We began this day at the Ditshego Preschool which is located next to the city of Mooiplaas’s  dump site.  Ditshego is full of hope, love, learning, and laughter in the midst of extremely challenging conditions. Ditshego is anything but an “overnight success.” The school is the product of over ten years of dreams and hard work, but it gives hope daily to about 130 beautiful, eager, and intelligent children who would otherwise face not just long odds for success, but insurmountable ones. Our physician team member helped in the medical clinic that adjoins the school, where local volunteer doctors and nurses provide medical care and family planning on-site one morning each week.  The rest of us had the chance to play games, blow bubbles, and hula hoop (a lost art for some of us) with the students, observe their classes, and serve them lunch. 

We then walked the Mooiplaas informal settlement with two of the community care givers.  It gave us an understanding of survival without running water, electricity, or sanitation services. After that, we walked the dirt path from Mooiplaas to the Place of Safety, taken by the students and teachers each day for after school services. The staff provided lunch for us and we resumed our work doing art projects with the students, helping with maintenance work around the plot, and preparing the training computers. Our day at Ditshego concluded with an informative presentation by Pastor Ian about the ministry at Mariannridge and in the Clerpine Circuit.