The grade 12s spent three interesting days at Boknes, a little town at the sea, to work on team building, acknowledge their own unique personalities and to build character through their experiences through the camp.

Some interesting activities were enjoyed which helped us to explore our characters traits and leadership roles. Amazingly these character tests were very accurate and jolted many learners into giggling fits and exclamations of wonder!
Team building exercises were mostly done inside the hall, as we were not blessed with good weather and it rained continuously. However, in one activity the class had to use water, so we all ran down to the beach being soaked by the rain, which added to the fun and excitement of the day.

 These exercises brought the grade 12 class closer together and resulted in many laughs and smiles.  
Overall this camp was a great experience for all of the grade 12 pupils and we all enjoyed it thoroughly!  

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a misty night that night and the air had a chill about it that made your breath appears before you. The moon was not yet full in the sky and it gave out little light. The playground was deserted now, there were no children about whose laughter filled the empty silence. The see-saw lay motionless with one of its seats in the dirt. The swings were also empty, all except one…

There was a girl sitting on one of the swings. She sat near the only street lamp in the playground. Her feet were touching the ground, making her swing move gently. Her bag was by her feet, looking forlorn. The girl looked to be about seventeen years old, but already the weight of the world was weighing her down.
She had long black hair that hung limply over her face. Her mascara was making black lines down her face as she cried. Suddenly the breeze grew stronger and blew her hair away from her face. She had a black eye that was starting to swell. She was also clutching her left arm and had a pained look on her young face. 

  
Under the light of the lamp, a blood stain was faintly visible. The blood stain grew slowly bigger from her wrist. She gave out a whimper and held her arm tightly against her chest. She reached into her bag for a bandage and a bottle of water for her bleeding arm. As she pulled the bandage out of her bag, a shiny object fell to the ground. She gently pulled her sleeve up to reveal the source of the bleeding. There were multiple lacerations on her arm that were still bleeding slowly.

She wiped away the blood and poured the cold water over it trying to clean the wounds. She let out a gasp, pain shot up her arm. She dried the water and blood with her jacket and began bandaging her arm. She had done this so many times before that she had become efficient with bandaging her self inflicted wounds. Once she had finished she pulled her sleeve down and wiped her tears away. She looked down and saw the shiny object lying on the ground. It was her pocket knife that was partly to blame for her damaged arm. She picked it up and put it back in her bag.

She got off the swing, put her bag over her shoulder and slowly walked home.

Fade away from them all
before they see and try to stop me
from doing what I must.
to free myself

“You gonna have to hold on!” they tell me
No. I say
enough of that
enough of waiting for something better to come my way

I will make my own way away from all of you.
Forever
“Don’t do it” they plead
sorry I say. This is what I need to do.

Find my salvation,
on a far away place where no one can touch me.
No one can guide me for no one is there.
Just me.
And my thoughts.

I will do it,
I will find what I crave
and I will be alone doing it.
It’s the thing that is in me,
my Spirit.

One day it will break free from all of you.
You! The strings that prevent me from breaking free today
just you wait, one day, I will break free.
And flee…

Society,

attracts you like moths to its deadly flame,

brainwashing you into thinking that you must conform.

Girls purging themselves of their souls,

boys acting out in mock camaraderie.

Infecting you all,

each and every one

and you get burnt.

You catch alightand tumble to your deaths.

Unimportant and forgotten.

But maybe, just maybe

you will see what I see,

every so often

a Butterfly appears amongst the blackened souls

of the moths.

Just shut up already! What do different kinds of fitness have to do with becoming an accountant anyway? I’m still waiting for the admission requirements of NMMU. This sucks, but at least I can sit back undisturbed. Yesterday I caught up on the sleep I missed due to the sad, yet truthful fact that I was on Mxit the entire weekend. Cliff said he loves my poems, Facebook profile and me. I wish people wouldn’t openly express their feelings like that; it makes me feel awkward seeing as I have no idea how to express how I feel.

Poems are a good way to describe emotions, and here is one of mine that I wrote instead of paying attention in Business Studies class.

Emancipate me from this perdition

soothe my soul,

wipe away the tears,

and blood and

the memories of desolation.

Vanquish my demons and

bring light and shelter into my shadowy world.

teach me to emulate the brave

to fight

run and

kill.

Teach me not to love.

Make me into someone new

someone fearless,

supreme,

rampant and resolute.

I beg you.

 

It’s no T.S. Eliot, I’ll admit, but I quite like it.

I went to the shrink yesterday. Mainly discussing the photo I took of my family, why I placed them where I did and how I would like it to be in the future. Who knows, maybe this guy can actually get somewhere with me. Third time’s a charm right? At least he doesn’t demand I hand over my poetry so he can read it and criticize me. Maybe a male shrink is better, who knows? My last shrink said I’m a failure. We paid her R300 an hour just so she can tell me I’m a failure because I got my tongue pierced behind my parents’ backs? No thanks! Go shrink someone else, you quack! Who cares? Body piercing is not mutilation; its art; and people who can’t see the difference are not worth my time.

School is so boring, but it’s the only place where I can write and be absolutely certain no one will bother me. At least there is one advantage to being an outsider; people don’t notice me. At home my mother constantly attacks me, asking how I am, if I want to talk and asking when I am going to let her in. In how exactly? If only I was invisible at home too...