Limpopo Born - Free Project Article

Limpopo Born – Free Project Article 

The American International School of Johannesburg (AISJ) started preparing for our visit from the Marumofase Limpopo School. The preparation began in early January until their arrival on January 30. The preparation included: housing accommodations, a collection of student-parent donated money for expenses of outings, eating arrangements, guest speakers, the visit to Afrika Tikkun, and the Monash University tour. Also, student donations of individual packets of soap, deodorant, washcloth, toothbrush, and toothpaste were provided for each student. The Marumofase Students stayed for 3 days from Thursday, January 30 through Saturday, February 1. The itinerary that the AISJ students and staff planned for the Marumofase students ran smoothly.

The Marumofase students arrived on Thursday around 2:30 p.m. and quickly departed on the scheduled trip to Afrika Tikkun. Upon returning to AISJ an exciting scavenger hunt tour of AISJ was conducted. Followed by dinner at the AISJ cafeteria. This concludes their first day. On Friday at 8:00 a.m. were presented with an Afrika Tikkun guest speaker. Then promptly at 9:00 a.m. the Marumofase students departed for Monash University. Here the students were given a tour of the campus and a briefing of applying and acceptance into universities. Lunch at AISJ and then a lecture at 1:45 p.m. given by Mrs. Slattery. She presented on the importance of health and well-being. Then, it was followed by a continuation of a debrief and reflection. Finally, time for a little fun. The AISJ girls and boys basketball games were held form 3:15 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The Marumofase students enjoyed the games greatly, were very involved, and continued cheer for our teams. A pizza feast awaited the hungry team supporters. Go Eagles! Now wait the day is not over yet. We still had time for a visit to Monte Casino. We left at 6:30 p.m. and it lasted until 8:30 p.m. All the students enjoyed a night out at the arcade and some ice cream. Exhausted and fulfilled the Marumofase students returned back to AISJ for a nights rest. Good morning, Marumofase students, it is Saturday! Time to work on your stories! Saturday consisted of reflections with Mr. Sheblak in reference to the Marumofase students born free stories. A lesson from Mr. Daignault on finding a focus within a short story was shortly afterwards. Then, 3 writing workshops were designed to refine, focus, and edit the Marumofase student’s stories. To conclude, Mr. Campbell, a guest speaker whom recounted his life story to give inspiration and stress the importance of education. Dinner and a movie were quick to follow. On Sunday, the Marumofase students ate breakfast at AISJ and departed to Limpopo at 9:00 a.m.

At this time the AISJ staff and students would like to thank the Marumofase students for such a lovely visit. We’re grateful for them sharing their stories with us, and we cant wait until their published. We would like to thank everyone who took part in making this happen, as we know this took a tremendous amount of time, effort, and cooperation to pull together this full schedule of events. I know we all had fun in the process, learned some, were humbled some, and can’t wait for the next visit.