Love is a verb, love is a doing word.

There is so much so say, everyday brings so many new stories to tell, so I'm going to try and condense this into something short but sweet.
So Thursday we all went to a big Soccer game, the Orlando Pirates vs the Kaizer Chiefs. You could see and hear people walking to the game for at least a mile(or a km as they do things here) before we got to the game and when we did it was jam-packed. There was so much noise and so many people; the atmosphere was amazing. I've never been a fan of soccer because of the violence it seems to breed in England so I was a little wary, but any negative feelings were soon dispersed and I really got into it. It was in the New Nelson Mandela Stadium so I am now a part of history and that really is something. What was fantastic to see were the fans of both teams mixed everywhere, hugging and congratulating each other when the other team scored. At the end of the game when the Chiefs won (of course) there was no bad feeling from the other side. Everyone was still really hardcore fans and into the game, but there was an amazing feeling of acceptance and happiness. 
Friday we got to see the projects and although I was in the wrong program I still had a great day. There are some truly inspirational people alive. This one woman, Rasheda had a story that really touched me. She was born and raised a Muslim and also comes from a family of doctors. She was disowned by her parents and 5 siblings when she fell in love with a Christian man as a young girl. She is now 30 years old with 3 children and truly happy with her decision. Her parents both passed away from medical problems, some genetic and they never truly accepted her. Rasheda trained as a nurse for two years to go into the family profession but is currently unemployed. I had to tell the whole group how much I admired them all for joining the project so that they could better themselves and find jobs as secretaries or PA's. There was so much pride in all of the people, people that are living in awful conditions and must feel like it is never-ending. 
We all went out friday night clubbing to relieve some stress and bond a little more and it was pretty wonderful. The next evening we were invited to a Briarr (a traditional South African BBQ) by a local boy Moweto who had taken us on a tour of PE. It was one of the happiest two hours of my life and I will never forget it. The children were all dancing and playing and the adults were all helping prepare the food and chatting. The Briaar was in celebration of Moweto's nephew whose birthday it was. It was crazy to see the little girls dancing like adults and shakin' their booties and then the boys standing outside wearing sunglasses and ski-hats just being incredibly happy whilst we were standing in this tiny house with the walls crumbling and the roof made of corrugated iron. Lulu (Moweto's mother) said to me, "we're poor but we're so happy" and everyone laughed. They lived in what I can only described as a tiny community, a few "houses" with their doors facing each other and a single toilet no bigger than a portaloo. The music was loud and there were about 40 people, made up of neighbours, friends, family and then us volunteers. Everyone was so warm and welcoming and the children were playing with my hair and playing with me and by the end of the night I had a little girl who latched onto me and I carried her on my back until we had to leave-and by that time she had fallen asleep. When we got in the car Nick told us that one of the boys wearing ski-hats had pulled out a big knife to show the other boys and had told him he carried it everywhere. The boy was 13. The whole experience was indescribable.
On sunday we went to Monkey Land and Birds of Eden, about 2 hours drive away and had a really relaxed day, looking at the monkeys and exotic birds and it was gorgeous. In South Africa there is no escape from abuse of some kind though, there was a little "Special Monkey" center, which held monkeys that had had a horriffic life and been mistreated by their owners. There was Tarzan and Jane, who had been fed a diet only of fast food and so were addicted and there was Prince Charming who had a nervous tick and was constantly moving or scratching whenever he saw people. He also had a broken hip from where his owners had beaten him with sticks.
Yesterday was amazing for me because it was the first day at the Back 2 School project and so it was really hands-on with the littler kids. With these children were were told that if you aren't firm with them when you first meet them they won't take you seriously and walk all over you. I learnt this in the first 15 minutes of being there when 2 brothers started misbehaving. Delano (who is 5) was burping and talking and being disruptive when we were listening to a story, so I took him outside and tried to say simply that he was being rude and he needed to say sorry. He carried on burping in my face and I couldn't get through to him. Thankfully Franklin (a project leader) spoke to him and made him apologise and shake my hand, but he kept on doing it. At break-time his brother Delmaine was extremely rude and I told him it was unacceptable. Delmaine understands English quite well, he's a really intelligent little boy but when he grows up all he wants to be is a gangster. Delmaine was climbing up a tree and refused to come down when lessons started again, so I stood outside and he demanded that I take a picture of him in the tree or he wouldn't come down. I told him plainly that I refused to be threatened by him and if he wasn't down by the time I counted to ten then I would tell the other volunteers to not take pictures of him for the whole time of being here. He came down pretty fast then and started talking to me about action movies. It's really hard to get him talking and using manners.The other children were brilliant though and seem really eager to learn as much as they can from us.
Today was really hard for me though, we started with a hygeine check, hair, ears and then the children were each given a toothbrush with their names on for every morning at school. Delmaine was going through the rubbish and found one and he hid it from us. We knew that wasn't his toothbrush so I asked him if we could see it with his name on. He got really defensive until I asked him to see it so he could prove to me that it was his and he hadn't stolen one from another child, which he and his brother do often. He showed me and it was an old mouldy toothbrush, so i said to him, "you're only going to get one toothbrush, Delmaine, you can have the dirty one or you can have a clean new one." I really thought he was beginning to listen to me but then he acted up again and Franklin had to send him out. Instead of taking a time out though, he left to go home. Delano started being violent to the other children and then they started to copy him in the same way he copies his brother. I took him outside the class and we had a stare off. I held out my hand for him to shake and asked him to apologise and he hit me and kicked me. I found this really difficult so took him inside again, but he just carried on doing it. In front of everyone I knelt down with him and told him to say sorry and shake my hand and he hit me again. I held both his arms so he couldn't but he kept kicking me and then started pulling my hair and burping at me. I was so upset and shocked but I stuck at it and everyone was watching him and Jolene explained to him why he couldn't do what he did and asked him to apologise. I let go of him and held out my hand and he hit me again. It was so hard to be so strict on him and he finally said sorry and shook my hand and I had to accept and smile because otherwise he wouldn't learn that people will accept it.
I also had an English lesson with the kids and I taught them about capital letters, before we started a boy who was always well-mannered and quiet, Rudi said to me, "If I do this good can you give me R5?". I had to explain to him why not, but it was so shocking. Later on after the lesson other children were banging on the door begging for left over bread from the lunch that the project provides for the kids. It was so sad but we have to turn them down, and it was comforting to know that the school does give them food anyway. Christelle (14) was washing up as she does everyday when a boy started shouting at her through the door and she opened it to confront him. He started punching and kicking her and I started shouting at him to stop it and told her to go back in the classroom  when he picked up a rock and made like he was going to hit her with it. I have no doubt that he would have hit her with that rock as hard as he could, these kids have no fear. I told him "Don't you dare" and that I would tell the head-teacher and his teacher and he walked away. There were about 30 kids standing outside the classroom and Jolene and Franklin weren't around at the time so I handled it as best I could, but I'm still so shaken up. These are just kids and I can't escape the violence and the hate and anger in their eyes.
I think I'll write again after a better day, but there were a lot of good times today, the girls and Antonio did my hair and we all sang and hugged after school, I'm probably just tired.
 Til' next time!