A Year in South Africa: The Enrichment Centre

This week has been a tough one. I've had to adjust my working techniques for the children in the Enrichment Centre because they're so different from the mainstream classes. It's almost been like starting at the beginning again - trying to find out the most effective ways to communicate and interact with these children who suffer from a range of disabilities.

I was placed with the Junior class, which is regarded as the most challenging class in the whole school. After just one week I can confirm that statement to be beyond true... The kids in the class are mostly autistic and two of the boys suffer from it quite severely. They have been given the name 'runners' because they constantly try and escape the classroom and it's quite a workout trying to catch them!

But what's interesting about working with these children is that you slowly begin to recognise their characteristics. Most of the children are non verbal but you gradually notice their small signals to tell you what they want. I've decided to list the children in the Junior class (using initials) with a little bit more information about them individually. That will then hopefully give you a better idea of the classroom environment.

K.M - By far the most challenging child in the class and suffers from severe autism. He has a tendency to bite and scratch extremely hard to get attention (I have the bite marks to prove it!) Also a very sweet boy who responds very well to music and dancing. He will constantly try and escape the classroom, so your rugby player mode has to be engaged at all times.
T.C - Also autistic. He loves water and it's very hard to get him away from the water tray at break time without getting absolutely soaked. If he starts to get agitated in class he will jump up and down and press your hand firmly against his chin. Apparently some children with autism respond well to firm pressure - explaining Khumo's love for biting.
O.P - Autistic but very socially capable. He only started talking two years ago but since then has developed an amazing vocabulary and is by far the most talkative in the class.
T.A- Nobody is certain what she suffers from but she is extremely small for her age, is non verbal and can't walk. She responds very well to music and will rock backwards and forwards to the music while making loud noises. Because she is unable to look after herself you have to feed her, change her nappies and protect her from the more wild children in the class.
H.R - Suffers from mild autism. He is actually included in some of the mainstream classes throughout the week to improve his social skills. Loves food. We made small cheesecakes on Wednesday during cooking and I've never seen a happier child.
H.D - Also autistic and non verbal. She has a massive crush on O.P which is very funny to observe. During class time she will slowly walk over to him and just stand their smiling. O.P gets very embarrassed and uncomfortable so he runs away which results in a game of 'catch' round the classroom.
E.M - Suffers from autism but is also auditory defensive which means he hates low, loud sounds. If an aeroplane flies over the school he will cover his ears and start screaming so you have to try and calm him down.

So as you can imagine it's been a very tiring week. But it has also been extremely enjoyable and very interesting. Working in the Enrichment Centre is so different to working in the mainstream school, but I can foresee that over the next few months I will begin to understand each child individually. For me, it's going to be extremely rewarding being able to help them improve speech, mobility or behaviour and seeing how they develop over the next year.

Besides work in the Enrichment Centre a lot has been going on... The Grade 00 have their concert on Tuesday which is going to be amazing. The boys do a dance number to the song 'Grease Lightning' and the girls dance to 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'. It's very difficult trying to control dozens of five year olds who want to be included in every song, but luckily that's not my problem - I'm working the stage lights. Zoe and I have also volunteered to paint the bookcases in the library during our spare time. We're thinking of painting a dragon along the longer bookcase and a woodland scene on the larger one. I think it'll be a nice, relaxing project to do on a Friday afternoon.

We also, somehow, managed to obtain weekend jobs while buying some frozen yoghurt at the shopping mall. The lady at the counter offered us a job with flexible working hours and we thought it would be a good way of earning some extra travelling money. So we may work there on Saturdays and some days during the holidays. Alongside this, Doug (our hostel manager) has asked us to supervise the 5am swimming training on some mornings... We responded with "Yes, of course" but then proceeded to go to our rooms and weep.

After all this work we decided to do something nice at the weekend, so on Saturday we visited the Springtime Festival in Polokwane with one of the teachers, Jenny. It was a lovely experience being able to immerse yourself in the South African culture and we saw some beautiful works of art and jewellery. We also visited the Debegeni Waterfalls which were absolutely breath-taking and would be a great place to visit on really hot days. Driving out of the car park we almost ran over a snake which turned out to be one of the most poisonous tree snakes in South Africa. Jenny told us that if it bit you, you'd have 24 hours to live. We kept our distance...

Next week is our last week before the holiday and our travelling plans are finally coming together. The volunteers in Swaziland have offered free accommodation so we'll visit them for about five days. After that we plan to travel on to Mozambique for a couple of days where we might try out the reef diving. Overall it looks like it's going to be a thoroughly enjoyable time and I can't wait to start packing!

I am aware that this has been a very long post, but I want to leave you with one last thing. Tayo one of the Grade 00 boys came up to me in aftercare and incorporated a very funny joke into our conversation. I was amazed that such a small child could be so witty. Our conversation went like this:

"Hi Tayo!"

"Hello Miss Anna"

"How's the concert practice going? Do you know what you're wearing yet?"

"Miss Anna, I tried looking for some camouflage trousers... but I couldn't find any."

He then laughed at his joke for the next ten minutes.