In the afternoons, we began games and activities with the children at Sacred Heart while we got to know the people and the community. We cleared a very over-grown field for the Soccer Program with the volunteer help of 100 students from the senior primary school. Next we converted an old, overgrown tennis court into a basketball court in preparation for the Basketball Program. Several children at Sacred Heart designed and painted the center of the court deciding on the South African flag as their theme.

We set up our administrative offices in the 5 room complex on the grounds of Sacred Heart. This is where we now have the Teacher Resource Center, a storage room, meeting rooms, an administrative office, and a kitchen; it serves as headquarters for the entire Thanda staff.

Thanda After-School is designed to accommodate the needs of the local community and students. Very few details of the program were decided before we arrived so we could be as flexible as possible. Our volunteers met with each of the principals and teachers in the local schools in order to introduce the project and find out their greatest needs or concerns. We found that the primary school has trouble teaching English and reading to their students, the senior primary has difficulty teaching science and needs repairs, and the high school struggles with student disillusion.

Recruitment was a very large task as we received applications from all 300 of the students at Khathi High School! We selected a wide range of high school students and selected the most disadvantaged students from Umsinsini Primary School and St. Joachim’s Senior Primary School. We also asked the teachers from each school to help us identify the most disadvantaged students to ensure they were included in the program.

On 21 February, we opened the Thanda After-School Program with 180 students in 5 programs!