Started the morning by going to the Internet Cafe. Everyone but me went to the TB hospital. I stayed around the coffee shop because I was still feeling the cold. Marnelle came and picked me up in the early afternoon and we picked the rest of the team up to go to the Lungabuya School. The school is within the Mbekweni community and its fenced on a park. The school is very simple with the container thanks to Cargo of Dreams and others who contributed, they have a building to facilitate the education for the kids.
The Lungabuya Education Centre is the first project Cargo of Dreams completed in 2007. Thanks to them and all the other donor participants, these 71 kids have a school to get their education. We play outside with the kids and got to know them a bit. It is winter but today it’s sunny and hot! We go inside for lunch and our team hands out food to the kids. The kids are split into 3 rooms based on grade. I hand out food to the youngest group I think they were under 1st grade but I can’t remember now.
After we watch them all eat what looks like rice and meatballs, it is our turn to eat. Nancy begins by having us all meet in the kitchen and describes how the food is made and what each item is. While we all gather together to in the corner of the room, the teachers lay each kid down for their nap. During the end of our meal, Nancy tells us how to tell if a women is married or not based on the clothes they wear. I don’t remember the details to describe them now unfortunately.
The land used to be a park and there was a shack that was the old school before the containers. Nancy and another person stole the location to build a school for the children. Municipality came and told them they couldn’t use it for a school but they did anyways. The more I hear about the municipality, it seems they are slow and difficult to work with. Then Cargo of Dreams provided them with the container and donated school items inside. A group of people (older kids maybe) came and stole everything. At the time Nancy held school at her sisters home. In October 2008, the school was reopened after adding a roof to the container.
Nancy then took the team across the street to where a shack was located but many people were outside. She wanted to show us how beer is made specifically in this community. Shelves with plants, pictures and a television. Outside the front of the shack were three or four older adults sitting next to each other on a bench, each with a metal can in front of their legs. It was their beer. We go around to the left side of the shack and a group of teenager are hanging out smoking cigarettes and drinking beer. We say hello and keep walking to the back of this shack where another shack is located. The back shack we actually all walk inside. It is just one small room, inside there is a 3 tiered shelf, a recliner and a bed (twin size or so). The ground is carpeted and it is hot because it is just a hot day. I understand more why people are outside as opposed to being inside their homes. A young women comes in to show how the beer is made, a few days before they mixed all the items together. I guess the price is really cheap for the beer that is bad so you can get a large amount at an affordable price. The day after mixing all the ingredients together in a bucket, the entire liquid mixture is boiled together and it sits for another day or two. Today is when they will separate the liquid from the seeds and other particles in the mixture.
They use a giant strainer and place that over the bucket. The mixture is then poured and the lady uses her hand to drain the liquid through the other items. The bucket will have the remaining liquid that is then shared/sold as beer. Cheers!
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