Umtata

Day 1

When stepping off the plane I was expecting the African sun to hit my like a ton of bricks and to be sweating buckets, however it was quite the opposite! I immediately put my jumper and hat on.

It has to be said, Umtata is a very small town.  A population of only 500,000 people.  So this meant the airport of very very small and basic, there wasn’t even passport control… I guess there is no threat of terrorism around here and people are trying to get out not in haha.  We were met by Pumza, our host for the year and director of Bethany Home.  She is lovely and was very excited to meet us all.  Whilst all of the other four girls collected their rucksacks, I was left standing until the last bag came out, and yet still no 90L Black and Red rucksack was to be seen.  My heart sank. I had got this far, travelled 5000 miles and they loose my bag NOW?!  After a few enquires I discovered by bag was in Zimbabwe… fat use it was to me there!! Oh well, I guess it added a bit more spice to the journey.  (I am happy to say I now have my bag back safely, however we are minus a sleeping bag.)

So what’s Umtata like? Well drive 10 minutes each side of town and you will be in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by rolling mountains.  However the centre of town could not be more different.  CRAZY drivers, if they are even allowed to be called drivers, pretty sure most don’t have a licence.  On the way back from the airport a lorry had to perform an emergency stop to prevent it ploughing into the side of us.  My life flashed before my eyes.

As we approached Bethany Home we were welcomed by the mamas who had just finished their shifts.  Although they were screaming things at us in Xhosa I knew how happy they were to see us, I couldn’t help but smile the whole conversation.  As we walked in we were shown our flat, which we will be living in for the year.  It is basic to say the least.  Two bedrooms, a bathroom and small kitchen, when I say small I mean you can touch both walls at one time.  Although we are without hot water and an oven I guess this is home now and we are slowly getting used to it J after putting our stuff down, Pumza wanted to show us around the home quickly.  The children were just being put to bed when we entered the dorms and we were greeted by 20 children all sitting on potties in a row.  They immediately shouted ‘JAYNEY’, the name of the previous volunteer who left a few weeks ago.  As we carried on the children who were already in bed jumped out as quickly as possible and run up to us.  They all wanted to be lifted up, hugged and shown attention.  It was overwhelming but so amazing.  A moment that I will never forget.  Danielle, Lisa and I were so shattered by this point we decided to retire to our flat and watch a film in bed.  We have a big collection of DVDs thanks to Jayney and Sarah (the previous Project Trust volunteers) leaving us a big box of goodies!  (If you are reading this girls, thanks very much, it is helping us settle in!!)  With ear plugs at the ready, as the children wake up at 5:30, I was ready to sleep… and sleep I did, like a baby!!!!