Piet Retief, Small Town South Africa

(some of the local groundBREAKERs in front of the van and the train)

The morning began bright and early as the generator kicked on at 6 am. Eager for some food, we all piled into the van and headed out to find a grocery store and restrooms seeing as the bathrooms are not usable when in a station.

On the way back from the stores, we stopped at an HIV and TB clinic where we met some local groundBREAKERS who were to help us gather local kids to come to the loveTrain. The groundBREAKERS lead us around to the rural farm schools, that in order to reach, we took dirt road to dirt road, followed mining trucks, and then another dirt road.

(The kids of the primary farm school in Piet Retief)

At the different schools, we met with the principal to discuss dismissing groups of teens to come to the loveTrain at different times over the next few days for our Cyber Y's program which aims to educate the local teens on using computers and the internet. The first school we stopped at, the kids were enchanting. I made the mistake of taking out my camera to capture their happy, smiling faces and soon found that children in South Africa LOVE having their picture taken and will pose for you for however long you would like. Swarmed by almost the entire school, I, with the help of my fellow loveLife workers, were able to get the kids into some kind of order for a picture. The kids' sheer joy of having their picture taken was incredible and it was difficult to drive away. However, we had many more schools and clinics to visit before the day was over.

(Piet Retief township)

Moving on to our next site visit, we met with the groundBREAKER who teaches the Life Orientation classes at the local schools and negotiated us coming into her classroom tomorrow to introduce the kids to the loveTrain.



This afternoon, about 10 teenagers from one of the farm high schools arrived at the loveTrain and began their first introduction to Cyber Y's and computers. People having heard the loveTrain was in Piet Retief and had heard about the Cyber Y's training, also arrived at the train to find out more information and if they could bring their children by the next afternoon. The people of Piet Retief are excited by the train's presence and eager to learn how to use a computer.

(Cyber Y's training on the train and the radio broadcast center)

Growing up in America, I remember learning how to use a computer in 4th grade, if not earlier. Technology has always been at our finger tips and it is easy to forget that we are lucky to have the access to technology that we have and that not everyone has these opportunities.