September 2017

The beautiful Valley of 1000 Hills.

Sunny day on the Umngeni River.

September has come to The Valley of 1000 hills, and with it the warmer weather of Spring, and also the evening storms and rain. There was a memorable storm on the second weekend of the month. The storm was brewing for hours after lunch-time, and by early evening it hit, coming in from the South West and hitting the villages hard. The wind picked up to a howling speed, driving rain and debris around and also pulling at trees and buildings. There were a few scary moments for some people I’m sure, as roofs were threatened and a few branches came down, but luckily there was very little damage and nobody was hurt. The days will only get hotter and the evening storms more frequent – but let’s hope they aren’t all as violent as this one was! New goats, cows and chickens are also part of Spring, and there are plenty of baby animals around to prove that here - hopefully soon the grass will be greener soon too!

Group photos on the playground.

Just chilling with friends.

The boys.

The obstacle course

The centre at ICDM is running well, and the kids are loving the playground. It’s been stress tested by the big kids (The ICDM team), and now every afternoon the real kids are out on it and enjoying it. Every kid loves swings, and there are always lines for them. Apart from the activities to do on the equipment – swings, a slide and climbing – the kids love just spending time down here with their friends. The ICDM team have put this playground to another use other than just playing – the kids now have a timed obstacle course! Running their way along the wobbly bridge, balancing over the log and rope balance, clambering up the climbing wall and working their way through the tyres – a great way for them to exercise all of their muscles as well as encouraging some friendly competition. We have a champion of the play set, a current time of 57 seconds!

The trampoline is still very popular.

The kids love the trampoline - maybe we need a second one!

Having fun with friends.

Kids on the playground.

With the equipment donated by the Leeds Beckett University team, ICDM have been able to bring in some new games. The kids were introduced to Touch Rugby and a lot of them took to it quite naturally, especially the girls. The first thing about rugby is the strangely shaped ball, that is hard to pass and also hard to catch if it’s bouncing it’s erratic path along the ground. We practised passing and ball skills, eventually moving up to passing in moving lines, and finally a game came together. The mindset of soccer and being able to pass forward is a hard one to break, as well as the lack of contact, but the kids did really well and had a good time. Cricket was another new sport we tried this month, thanks to the new kids cricket set. We changed the normal rules of cricket a little, making it more active, fast-passed and interesting for the players – 1 batter, 1 bowler and a set field. After the bowl, the batter would hit it as far away from the wickets as possible because when the fielder gets the ball, he has a shot to throw at the wickets – a hit means they are the new batter. This is fast enough to keep everyone interested while everyone gets a chance to bat and bowl.

The tension.

The old sack race.

1, 2, 3 - go! The new favourite game - Dodgeball.

Dodgeball!

We’ve also tried our hand at an ICDM adapted version of Ultimate Frisbee – a fast passed game much like netball but with a frisbee for a ball. It requires many skills, co-ordination, speed and agility, as well as the ability to catch a flying plastic Frisbee! The favourite game introduced this month though is Dodgeball. There are two ways of playing, one is everyone is in the square with one person throwing a ball to hit someone’s legs. If you’re hit, you’re out and help throw the balls to eliminate more people, until it comes down to the final person. The other way of playing, the team play, is the most fun. With the new bibs, we can outfit everyone and get 3 teams running – 2 teams in the middle battling it out, while the 3^rd team helps collect the thrown balls. The rules are simple – if you’re hit below the knee, you’re out. If you catch the ball, the thrower is out and one of your teammates gets to come back into the game – and it’s down to the last player. It’s very loud, exciting and the competition fierce, sometimes tempers run a little high but that’s only due to youthfulness competitiveness and the desire to win. There are no hard feelings at the end of the game, we always have 2 referees in place to help monitor, and sometimes even the kids get the chance to become a ref for a game. This is a great game and the new favourite for many of the kids – even giving soccer a run for it’s money! In fact, the ICDM staff usually participate as well, enjoying the inclusiveness that we have here – it doesn’t matter if you’re big or small, slow or fast, young or old, you get to play and have fun just like everyone else!

The kids enjoying the new games.

The new favourite game - Dodgeball.

The crows enjoying the show on Heritage Day - the 24th of September.

The opening dance - MC Thalente and ICDM team member Nappah.

Singing and playing the guitar.

The big event to happen this month was of course Heritage Day on the 24th. It is a day that people celebrate all around the country, celebrating what it means to be South African. Everyone goes wild this day, as the following day is a public holiday. We had a very large turn out this year - bigger than last year in fact, with more than 200 people coming to see the event as well as participate. Our very cool MC, Thalente Msomi, kicked off the show at 11 am with a bit of dancing himself, followed by a talented young man on the guitar. We had poetry readings, traditional singing and dancing as well as a big of modern Rap music. There were some great dances, including the traditional Zulu dance, and also the Sarafina dance to close the show. Children came in traditional outfits and clothing and really made the day something special. Although there were no prizes this year for winning any event, so many groups turn up and participated that the event ran until 5pm, the DJ having to turn off the music to make everyone stop dancing!

Another energetic, upbeat and very entertaining Zulu dance.

Traditional Zulu dancing.

Everybody got involved!

Wow!

Singing along to the songs.

Clapping along to the music.

Enjoying the day.

Something different this year was the catering. The ICDM team provided food for 150 people - hotdogs, juice and some snacks. Everything ran smoothly and we had enough food for everyone. A big thank you to the extra volunteers we had to help us prepare and serve the lunch is needed - thank you Ndu, Slie, Thobekile, Xolisiswa and Karabo. We even had a previous volunteer come back and visit for a week, Phillip from Germany. He came and watched the Heritage Day event and had a great day, as he'd never seen an event like this before - it's not something you get every day either! Although there was mostly traditional music, a little bit of rap was sung and it was quite popular with the crowd. The traditional dances were the favourites however, and one group, singing the Sarafina, came back on as the last act for an encore. A raffle was held at the end of the day, and some lucky kids walked away with t-shirts and even a few won brand new basketballs and rugby balls - congratulations! A wonderful day, made possible by the great team at ICDM and of course the community of Isithumba!

The amazing 'stamping' of the Zulu dance.

The sound crew and DJ - great job guys!

A very lively poetry recital.

Our catering staff - thank you again for a great job!

Just some of the staff who helped make this day great - Matt, Nah, Thobekile, Karabo and Thalente.

 ICDM We are the future!!