Last week I finally had my first soccer practice! 28 girls showed up, and they are all very eager to play. There is a tournament March 20 that I am hoping we will be able to participate in. Transportation to and from is the only hindrance, as the school has no bus system and there are no cars in Hanover big enough to transport all of the girls. I am trying to get a 14 passenger van, but that would mean that all of the girls would not be able to go to the tournament. The tournament is sponsored and put on by Grassroots Soccer, which is an organization that educates kids on HIV and AIDS prevention through soccer. Because HIV is a huge problem in Hanover, I think this would be a great opportunity to teach the girls using a common interest.

I have been teaching for 4 weeks now, and I think the kids comprehend what I am teaching for the most part. In order to pass their matric exams (the exams the seniors take at the end of the year), they have to have a 30%. Last year at Phakamisani, 21 students took the matric exams, and no one passed. The things that I am teaching the current seniors is 35% of the total curriculum for the year, so if they retain all that I have taught them they will all pass, even if they do not learn anything the rest of the year. If the students do not pass their matric exams, they can not attend college or get jobs. It is vital for these students to pass the exams in order to be able to support their families.

I have my first soccer game today. It has been raining for the past 5 days(in Africa!), so I wasn't able to have another practice since the first practice. The game is a "friendly match" so it doesn't have very much weight if we lose or win. I am going to have the girls wear the uniforms I brought, so that is exciting!

Because of the rain, many of the students didn't come to school because they did not want to walk in the rain. I continued my lessons with the students that were present, but the absent students are expecting me to go back and reteach the topics we covered to those who were absent. So I am in a bind: if I go back and reteach the students next week, I lose the week I have planned for review before the term test. But if I move on and continue with the lesson plan, the kids will have a gap in their learning. Which do you think I should do?

teaching

I have been officically teaching at Phakamisani High for 5 days now, and I have a completely new respect for teachers. It is hard work. But I love it. The kids respond very well to me, and seem to be grasping the concepts I am introducing. After school, I sit on the veranda of a hotel on the main road in Hanover, and when kids pass by and see me they all stop and try to talk. The language barrier is still a complication, but slowly I am learning how to interpret the gist of what the kids are saying. I hope to begin a girl's soccer team this week, but things tend to move very slowly in South Africa. I met another American from Washington state who works for an organization called Grassroots soccer that educates children on HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment through soccer. I am hopefully going to take the girls, once I have a team, to one of the workshops that Grassroots does. I have also begun helping with the choir at the school because I can read music and am familiar with the piano. And I am currently tutoring 6 kids in math. I hope to increase that number significantly as students begin to need more help. I find that I can accomplish a lot more in 10 minutes one on one with a student than I can in 50 minutes in a classroom of 33 kids.
Please continue to pray that my actions will speak louder than my words. Perhaps an American who has very ambitious goals and does not drink or smoke or do drugs is just what this town needs. They can easily identify with me because we look similar, so pray that I can use that to my advantage. And vigorously pray that the people will stop abusing alcohol. That is still the most shocking thing I have experienced here. It is very widespread as well. It saddens me to see people with talent just throw it away because they do not want to work hard.