After our visit to the animal park and a nice lunch, we flew to Durban and drove to Umkomaas to see our hosts and the TLP kids. As with a year ago, we were greeted with tons of hugs and great enthusiasm. The best way to give a feel for what we experience is in pictures.
A bit about the Transkei Life Project (TLP). TLP was started about 3 years ago by Schaun and Akosia (Kosi) Colin. They had a heart for the children that lived in the shanty towns. The program is after school for 2 hours. The kids range in age from 6 to 18 and are all living in poverty. They focus on self worth, leadership, academics, and English skills, all done in the context of Christianity. It is free and voluntary. See the TLP website linked to above for more details.
Left: As we walked down the step we were greeted by the kids, many of them dressed in traditional clothes. We got a hug and a big smile from every single child. Right: They had prepared a welcome poster for each of us and put them on the walls of the room where they meet. My poster was done by the three girls in the picture. They came and found me and took me over to see it and were quite happy to have their picture taken.
Left: We were greeted by Zoleka. Zoleka is 15 years old and in 9th grade. She is outgoing, poised, smart, and a natural leader. And, we have no doubt that she will make those dreams happen. I wonder what would have happened to her without the influence of Schaun and Kosi. Right: Jonah sang “You Raise Me Up” by Secret Garden and made famous by Josh Groban. Jonah is of Indian descent but has grown up in SA. He is also outgoing, smart, poised, and a natural leader.
Left: The girls had face paint on and they painted the faces or the woman on the team. Right: Soya is Kosi’s four year old niece. She was pretty shy around us at first, but after a day she was like part of our big family.
Left: A group of the girls performed some traditional dances (6 dancers and a drummer (using a plastic trash bin). They had conceived and practiced this at home and it was the first time that Schaun and Kosi had seen it. It was quite amazing and the team and the other kids loved it. Right: Three of the boys did rap song for us. Great stuff.
There was more entertainment. A group of them performed a skit (without words) that depicted the temptations of the world with a Jesus figure saving the main character from succumbing to those temptations. When I have more time, I’ll try to post a video snippet from that. The entire group did a dance to a song (essentially a line dance). As it turns out, we will use that song when we get to the end of the week.
The afternoon ended with a BBQ. Here are the kids gathered around the BBQ enjoying Schaun grilling the burgers.
It was a great afternoon. We were grateful to get to our abode and go to bed.