Call me Miss Meggie

For various reasons and after a lot of extensive soul searching I came to the difficult, yet necessary decision that I would no longer be working at the Community Center. The decision was something that I had been struggling with making for quite some time now. It took me eight months of being more unhappy than happy to realize that I needed to make a change. It is something that I now realize should have happened long ago. It’s a frustrating feeling to be upset every time you leave work. It’s bothersome to feel underutilized and under appreciated– feelings that made me anxious going to work each Monday and made me a much more negative community member then I readily like to admit

I realized that I had just under three months left in South Africa and that although being a volunteer is 95% about putting others needs before your own, there are certain times where if you don’t look out for yourself you are actually doing everyone as a whole a big disservice.

I had heard of StreetWise through Fr. Tony who came from PA with a group of High School boys a few months ago. One Monday morning I found the number online, called Sr. Helena a kind older woman from Ireland. She invited me to come meet her and the boys and the rest is history.

StreetWise is a facility about 25 minutes from my house. Their outreach team travels through the streets of Durban and meet with boys living on the street. After extensive conversations with them about what brought them to the street and what their goals for the future are they offer the boys a place to stay off the street. They provide love, food and shelter to about 40 boys. They educate them on the premise, give them counseling and eventually place them into traditional school settings.

I was originally going to help out in the classroom as a teacher’s aide two days a week, but the teacher Leko liked how I was interacting with the children as asked me if I would be willing to do more work. I now have an hour in the mornings where I do an English comprehension lesson. And then I, along with three German volunteers run an hour of 'study time' creating math worksheets and helping the children answer and process the questions. In the afternoons we’ve been doing life skills projects: baking lessons, team building games, sports activities, music etc.

My days at StreetWise have already proved to be long, and challenging. Teaching is no easy feat especially when the age range is from 7-18 and the education levels range from never being in school, little to no understanding of the English language, not being able to read or write to the complete other end of the spectrum –some boys have gone to school before, some are fluent in English, some are so smart they are bored!

I've already learned that in the classroom Nice Meg needs to take a backseat and Miss Meggie needs to be a bit more firm. I've learned that if I bump rap coming to and from work and during break if I talk about hip hop music and rappers or showcase my terrible soccer skillzz I win over hearts. I've learned that a one inch pencil is better then no pencil at all and that a hen sitting on a nest of eggs in the classroom is not only commonplace, but provides comic relief. I've learned that regardless of how many times I say my name is Meg or Meghan that everyone - children, teachers, nuns alike will call me Miss Meggie (spelled Maggie or Miggie).

Thank God for my roommates who have been teaching all year and who have let me borrow supplies, books and ideas and for my dear Mother from whom I learned the art of loving children and patience in the classroom.