St. Monica's Part I: The Basics

Obligatory background information (skip this if history is your least favorite subject): St. Monica’s Children’s Home is a non-governmental institution in the Bluff area, providing residential care to 87 court-appointed children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The home opened in 1895, under an Anglican missionary and takes in girls age 3-18 and boys age 3-12. The children go through a variety of skills programs— educational, social, and recreational—and are also offered counselling and reunification services as needed. St. Monica gives children who would otherwise be at risk on the streets of Durban a safe and nurturing home to grow up in and molds them into well-rounded and productive citizens. For more information, visit www.stmonicashome.co.za

A normal school day at St. Monica’s begins early. All children get up at 6AM, have breakfast, and leave for school. During this time, I usually help around the office, with organizational or computer work. The kids return to the home sometime between noon and 2PM and they have free time. I often play soccer with the boys and I try to get girls to join the game but they’re always hesitant. Instead, they play netball, which from my understanding is something of a mesh between handball and basketball. At 4PM, there is extra tutoring in math, English, and Afrikaans for kids who need it.

However, for the past 3 weeks, we’ve been on a different schedule because of the holidays. A majority of the kids go to their families or to homestays when school is on break, so I was in charge of planning a series of holiday programs for the kids who remained. We played games, practiced some self defense tactics, made friendship bracelets, had relay races and talent shows, drew masks, built sandcastles, and folded origami balloons. This was an excellent opportunity for me to get to know the kids. 87 children is a lot to handle all at once, but when you get to work with a group of about 10, it is much easier to talk to them and form relationships. Language poses an additional barrier—sometimes it’s tough for me to actively contribute during play time or conversations because the kids talk to themselves, and to the child care workers, in Zulu. What’s uplifting is that everyone at St. Monica’s is always more than happy to help. Like others in Durban, they’re very warm and open, which makes my job a lot of fun.