Day of the big gala event.

Sitting at the patio office again. It is raining like tigers-and-wolves out here. The thunder is unbelievable. We sit on a hilltop over an immense valley so it is, well, thunderous! Car alarms going off everywhere.

I have been trying to post one of our girl's videos, but it has now been six hours of trying, and I'm giving up. I'll try again tomorrow morning.

The girls were rambunctious yesterday. A good sign that they trust us. Andy was in the room teaching and I was filming the last ten girls. By mid-day, he needed me to come in as a new authority figure. So, I took the best-practices from my first-grade-teacher mom, Marian, and we calmed them down to focus. They did great. I don’t mind being bad-cop because Andy is such a wonderful good cop.

We had our friend Claudia speak to the girls today. We met her with the Bishop last week in Botswana. She grew up in apartheid South Africa. As a black woman, she had everything against her. She is now a high-powered attorney helping underserved people in Joburg get housing. The girls were enraptured. When she left, in her new shiny Mercedes coup, they MOBBED her with their cameras. They actually screamed when she pulled up and surrounded her car with flashbulbs going off everywhere. It really looked like paparazzi.

We RUSHED out of the room because we had one hour to shower, iron, and be on the big bus to the Hyatt for the gala opening. Several education leaders from across Africa there were to hear about Sara and the Pearson Foundation Digital Arts programs.

Mary-Clare opened the evening, then Fatima spoke, then we ate. I spoke about our work in the States and our world-wide literacy and digital arts programs. I think it went really well. We all had on our new African outfits (thanks Mary-Clare!). Sandra looked amazing. See Shutterfly.

Sandra leads the discussion with the adults at a symposium on girls in Africa this morning with the MML team. Gabriel, Jaime, and I are off to the SOS orphanage, about an hour away, this morning to see where the girls live. Then, back to the students for more Premiere training. They really are making some powerful films.

(Later in the day..)

Gabriel, Jaime, and I went with Martin to the SOS Orphanage in Errendale, about an hour from the hotel. This is where several of our girls live. I can’t believe that they make that trek two times a day, just to do our program. We passed SoWeTo, where we’ll go Friday night to hang out. This is the birthplace of the anti-apartheid movement. Along the route today, we saw miles and miles of shanty-towns. These are cramped compounds of shacks made from all manner of detritus. There were emaciated dogs everywhere, children running in the mud, and mothers frantic to bring in their laundry in from the roofs as we’ve just had the first rain in many months. The place is covered in smoke as people are forced to cook their meals on the ground on open fires. With this incredible thunder and downpour, the conditions are just deplorable.
We got to the orphanage and met the deputy director. Then we filmed me walking with her and talking about how kids end up there. Turns out that all these kids are there because their parents have terminal illnesses, or are dead. That was very interesting because some of the girls had told us that they didn’t know how they got there. So, it must be a coping mechanism…not admitting that they their parents are dead.
We walked into one of our student’s “homes”. She showed us around and we filmed her describing her situation. It really is quite a good situation. When they arrive at the orphanage on day one, they go through an intake process then head off to a house. There is a house-mother and several house-sisters and brothers to meet. They become a de-facto family. Girls (4 or 5 in quantity) in one room, boys in the other. They have a dining room table and it feels good. Our first girl, Thabisila, and her sister live in the same room with other girls. We filmed them showing each other the pictures taken on the day of their arrival.

We visited two other houses then met the director. He’s a great man and stated over and over how communities need to start taking over the care of abandoned and orphaned children because the system in place can’t take the load.

We visited the intake center and met with the woman responsible for this process. She said that it is so tough to see grandparents bring in children and then leave. Often, the kids watch as their last connection to family walks out the door, leaving them wondering about their new surroundings. It is emotionally heart-breaking for everyone.

We left Gabriel there to film. He was then going to ride the bus with the girls to the digital arts program so that he could film them on the ride in. Jaime and I got in the car with Martin and had JUST enough time to get back before the other girls arrived at the school where we’re holding our program. About 15 minutes into our ride back, Gabriel called to tell us that the bus had left without him. We went back. No good having our videographer stuck out in the middle of nowhere. Lucky thing, though. When we arrived, I motioned to Gabriel and he came running. He had just shot 20 minutes of a grandmother dropping off her grandson. We watched the footage in the car on the way home and it tore my heart apart. The grandmother was hysterical, and the boy was confused, scared, and clearly worried. His parents must have died (or were dying, most likely of AIDS or TB), and the grandmother probably had 10 other kids at home already. I almost couldn’t watch it.

We got back and started the day with the girls. They are clearly tired. Many of them don’t get enough calories every day, so by Thursday, their energy was low.
Fatima, Mary-Clare, and Sandra were with the delegates from several African nations this morning, coming up with a plan to elevate girls in education and ameliorate the adverse social problems they face by 2015. What a task! And this plan is informed by the Sara program and our digital arts program. It was amazing.

At 2:00 the adults came into our room and the students trained them how to use Premiere. It was a beautiful and uplifting thing to watch. The girls had learned SO much and the adults were aghast. The ministers of education from all across Africa are going home to tell their governments of the good work at Maskew Miller Longman and the Pearson Foundation, from one afternoon watching girls work on computers and making their own movies. It doesn’t get better than this!

I have some photos from yesterday to put up on Shutterfly, so look for them in an hour. I’ll post the photos of the orphanage we took today on the blog tomorrow. We are all exhausted beyond belief. We start with the girls at 7:30am tomorrow and go until 5:00pm. We’ll have an important film festival tomorrow afternoon where many local officials and some press will be on hand to watch the girls present their films.

Right now, Sandra is working with the delegates on a very hefty plan for the future of education in Southern Africa. Jaime and I are emailing and blogging, and Andy and Gabriel have gone off in this horrendous storm to another of our orphanages. This orphanage, Kids’ Haven, doesn’t get the funding that SOS does, so I’m betting Andy and Gabriel are in for a hard afternoon.

Sitting here again on the patio at the end of the day freezing my nose off. There is tremendous thunder and the rain is relentless. Doesn’t matter. Tomorrow, 30 girls who have been through the toughest of times will show off their movies.

More tomorrow night (24 hours) after we end this week’s program, get ready to start in Tanzania on Monday, and pack up.
E

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8QcNGrJw5ctAS