-Africa” case of the flu. My personal food supply was running low and I was becoming completely dependent on the lodge restaurant for sustenance. I was worried that the local folks would grace me with a Xhosa name meaning, “the white woman from America who coughs all the time”. I certainly knew I would never learn their names, with all the married women being called “No-something-or-other”. The children’s names were no easier: Simpiswe, Sipiwe, Sibonele, Abulele and Ayabulela, but thank God for Lisa and Zine. I reminded myself hourly that this is what I had hoped for when I contacted the BI a year ago to offer my services; a complete change from my well-established life at home. Change is definitely what I received.

I think being a well-grounded, stable, secure, intelligent, highly-educated, wise, highly-experienced, healthy, fit, and supported-by-family woman in her mid-fifties has helped me to take this overwhelming experience in stride. There’s an incredible amount of work being done at a whirlwind pace around here, especially considering the challenges and obstacles presented by this very remote, off-the-grid location. I’m a volunteer. I’m here to help, not to have my own personal needs met. So waiting a month to move out of my damp and musty tent, with copies of my important documents now bearing moldy stains, was simply part of the adventure. Two days ago I moved into my promised accommodation, a freshly dunged and limed mud hut. I have a brand new bed, recently constructed by a local fellow wielding a handsaw and a hammer, out in the field in front of the ELC. I have no water. I have no toilet. I have no stove. I have no table. I have no chair. I had a donkey ram into my door last night, having been evicted for human habitation. I was sincerely glad that I had fashioned, by candlelight, a makeshift latch out of an old piece of discarded webbing before calling it quits for the night.

That brings me to the present. The past two weeks of dedicated work in the new library has brought us closer to realizing the dream of opening it up for community borrowing. Yesterday I presented my first staff-development session in the little library, which has proven to serve as a lovely multi-purpose space as well. It is my hope that, through these training sessions, the ‘rote and repetition’ parts of the preschool day will gradually be replaced by well-facilitated, concrete experiences for these previously under-served children. This weekend I plan to work with the teacher of the 3 and 4-year-olds to re-organize her classroom, then spend the next week modeling new methods for how to spark real thinking in the children. It’s a delight to be involved with such eager, friendly, and willing staff, including the teachers, mother-helpers, maintenance folks, Sonja, and Annette. I can only hope that my services here will compare in value to what I have already received through my experiences as a BI volunteer.

Community celebration for the launch of the Jujurha ELC October 5, 2009

The ELC includes 3 classrooms, an office and storeroom, a kitchen, a library, eco toilets, an excellent solar system (with power points in all classrooms), a vegetable and fruit garden and fabulous outdoor play equipment.

On the 22 September we officially celebrated the opening of the Jujurha Early Learning Centre.

The centre had been operating from the new premises for 2 months and so the classrooms were beautifully adorned with the children’s work. The day included dancing, singing, speeches and – of course – lots and lots of traditional food prepared in 3-legged pots on the fire.

Click on the video clip for a taste of the festivities!

Many thanks to Carlos Francisco of AHB Films (http://www.ahbfilms.blogspot.com) for producing this great clip.

Urgent appeal: Addressing the water crisis October 5, 2009

Everyone has the right to water.

For most of us reading this blog, this right is one which we take for granted. For many South Africans however, especially in remote rural areas, the right to a reliable and clean water supply remains unrealised.

According to international minimum standards on water access:

• the maximum distance from any household to the nearest water point should be 500 metres,
• queuing time at a water source should be no more than 15 minutes,
• it should not take more than three minutes to fill a 20-litre container, and
• appropriate quantities of water should be consistently available.

Furthermore, water should be palatable and of sufficient quality to be drunk and used for personal and domestic hygiene without causing significant risk to health.

In Nqileni village, there is no piped water for a 40km radius. As a result, the community relies on drinking water from unprotected springs in the ground. Due to the absence of a sanitation system in the village, all of the spring water is contaminated.

Faecal coliform bacteria (>99% of which are E. coli) are an indicator of the level of human/animal waste contamination in water. If any faecal coliforms are present, the water should be treated. Untreated water with faecal coliforms should not be consumed. In order to be considered safe for human consumption, there should be zero faecal coliforms (per 100ml) at the point of delivery.

A recent survey of the five spring water sources in Nqileni revealed faecal coliform levels of between 10 and 10³ per 100ml.

The problem of contamination is compounded by poor rainfall figures over the past couple of years. As a result, animals (essential for local livelihoods) are desperate to access the protected springs and the fences are frequently broken. Furthermore, all five of the springs no longer provide water all year round. During dry spells, the community is forced to collect water from the river. Surface river water is even more contaminated than the springs and can be deadly for babies, children, the elderly and the sick.

We urgently need help to address this problem!

In particular, we are looking for funds to set up 3 boreholes in Nqileni.

The boreholes will be positioned strategically to ensure maximum benefit for all households.

A reliable, safe water source will not only have significant health benefits for the village, but will also enable the community (including the local school and preschool) to maintain food gardens, and will help to prevent the death of livestock.

By reducing the time taken for each household to collect water, the boreholes will also help improve school attendance (it is typically the young girls who are kept at home to collect water). This benefit could be maximised by regulating the use of the borehole by school-age children.

A proposal and budget for this initiative are available on request. Please email sonja@bulungulaincubator.org.

The No-ofisi hall – near completion October 5, 2009

After months of hard work, the beautiful hall at No-ofisi primary school is finally nearing completion. The building team have laid a concrete floor, hung doors and lime plastered the walls.

Laying the floor of the hall

This monumental structure will not only provide much needed additional classroom space and a community meeting place, it will also enable us to capture large quantities of rain water from the roof!

News from the classroom October 5, 2009

There was great excitement when the Grade R children spread icing on biscuits recently. They enjoyed the mixing and colouring of the icing and took the greatest care to spread it and then decorate each biscuit with the pretty ‘sprinkles’.

Not a crumb was eaten until every last piece was ready (& one of the children amazed the teachers by counting biscuits from 1 to 9 without hesitation for the very first time!) It didn’t matter at all that most of the biscuits had not survived the journey from Mthatha intact and the party ended with tasty treats and very sticky fingers!

Delicious treats!

Home grown delights October 5, 2009

We have also made progress with the establishment of our ELC vegetable and fruit garden. The garden has been terraced using stones, collected by hand, and wooden poles left over from the building of the classrooms.

The terraced garden

So far, we’ve managed to plant a selection of fruit and nut trees and a variety of veggies. Young shoots are now visible for carrots, butternut, beetroot, spinach and tomatoes. And the banana trees have taken root beautifully.

Apart from providing fresh veggies for the nutrition programme, the garden will be integrated into our educational programme. Today, the children from the Grade R class planted sunflowers and nasturtiums – learning to prepare the soil, and water the newly planted seeds (you can see our eco toilets in the background).

Learning through doing

We’ve also established a compost heap alongside the garden. Fruit and vegetable peels and offcuts (from our nutrition programme) are ‘recycled’ here.

Our compost heap

Special thanks to the Ford Alumni Association for their support of our garden!