Working with high schoolers...I LUV IT!

This evening I was reminded of how blessed I am to be here in SA serving high schoolers. Tonight was the annual variety show at York High. Ozzy and I decided earlier in the week to attend the show after finding out that quite a few of our peer educators are performing. It was an awesome night of singing, dancing, rapping, and playing instruments.

I am so proud of the kids!!! Phumi, one of our senior peer educators amazed us with her gorgeous voice. Wow, she looked SO beautiful and I couldn’t believe how amazing she sounded. We didn’t even know she could sing! And Danny and Sihle, well they were part of two fantastic hip hop dances. Rock on girls!!! Troy blew us away on the piano…Ziaad dazzled us with his acting and humor….turns out that Tamryn can play the guitar-and sing!....the list goes on and on.

And the rest of our peer educators were in the crowd cheering everyone on. There was so much energy and excitement tonight…IT’S CONTAGIOUS! So many smiles…hugs…laughs.

YES…I get to work with high schoolers…and I LOVE it.

Next….we’re getting excited for the Matric Farewell (Senior Prom). Good times!

Post World Cup Greetings!!

The World Cup games have come to an end and so have our series of week long Holiday Kids Clubs! As many of you know, during the World Cup all the school kids in South Africa were on holiday so we decided to take advantage of this perfect opportunity to connect with youth and give back to our community.

Well, I must thank you all for your thoughts and prayers….the World Cup holiday clubs were a huge success!-meaning that the kids had fun, the staff/volunteers had fun (not AS important…but certainly a bonus!), and everyone involved was safe during the month and a half World Cup.
If you get a chance…check out this article http://worldsoccerjourneys.com/features/church-counters-child-trafficking/church-counters-child-trafficking/#story, it’s a story written about the club we ran in the Ballotsview community. You can also check out some really cool pictures and other articles highlighting the awesome things that were going on during the World Cup…in addition to soccer :).
Here’s how the Youth for Christ Holiday Clubs were run…Each morning, the kids attending would gather for breakfast then move into their groups to sing songs and enjoy team spirit time. On the first day, each team chose their team name and came up with a war cry. The teams were divided by age groups starting with grade 2 all the way up through grade 7. In total, we had +/- 100 kids consistently attending the clubs each week. We had teams like Brilliant Brazil, Amazing Argentina based on the World Cup soccer teams. The kids also had an opportunity to come up with names for themselves. For example, my name was Crazy Caitlin and I worked with Luny Lucian and Lovely Lelethu. It was fun! So to get a team’s attention, we would call out “AMAZING”…and then kids would yell back “ARGENTINA!!!!!”-They really got into it! To add to the fun….and cuteness, all the kids wore bright colored bandanas to identify which team they were on.
During the club in Blanco, we went through the story of Joseph from the Bible and each day the kids had a picture that went along with the story to color in and ask questions about. The take home message was, the Lord has a very special plan for your life! and You are special!
What I learned by the end of all these clubs is that more than anything, these kids yearn for individual attention and to be loved. It means the world to them if you just stop what you’re doing to bend down and give them a hug. The evidence is in their smiles. So whether it was encouraging them as they colored, singing along with them to Father Abraham, hugging them over and over again, letting them play with your hair, jumping rope, playing games, sharing a meal, or reading the story of Joseph and his brothers together…the opportunities to reach these kids were endless.
I also saw huge growth in our youth volunteers. Two high school Peer Educators in particular stood out among the rest. We only asked for our Peer Educators to dedicate one week of their holiday to working at these clubs but later I came to find out that Lucian and Lelethu helped out at these clubs during the entirety of their holiday. Wow!
I worked with these two for the first time way back during the Easter Holiday Club in Blanco. Their dedication and gift to connect with the kids knocked my socks off and after seeing their hard work at one of the first World Cup Holiday Clubs I decided to ask them to MC the club I was running. They agreed…and they did an amazing job! Here’s a great picture of them in their MC gear getting ready for the day.
I am so proud of all the Peer Education volunteers who took at least a week out of their holiday to give back to their community. My prayer is that the relationships formed between the volunteers and kids will not end with the World Cup but continue on to the next club…and the next…and the next.