1st week - School, Township and Kenton-on-Sea

It's Monday..., we have to get up at 6 o'clock so that we are in school on time - that's exactly the sentence you don't want to say anymore after graduation, but now it's everyday life again just a few months later.

This week was our first day of school and work. The 'Alexandria Christian Academy' is about 1km away from our house and has about 100 students, so the teachers know almost all the students by name and also know their behavior. It is a private school where students do their tasks independently, each at their own pace, and acquire their knowledge through exercise books. We volunteers work as 'Monitors' and, along with the 'Supervisor', the teacher, check the tasks or ask for texts that the students have to memorize.

We were also warmly welcomed but also curious in school, especially the younger students come to you, hug you, and give you a piece of chocolate or sometimes half a peanut. The older students stay a little away from you at first, even though they have many questions, especially about Germany, they wait until you approach them until they really warm up. But once this first step is taken, you can have a good conversation with them and have a relaxed relationship, even though in school we are treated like teachers.

Every Monday, the students have to say the Pledge of Allegiance and sing the school song and the national anthem. The supervisors and monitors meet every day before class to pray. During the week, we only come home at 4 pm and can't do anything anymore because it is already dark at 6 pm.

On Thursday, I had to accompany three seniors to Port Elizabeth University, where they did face-to-face classes and practical assignments in science. While the students enjoy their education in university buildings made of stones, 100 meters away there is one corrugated iron hut next to another. A township, as shown in pictures of South Africa in Germany. People who can afford an expensive education right next to people who can't even afford 4 solid walls, a place where goats roam freely and which stretches for several kilometers along the road and is only separated by a slightly fragile wooden fence. Even if you come to South Africa with the expectation of seeing a big difference between the rich and the poor, you don't expect this. Even if you have read such things about South Africa, if you have dealt with the country a bit, it is different to experience this difference directly, you only start to understand and realize what privileges you have. Even after hearing my stories, my roommates did not react greatly shocked, even though they themselves are in this country and are thus in the midst of this difference between rich and poor. Alexandria also has two townships, but most of the houses have solid walls and many of our students live there and can afford a private school despite everything.

On Friday, we were invited by our mentors to have Vetkoek & Mince in the evening, a fried bun that is filled with minced meat, cheese, and tomatoes.

On Sunday, we went to church for the first time. We go to a Life Church, where a lot of singing takes place and the community is also involved in the service. The song lyrics are displayed on screens while the pastor sings into the microphone at the front, accompanied by background singers, drums, guitar, and bass.

In the church, we also met the school principal for the first time, as she is often on business trips at the moment. She then drove us to Kenton-on-Sea on the same day, where we spent the whole day at the beach, enjoying good weather and also briefly going into the water.