First day at Welcome

Today we finally visited our partnered primary school Welcome in Heideveld. We arrived at around 9 am and were greeted by the Headteacher Mr Jacobs. We were then escorted to the play ground where the school were having an assembly for our arrival. It was a very emotional entrance as the 2 year wait to meet them was finally here. They welcomed us into their school with a prayer, a poem, some dances (Waka Waka and a Scottish dance) and we presented them with a computer and sporting equipment that Balwearie have donated through fundraising such as the 'Welcome Walk' and various non-uniform days. 

After the assembly we sat in the staff room with refreshments and snacks and were assigned classes to attend for the morning. We attended a grade 5 class and they were all so welcoming and excited to have us there. We began with introducing ourselves and giving them a background on the differences between Scottish schooling and the schooling in Africa. We then went on to do some maths with them (mental maths and whole numbers) and then went to the playing field to play some football and we taught them some playground games. The children certainly loved a game of stuck in the mud! 

After the interval bell rang we went back to the staff room and were served more food for lunch! We had snook and chips (which was better than chippy fish) and then went to classes in the afternoon. We decided to go back to the same class as we felt we still had a lot to tell them about the Scottish culture! 

At the end of the day we had to say our goodbyes and as emotional as it was, we realised we would be seeing the children again tomorrow. 


Eilidh and Makayla 

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