After a long day of classes, we - Allison, Dave, and I, along with about 10 other volunteers - took a bus to a children's home in Athlone, which is about a 15 minute drive from campus. As soon as I walked in, I was inundated with a succession of about 10 hugs, and then dragged very deliberately by a matter-of-fact 11 year-old girl named Solame to a seat.
So for the next hour or so, Solame and I worked on some multiplication and divisions problems and on telling time on a clock together. (Ironic, considering these are the things I never knew how to do until I was 13 anyway. Take it back. I still can't multiply.)
She would work on a problem, and then look at me for approval - all the while I'm sitting there counting on my fingers trying to figure out if 6 times 7 is actually 42. While telling time, my watch became a source of fascination: Suddenly everyone at the table wanted to learn time too.
When it was time to go, I got another 10 hugs (mostly from kids I didn't even see at all that afternoon until they clung to my leg on the way out) and a hand-holding walk to the front gate from a little girl no older than 5 who just "wanted to make sure I was safe walking out."
Needless to say, I can't wait to go back next week. I can't wait to be made fun of to my face in Afrikaans again!
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