Week 6

Overall I think that our team made a positive impact on Bulembu. The work projects that we were asked to complete were finished as well as other projects. We painted two houses, inside and out, and helped with some smaller projects such as painting crosswalks throughout town. At the school I was able to assist the teacher with everything from teaching lessons, to helping watch classes while teachers weren’t there, and grading tests. Although at times it felt like I wasn’t making that much of a difference, the teacher told me that even the small things did help, such as keep the kids quiet during a lesson which allowed the teacher to get just a little bit more time teaching the kids rather than stopping the lesson to discipline them. In the toddler homes we were able to give the Aunties, who work so hard, a break and play with the kids or help them do laundry. To us it seems like little things that don’t make much of a difference, but to the Aunties it shows them our appreciation for what they are doing. With the older kids that I worked with I helped them with chores, talked to them, and played with them. Hopefully I was able to relieve, even just for a little while, the stress that they have to deal with because of their pasts. I was even able to reassure one of the girls who is traveling with the choir to Canada in September, that traveling is fun and that she shouldn’t be worried about flying on an airplane. I feel like I was able to make a difference in the lives of the people in Bulembu through the different projects that we worked on.