This week has been filled with lots of fun adventures like township tours and exploring the mother city, Cape Town. For our service this week though, we have been working in an orphanage, which has been such a rewarding experience. The ACE team broke into two groups to divide and conquer a couple of tasks which needed to be finished. The first was to paint a room in the orphanage, and the other was to build a market stand which the owner of the orphanage Mama Lumka would be able to sell her excess clothing for the kids and vegetables from the garden.
The stand was made of PVC pipe and from absolute scratch. The market stand group took three days to finish two stands and it was a much more difficult task than any of us expected! The most rewarding part of all the the hard work was when Mama and her husband got their first look at the finished stand. To see them light up in excitement and express their appreciation, it made the group feel like all of our efforts will have a long lasting positive effect on both Mama and all involved in the orphanage.
While one group worked on the market stand, the rest of us designed and painted a mural for one of the children’s rooms. We decided on an underwater theme, and drew lots of fun sea animals on the walls. The whole process took a couple days. We had to relocate furniture, mix colors, draw and paint creatures, and create a background. It was really cool to see how everyone worked together and took responsibility for a certain task or design. At the end of three days, we had a colorful and fun under the sea room! It was very rewarding to look around and know that for years to come our work would brighten the room for many children.
Next week, we’re tasked with organizing and teaching a sports program to local kids. We’ve been brainstorming as a group, and are excited to put our athletic backgrounds to use!