Jabulani Project

Gap Year Students


Group 1: Isaac, Emma, Fiona


Today was the first day of our new work. We visited the creche opposite Maskey that the other group worked at last week. We had our first proper Khumbi ride out to Umlazi. Waldo put us on the first Khumbi to workshop. After a while wandering around workshop we met Sifiso and he took us to the taxi rank to get the Umlazi khumbi. The khumbi's were busy but not as complicated as they looked and we managed to get off in the right place.

When we arrived, we were amazed by the amount of children there and the reception we got from them. They were all very excited to see us but they seemed quite shy too. They crowded around us, all keen to be picked up and played with. It was lunchtime when we arrived so the children were quickly ushered inside and sat down at tables. We helped to serve the food that the creche provided, as well as handing out the sandwiches that we had brought. Fiona handed out the bowls of food, Isaac and Sifiso handed out the sandwiches while Emma ran around behind with lot's of spoons. The children loved hi 5s and were absolutely fascinated by Isaac's hair;  a large group of them surrounded him, ruffling his hair and trying to pile on top of him.

Before we left we took a brief visit to Maskay to look around the place. There we met the mother of our friend Emmanuel and saw the paintings on the wall courtesy of Alex and the Cathro family from their Mandela Day community service.

We then took the khumbi back to the city, bid goodbye to our friend Sifiso and are now preparing for our drama session at Umthombo tomorrow.


Group 2: Edee, Anna, Charis, Caragh, Caitlin


This week we started work at Place of Safety, an orphanage situated out in Umlazi. It is government funded and for girls and boys of all race and religion. We arrived not knowing what we were expected to do and immediately were put to work working with babies aged one day to nine months, a toddler section and a creche. As the staff were being trained I (Edee) had to single handedly look after 12 children in the creche, where only 1 boy spoke English. After 20 minutes I had definitely gone mad. So when the time came for the kids to go back to their houses I was so exhausted to say the least. But to make myself feel a little better I visited house 3 which is for babies aged 1 day to 9 months. The most heart melting possums were lying in the cribs and we got to feed and play with them. I started to like children again. Although it was nice to play with all the kids there it was difficult to not think about the fact that they didn't have anyone who could look after them. It is a definite roller-coast of emotion whilst being there.

Whilst Edee was having a hectic day alone, the rest of us were working in pairs around the centre. To begin with I (Anna) started in a room at 7.30, with kids aged from 10 months to 5 years. It was fairly crazy to start, as the children were excited to see a new face. However after the older children had gone to creche, I was left with three young toddlers. Me and Caitlin joined rooms, as there were only 8 toddlers too young to go to creche, and spent the afternoon feeding, changing and playing with the kids. I especially bonded with one young girl who always wanted contact, be that playing with her or her just sitting on your lap until she slept. At 1 all the children went to sleep, so we joined Charis and Caragh in the baby room to help change and feed the babies. It was a incredible and very moving day. It was hard to comprehend the fact that week old babies had been brought to the centre, but fantastic to see the great work the staff were doing.