Boys will be boys

Every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 3:30-5pm the four of us drive 20 minutes on the highway to St. Theresa's Home for Boys.  There are about 75 boys living there in 8 different cottages.  I think the younger kids have more boys in each cottage but the ones we work have between 6 and 10.  Each of us is helping with a different cottage.  I have cottage 3 which consists of eight boys that are 5th and 6th graders.  Each of my boys have very different personalities but all of them are very vocal.  Their names are Sihle, Seluleko (we call him Spider), Minenhle (we call him Chakie), Phlani, Llwellyn, Lyle, and Thobani.  Sihle always has homework and on Thursday, I helped him with his spelling words which were pretty hard.  He got most of them and the test was Friday so I’ll find out tomorrow how he did.  Sihle came to St. Theresa’s in 2009 when his mom died (not HIV/AIDs) but was at St. Thomas Home before he came to St. Theresa’s.  Spider is quite the character and calls me Auntie all the time.  He always likes to talk and never has any homework because he goes to a different school than the other boys; although one day he did have to write “I will not be late to class” 200 times!! Thank God I never had to do that! Spider has a 20 year old sister who lives near Durban and came to visit the other weekend.  He also told me he has a 25 year old brother and goes to his Grannie’s house for holiday (Christmas).  Chakie always has homework/class work he didn’t finish so I often help him if he needs it but most of the time I’m trying to get him to pay attention and focus on his work instead of talking to everyone else. He came to St. Theresa’s in 2004 and was raised by his auntie and dad before he came to the home.  I think he said his mom died as well but I didn’t ask how.  Phlani is the “cool” one who is always drawing instead of homework or when he’s done.  He’s definitely the comedian of the group. One time he asked me “YUU” and I responded with because God made me this way which was the right answer but he kept asking it to me to confuse/annoy me.  He thought it was the funniest thing ever and even did it to my roommates later that day.  Llewellyn is a tiny Indian boy with a strong accent that is really hard to understand.  His older brother Keegan is in Kevin’s cottage and speaks more clearly.  He is also very loud.  Lyle is rarely sitting down and doing homework but I did talk to him on Thursday and found out that his birthday is April 10^th so I told him I would bring in some cupcakes or cookies so we can celebrate our birthdays together.  Thobani just came to St. Theresa’s so I don’t know him too well yet but he is fitting in well. 

We are mostly there for homework help but sometimes the boys don't have any homework so we just talk with them and watch them play soccer if we go down to the field.  Some of the homework we have no clue about like naming the 9 provinces of South Africa and their capitals but Kellie and I have kids in the same grade so we are constantly going over to each other’s cottages to get the answers for the other boys.  All of the boys speak very good English which is a nice break from all the Zulu we hear at our other jobs.  There is an "Auntie" or "Uncle" for all the cottages that work 7 days a week and sleep in the cottages during their shifts so very similar to residential programs in the States.  None of my boys can spell the Uncle's name for my cottage which makes me think he's somewhat new.  Auntie Sithembile is the other one for Cottage 3 and she gave me a really cool bracelet made out of safety pins, beads, and hair ties that she made. It is too tight for my wrist so I can’t wear it but hopefully I can find some other creative way to use it. 

It’s sad that these boys are here but I think about the residential programs in the U.S. and it doesn’t seem as bad.  All of the boys are great to talk to and interact with and they’re all phenomenal at soccer! They are always “training” when they’re done with their homework and I think they are having a tournament against other boys’ homes in the area soon so hopefully we can go watch that on a Saturday.  It's always hard to have the energy/motivation to go to this work site after working all day somewhere else but once I am there, I love it.

South African Fact: Some of the kids at 1000 Hills have strings/rope around their waists.  Julie explained to me that they are a Zulu tradition that "keeps away evil spirits."  There is a whole ceremony that goes into it which is very expensive so not ever kid has one.  You have to slaughter a goat, sheep, or cow and feed 100s of people as part of the ceremony.  Zulu adults wear something on their left wrist that is the same concept.  The head teacher in my room, Fikile, has them.