The very first „first time“ of the week was probably the main first time as well: Alena and Jana arrived in Port Elizabeth. Another first time followed immediately: the first South African beer. At least for them.
It was also the first time we met Janet again. She is our Prof slash host mum who saved Uta and me from total despair when she was in Germany and offered us her little cottage for staying. Hours of talking, some plates of good food and a couple of drinks later we moved to Janets place.
Our new home is a lovely (I truly hate this word but there is no other description possible) little cottage surrounded by native dune forest. We wake from the sounds of the birds, the ocean is only a couple of minutes away and we are already accepted from the dogs as family members. They are the second alarm every morning: Howling and barking in front of the door to get the attention from which they know they will get.
But the cottage did not just offer nice and cozy and pretty first times. We also had the first encounter with a massive brown marked spider. Well, Janet said we should google „rain spiders“ to see really large spiders but this buddy was still three times the size of the largest eight-legged we ever saw back home.
Coming from eight legs to four wheels (in more than one sense): Our first project was launched and it included a couple of other first times. Impressive, intense and inspiring. first times.
On Thursday Kevin took us to Walmer Township. Just briefly. Just to see one house. Just to see the path where a man has to take his push cart through so that it is not getting stolen. Again. The man is a waste picker for living. He collects recyclable trash and swaps it at a trade center for food, clothes and toiletries.
The trade center is a non-profit organization that relies on donations. This was also the place where we met Kusta for the first time. He was in a hurry, just quickly saying „molo“ (= hello) and then he was gone again. Still he left an impression and we knew now for whom we are going to work throughout the weekend.
The projects result was a new, advanced push cart for Kusta. The whole process starting from the design, continuing with the engineering, the construction and the final branding took us (including the two guys from PE-College, Hlwati and Kevin) not just the whole weekend but also Monday and the night to Tuesday. You can follow the whole process here (link).
Saturday afternoon was off though. Janet invited everyone from our Short Learning Programm to a „small“ braai (= barbecue). So we finally got to know the other students with whom we are going to work with in the next months. Between deep discussions about the future of humanity and a chili-eating challenge before you were allowed to take a dessert we became a group which will hopefully and most likely successfully work together and inspire each other.
Due to the Braai (and the physical condition of some members of the team) the start of the construction process was delayed and the „german women power team“ went to the beach. For the first time. Uta was driving for the first time. Jana went into the water for the first time. We ran down sand dunes for the first time. And we saw dolphins for the first time. Lucky us.