Week 7

Written on 23/10/2012

An update on the last two half weeks.  Sorry I have been so rubbish at writing and posting blogs, I didn’t even realise how long it had been since my last post, but time is flying by here! Quicker than I even could have imagined.  Before I know it I’ll be back on the plane to the UK wishing I could do it all over again. 

Anywho the last 3 weeks have been pretty busy, with both the mamas and the kids keeping us on our toes.  Coffee Bay was lovely.  We spent most of it on the beach, swimming in the Indian Ocean and surfing.  I’m pretty much a pro surfer it has to be said ;) Last Saturday a church came to Bethany and organised a party for the children, they brought two massive bouncy castles, loads of food and cakes and one of those things you hit with a stick and all the sweets fall out (I know what it’s called but I have no idea how to spell it, so I’m saving myself the embarrassment! haha).  But the kids had the time of their lives, I’ve never seen so many beaming faces all at one time.  Some had never seen a bouncy castle before so it was amusing and adorable to watch them figure out why there was suddenly a big rest castle in their back garden!  After much messing around and jumping we stopped for lunch and songs.  There’s something about African gospel singing that I love, epically a room full of 50 children singing.  All in all it was such a fun day and the sun was shining (stupidly forgot to put sun cream on again, so my shoulders looked like two lobsters!).

Over the last 3 weeks I feel like I’ve bonded with the children lot more.  I love the way they all run up to me and ask for hugs and high-fives.  I love that some of them call me Mama.   I love getting them ready for bed and giving them a kiss goodnight.  I love that even though they’ve been through so much they are still able to show love and compassion.  I love that I am able to act like a child again and mess around all day with them.  I even love it when we’re on the school run and the children scream ‘LAKE’ at the top of their voices when we pass by it, even though we do everyday (it never gets old for them!)

Oh, some very exciting news, Aphililie took her first few steps today!!  I’ve been practicing with her for the past month or so and today she did it.  Although she ended up falling over many times trying, it was amazing to watch.  But the best thing to see was the expression on her face when she did it.  A moment I won’t be forgetting any time soon J 

The girls and I also went for out first proper Braai.  I have never seen so much meat in my life, it was awesome.  Don’t get wrong, I love a BBQ but there’s something about a Braai that is so much better!!

Other than that things have been pretty much routine around here.  Missing everyone at home a lot!!Xxx

Home

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 

Yet Another Hospital Trip

Written on 25/09/2012

So today was yet another hospital trip, however this time we were not taking the children.  It was Danni and I who needed medical attention.  Yesterday during the day I started to feel really run down and tired, so I asked if I could rest for the afternoon so I would be better for work the next day.  After sleeping for 6 hours from 10 in the morning till 4 in the afternoon, I woke up feeling like I was on deaths doorstep (ok a little exaggerated but I felt so rough!).  Danni has also started to complain of pain in her neck, where a lump had appeared.  Hoping we would both feel better, we watched a film under our duvets and had an early night.  Us two invalids decided to top and tail in my room to save Lisa catching anything.

When I woke up I could barely move, it felt like someone had got a razor blade and started hacking at my throat and chest.  Bethany Home’s nurse came to see me; her husband was a doctor at the local private clinic, so when we arrived we got to skip the whole queue.  If looks could kill from the other patients waiting… they must have thought I was getting special treatment for being white.  I genuinely started to feel really guilty but I had no energy to even smile at them.  When I walked into the doctors room the first thing he said to me was “oh usisi (sister) you terrible.”  Thanks mate, not like I needed reminding how awful I looked, I did pretty much go in my PJs.  After an examination I was told I have a chest infection, but if I left it untreated any longer it could turn to pneumonia… awesome.  Danni was also examined and turns out she has mumps, what a pair we are ay!  I was ordered to go to see the nurse for an injection – this point I panicked, why an earth did I need an injection?! – but apparently it was the start of my antibiotic treatment.  I waited behind a little curtains for the nurse to arrive, when she walked in, she was holding what may have been the biggest needle I have ever seen.  My face must have been a picture because she started laughing at me.  I was already pale, but pretty sure I went even paler.  But I sucked it up like a man and took my arm out my sleeve.  At this point the nurse looked confused and pointed at her bum.  Momentarily I looked as confused as her, then realised she meant most people have the injection in their bum… There was no way I was getting an injection in my bum!!  I proceeded to have it in my arm (which was the worst pain I have ever experienced from an injection, I’m usually ok when I comes to these kind of things but I was nearly in tears).  She then handed me a cocktail of pills that I have to take.  All in all I have to take 17 tablets a day, and Danni 16 a day.  (We could be mistaken for drug dealers I swear!) So between us that’s 33 tablets in one day!! I feel sorry for Lisa, we’re going to be climbing the walls by the end of the treatment.  However it’s not all bad, Lisa has been great to us.  Like our Mummy who is going to nurse us back to health.  I get made endless amounts of tea and I now have an excuse not to get up for my 5:30am shift tomorrow… I’M GUTTED…

So the next 5 days till be spent lying in bed sleeping, popping pills every few hours and pretty much doing nothing.  As lovely as it might sound, I would much rather be working and not coughing up mucus every 10 minutes.  Safe to say I didn’t expect to be this ill within the first month.  Lets hope this will be it for a while.

Xxx 

First full week of work

After my first week of being on a scheduled working timetable, it is safe to say I am shattered.  It has been non-stop.  However it does feel like calm after the storm, when we first arrived it was all go, and everything happening at once, but this week has been a lot calmer and given all of us the chance to just settle in and get into a routine. 

On Saturday, Danni and I had a morning off so we went into town.  After doing some grocery shopping we were on our way back to the taxi rank when a group of men surrounded us, we tried to carry on walking but they wouldn’t let us past.  They weren’t trying to hurt us but they just wanted to know our names and talk to us.  Suddenly one man grabbed Danielle from behind and was hugging her, not letting her go.  At this point I nearly went mad, I was telling his friend to let her go and leave us alone.  After about a minute (which felt like 10) he let her go, I grabbed Danni and quickly walked away.  At this point I noticed that everyone in the street were just watching what has happened.  I was quite surprised that no one stepped in to help, but just stared.  I don’t know if it’s there culture but I don’t understand why a lot of men here think it’s ok to grab us just because we are white.  Although it was scary, I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later.

After this eventful experience, when we got offered to accompany the kids to church we thought why not, highly unlikely people will notice us there.  Oh how wrong we were.  We arrived at an old disused warehouse and you could hear the gospel choir from miles away, it sounded beautiful.  I had always wanted to go to a gospel church for the experience.  We walked and immediately I felt the staring eyes again, which put me on edge slightly.  However I carried on walking in with the children, but people wanted to shake my hand, touch my hair and talk to me.  I saw where we were all sitting and headed for my seat, only to be stopped by the preacher who ushered Danni and I to two seats at the front on the stage.  At this point I thought my heart was going to explode out of my chest.  After they finished singing the preacher turned to us, welcomed us and said something in Xhosa to which everyone cheered and screamed ‘HALLELUJAH’.  I genuinely thought we were about to be sacrificed.  The group of children from Bethany came up to the front and sung a song for the whole congregation, I was nearly in tears, I was so proud of them.  The fact that they were aged 4 – 6 and got up in front of 700 odd people and sang, I couldn’t do that and I’m 18!! After a 3-hour service of much cheering, people falling over and singing lots it was time for us to be escorted out.  Although I was a little uneasy at times, the whole experience was amazing and I couldn’t get over how amazing the combination of 700 gospel voices sounded together.

The girls and I have organised our first weekend off to which we will be travelling to Coffee Bay to lye on the beach, do some surfing and drink cocktails.  I can’t wait.  Will be good to relax and celebrate surviving our first month abroad.  We have also planned our Christmas holiday too, we’ve got from 23^rd December – 2^nd January off, so the plan is the backpack down to Cape Town for Christmas day, spend it on the beach with all the other Project Trust volunteers, have a Bri (BBQ) and do some surfing.  Then we are all going to hang around Cape Town till New Year and celebrate it there too.  Although the turkey and presents will be missed at Christmas, I can’t wait send Christmas on the beach with all the other volunteers.

Well that’s about it really.  Blogging may become less frequent because Internet is so expensive, but when I have the chance I will be sure to fill you in on everything J

xxx

Our first day off

So today was our first day off which was lovely.  We met up with the girls from Thembalihle and decided to explore Umtata a little more.  I have to say I have settled into Umtata life a lot quicker than I expected, although I bet in a few weeks I will be crying about something or other!

I woke up feeling quick sick today, hoping it would pass I still went out.  We discovered a little café off the beaten track called, Café Lang, it is amazing.  The views are spectacular and the surrounds are so quite, a far cry from the centre of Umtata.  It gave the 5 of us a chance to unwind and recover from ‘cabin fever’, which we are all experiencing from living in the children’s home.  It was the first time since I arrived on my ‘Gap Yah’ that I have had the chance to put my feet up and take everything in… I felt so relaxed, THEN I JUST CHUNDERED EVERYWARRRRRRRRRRRR!!! No really, I did.  I ran to the toilet and ‘spewed’ (as Danni would say).  I never get sick! When I emerged from the toilet, the cleaner was standing opposite me and giving me a look of disgust.  I could do nothing but say sorry and run away!  After these series of unfortunate events, being the genius I am, I thought it would be a good idea to go and eat the chocolate cake I had ordered.  Although it just ended with the same result.  We moved along from the café because I’m sure the cleaner was about to kick me out anyway.

The rest of the day we did some food shopping then came back to Bethany to relax.  Although I am still feeling awful and have a temperature, today has been a good day.  It has shown me that it is possible to relax in Umtata, something that I was quite worried about before.
p.s. my sleeping bag has been found and I know have everything returned to me :D 

My new home...

So this is my new room and what I will call home for a year.  I have decorated it with pictures and UK flags to feel home at home :) xx

Busy busy busy...

Day 2 & 3

The last two days seem to have moulded into one.  Day two I was very home sick and ended up crying for 2 hours straight in the evening, but the girls were great and comforted me so well.  Pretty sure I would still be crying if it were not for them!

Both days I spend in hospital and clinics. I should explain that because I have a drivers licence I will be Bethany’s main driver for the year.  This means taking the 8 school goers to school in the morning, then taking any children on hospital visits, collecting the groceries and any other errands that need to be done.  I am now driving a Toyota Avenva, which is a big difference to my nippy little Seat Ibiza that I am used to at home.  I now look like a soccer mum in my new car filled with children (but I have to say I am loving it)!

Today 4 children need to go to hospital to see the doctor: two 2 week old twins whose mother has passed away and they have been exposed to HIV at birth; one is very ill and rapidly loosing weight, another 4 month old child who was abandoned and came to Bethany who need to get the results from her HIV test and lastly a 2 year old who has been suffering from seizures and needed a CT scan.  When we arrived at the hospital I was carrying one of the twins while the other two girls had the other babies.  As we entered the waiting room I couldn’t help but notice everyone was staring at us.  At first this was very uncomfortable and quite isolating but I guess it’s not a normal sight for three white girls to be holding three black babies.  Many asked if we were their mothers (to be honest, with how super cute each of them are, I wouldn’t mind being their mother!!)  When it was our turn to see the Doctor, the three of us had been left alone so it was down to us to explain to the Doctor why each child was here and their backgrounds.  Thankfully most peoples English is very good, so communication wasn’t so bad.  But it was a weird feeling to be given so much responsibility, especially children who are so young and also it was only our 3^rd day.  I guess it goes to show how much Bethany needs us.  After 7 hours of waiting, and many nappy changes in the waiting room, the 2-week-old boy had to be admitted into hospital because an infection in his lungs and blood was discovered.  This was hard because it was out of my control and there was not much I could do for him.  However the good news is that the 4-month-old babies HIV test came back negative so we were all very pleased.

So after a hectic day, the three of us are very tired.  As I sit here writing this, I can hear all the children crying because they don’t want to go to bed and Danielle running around with the kettle and pans of boiling water to fill the bath (our hot water has decided to pack in again!)  We also had a power cut last night, so every night so far has brought us a surprise… Oh the adventures of living in rural Africa, I wonder what tomorrow brings…

Miss you all but I’m having an amazing time!

Lots of love,

Sally xxx