![\"Primary](\"http:\/\/www.hobo-nation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/File-Jun-20-3-25-16-PM-800x600.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAfter working full time for the last 9 years of my life, I quit my job when we moved to South Africa. Not having a full time job has been incredibly wonderful in so many ways, but it has had its challenges as well. A few months after we got here, and Rob’s internship ended, he was offered a job! After much thought and prayer we accepted. Knowing we were staying in South Africa for an extended period of time made me feel much more settled. I can’t say I felt at home right away, but I felt more apart of the community and I wanted to give back to the city and people somehow.\u00a0Finding a volunteer opportunity seemed like the perfect way to give back.<\/p>\n
When I first started college I wanted to be an elementary teacher, because I love being around kids (most of the time…) but after being accepted to the interior design program at BYU-Idaho, I changed majors and set out on a new path. I still love kids and often wonder how the last 9 years of my post-college life would have been different it iI had pursued elementary education, but even with my interior design degree, I have had many unexpected and wonderful opportunities to work in different fields, many of which have been with kids. In High School I volunteered once a week at the elementary school in my little town and I loved it. I worked with kids who struggled with reading and who were behind the other children. With this love for being around kids, after we were a bit more settled in Cape Town,\u00a0I began to look for local volunteer opportunities. I \u00a0I looked online, but didn’t find any that were too close to home. One day during a run, I ran past a primary school about 15 minutes from our house. A woman in our church ward had mentioned that the schools can always use volunteers, so I thought it couldn’t hurt to go in and check there. Later that week I walked in and talked with the secretary, and again the principal two weeks later, met some of the teachers, worked out a schedule, and boom! I began volunteering – just like that!<\/p>\n
The teachers I work with are wonderful. I watch them with their kids and they are so patient and loving. Shaping the life of a child is not for the faint of heart. They inspire me. The first few months I volunteered on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for a few hours each week. I had my own little colorful classroom with bright purple and green walls (PS – colors are so bold and vibrant in Africa – I really like that). Tuesdays I worked with three groups of Grade-R kids (Equivalent to kindergarten) teaching a program called Audiblox, and Wednesdays I read to small groups of students in Grade 1. One of the grade 3 teachers recently went on maternity leave so the librarian took over her class until she returns. With no librarian for the kids, I was asked to volunteer in the library on Friday mornings…. and I love it! My duties are pretty simple. I record the books the kids check out and I get to read and be the storyteller – what great fun! The kids are so stinking cute and they absolutely love it. They are so much fun and I have a blast with them everytime. I am go grateful I get to spend time sharing stories and learning with them. They melt my heart.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"Tamboerskloof](\"http:\/\/www.hobo-nation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/File-Aug-17-2-17-09-PM-450x600.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After working full time for the last 9 years of my life, I quit my job when we moved to South Africa. Not having a full time job has been incredibly wonderful in so many ways, but it has had its challenges as well. A few months after we got here, and Rob’s internship ended, he was offered a job! After much thought and prayer we accepted. Knowing we were staying in South Africa for an extended period of time made me feel much more settled. I can’t say I felt at home right away, but I felt more apart of the community and I wanted to give back to the city and people somehow.\u00a0Finding a volunteer opportunity seemed like the perfect way to give back. When I first started college I wanted to be an elementary teacher, because I love being around kids (most of the time…) but after being accepted to the interior design program at BYU-Idaho, I changed majors and set out on a new path. I still love kids and often wonder how the last 9 years of my post-college life would have been different it iI had pursued elementary education, but even with my interior design degree, I have had many unexpected and wonderful opportunities to work in different fields, many of which have been with kids. In High School I volunteered once a week at the elementary school in my little town and I loved it. I worked with kids who struggled with reading and who were behind the other children. With this love for being around kids, after we were a bit more settled in Cape Town,\u00a0I began to look for local volunteer opportunities. I \u00a0I looked online, but didn’t find any that were too close to home. One day during a run, I ran past a primary school about 15 minutes from our house. A woman in our church ward had mentioned that the schools can always use volunteers, so I thought it couldn’t hurt to go in and check there. Later that week I walked in and talked with the secretary, and again the principal two weeks later, met some of the teachers, worked out a schedule, and boom! I began volunteering – just like that! The teachers I work with are wonderful. I watch them with their kids and they are so patient and loving. Shaping the life of a child is not for the faint of heart. They inspire me. The first few months I volunteered on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for a few hours each week. I had my own little colorful classroom with bright purple and green walls (PS – colors are so bold and vibrant in Africa – I really like that). Tuesdays I worked with three groups of Grade-R kids (Equivalent to kindergarten) teaching a program called Audiblox, and Wednesdays I read to small groups of students in Grade 1. One of the grade 3 teachers recently went on maternity leave so the librarian took over her class until she returns. With no librarian for the kids, I was asked to volunteer in the library on Friday mornings…. and I love it! My duties are pretty simple. I record the books the kids check out and I get to read and be the storyteller – what great fun! The kids are so stinking cute and they absolutely love it. They are so much fun and I have a blast with them everytime. I am go grateful I get to spend time sharing stories and learning with them. They melt my heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[128],"tags":[131,132,133],"class_list":["post-3075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-south-africa","tag-cape-town","tag-south-africa","tag-travel","main-post"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.wherearethemrandmrs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/File-Aug-17-2-19-26-PM.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wherearethemrandmrs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wherearethemrandmrs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wherearethemrandmrs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wherearethemrandmrs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wherearethemrandmrs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3075"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/www.wherearethemrandmrs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3258,"href":"http:\/\/www.wherearethemrandmrs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3075\/revisions\/3258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wherearethemrandmrs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wherearethemrandmrs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wherearethemrandmrs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wherearethemrandmrs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}