May 12 2014
First day at MBC!!!
Hello! We are Nico from France and Jasper from the Netherlands. Nico studies Marketing and Communication at the ISC in Paris and is here to volunteer for 2 months. Jasper studies International Marketing Management in Utrecht and is here to do his month internship. We are both really looking forward to our time here.
On Tuesday it was our first day at the office. We started the day with a surfing lesson with Alfonso! He is a really good coach, such a nice guy and he made our first surfing experience in South Africa really enjoyable! The waves were perfect for learning to surf and both the weather and the wonderful view looked like paradise! We had a really good time and it’s just the beginning!!!
During our surf lesson we met another volunteer, Ailsa. She is really aware of and involved in MBC projects and it was really cool for us to speak with her. She took time to answer our questions about the kids and the project. The more she spoke, the more excited we were to meet the kids!!
Ailsa and Jasper
Nick, who was the kids’ surf coach 2 years ago, happened to be visiting Muizenberg from England. He decided to stop by and come with us to pick up the children. When they saw the bus coming they were really happy to see us! They jumped on the bus and started their show!! They are so funny!! To see the huge smiles on their faces for the first time was really special!! Everybody should live such a moment one time in their life! It took a couple of minutes for the kids to recognize Nick since he had cut off the dreads that he used to have, but eventually they did. They were really happy to see him again! Phila kept saying, ‘This is so awesome, man. This is so awesome.’
For me (Jasper) personally the bus ride was a funny experience. After the question ‘Am I a girl?’, an interrogation started about why I had long hair if I wasn’t a girl! The interrogation ended with 5 kids pulling my blond hair.
There is a rule on the bus which says that the kids must speak English at all times so that everyone can understand each other. When one of the kids screamed something in Afrikaans Ailsa wanted to know what they meant. Because Afrikaans and Dutch are so similar, I (Jasper) was able to tell her. The kids were stunned – how did I know? After enjoying their stunned faces I told them that Afrikaans is derived primarily from Dutch. The kids didn’t believe me so they asked what my name is in Afrikaans – when I could answer them, they were even more surprised!
I (Jasper) had only learned how to surf that morning so I was hesitating whether or not to join the kids in the sea. I had been told by Ailsa that they always like it if volunteers join them in the sea, so in I went! Despite the fact that the weather wasn’t that great, Siya, Phila, Yamkela, Frankie, Asi and I went into the sea. The kids are actually quite good at surfing. And just by looking at their faces you can see that they also really enjoy it!
Siya!
Surfing was the plan for the afternoon but I (Nico) caught a stupid cold during my journey to South Africa so I decided to stay on the beach with Ailsa,Yanga, Siminkiwe, Godfrey and Mike. When I asked Mike why he didn’t want to surf, he answered me, ‘I am a soccer player, man!’ It was so funny and I was glad to hear that! I planned to take pictures during the afternoon but the kids were really excited by the fact that I liked soccer so we started to play on the beach and it might sound weird but it was maybe one of the most wonderful days of my life! Playing soccer on the beach with the kids smiling was really cool!! I will never forget this day!
Yanga, Siminkiwe, Mike, Godefrey and Ailsa
By Jasper, volunteer from Holland, and Nico, volunteer from France
