Our first research day
took us to the Business Forum meeting, conducted at a house in the third block
from Slovo Hall, on Frank Mapara street. It started off with a prayer by Buccs
(Johannes), the secretary, who then gave us the agenda and conducted further
proceedings in both English and Sotho. We were taken by surprise when asked to
present again. The crowd said nothing after being asked for feedback by us and
Buccs. He decided to translate all of our ideas into Sotho, as we sat
apologetic that there was a language barrier. The ice finally broke when we
were complimented by Mohau for a more confident round of presentations. Our ideas
were well received by the Forum, especially that of keeping money in Slovo, and
a suggestion was made that we meet only with the Youth Forum leader, the
Business Forum leader and Mohau to devise a strategy for the coming build week
of Slovo Hall. Mohau informed the Forum of the Health Department's desire to
give pneumonia shots, which inspired a possible event that could happen in
Slovo Hall.
It seemed like they
were full of surprises today, as we were all led into the spaza to be greeted
by two girls waiting with warm plates of food and cooldrinks. Although very
tasty, it proved to be quite a heavy meal, and it wore us out a bit.
To not disturb the Forum meeting any further, we proceeded to Frank Mapara's tavern, where we finalized Saturday's agenda and got ideas regarding the children's level of involvement and possible fun activities to introduce during the course of our engagements.
Our meeting gave us a clear vision for the next session and got us excited about the workshop planned for Saturday.