Jo-Burg Day 2

This morning we had the chance to visit another division of the Marist family here in South Africa. The St. David’s Marist College campus is an all boy preparatory school from pre-school to grade twelve founded by the Marist Brothers. We began our visit by attending mass with the entirety of the school and had the pleasure of being there for St. Marcellin Champagnat day. St. Champagnat is the founder of the Marist Brothers delegation and the day is dedicated in memory of him.

To continue the celebration, the school held a field day with assorted foods, games, and activities. The older boys played soccer and rugby while the younger chaps played on giant inflatable games. Some of our group participated in a soccer game with the students and surprisingly won one nil! Everyone had a good time communicating with the students and held conversation easily.

After leaving the school we visited the Acres of Love headquarters. Acres of Love is an organization that takes in South African orphans and misplaced children and treats them as if they are their own children. The children are put into excellent homes where they are given a mother and father who takes care of all the children in the home. The children receive superb educations and they welcome any child who suffers from HIV/AIDS and provide them with the necessary medications to sustain healthy longer term lives. Part of their mission is to provide the children with “forever homes” meaning that they allow the children to stay at in their home as long as they need.

We met with all of the children in a park down the road from the Acres of Love Headquarters, where we had pizza, drinks, and had some serious play time; there were approximately 70 kids. The kids had a great time running around with us and they became attached to us immediately. Sadly, we could not take photos of the children due to respect for their privacy, but take our word for it, they were adorable. Before we met the children, we were able to hang over funds raised by our group and Pine Bush High School for Acres of Love. It was comforting to see where funds were going towards.

This group is finding the difference between Cape Town and Johannesburg very interesting and we are seeing some of the distinct differences between the attitudes of people in both cities. Also, we are witnessing the disparities between social care in townships such as at the Dusk to Dawn Haven in Ravensmead and the improved care at the Acres of Love center here in Johannesburg.We ended the day with a meeting with fellow Marist Alumus and former Tennis player Brendon Van Wasbeek.