South Africa

South Africa

This month I was in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.  Port Elizabeth is one of the largest cities in South Africa and is on the Indian Ocean.  The city is most often called PE and has been nicknamed “The Friendly City” or “The Windy City”. 

What did I do this month?

I volunteered at a school named The Human Dignity Center in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.  It is a school for students 3 years old to 3^rd grade.  Many of the students do not have the money to go to school, so an organization opened this school near their homes to help.  They live in an area of Port Elizabeth called Walmer Township.  Townships are underdeveloped urban living areas built on the edge of towns and cities.

I tutored and worked with Grade 3 students.  We did a lot of the same things you all do in school.  Something amazing is that most of them already know 3 languages: isiXhosa, Afrikaans, and English.  isiXhosa is their first language and has three different click sounds that are used in the words.  (Mrs. Miles I hope that you might try and find a video of someone speaking isiXhosa.  My internet is not working well enough to upload videos.)

I really enjoyed getting to work with these students and it made me miss you all!

 Money

Here the currency is called rand (ZAR).  Right now the exchange rate is 10 ZAR = $1.00.  So let’s see if you can figure out how much each of these items are in USD.

Kit Kat Candy – R5.00

Toothbrush – R56.99

Box of Cereal – R33.99

Loaf of bread – R9.19

Bus Ride from Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg – R530.00

 Also…

I got to see many different animals…stay tuned for another blog about my safari through Kruger National Park.  However, I wanted to make sure I showed you these pictures first…I got to pet an albino lion and albino Bengal tiger.

Heading to Swaziland on March 3rd.  I will be staying in Mbabane at El Shaddai Orphanage. I hope all of you are doing well and can't wait to be able to share more with you.