Today was our last day in the schools, and it was a short one. Next week the learners are coming to Stellenbosch for various workshops. We used the first hour and a half or so to go over some final details on the business plans with the learners – there are definitely still some issues with the cost accounting part of it (more egregious with some than with others – there is one learner who could most certainly benefit from some special tutoring but there was no time). But we had to let the learners present their business plans, and then we gave feedback. I thought they all did just an amazing job in the time that we had, really amazing.
Such a contrast from the first day when we could barely get them to speak – today one of them named Zusiphe was talking about her relevant experience and she said that in grade 3 she used to sell chips so she had sales experience but Phumeza (one of the other learners) would steal her chips every day so now she would pay more attention to keeping this thief away. It’s great that they have relaxed to the point when they can joke around. Another great thing was that for much of the morning they were working themselves in a group, helping each other, and only coming to us for review or questions. Hopefully some of what we did this week sticks with them.
Hopefully Stellenbosch will actually follow up this time; this program has been going on for fifteen years and they have never systematically tracked what the students have done next. I think they plan to but there are plans and then there is what actually happens.
The tour company that is handling our tours for the weekend in Cape Town came to pick us up and take us to Spier winery and cheetah reserve on the way to Cape Town. The cheetahs were very beautiful and elegant. Some of us went in to pet them, which was a lot of fun. Their bodies are very elongated; I guess I haven’t seen a lot of cheetah pictures but I was expecting something more like the proportions of a house cat. We saw one cheetah being fed, and it acted just like my cats – going right up and demanding good, then eventually lying down to finish eating. Standing up takes energy I guess.
Some of our group went to see an eagle reserve but I wasn’t really interested. We waited outside but unfortunately by the time we got bored and went to check out the wine tasting it had just closed. Maybe next week. The winery was beautiful though and I will say that as attached as I am to Sonoma you just can’t beat the backdrop in Stellenbosch.
The ride to Cape Town was uneventful. The guest house is lovely, and Mary and I have a great room in the top floor with our own shower. Yes it’s that exciting – we almost took a picture.
For dinner we headed to a steak restaurant that was recommended to us and it was quite good but also dinner took 3 ½ hours from start to finish. I won’t lie – that put me into a very bad mood because I had some work and Capstone work that just didn’t get done that night because I was so tired by the time we got back. Also unfortunate is that we don’t get to sleep in at all this weekend, and certainly won’t be able to at Kruger next week. I suppose the good part is that by the time we get on the plane to leave in a week and a half we’ll all be just exhausted and can sleep much of the way!
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