Thursday, July 10th

It was a strange feeling knowing that it would be the last day of our camps today. We had been preparing for so long and suddenly, it was going to be over. I knew it would be much more difficult to say goodbye to these kids because we had been able to communicate so much more with them.

We began the day by finishing our Hero Books and then divided them up to talk about rape. Danielle and I took the boys aside and read them the definition of rape and what to do if you know someone that is raped. This is when the discussion became quite lively. One student asked whether or not you should go to the police if you know who the rapist was. Eugen (our interpretor) responded that it was the job of the community to handle the situation and that the police were powerless to really do anything. He then suggested that a sound beating and stomping would the best way to resolve the situation. It was difficult to argue with this notion. Not only because rape is such a despicable thing to do, but because it sounds as though the iNgwavuma police can't really do much to prove a rape. (There isn't exactly a CSI: iNgwavuma)

It was about then Danielle realized that we may be preaching our values to a completely separate culture. Instead of advocating violence, however, we talked about the things they could do to prevent rape, such as letting all of their friends know how terrible they think it is, etc. Ideally, this would prevent both the rape and the stomping.

The rest of the day flashed by in a blur. We broke into small groups and I got some pictures of my group as they finished their posters. We then gave them a post-survey and played Heads up Seven Up, while the cooks from the IOC prepared the surprise Braai (SA BBQ).

After the game we went outside and I thought I would teach them how to throw a football that was donated by Alyssa's company. They seemed to know what it was and Thokozani pretended to dive into the endzone when he first caught the ball. I tried to show them how to throw a spiral but decided to sit back and watch them throw some of the ugliest passes I have ever seen.

We left shortly after that, which was difficult. Each member of my group came up and we did our hand shake one last time and I got into the car. I quickly realized that I was the only person in the car with dry eyes and we drove for a solid ten minutes in virtual silence. A good silence.