Bhekuzulu Youth Club Update

So, as of 2009 there has been many changes at Bhekuzulu Self Sufficient Project. Obviously, we moved about a 20 minute walk into the heart of the village. Also, there is even less space at the new center than before (while we wait for the rest of the buildings to be built). So, as a result the Bhekuzulu Youth Club (the club I run) has faced some challenges; 1. the population of kids who come to the center has changed due to the increased walk for many of the children, especially the high schoolers, now that the center is much farther away from the high school. 2. we have only a small room, that in america might fit 20, fitting upwards of 40. Of course, this is a short term problem that will be fixed by April or May.

However, because the kids were already so excited about the projects and are committed to attending the club, we really couldn't just wait until the buildings were finished. So, we are continuing with the afterschool projects. We are currently beading bracelets. Because of the increased time it takes the kids to get here, we are now down from almost 2 hours to 1 hour for each session. Because of the time change, the projects now take many more days to finish. Instead of the weekly project set up we now go for as many weeks as it takes to get the project done before moving on. I think beading (because it is such an intricate and especially time consuming project) will take a full month. We also have had some additions and subtractions to the club because of the location change. Suprisingly enough, mainly due to the commitment of my coworkers and myself, the club actually continues to run rather smoothly. hooray!

Pictures from beading:






Here are some great pictures I took of some of the girls in the club after we finished for the day playing an abbreviated game of netball.