Monday, 16 April 2012

Day Fifteen: Upington - rest day for some

We had  the luxury of sleeping in this morning and eating an extravagant continental breakfast in the tropical garden of the guest house while beautiful classical music filtered through the foliage. We then went our separate ways – Thara and I to do 5 assessments at the Oasis Skills Development Centre, and the boys to see Mark off at the airport, to get new tyres for the Nissan Interstar and to do a shop at Saverite.

The Oasis Centre was a very inspiring place for children with a variety of disabilities and it was heart-warming to see them being provided with schooling along with life skills which included the growing of vegetables both organically and hydroponically, the running of a bakery, doing sewing, and the making of compost. Teachers are being paid R1 500 per month to work there but their dedication and adherence to appropriate programmes for children with special needs was evident. The oldest adult was 49 years of age and he was still being taught literacy and numeracy.
Thara tested 5 delightful young people and we enjoyed their participation and humour very much. The founder of this particular centre (there are many Oasis centres throughout the country), Mrs Marina Johannesen, paid us a visit and she was very proud to show me around her really impressive centre.
The afternoon was spent writing reports and blogs with the rumble of thunder in the distance which has resulted in a small storm. Thara will be writing her reports until late into the night while the boys psyche themselves up for the continuation of the Cycle Tour early tomorrow morning (hopefully not in the rain). Thara brought breyani with her on the plane (what else?) and we enjoyed every mouthful together before our brief separation from tomorrow until Thursday evening. Shaun is really looking forward to seeing Leigh and Nic on Thursday. They will be arriving on Wednesday, staying with us for one night and then driving through to Pofadder.
Thank you today to Mrs Johannesen and Mrs Barends the principal of Oasis for accommodating us at their centre to do our assessments.

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