SAF - Blog 4

Monday  

6/10/2024 

Morning: The Plot-Staff Training session; team building. 

The morning was so much fun!  The Staff leader had us pair up and learn each others names and what we do. Then we introduced each other. The point was that each of us has a name and what we do is important and we all contribute to the work to be done.  

Our theme for training was the stars and moon. Our preplanned lessons centered around constellations and their names along with other celestial bodies (sun, moon).  They looked at some of the shapes of the constellations and they used marshmallows and toothpicks to make that shape. Some of them knew their zodiac sign. Those that didn’t wanted to know so we looked it up.  

This is the bible verse we incorporated: Isiah 40:26: “List up your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mightily strength not one of them is missing.” We discussed the names and stories of the constellations and that lead them to create their own constellation and give it a name and story. We then handed out certificates with their name and its meaning. After that we built skyscrapers to the stars as a team building activity. Each one of us has a name that is important and God loves and knows them. The staff were very engaged and we laughed a lot! 

Lunch: the staff shared a meal with us and we ate outside in the sunshine! 

Afternoon: Ditshego Preschool 

We met the children at the school this afternoon. They sang several songs for us. We got a tour of the school and their classrooms. Some of us portioned out the leftover lunch for the students to take home for dinner. The preschool feeds almost 200 children a day.  

The school feeds 300-400 children a day between the preschool, the plot and after care. There are 4 cooks. Much of this is due to donations and sponsors.  

Whitney and Morgan worked on the mural the school wanted us to paint. They had a lot of help as well as an audience!   

We met a young lady whose name was Amanda. Amanda was the name of Pat and Theresa’s grandmother and it is Whitney middle name.  

There was a lot of burning and smoke in the area. Much smelled like burnt plastic or tires.  Not healthy for anyone.  

Evening  

Our group came back to our lodging and had some rest time to clean up and go to dinner. We had a lovely day and were also very tired. We went to bed early!