My boss, the CG, bought last year two new basketball hoops. One for his residence and one for the Consulate. Problem was, the Consulate already had a hoop. So, in an effort to make lemonade from lemons, he had a contest amongst the local staff. They could nominate a village or a school in Gautang (again, pronounced How-tang), Free State or North West Province to receive the gift of a new basketball goal with basketballs and a pump. A great idea, I thought.
The winner was Task Academy near the Central Business District in Johannesburg. Task Academy is a private school whose students are mainly refugees from Somalia that can't get into the normal state schools. The kids must be well behaved, they must learn English and at least one other language from South Africa, and they are required to maintain good grades. Sounded like a perfect place.
Yesterday was the day that we went to the school to deliver the basketball goal. But first, before presentation, we had to construct the actual stand and goal. Here's some things I learned:
1) When dealing with black metal equipment during the summer in Africa, it's probably best to assemble it in the shade. After 30 minutes in the sun it will feel like molten lava and you won't be able to touch it without leaving part of your hand on the metal. You'd think that 5 grown men would have been able to figure that out before assembly, but no.
2) If you have more than one man assembling something, you will have massive confusion and it will take longer than it should. The time on the instructions said 45 minutes. It took us almost 2 hours.
3) Schools in South Africa don't use bells to move from one class to another. They use what sounds like an air-raid siren. Numerous times during the installation our nerves were shattered by this loud siren going off right over our heads. I kept looking for dive bombers.
After we finished putting it all together, the head teacher called for some of the kids to come and stand around the CG as he and his son, who had donated the balls, made the presentation. Then, two children, one boy and one girl, were given balls to take the first shot. The girl had been getting ribbed by the boys in the crowd about playing basketball. She steadied herself, and made the basket on the first try. The boy on the other hand, took 4 tries to get it in. I wish I had taken a photo of her smirk as he kept missing, as it was priceless.
After the presentation, the school choir sang two songs, and everyone had a great time. It was a good feeling to help a school that had almost nothing. Their buildings are falling apart, and there appeared to be many more of them than should fit in the space. But there was something that felt welcoming about the school.
It was funny though watching the boys try their best to impress the girls with their basketball skills. It was also funny, and somewhat familiar, watching the girls jump into the pictures we took and posing behind everyone else trying to look grown-up and like a fashion model. I guess teenagers act the same all over the world, right?
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