Happy 1st Birthday Bhekuzulu Youth Club

Today was the party celebrating 1 year of the youth club. We went all out, getting 4 cakes, individual pops for everyone, candy, and chips. So basically we were just hyping them up on sugar and then sending them home to their families. Again, I was impressed by the children’s thankfulness. After the party about 10 kids pulled me outside and as a group yelled “thank you for everything you have done for us” when I came around the corner. It is a little embarrassing that they think that I am paying for all of this. However, Nozipho reminds me that if it weren’t for me this wouldn’t be happening. Whatever I guess. Today I finally got all of the club stuff out of my house and into our beautiful and shiny new LOCKABLE cabinet. This really gives me peace of mind because we have had some trouble with theft of our supplies. My supervisor says that people just steal so they can own something, not to actually use it (I mean who actually needs thin paint brushes at thief homes?) I must clarify—the stuff wasn’t being stolen out of my home, just if there was any supplies at the centre (and there was because we hadn’t moved into the new room yet). Anyways, I am starting up on that mural again tomorrow. 2 more days of work before I leave for Johannesburg to start my long journey home.

Pictures of the party below:

He actually asked me to take a picture of him doing this--he posed. He was pretty excited about the party, to say the least.

These are some of my high school girls in the club. They are wonderful, and also occasionally uncomfortably obsessed with me.

This is the group of the kids who surprised me after the party, who started screaming whilest I took this shot.

This is the current Youth Club. They are wearing the t-shirts they have been making the last 2 weeks (I am too, but you can't really tell). They are estatic that they can actually take them home with them. The women in the picture are my coworkers who manage the club with me--Mama Mpembe, Thuli, Lindiwe, and Zodwa.

Also, a side note: the construction vehicles that are in the background are from are Municipality and they are building a road next to our centre so all types of cars can reach us. They work about an average of 3 hours every day. Also for about 2 weeks the machines were "broken" even though they never fixed them and then just came back after two weeks and started using them again. haha.

Hooray!