Day 2 in Worcester (SA, not MA)

I’m really pumped for Durban. Worcester is so sketch lol. I would have totally went for a run but this area just makes me wayyy nervous. I’ll just do crunches in my room or something haha.

Anyways, today we went to two schools associated with the National Institute for the Deaf—a college and then De La Bat (a school for kids aged 3-20). The college is more like a vocational school for deaf teens/young adults. They were really happy to have us there and show us around. It’s pretty different than the US, or at least I think so. I’m going to have to check with my mom because she would definitely know better than I would. That will just have to wait until I actually have internet (aka: Durban, definitely getting my 30 Rand back). The De La Bat School was really cool, the principal was a good speaker (someone said it was like hearing a graduation speech, which I thought was pretty accurate b/c he was very inspirational lol) and the staff was so eager to answer questions and give us more info. They take students whose primary disability is deafness. But they said that there’s an increase in deaf children with autism. So that was interesting. We got to see their preschool, the kids were soooo cute. I wish I knew more sign language, except it’s a little different here because they use South African Sign Language, not American, and most of the kids speak Africaans not English. But overall, we got their message that deaf people are not as widely accepted or integrated in South African as one would hope. This is why these schools exist, to try and prepare them for the real world and to live among “normal” people.

The Institute for the Blind was a lot of fun—very interactive. We watched a quick DVD, met a blind woman named Sharon who showed us how she typed on her Braille typewriter, and then we were given blindfolds. We had to pair up, one person was blindfolded and the other was the guide. That was pretty comical. We took turns and went into their fossil museum, feelin all the rocks and fossils. Lots of rocks. We were able to see a few different sections of the institute. They teach the members (who are either blind, deaf-blind, or multi-impaired) different skills so they could get jobs in certain workforces; they make hand-woven baskets and mattresses and are also taught secretarial skills. I couldn’t believe how much they do for the blind there, it’s awesome.

So we had a good day. And I gave in and got a salad from McDonald’s…bad choice. Swearing off McDonald’s for the rest of the trip lol. But other than that, there’s nothing else. Durban tomorrow!