The Kids of Bap
written November 14, 2007
I’ve lost all track of time (as should always happen on vacation), but…I think I’ve been volunteering at Baphumelele (Bap) for about a month now. Seems like about a month. Our daily schedule at Bap never changes, so the days can be a bit monotonous. But the kids never are.
I finally know them all by name, which seemed an impossible task at first. Picture a room with three dozen babies and toddlers, most of them from the same African ethnic group. They all share clothes across genders, with boys in frilly pink pants sometimes. All of them have the same short hairdo, and none of them speak much English. Now tell me who is Simnikiwe, Endinako, Ensikilelo, Boniswa, Thembani, Nokathula, Zolela, Sibase, Baphiwe, Sibaunathi, Asemale, Unathi, Sinazo, etc...
To break up the monotony and to help the children learn new things, we usually come up with one new activity a day. Pictured below are snapshots from the day we did face painting. The older kids loved it; the younger ones couldn’t have cared less.
We've all have taken loads of photos so far. Here are some of Henriet's best shots:
We are told at our volunteer orientation that we are not to have favorites. Yeah, okay, sure thing. Here are some of mine:
Leema (lee-emma) is really shy and has the cutest little voice I’ve ever heard. I’ve given up trying to coax her to speak, and now accept with gratitude any little utterance she chooses to bestow upon me. I don’t actually spend much time with Leema lately though because, well, she kind of stinks. She has some sort of ear infection or something, and I am not embarrassed to admit that my repulsion over the foul smell exceeds my warm feelings towards her, so lately I’ve been keeping my distance. I try several times a day to stand the stench, but I rarely last more than a few minutes. Until the pus (often visibly oozing from her ear, ooooooooh!) is gone, I’m gonna just like Leema from a distance.
Also pictured is Luthando (luh-ton-doe). His was one of the first names I learned because Luthando is quite Rotundo (get it, it rhymes, he he). Luthando is absolutely, comically obsessed with food. If any of the kids have even the smallest morsel of food, Luthando will be nearby, trying to work a deal, make a new best friend, or, when all else fails, grab a bit and throw it down his throat before it can be retrieved by one of the adults. Perhaps it’s because I empathize with Luthando’s love of food, but I find these interactions quite hilarious. (Volunteers are not supposed to discipline the kids…in case I am sounding negligent here). Most of all I love Luthando for his crazy facial expressions. I’m betting I still haven’t seen them all. The other day, Luthando bit the back of my leg after I pulled him off the couch, but my frustration immediately evaporated when I saw the HILARIOUS expression he came up with to save his hide. I’m not worried about Luthando. He’s gonna make it.
I also REALLY like Sibusiso (see-boo-see-sue). He’s the one brushing his teeth in the photos above. He can be a little turd—hitting, grabbing toys, running amok—but he’s a funny little turd and I like the sound of his laugh when I tickle him. I’ve tried to take a good picture of him, but he always ends up looking like an angry middle aged man, so I’ll just have to try to remember his cuteness.
Likhona (lick-hone-ah) is another favorite. He’s at the far bottom left in the large photo collage. When Likhona’s happy, he’s unbeatable. Just looking at him makes me smile. I am convinced that Likhona, unlike other human beings, is actually 99.8% water because when he cries (which, I will admit, is annoyingly often), water pours out in copious amounts. We are talking huge puddles, from his eyes and his mouth. (He’s got a really big mouth, and I don’t think he’s quite got a handle on the swallow-the-slobber bit.) When he’s not crying, Likhona’s pretty great.
Okay, one more: Keketso (kah-ket-so). He’s in the top left picture of the large photo collage, sitting in the middle. Keketso is the spitting image of Sanford of Sanford and Sons. Everything about him looks like an old man—even the way he walks—so when he dances, it’s pee-your-pants funny. And he loves to dance.
And, I’ll admit that there are four kids that I am not at all fond off. I just wrote a long paragraph explaining exactly why I didn’t like them, but then decided that publicly ridiculing defenseless little orphans isn’t terribly classy, so I deleted it.
I guess I’ll end on that high note. I’ll spare you the blog equivalent of pulling out a wallet photo insert and talking about each one of the kids.
I’ve lost all track of time (as should always happen on vacation), but…I think I’ve been volunteering at Baphumelele (Bap) for about a month now. Seems like about a month. Our daily schedule at Bap never changes, so the days can be a bit monotonous. But the kids never are.
I finally know them all by name, which seemed an impossible task at first. Picture a room with three dozen babies and toddlers, most of them from the same African ethnic group. They all share clothes across genders, with boys in frilly pink pants sometimes. All of them have the same short hairdo, and none of them speak much English. Now tell me who is Simnikiwe, Endinako, Ensikilelo, Boniswa, Thembani, Nokathula, Zolela, Sibase, Baphiwe, Sibaunathi, Asemale, Unathi, Sinazo, etc...
To break up the monotony and to help the children learn new things, we usually come up with one new activity a day. Pictured below are snapshots from the day we did face painting. The older kids loved it; the younger ones couldn’t have cared less.
We've all have taken loads of photos so far. Here are some of Henriet's best shots:
We are told at our volunteer orientation that we are not to have favorites. Yeah, okay, sure thing. Here are some of mine:
Leema (lee-emma) is really shy and has the cutest little voice I’ve ever heard. I’ve given up trying to coax her to speak, and now accept with gratitude any little utterance she chooses to bestow upon me. I don’t actually spend much time with Leema lately though because, well, she kind of stinks. She has some sort of ear infection or something, and I am not embarrassed to admit that my repulsion over the foul smell exceeds my warm feelings towards her, so lately I’ve been keeping my distance. I try several times a day to stand the stench, but I rarely last more than a few minutes. Until the pus (often visibly oozing from her ear, ooooooooh!) is gone, I’m gonna just like Leema from a distance.Also pictured is Luthando (luh-ton-doe). His was one of the first names I learned because Luthando is quite Rotundo (get it, it rhymes, he he). Luthando is absolutely, comically obsessed with food. If any of the kids have even the smallest morsel of food, Luthando will be nearby, trying to work a deal, make a new best friend, or, when all else fails, grab a bit and throw it down his throat before it can be retrieved by one of the adults. Perhaps it’s because I empathize with Luthando’s love of food, but I find these interactions quite hilarious. (Volunteers are not supposed to discipline the kids…in case I am sounding negligent here). Most of all I love Luthando for his crazy facial expressions. I’m betting I still haven’t seen them all. The other day, Luthando bit the back of my leg after I pulled him off the couch, but my frustration immediately evaporated when I saw the HILARIOUS expression he came up with to save his hide. I’m not worried about Luthando. He’s gonna make it.
I also REALLY like Sibusiso (see-boo-see-sue). He’s the one brushing his teeth in the photos above. He can be a little turd—hitting, grabbing toys, running amok—but he’s a funny little turd and I like the sound of his laugh when I tickle him. I’ve tried to take a good picture of him, but he always ends up looking like an angry middle aged man, so I’ll just have to try to remember his cuteness.Likhona (lick-hone-ah) is another favorite. He’s at the far bottom left in the large photo collage. When Likhona’s happy, he’s unbeatable. Just looking at him makes me smile. I am convinced that Likhona, unlike other human beings, is actually 99.8% water because when he cries (which, I will admit, is annoyingly often), water pours out in copious amounts. We are talking huge puddles, from his eyes and his mouth. (He’s got a really big mouth, and I don’t think he’s quite got a handle on the swallow-the-slobber bit.) When he’s not crying, Likhona’s pretty great.
Okay, one more: Keketso (kah-ket-so). He’s in the top left picture of the large photo collage, sitting in the middle. Keketso is the spitting image of Sanford of Sanford and Sons. Everything about him looks like an old man—even the way he walks—so when he dances, it’s pee-your-pants funny. And he loves to dance.
And, I’ll admit that there are four kids that I am not at all fond off. I just wrote a long paragraph explaining exactly why I didn’t like them, but then decided that publicly ridiculing defenseless little orphans isn’t terribly classy, so I deleted it.
I guess I’ll end on that high note. I’ll spare you the blog equivalent of pulling out a wallet photo insert and talking about each one of the kids.