Friday, July 4th

Today was the last day of the camp for the younger kids and it was hard and frustrating to say goodbye. We had finally gotten to know all of their names and they were beginning to really open up to us and then it is just all over with. The dangers of a four day camp.

The main topic of the day was rape, something obviously important to discuss, but still difficult. We separated the boys and girls, with Danielle and I taking the boys outside. We gave a quick presentation on rape stats in South Africa (a woman born in South Africa is more likely to be raped than taught how to read, etc.) We then opened it up to questions, some of which were devastating to hear.

The rest of the day was spent making power dolls, which they all seemed to love. Even Falakhe, our favorite translator, made one. They were incredibly creative with the clothing. Thobani made a collared shirt for his doll.

Just before the end of the day, they circled up and sang Happy Birthday to Danielle in English and Zulu. We then had the kids come up one by one and tell us their favorite part of camp. Most of the responses involved learning about HIV which was awesome to hear. They then picked a stuffed animal and some colored pencils and markers from the donation bag.

At the end of the day, we said goodbye and then returned to the IOC and packed for our visit to Hluhluwe game park. We arrived at Isinkwe Backpackers an hour too late to watch them feed the bushbabies, (small monkeys with large eyes and almost human faces), which was disappointing. We kept flashing our lights into the trees, but no such luck.