First few days in Memel!

Hello, all!  After a total of 30 hours of driving, waiting, and flying from door to door, I made it to South Africa!  We got picked up by Steven at the airport in Johannesburg at around 8, then made the three hour drive to Memel, a small rural town in the Free State province.  Between the darkness, fog, and my adrenaline finally skidding to a halt and allowing me to sleep, I had not a clue what I would see when I woke up in the morning and went outside.  It’s pretty overcast—I guess it’s been non-stop rain here recently—but still just beautiful.  Huge sky like out West, very lush and green, lots of vegetation.  The house seems great.  Hannah (the other soccer volunteer) and I share a room, and we share the house with three grad students from SIT who are doing a teaching internship at Memel Primary, as well as a couple from Zimbabwe who do work for Steven and Cindy (the people in charge of us). 

Today (Jan 18) was our first day of soccer with the girls!  Hannah and I are running an after school soccer clinic for grades K-7.  The program is called ShewinS (Sports Helping Empower Women in South Africa) and is designed to give the girls something structured to do after school, as well as develop their self-confidence and leadership skills.  This is the third year Cindy has run the program and it sounds like it has been extremely well-received.  Apparently female enrollment at Memel Primary has gone up drastically in the last couple of years because girls in the area want to come to Memel to play soccer.  This year there are more girls than boys at the school—a first!

Thanks to the great success of the program and its past volunteers, we were greeted like absolute celebrities when we went to the school assembly to be introduced this morning.  After introductions and going over the schedule, the teacher dismissed one class at a time so that they could each come over and say hi to Hannah and me before leaving.  I have never gotten so many smiles and hugs from strangers.  They could not be cuter, friendlier, or more excited to get started! 

In the afternoon we had our first two sessions—first with grade 2, then with grade 6.  Both went really well!  We also had PERFECT weather today.  It was mid-seventies and very sunny... I've got a pretty severe farmer's tan (burn) already.  The hardest part about coaching is probably going to be just figuring out/remembering their names.   Zulu is their first language and most of the sounds that make up their long names are completely unfamiliar.     

I'll try to upload some photos if my slow internet connection allows it.  More soon!