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Written on 05/10/2012

I have now been in South Africa for over a month now.  Time has flown by.  It feels like yesterday I was standing in the airport with tears rolling down my face saying goodbye to my family and friends.  However I am totally settled in at Bethany Home now and it’s home.  Although the days can be long and very tiring, the children make it all worth it.  I have also been receiving letters from home, which has been so lovely.  It always makes my day to get a letter and my wall is filling up were I’m sticking them up.  If you want, please write to me, I would love to hear from anyone, as Internet is expensive so contact with home is minimal.  My address is:

Bethany Home, PO Box 25, Vulindlela Heights, Mthatha 5143, Eastern Cape, SOUTH AFRICA.

I mainly work in the nursery with the babies (0-18 months). I know you’re not meant to have favourites but I do have a ‘Bethany Baby’ who is coming home with me (SURPRISE Mum!!!). However I have grown attached to them all and it’s amazing to watch them grow and develop so quickly.  Yumkela started walking last week after much practicing with him, I am now struggling to keep up with him and he finds it hilarious to run away and hide in the nurse’s room.  Aphililie is also very close to walking, I found some walking frames to help her get used to using her legs.  Plus the kids in the day room love them, they play ‘bumper cars’ in them.

Tuesday was another hospital visit with the two year old who had been suffering from seizures.  We went to collect the results from his CT scan.  It was the first time I had done a hospital visit alone.  However there was a strike taking place so it was mayhem.  When we were sitting in the waiting in the room we heard singing from down the corridor getting louder and louder.  Before we knew it, the room was filled with over 500 hospital workers chanting, singing and dancing in cause of their strike.  I think all strikes should be like this because it was amazing, if I didn’t have a sleeping baby in my arms I would have probably joined!!  Haha, the thought of me trying to African dance…

Apart from the odd job the last two weeks have been pretty quite and routine.  However last night we went out for pizza with some other local volunteers from Germany.  One boy went to the toilet, when he came back to the table his jaw was dislocated.  For a moment everyone just stared at him and was stunned.  I broke the silence by saying “ermm I think he needs to go to the hospital!”  After many phone calls he was taken to a private hospital where they quickly put it back in place.  Apparently the crunching noise was something else.  On the bright side the pizza was to die for and as it was ‘all you can eat’, I think I over did it a bit.

We are off to Coffee Bay today for the weekend for a well-deserved break.  It will be nice to just lye on the beach and have a cocktail.  I think I might try some surfing and cliff jumping (I’ve got to have some sort of adrenaline rush!).  We’re staying in Coffee Shack backpackers, which is located right on the beach and backed by mountains and cliffs.

I think that’s about it for now, sorry it’s not the most exciting blog!! Xxx