MATSULU – A group of
11 volunteers from different parts of the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia spent two months doing charity work in schools around the area.
The group comprises students and graduates in business, medicine, psychology and chemistry of various universities in China, Belgium, Italy and the UK.
They are all in the country to execute duties of their non-profit organisation, the Tenteleni Charity Organisation in South and East Africa. They arrived in the country on July 18 and have been in the Lowveld since July 21. They will leave on September 16. Their daily services include helping teachers and learners.
“We work as assistant educators and conduct extra-curriculum activities, such as forming homework clubs where we help the learners with their schoolwork. We also teach them a lot of sporting activities at our sports clubs,” explained Georgia O’Connor and Edd Webster, the coordinators.
The students also volunteer their services to other community projects including Adult Basic Education and Training (Abet) and disabled centres every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. They also help teach on basic computer skills to unemployed youth at the Young Minds Centre.
“We teach young people business skills and how to write proper CVs,” she said.
They told Mpumalanga News that they were excited about their stay in Matsulu mostly because the locals welcomed them warmly and helped them feel part of the community.
“We also realised that you cannot trust all the negative things we always read about in the media about Africa, the reality is that the people are happy, generous and welcoming and we will always remember that,” said O’Connor.
Ms Chloe Angris added that they had even learnt a little bit of siSwati and experienced hardships faced by the locals on a daily basis, especially the usage of very little water due to the fact that the area, like many other areas in the Nsikazi region, runs out of water during the day.
“Sometimes we don’t have water and we have to learn to bath with very little water. Otherwise everything is good and I have learnt that we need to appreciate what we have at home and locals need to appreciate what they have as well. The school kids are so enthusiastic to learn and I love them a lot,” added Angris.
The volunteers also witnessed the celebrations of Mthayiza’s Day which was held on the dusty roads and in the thorny bushes of Kudu Farm on August 17 where they were impressed to learn about the history of the Khumalo Clan and entertained with lots of traditional dancing. They also feasted on traditional meal including umnqushu (samp and beans) bush meat and other delicacies at the Royal Kraal.
