From our intern…

Yesterday was an excellent day with OTSK. I spent the whole day at Beth Uriel, which I think is literally my favorite place to be. I spent the day with a lovely young lady, Emma. She was fulfilling school requirements to spend a certain amount of hours in the community. She chose to spend one day with OTSK. Michelle and I were concerned she might be bored with mostly administrative stuff to do. It turned out to be a wonderfully full day. I had a ton of questions for her and the education system here, which she answered patiently. And she asked me about American schooling as well. Michelle oriented her to what OTSK does and what my role is. Then we got to work. We spent our time in the Beth Uriel office with the amazing program director of the house, Lindsay. Lindsay is truly a powerhouse of order and calm for the boys who live in that home and all the volunteers. She is from America but has been here 7 years as a volunteer from her church. She just had a baby and we spent some quality time playing and admiring him. Then the boys of the house got out of school and the office becomes ground zero for phone calls, computer use, talking to Lindsay, talking to Michelle, interacting with one another, making plans and of course admiring the baby. All of the boys at the home truly adore Lindsay’s son, they all hold him, play with him and show him such love, and it is truly amazing to see. These boys who have been through so much are very capable of showing responsibility and love.

As I have gotten to be more familiar to them, several said hello to me and we chatted about their exams and their day. As my presence continues at Beth Uriel, I am feeling a stronger bond to the community there. Monday night Michelle and I did some other running around. We met with the mentees at Beth Uriel and the adult mentors at Marsh, another one of the homes. The adult mentors were truly a force for good in the world. They had been in these youths’ lives for 3-5 months and are really invested. They are willing to extend themselves far beyond what OTSK is asking of them. Some want to do job searching on their own for their youth or help them network. There was true sincerity in their actions and their conversations.

After both of these busy days there is a lot to do. We are making our lists and doing what we can. I am excited to be a part of something in which I can see the immediate results. I am going to be making more connections with the other children’s homes that OTSK is going to work with during the rest of the summer. We are going to start doing evaluations of mentors and mentees. It is a very exciting time for OTSK.

One of our interns will be contributing to the blog with her experiences as she works with the young men taking part in our program

Today was my first day with Michelle Potter and Off The Street Kids. It was an incredibly full day. Michelle thought I might have jet-leg and offered to let me sleep in, which, somehow miraculously I did not! It has been a glorious gift to just be able to start with my internships and life here right away without two days to recover. Michelle came at noon and greeted me with a hug and such positive energy; it was so lovely to have such a great welcome. From my house she took me to a boys home called Beth Uriel in Salt River. There are 26 boys staying there, most go to school during the day. It was so good to be surrounded by social workers and youth; it made me feel very at home.

I met the director of Beth Uriel (B.U.) her name is Lindsay and another one of the social workers there Marieke. They were hilarious. Boys were in and out checking in with social workers, there was music; there was even a brief dance interlude. Michelle had a noon appointment with one of the youth to drive them to see a family member. As most of you that work with teens and adolescents, the concept of time can be a slippery thing for them. We waited an hour but it was exciting for me to listen to the interactions and meet all the youth coming into the office. I had a toasty (grilled cheese) that Marieke made with sweet chilies. The youth arrived and all of us loaded into Michelle’s car. We then drove to a suburb of Cape Town, Stellenbosch, and a colored community named Klapmuts.

I was so excited to be getting out of the city and into other areas around Cape Town. The view on the way from the city and on the way back was breathtaking. I kept asking Michelle what the name was of this or that mountain. And she would say, that doesn’t have a name; it is not much of a mountain. Really??? What the heck! We barely have hills in Minnesota. It was amazing to see such an urban city surrounded by so much natural beauty. The youth was going to visit his aunt and we were welcomed into her home. I was warned my Michelle before I went in to accept whatever is given to you in someone’s home. His aunt was a lovely, kind woman who poured us some coke light aka diet coke! Michelle and I sat with aunty and talked about how her life is going. We met her granddaughters and great great grandchildren that are also staying in the house. In total there were 8 people staying and sleeping in that home. It was about the size of half a trailer. The concrete, brick structures like auntie’s are considered homes. If the place is made of metal it is a shack. There were lots of children around and dirt roads throughout. We spent quite a bit of time there talking about the youth’s plans for the future and how much family he has in the neighborhood. Eventually Michelle wants the youth to transition to moving back into Klapmuts where his family is. As soon as the young man was around his family, his smile got bigger and his attitude seemed lighter than while he was at B.U. I got a lot of stares from the children at the house, being white with blond hair. I did a lot of listening, as I was a visitor in their home.

They were truly wonderful hosts. We left about an hour later and then headed back into the city. Michelle and I did a lot of discussion about the origin of Off The Street Kids and her personal history that brought her to start the organization. We also discussed what she sees me doing while I am here. What my responsibilities would be while I am here and what she wants me to accomplish. The entire time I was riding in the car with her and throughout my days here I am listening and being present while at the same time thinking about how all of these new experiences, culture, language and living compare to what I know from the U.S.

Michelle wanted to sit and process and talk about future plans so she brought us to the VA waterfront. Now I have read about and heard about the waterfront. It is supposed to be beautiful but very touristy. We arrived and basically walked into a mall very similar to one in America. But we also took a brief walk to the actual waterfront, it was gorgeous but cloudy out so I did not get the full effect.

We sat at a coffee shop called Melissa’s where I had a delicious piece of lemon chiffon cake and some drinks. Michelle has really been getting this organization off the ground and doing the day to day responsibilities all on her own. I am so happy to be here to offer whatever help I can to provide some structure and help relive some of her workload so she can get to more of the executive director responsibilities. She dropped me back off at home and I am very much looking forward to seeing her again on Tuesday.

New language I learned today:

American / South African English

Stoplights = Robots
Trunk of a car = boot
When someone beeps their horn it is usually a nice thing, to say hello or thank you for letting them in. Wow!
Diet Coke = Coke Light
Chips = Crisps
Chewing gum = bubbles gum
Passing a car = overtake
A noise maker/party favor = vuvuzela (they are huge here! For the cup it is basically South Africa’s symbol) They are long, colorful plastic things that make a loud noise. Basically a cooler looking air horn. You will see them on TV at the matches.