Sandboarding & Quadding!!!!!

Wow! I had so much fun today!!! The van picked us (Me & Stephanie) up at 10:30 and it was only like a 20 minute drive to Atlantis where we sandboarded. So, Atlantis used to be totally underwater, the water receded, and the sand dunes were left. No picture I took can really express how cool this place looked. Just rolling hills of sand--super steep and just beautiful. So we go out there, get our boots on, get a board, and tromp across the sand. We start on an "easy" hill...this is not like ski/sandboard places at home where the bunny slopes barely have an decline in them, it's a drop off! We waxed our boards, strapped in, and away I went (although first I was scared, wacthing everyone else, and very hesitant). Quisto (our guide/instructor) said, "Just do it, get the fear out your head, look where you want to go and that's where you'll go, and keep your weight on your front foot." Okay...so I headed down. I "fell" a couple times...I put fell in quotes because it wasn't really falling. I just got scared and sat down! Then, I'd get back up and finish the hill. I'm a wuss...but it was awesome! So, we'd move onto bigger hills and carry on. Walking back up killed though! We'd be taking like 10 minutes between each trip down just taking pictures and catching our breath. Towards the end Quisto told Stephanie and I that we definitely needed to sled down on the board at least once before we left. We'd been waiting to hear that all day! haha So we did, and it was like amazing!! We went so much faster and just rolled off the boards at the bottom. One time I think I was flying through the air off the board and twisting in the air, my shirt was up and I landed hard! My ribs and shoulders were killing. But it was so fun. So then we had lunch just sitting at the top of the dunes. Shortly after, 4 quads (4 wheelers for those of you who call them that, like me) pull up on the dunes. We grabbed our boards, each hopped on one with the guys driving and headed to drop off the boards.

We drop off the boards, and the guys, get helmets and head out. There's one guy in the front leading us and we are to just stay in a single file line while we ride for safety reasons. I'm guessing there's some places where sand could collapse in and there's tons of steep hills and drop offs so they don't want people just shooting off those! Basically, I thought I was gonna cry and/or die several times!! These things were so freakin' steep. One that we came up on he got off his quad walked back to each of us to tell us how to go down them, "just pump your brake, if you don't do it right you'll flip." Thanks... So scary!!!!!!! And he took us on ones like this several times. However, it was so much fun. And reminded me how much I love 4-wheeling, and made me think that Ivan & I need to get some and quad in Arizona, which is a great place to quad too.

It was amazing. I put up a couple pics, but they just don't do it justice. They might have more pics on the website of the company we went with that you can look at, but if you weren't there, it's hard to understand what the dunes look like & how steep the hills are. (http://www.downhilladventures.com/ )

Sidenote: Quisto was super cool, and it wasn't until I was looking through the pics when I got home that I realized he's got a resemblance to Heath Ledger...do you see it??! Although he was being a bit goofy in our pic (making fun of me with my hand on my hip) in Stephanie's pic you can really see it... anyway, it was an incredible day!

Mama Chelsey & Mama Rachel

Here's my co-mama of Lona, Rachel. She volunteered at HOH last year through AVIVA, like me. This summer she came back on her own and volunteered, working with kids and the social workers. She is heading back to England tomorrow (so Lona will be mine again...) just kidding. Oh yeah, Rachel had long hair but shaved her head to raise money to come here for HOH! :) I saw pics of before, I like them both, but I think the short hair looks good on her. Anyway, here she is.

And a pic I took on my lunch hour on the beach, which HOH is a block from the beach. It happened to be cold & rainy when I was there (duh, it's always cold & rainy here).

Baby Strapping...

Me with Simdi strapped under my shirt, while making 20 bottles :)

Meet Adrian

Babies Galore

Whew. I just got home from my most exhausting day at Home of Hope. A couple days ago we got a new little girl... I don't know how old she is but I'm guessing 2. We're just holding onto her until her mom can take her back. Basically her mom was arrested for stealing and has been held for a couple days and when she gets out she'll take her back. She's a good kid, just one more to look after.

Then, we got Adrian. His mother died of AIDS and so he's been with his dad and step mom ever since then--I don't know how long ago his mom died or how well she did or didn't take care of him, but anyway, Adrian has HIV, and TB, is 19 months old but is literally the size of Lona (who is a small 9 month old), has a face that screams fetal alcohol syndrome, and on top of that has been so neglected that his skin is just flaking off. His diaper rash around his legs and waist are like nothing I've ever seen. He doesn't have any teeth from such poor nutrition. He ended up with us because his step mom took him to the hospital because she "thought he might be sick." Ya think?! And it turns out that this woman is also on a committee in her township for ensuring kids are taken care of...?! Hello?! Your own son looks like a burn victim with skin falling off and you didn't think this odd until now? So, he has to bathed very painstakingly, and his first couple days was wrapped head to toe like a mummy. After his bath he's covered in a vaseline like mixture, and socks cover his hands so he want claw at himself because I'm sure the itching is unbearable. On the upside, he's super sweet, developing a personality, eating well, playing with the other kids, and his skin is improving.

Today, we got Simdi. Simdi was born about a month and a half ago, at only 6 months along. She's been in the hospital and 2 days ago her 21 year old mom left the hospital with her, dropped her at the 18 year old dad's house, and ran away. The dad did what he could but ended up taking her to the police station, knowing he didn't know what to do with her. Props to him for taking her to someone rather than just throwing her out like many other people do. So, she comes to us weighing probably around 1-2 kilos (roughly 2-4 pounds)... could easily fit in a shoebox. Her skin seems so thin and loose on her body. Eleanor has instructed us to take "kangaroo care" with her. Meaning, nearly all hours of the day, one of us needs to be wearing those carriers that people have, under our shirts, with her in it so she can get skin to skin contact. I was the first lucky carrier today :) She's so light that it's not an issue, just slows you down. We instantly knew what it felt like to be 6 months pregnant as far as reaching for things goes! And I don't know how many people got to look down my shirt today because they wanted to see the baby! haha Right now they are working to see if there's any other family to help with the baby, until then, or if there's not, we will have her. If nobody in the family ever takes her then it will turn to finding a foster family. If that doesn't happen she'll stick with HOH for the long haul. Although, I'm sure she'll have no problem getting fostered since she's so young.

So anyway, it just made the day crazy. Everything was slower and after my shift of carrying her, it was time for baths, so I gave 8 baths today whereas we normally alternate. One of our babies is quite needy from spending weekends with a foster family so she was noisy for attention--good news is she's heading to a family tomorrow for good! Anyway, I'm beat. And my back is killing me (bathing the kids and carrying the little one for a few hours--mostly from moving differently I think...)

Tomorrow I traded shifts with another girl so Stephanie and I can go sandboarding and quadding tomorrow. Hopefully I can actually stand up!! I'll be putting up some pics of the new kids...

1 step forward, 2 steps back

The other day at work Eleanor had an opportunity to sit down and talk with us a bit and we (me and the other volunteer I work with, Bonnie from Australia) just kinda picked her brain. First, I had been misinformed about where Lona came from. She wasn't abandoned, she has parents. Mom has HIV and a huge drinking problem. Which I think I mentioned before, probably means that if she was taking anti-retroviral meds while pregnant to prevent transferring HIV to the baby, it wouldn't have worked. Eleanor is pretty sure Lona is HIV too because she's so tiny, and she's betting on fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) as well, which is affecting most of our kids. Partly because it's just likely since her mom drinks, but also because Lona is so active. Which, I personally don't think any of the babies are any more or less active than any baby I've ever met, but Eleanor also has years of experience so who knows? She did say though, that this will show up in the kids later in life. They are highly impulsive, and explosive--hard time managing their emotions and things like that. As teenagers, typically, they are more than a handful. Also, if they don't establish those bonds with people as infants, later in life they will be either clingy or so independent from people that it gets in the way of relationships, possibly having little regard or respect for anyone or anything, and even further down the line, possibly not be good parents themselves. Which is why they really emphasize love & attention as so important for the babies. At the same time though, we shouldn't get too attached which would make the leaving hard on us and the babies. The truth is, these babies have so many people coming in and out that they're not going to be affected by my leaving, even if I'm crying all the way back to America!

So we discussed the adoption path again...and of course it just gets more complicated every time we go that route. The good news: while establishing residency here you can foster, so if I moved here I could essentially raise Lona while passing the 5 years time to gain residency. After the 5 years I could adopt, and we could come back to America. However, problem #1: South Africa isn't quick to hand out residency in the first place. Because unemployment is so high here, you have to bring a skill that is unique or come with a company, otherwise there's a good chance they won't give you residency. Problem #2: America isn't always quick to give residency to the children you're bringing back--so I could spend years here and then not even be let back into the country. Plus, I don't know what the view is on bringing back a child with HIV...

On top of those issues, Eleanor was almost talking us out of any thoughts simply based on the issues these kids will have later in life. If she's HIV positive, that's a whole load of issues in itself, if she's FAS, I could plan on major behavior and learning problems. That part doesn't scare me...I deal with those things for a living so I know what to expect (although not 24 hours of it, I still know the potential problems). She was just going on and on about how big of a commitment it is. Duh....

The bottom line is that, the easiest route is to marry a South African man. I told her I wasn't sure how Ivan would feel about that... "Honey, don't worry, I'll be home in 5-6 years and I'm going to marry a man here, but it's only to adopt Lona, whom I don't think you even want, so just wait for me...you'll love her..." I joked with Eleanor that I want them to foster Lona, keep her with them, and I will send them the money to support her...whatever she needs, just contact Aunty Chelsey. Just so I know she's ok. Eleanor laughed...but I'm dead serious... the problem is, if she gets adopted, or even if she doesn't and leaves HOH into a children's home when she's older, there is NO way of knowing where she goes or how she does. Once she leaves HOH that's it.

So anyway that was a lot of our discussion. Surprise: it was all about how can I get Lona?!

Yesterday was my day off so I went to visit SANCCOB--which is the place that rehabs birds and penguins that our other volunteers work at. They were cute!! There was one with a broken wing, and one missing a foot!!!! So sad. But cute. Today I'm just going to hang around the house. It's raining of course. At this point I don't want to go anywhere because I can't afford to shop anymore (and I will if I leave the house!) and the only thing I still want do before I leave (that hasn't been scheduled) is Table Mountain...so I wait for the sun to come out!!

Look at these faces!

I can't get enough of these two!!!!!!!

The Gala!!

So the gala was fun. There were people in tuxes and women in dresses looking like they could have just come from prom. Upon arrival we were given champagne, and then waited for our 4 course meal to start. First was salad, although types of salads I've never seen before. Then we waited about 30-45 minutes and the meal came. The choices were fish, chicken, and beef. I chose the chicken and it was very good! Then we waited some more, and finally dessert came, the choice was cheesecake or creme brulee (I had cheesecake). All the food was good, and the Apple Martini's were amazing! I always get those back home and I had the best Appletini I've ever had, here! It actually tasted like an apple, and even had an apple slice in it. Wonderful. At the beginning of the evening Richard gave a welcoming speech and then the host for the night took over--who is the host of Survivor South Africa! Which, wasn't that exciting since we didn't know who he was or anything, but it was exciting because he's a celebrity here and everyone else knew him :) Later on Eleanor gave a little speech too. She spoke about the kids. Stephanie and I were in tears of course because we actually know the kids. I'm hoping the rich people there with gobs of money were touched, but who knows. They also showed a video with some of the kids, and stating what all Home of Hope does for the community, with a girl singing "Who's Going to Stop the Rain." She was amazing! And the song was beautiful. After this there was a live auction-- they were auctioning of jet getaways, safari's, diamond earrings-- really awesome items. It was so fun to watch these rich people actually bid on things and the whole bit. Also, all the while, there was live music and dancing-- some jazz, and some modern stuff. It was pretty cool. It also raised a lot of money-- about 300,000 rand ($39,000!) Which is amazing, but they still need to raise 650,000 rand ($83,000) for the new house. (So if anyone wants to donate, or organize a fundraiser, or get their church involved or something like that, please let me know). What I learned was that the new place is actually 2 houses on one lot. So all the kids at the farm, and all the kids at the house I'm working in will all move there. There's also more room to house more children I believe. The house we're in right now is rented. In August they have to be out, and the owner is tearing it down to build condos. Luckily, as I had posted before, a wealthy businessman has secured the house for them by giving them 3 months interest free loan, but he needs to be paid...which is where the money needed comes into play.

As I was watching it also kinda pissed me off that they have to go through this big event and woo all these rich people to take care of kids who need it...it's just something people should be doing anyway, but these people have to be put on you know?

So, enough about the gala. Not much else going on for the moment. Just been working. Our little boy with the trachea tube in was supposed to have a doctor's appointment yesterday to see if he can have it out, but apparently some social worker (not one in our house) didn't do what she needed to do to permit the doctor visit, so we're right where we were. Which sucks. Poor kid. Speaking of, I also found out some info about his older sister whom I've mentioned. Apparently, when she was still with their mother, one night her mom came home and she was sitting outside on the front steps. Because her mom had wanted her to be inside, she threw scalding hot water on her and beat her. You can still see the scars on her legs from the water.

The other day I was sitting at work visiting with one of the women who works there full time, Tiny, and she said to me, "You're good with the kids. You're better than the others, they know nothing." I take this as a huge compliment! haha The women who work there (Tiny, Gloria, and Athlena) don't speak to us much because English isn't their first language (They speak Xhosa-pronounced Kosa--and some Afrikaans). They do great in English, but you know sometimes it's a struggle. Plus, they are so busy cleaning and taking care of everything else that makes the house run smoothly. I also value what she said because I'm sure they are thinking we are all stupid and have probably dealt with some really crazy questions, as they watch hundreds of volunteers come in and out of there. For example-- I was packing diaper bags the other day for all the kids because they were painting the nursery so all the kids were leaving with temporary foster parents or social workers for a couple days. On the list was something called "Baby Grows" for one of our kids. It was on the list for our kid who has to have a thickener added to his bottles, so I thought maybe that is what she meant. I looked to Tiny (she was helping me) and said, "Aren't we out of that?" and pointed to the cabinet where the thickener is. She just started laughing at me. I'm like what??! She leads me to the laundry room where she gets out a onesie!!!!!! We were dying laughing. I said..we don't call these "baby grows!" (which I'm thinking could be a brand name?!) Either way, it was funny, and an opportunity for her to think I'm a total moron. Oh well.

I guess that's all for now... hope you all enjoyed your 4th! No celebration here, the Americans in the house were a little bummed yesterday. I work tomorrow and then am off for a couple days. Wish me sunny weather so I can finally get to Table Mountain. Next week I'm going to stay at "Vicky's B&B" (the smallest B&B in South Africa), and volunteer at "Gloria's Kindergarten" one day. Those were the places in the heart of the township that I wrote about awhile back. I'm a little nervous to be staying in the township, and seeing what meal is prepared for me too! Plus, last time I was there, I was upstairs looking out the window and there was a teenager on the street below looking up at me making a gun with his hand... a little unnerving... but Ursula keeps telling me, "You're very safe there darling." Megan (house mom) has told me, "Just don't go wandering around!! No walking the streets!!" Hadn't planned on it! It's only one night and I just really want the experience since my whole trip I've been living in luxury. And Vicky is so well respected that people don't mess with her or her visitors. And on top of that, everyone has really said that there's nothing to worry about, just use common sense. I'm sure once I'm dropped at Vicky's I won't be leaving, unless to see Beauty across the street. Which by the way, did I ever mention that it's just dirt lanes in some places in the township , not even wide enough for 2 cars... rambling now...

Seeya!

**The pics are at the gala, the first with Richard, Eleanor & Stephanie, the second is us with the Survivor guy (Mark Bayly).

I'm going to a Gala!

I’ve been meaning to write but just haven’t had the motivation! Not sure why…

The other day I had a good conversation with Richard, the man who runs Home of Hope with his wife. He told us that the government only provides 21% of the money to run HOH, everything else has to be fundraised! That figures out to 13 rand a day for each child, which is basically under $2, that won’t even buy the diapers! I believe Eleanor told me one day that it actually costs like 300 rand a day per child. On top of the day to day needs of the child, there are 6 social workers who need a salary, 3 other women who to the cooking and cleaning, and that’s just at our one house, there are 2 others! Plus Richard, who manages the finances, IT support, all the mundane but necessary things that need to be done. I would assume that Eleanor has a salary as well, but I don’t know that for sure. Can you imagine having to fundraise your income, and 6-7 other people’s? Richard went on to say that a lot of corporations have a clause that can’t donate towards salaries. So, there may be a company who is willing to donate money but then they want to know exactly where that money goes and where it doesn’t. They want proof and all of those things. As Richard was saying, it’s not that easy. When you look at the expenses compared to how many children are in their care, it doesn’t make sense, it’s the expenses nobody thinks about—the upkeep, and the salaries of these people. He also was saying that the law used to be that a corporation could donate up to 5% of their profit and the government has now changed that to 10%...which basically the government has then handed off the responsibility to the businesses. It’s interesting.

Tonight is their biggest fundraiser of the year, the Christmas in July Gala. The tickets were 400 rand (about $40-50) and there are a lot of rich people coming! It’s very formal and I’m hoping a lot of fun, because I’m going! I read about it on the website before I came and just waited to see if there were any tickets left and there were. So myself and Stephanie, another volunteer, are going. I brought a couple dresses with me just for this and I’m sure they aren’t even formal enough! But, we’ll make it work. It’s a big dinner/dance and I’m guessing there will be a lot of donations come through because of it, aside from the ticket money. I’ll let you know how it goes!

What else…Eleanor approached me the other day to use my occupational therapy skills. (I have skills?!) It’s funny because as much as I say and think I want out of OT someday, it was so refreshing to have to think about something and get a chance to use my knowledge. Plus, I think even if I leave OT I’ll always be an OT at heart, as I’m sure it is with most professions. I can’t help but look at people’s handwriting, or behaviour, or the developmental aspects of a toy or game! Anyway, she wanted me to put together a program of activities and exercises the volunteers can do with the babies, rather than just holding them, playing with them, or looking at them (which I’m totally guilty of!) Although, I don’t have any experience with babies I have the basic knowledge to get me going and at least know where to find the resources. So I’ll be working on that and am pretty excited about it.

All last week we had one of the older kids from the farm at the house, Zukahnye (Zu-kon-ya) and she is the older sister of two of our babies that I’ve mentioned before. I found myself, when the babies were sleeping, stealing her away to work on her grip and writing her name! haha It was nice to use some skill again! She hasn’t started school yet, although she is 7 years old. They don’t start school here until they are 6, but prior to that they also didn’t know how old she was. It’s so interesting to meet these older kids who have fewer skills than some of my kindergartners at home. Is it that they are behind developmentally or the fact that they just haven’t learned it yet? Probably a combination. (The picture is of Zukahnye, Ntlantla (Klun-kla), and Gunda--the little family we have.)

What else…I was supposed to go sandboarding yesterday, but the girl who was doing it with me was sick, and they wouldn’t pick up just 1 person, so we’ll have to reschedule. So instead I went on the winelands tour I was scheduled for. It was beautiful in the winelands, but it totally reaffirmed for me that I don’t like wine! I tried 18 different wines over the course of the day, some chocolates, and cheeses, and I can honestly say I didn’t remotely like any of the wine, barely the chocolate, and some of the cheese was ok. I still had a good time, and it was another experience, but…yuck. Wine is not for me. Bonus to this trip: one of the wineries is also a cheetah outreach program. So I got to pet a cheetah! Obviously there are strict rules when doing so you don’t scare it and nobody gets killed, but it was still beautiful and pretty awesome to be like, “I’m petting a cheetah right now!”

Last night we went out to eat…at a Mexican restaurant, for one of the girls last night. It was a good time. But kinda funny that we ended up in a Mexican restaurant in Africa! Oh well. She’s English and said she never gets Mexican food J

Ta ta for now!

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Odds & Ends

I’ve thought about some random things that don’t have anything to do with a specific activity or tour that I’ve done, but that I thought were worth mentioning.

So, some verbiage that we use here. Diapers are nappies. Pacifiers are dummies. When someone says they’ll be back ‘just now’ that actually means in awhile, and if they say “now now” then that really means now. We Americans have been picked on for how we give the time when someone asks—we tend to give a fairly exact time, when they’re usually just expecting if it’s half past or quarter til, things like that. It’s somewhat of a running joke now when one of the English girls asks me what time it is she’s laughing already, but I still respond with 11:53. How am I to know if you want the exact time, like if you’re figuring something out, or if you just need an estimate? Better give the exact and you can go from there.

Also, I haven’t ever really introduced anyone. So, in our house we have a “house mom.” She is here on weekdays during normal work hours, buys groceries for the house (our breakfasts are provided), books tours for us that we request, and really is just here in case we need anything; her name is Megan. Then we have Nomsa, the house cleaner. She isn’t here to clean up after us, as we all need to make our beds and do our own dishes, but she does the hardcore cleaning that we don’t do. Oh, the house itself. When you walk in it’s a huge open room with tile floors and all of that. We have 3 couches and a couple chairs, the TV/DVD/stereo, a fireplace, and the computer in this room. Off to the right is the kitchen, which is through a huge doorway, that has glass sliding doors, so later when some people are talking in the kitchen and others are watching tv in the lounge, we can’t hear each other. In the kitchen there are 4 refrigerators, and a huge harvest table. There’s an island with a sink, as well as a regular sink in the back of the kitchen. One wall has 30 cabinets with locks on them and we’re each assigned one. Some people keep food in there and some just valuables. From the kitchen you can go down the hallway and there is a private bedroom (you can pay more to stay here, typically couples stay here), a boys room, a few bathrooms, and then a big room which has 7 bunk beds (so, 14 beds all together) where most of the girls stay. Back up to the living room. Off to the left is Megan’s office, and if you go straight you’ll walk out the sliding doors to the patio where we have a BBQ, picnic tables, and a pool. (Although way too cold to benefit from this right now!) If you walk past the pool there is an outdoor staircase leading upstairs where there is another room with 4 bunk beds (8 beds total) and two bathrooms. This is where I stay. It’s wonderful for privacy, but sucks when it’s cold or rainy that you have to go outside to get up there, however, I’m not complaining at all!! When I first got here there was just one other girl in the room, she actually just left today, and now there are 3 of us. So that’s the house. A little ritzy considering we’re all here volunteering and what not, but for my first time travelling this far alone and everything, I wanted to be sure I felt safe and comfortable. My only complaint with the house—it’s cold all the time, often times colder inside than outside. We all shuffle around with blankets, attempting to light the fireplace with no luck.

So, back to the people who live here. My roomie and co-worker who just left was 19, from the Boston area, and went to school in New York. She wants to be a lawyer someday and is interested in human rights and that sort of thing, which brought her here. She’s very knowledgeable and I learned quite a bit about South Africa’s laws and history from her. Another of my roommates is 20 I think, maybe 19, and from Canada. She is going to school for community development and just learning all of this as I am pretty much. We hit it off ok, however, she works the opposite shift from me at Home of Hope so we’re never off on the same days. Just see each other in the evenings. We just got our 3rd roommate last night, Bonnie. She is from Australia and works in social services/community development. She’s very knowledgeable as well and has done volunteer work in Tijuana, Cambodia, here, and a couple other places I think. All of the other people in the house right now are volunteering at SANCCOB, which is a place that rehabilitates penguins and various other birds. Some of them have an interest in that for work, and others just love penguins! In that group there have been people from England, Germany, Virginia, Idaho, and Canada that have been coming and going the entire time. Also, sometimes we’ll have people here for just a few days to a week while they are sightseeing around Cape Town before heading to their projects which are further away. So, that’s the house & people in it for the most part.

I’ve met a few more people volunteering at Home of Hope who aren’t with AVIVA. One of the girls, Rachel, volunteered at Home of Hope last year through AVIVA but is now back on her own. I think I’ve mentioned her before. She’s also the one who gives me the hard time about the exact time I give! She’s also in love with Lona… we’ve agreed we can come up with some sort of shared custody if we have to J haha She’s called me Mama Chelsey or if I’m busy I’ll tell Lona to go see Mama Rachel. Hah There’s another volunteer right now named Louisa who is from Holland—well actually her parents are Italian, but she was born in South Africa. She stayed here until she was about 16, and then moved to Italy. Then, she met her Dutch husband, and moved to Holland! She just happened to be staying across the street from Home of Hope last time she was here and asked them what it was all about. So she’s back as a volunteer! She raised a lot of money for them and brought a lot of clothes too.

What else…I have got a lot of great feedback from people reading the blog about how what I’m doing is great and everything. I love hearing that. BUT, what I hope is that it motivates you to find whatever it is you’re interested in and give back that way. There are a lot of ways to help in the states too, my passion just happens to lie in Africa. I would just encourage you to find something to give back to, because it’s good for everyone, and it really does feel great. Somewhat selfish J I’ve just been interested in Africa for a very long time. I’ve done my research, learned a lot, and one of the things I have learned is how different it is here. (Duh right?) But really, all the government assistance we have in the states, they don’t have that here. People have to pay to go to school, so if there’s no money, there’s no education. Which, obviously leads to poverty, which leads to poor health, substance abuse problems….in just goes on and on. While all of this stuff happens in the states, the resources available in the states are nearly endless compared to what is offered here and in a lot of 3rd world countries. Anyway, enough with my rant! Everyone finds their interest in different places, mine is here, and I’m glad I followed it.

So that's enough for odds & ends. Today I changed the trachea tube on my own. Normally we do it with 2 people just to be safe, but I kinda just wanted to see if I could do it on my own. I knew I could just yell if I needed someone and really the worst that would happen is it would take a long time... but I did it. Tomorrow we have a new volunteer starting and so I'll teach her and she'll take over. Plus, he goes for an appointment on Friday to see if he can breathe on his own!!! YAY! Let's hope.

Anyway, that's all for now.

In case you were wondering...

I did a little research on how you can get around the "no international adoption" laws in South Africa. I knew already that there are a couple countries who basically have contracts with South Africa so people can adopt from those countries. However, even when adopting from those countries there's quite a few steps involved. It has to be proven that there are no suitable parents to adopt within South Africa. The U.S. does not have an agreement with South Africa.

Which brings us to the only option available. You have to establish residency in SA. Which I already knew. What I didn't know was how long you have to live here. 5 years!!!!! I thought it would be a year minimum or something.

We have a family now who is doing this and what they are doing is being foster parents while they are establishing residency and then once they establish it, they will fully adopt and I believe, head back to England.

It's an idea. I had no idea it was 5 years though. The good thing is that the government itself has no fees for adoption, it all depends on what the agency you go through charges. It may be that way everywhere but I dunno.

I told Ivan, I'm just used to deciding what I want and then doing what I need to get it or do it, and with this it's not that simple, so that sucks. However, there is a way...

Gone baby gone

One of our babies went home yesterday. Back to this mother. The whole reason he'd been taken away in January was because he had gotten really sick. They did some investigating and discovered that since birth, his mom had only fed him custard... I guess they have been on her to get her act together and improve and she has... so, he went back to her yesterday. On the one hand, I guess that's the goal. You give the parents a chance to get it right, if they do what they need to do, they get their kid back. On the other hand, you don't want him to go because what if it's not best for him? What if she messes up again? What if he's pulled in and out of foster care his whole life. Which is likely. Plus, it was so hard to say goodbye. On Thursday we just overheard the conversation, "Victor is going back to his mom tomorrow." Nobody told us anything. Then we heard it would be at 2:00 p.m. on Friday. At 10 a.m. a social worker walks in and says, "They're on their way to get Victor." So soon??! So it was a mad rush for everyone to just hold him, play with him, and take one more picture. If there hadn't been a million people in the room, every one of us would have been balling. We're all just smiling at Victor or staring at the ground. It was hard. And all you can think is, well, I hope I never see you again, because that means things are going well. The truth is, no matter how great his mom is now, the environment at Home of Hope is always going to better for these kids. So sad. (The picture is of Victor).

Last night we stayed up and watched this birthday special for Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday, I'm sure it was probably on in the states last night too. There were like a million performers and it went on for 3 hours! Nelson Mandela came out at one point to give a short speech...he was carrying a cane, and had to be supported by people to walk out, and just looked so old. I started crying, the others were tearing up. I mean, we all obviously have a place in us for Nelson Mandela, South Africa, and Africa in general, so to see him like that was really hard. The average person with no interest here, might not care. If I'd been sitting alone in my own living room I'm sure I'd have been balling uncontrollably. Not to mention the speech itself just talking about everything that needs improvement. The theme of the night was, "It's in our hands." Meaning, WE all need to do something. Whew, I'm tearing up again. ha It was a great reminder too of why we're all here in the first place.

So, I have today & tomorrow off. It's nice out today, but kinda cloudy so I've hear that if there are clouds at all it's not worth it to go to Table Mountain. So today I'm heading back to the waterfront to shop a bit.. :) Maybe Table Mountain tomorrow. You know, I also heard that when repelling, you only repel like half off it, then you get off and hike down. So I'm undecided if I'm going to do that or not. I might just do the sightseeing from the top. We'll see.

My Girl

So, let's all come together here and figure out how I'm going to get Lona. I'm totally in denial at this point that she is not coming home with me. I'm just acting like she is...could blow up in my face someday (like July 20th) but for now it helps me cope :) I just love her to pieces. And what is really starting to bother me is to think about what her life will be like. I've avoided that thought for awhile, but the other day I visited another home for teenage girls. All the girls there have been raped and/or abused, or sold as wives to older men when they were 12 (really). And if Lona gets out of the system the odds are against her. If she stays in the system, then she's just in the system her whole life! Which creates problems of it's own. I just can't stand to think about what the future could hold for her. And while I could be all sunshine & roses and act like Lona's life will be different than anyone else's, the odds are against that. I really want to bring her to the states, and that's just not possible. I told Ivan, then I want to be like, her Aunty in the states or something. We can keep in touch and I will send whatever money she needs to go to school and have clothes and whatever else. I dunno. I know that's impossible too but you just feel like, I need to do something!!!!!!! Really bothers me.

And of course I feel that for all the kids, it's not a bright future for anyone. I mean, there's always possibilities, so I guess we can just collectively think positively but still. It just sucks.

So I guess I need to stop talking about Lona... :) I will see her tomorrow. hah We had a few new kids staying for a few days-- older kids who were being abused by their parents. Bruises were still there and everything. It's nuts. They speak some English but mostly Afrikaans. They thought it was hilarious that none of us could speak Afrikaans...so communication was fun today! haha

Well I guess that's all. Let's put our heads together shall we?

Oh wait, remember the emails & posts about Home of Hope trying to buy another house, and they're raising money? Ok, well, they still need money! Some of you had mentioned wanting to donate towards that so email me if you still want to (chelsbels_2000@yahoo.com ). But good news too, there is a very rich business man who has signed on for the house so they now have more time to raise the money!! And another business just donated 350,000 rand!! We're getting there. These people work so hard for these kids by the way. Home of Hope is run out of their house. They have 3 grown daughters of their own, adopted 2 kids, and are raising their 2 year old granddaughter. They quit their jobs to do Home of Hope. Recently, with the xenophobic attacks there have been some refugees in the area... Eleanor made 400 sandwiches to take to them! At night they drive around to see how many children and babies are out on the streets, and talk to them, and think about what else they can do for them. They have 3 houses right now (their own where I am with the babies, another for teenage girls, and another for the young kids) and each of them have been bought in faith that the money would come, and it has every time. Having another house would mean being able to help more children. Anyway, just a little background for you. It's looking up but there's a long ways to go :)

Shark Dive & more

So....I survived! haha The shuttle picked me up around 6:15 a.m. for a 2.5 hour ride to where we'd be doing the dive. I slept most of the way and woke up above the clouds! Seriously, I woke up, looked out the window and there were rolling green hills, rocks, and looking down on clouds! Anyway, we finally get to the lodge and I eat breakfast and wait for all the other people to get there. About 30 minutes later we get our briefing from the captain. He tells us: It's about a 20 minute boat ride. First, we will toss chum in the water (ground up fish with sea water) and our bait (a giant fish head on a rope) and then we wait. The main objective is for everyone to see a shark from the boat, then we'll start putting people into the cage, 5 at a time. The cage is actually strapped to the side of the boat, and you don't even snorkel. You just sit in there and wait for someone to yell "Divers! Divers! Divers! On your left, or on your right, or at the bait!" Then you pull yourself under water, hold your breath, hook your feet under a bar (or else you'll just float back to the top) and enjoy the view.

So, it really is like fishing, there are no guarantees if you'll "catch" anything and you just throw out the bait and wait. I'd say we waited about 30 minutes before the watchman started yelling. We all run to the side of the boat and look--sure enough, there's a great white shark swimming towards the boat, near the bait, and then it leaves. Then the first 5 people start getting into the wet suits and get into the tank. Here comes another one!! Now I'm not a great judge of size but if I have to guess I'd say the sharks we're seeing are about 10-12 feet long? I guess you could give or take a couple feet too, but they were big, and they were great white :) The first group stays in for like 30 minutes maybe before a couple people decide to come out. Then I go in. About 2 minutes after getting in here comes one, possibly the best view we have all day. "Divers! Divers! Divers! On your right!" (This is where I am, the last person on the right). This one was probably about 5 feet from the cage, just swims around for a good 20 seconds and leaves. I saw a couple more while I was in there. Finally, after a dry spell, I come up. So, on average, I'd say we were out there 4 hours and saw one every 20-30 minutes or so, give or take a little.

So, it's not all National Geographic like I and maybe you had thought it would be. They come one at a time, swim around calmly, only a couple actually went after the bait. The captain has already told us, they are calm and curious animals. They will just come to investigate what is going on. All in all it was fun. The whole purpose of the company who takes us out is to make people more aware, to see sharks in their natural environment, to change your opinion that they are not vicious animals, and they use the money for research and basically saving the sharks. Mission accomplished. They were beautiful and not scary at all once you see them. (However I wouldn't want to be dumped in the ocean by any means!!)

What was cool was realizing where we were: Shark Alley. Ivan & I had watched this on Discovery or something. It was talking about all the seals on Dyer Island (which is where we were anchored, just off Dyer Island). The show was saying how the seals will try to leave the island for food and they must go in high numbers because if you're alone the sharks will get you, etc. And there I was, in a cage, in the (freezing) Atlantic in Shark Alley!!

The boat ride itself was pretty exciting. I've never seen waves that high that far out in the water. It was crazy. And on the way back our captain was definitely trying to give us all a ride for our money. We were heading straight into waves as tall as the boat. I couldn't help but think this was what it's like for the guys on Deadliest Catch :) haha Anyway, it was a good time and I'm glad I went. No, I didn't get any pictures...once I realized how quickly they come and go, I knew I wouldn't actually see anything if I was busy taking pictures. I did buy the DVD of the day though--which will be mailed to the states. It gives you an idea of what I saw that day and shows the cage and some of the sharks, and Dyer Island too. So you can watch that.

Today was a beautiful day! I debated doing my Table Mountain day today because it's weather dependent but I also needed to go to the store so I did that instead. I went to the mall, bought a hat, sent off some post cards, got groceries, and went to a movie too. I saw "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," which was really funny. Last week a group of us went to see "The Happening," which was CRAZY! It was horrible acting (by good actors ...) but the message was good, and it kept you on your toes. Skip to the next section if you don't want to know what it's about---but, basically there is something happening that causes people to kill themselves!! Creepy right? There will be large groups of people and then they just get really still and start talking nonsense, then, they kill themselves with whatever means is closest--jumping off buildings, laying in front of a lawn mower, shooting themselves, hanging, shoving utensils in their necks, slitting wrists...it's nuts, but the reason it's happening, is actually a decent message...

Anyway, what I realized when I was at the movies both times is that it's a chance to forget where I am. I could be anywhere in the world, I could be home! I like being here, but a nice break with American movies is a great break here & there. Plus they cost about $3, cheaper than renting! So I'll be seeing as many here as I can!

Back to work tomorrow for a 3 day stretch.

Trauma of all kinds!

1. My computer has flatlined. It's nearly brand new too. I was just chatting away with Ivan on skype when it just kinda froze up. It restarted a few times, and then started again with the black screen and a message that I needed to reinstall windows!!!!!! Ivan's sending me the disks, but that'll be awhile until they get here. I handled it better than I would have if I was at home, simply because I'm surrounded by people I don't know so I'm on my politest behavior you know? But I wanted to throw it across the room and bang my head through a wall....didn't though. So I had to buy a calling card (much more expensive than skype by the way) and jockey for time on the house computer. (Pictures will be coming much slower now until this little mishap is taken care of!) Just pray that when the disks get here, they load, and all is well. Life can then go on.

2. Our little boy with the trachea tube pulled it out of his throat in the middle of the night! (In case you're not following--this is his air source, and pulling it out could lead to death!) No worries, they got a new one shoved back in there. But in the process of either the pulling out or the shoving in, he must have got a cut or something in his throat as he was coughing out blood all day...yes, we're suctioning out blood all day. Yum. (Gloveless). In the afternoon, Eleanor decides we better take him to the hospital, just to be sure. So I go with her to suction him out in the car the whole way there, and when we get in the hospital, and before we leave, and in the car on the way back....get my drift? Luckily, the nurses say they think he's fine. The blood has slowed up at this point and they agree we probably got a cut or scrape but he'll be fine. Whew. Sidenote here-- I held him on the way there--there was no car seat....I was wondering to myself if this was standard or what, when we pulled up to a stop light and the car next to us had a 2 year old just running around the back seat...ok, I guess it's safe then... Blew my mind. Obviously if I wasn't there to hold him, I'm sure he'd been buckled in... Other than that, work was uneventful and LONG! My coworker and I were short on patience today and the babies were long on things to cry about!! uggh. But it's over now, still love my Lona (haven't yet figured out how I'm going to smuggle her out of the country, but I am).

3. I'm sick. Not like horribly sick, but I've got my sore throat, and just today I woke up with a nice hacking, painful cough to match. I'll deal, but man it would be nice to not deal!!!

Because....(drumroll....) tomorrow is my shark dive!!! I'm getting picked up at 6:30 a.m. for a 2.5 hour drive, to get on a boat, go down in a cage, and meet great white sharks face to face! I don't think I've quite thought this through enough at this point because I'm not scared yet. But I do know they feed (or chum) the sharks for awhile to get them to come to the boat and I think at that point I'll be SCARED!!!!! But now that I've told you all that I'm going to do it, I have to do it. Someone's got to right? And see if this is really all that? haha I'm hoping to get some good pictures above or below the water...but I'm worried they'll be too fast and all that. We'll see. If you can't see good pictures you'll just have to take my word for it ok? And...if something goes horribly wrong and my time in the cage is the first time a shark has ever attacked the cage...well...just know that I would be saying..."what a way to go!!" No stroke or cancer for that girl, she got ate by a great white!" Really... just tell the story over and over :) haha I wouldn't want to go any other way than some fabulous way... (if there is a fabulous way to die)... even if it was a car accident while I was here...at least I was in South Africa volunteering with AIDS orphans right? (Silver lining) haha Write soon.

Cape Point Tour

Yesterday was another tour that AVIVA puts on for us, this one of Cape Point. Which, in a nutshell, we drove up & down the coasts (yes coasts--one side the Atlantic, one side the Indian), stopped at cute little towns, saw some beautiful scenery, and stopped at the most southern tip of the African continent...last stop before Antarctica!



Downside: it was cold, raining, and windy ALL day. So there were some things we couldn't even see because it was too cloudy. But, even still, everything was gorgeous. Another downside--I was already feeling like I had a sore throat coming on and by the end of the day of being in the cold & rain, I could barely swallow, was super congested, had a major headache, and was SOOO tired. I went to bed at 8:30 last night and slept until 9:30 this morning. I feel a bit better, but definitely still have all the same issues I had when I went to sleep. Anyway, onto the tour.



We drove around an area called "False Bay." It's called False Bay because when people were first sailing here they thought they'd found their way around to a new country and then realize they were still in the same country, hence the 'false.'



We drove up Chapman's Peak--which was an AMAZING view! In the pictures, this is where I'm standing there holding my jacket shut and look like I'm freezing...I was, it was rainy and so windy I nearly lost my hat. But the view was awesome.



We stopped at a place called Simonstown. Which is a naval base, and was discovered by a man named Simon :) In the pictures, this is where there are a lot of boats and also my picture with a statue of a dog. This dog's name was "Just Nuisance." He used to follow the sailors around and whenever they would go out he would follow and wait at the taverns for them, also watching out for them. Long story short, they made him a captain in the navy.



After this we went to Boulder Beach---which is where you will see all the huge, beautiful boulders, and all the African penguins!! There were tons of them. The furry ones are babies. We have to stay on a boardwalk, but some of them are within a foot of you. Penguins bite though, and bite hard, so you definitely don't want to reach out and pet them.



From here we went to Cape Point. This was amazing! (Have I used the word amazing too much? I can't think of another one!) In the pictures this is where you will see the lighthouse, and the signs of how many miles it is to various places from that point--which I thought was super cool. This is where the Atlantic & the Indian Oceans meet. Not exactly at this point, but a little further out, but as far as land goes, this is it. The views were awesome! You'll see I took like a million pictures here :)



Right after this we drove just a short ways down from Cape Point to the Cape of Good Hope--which you can see pictures of that in the background from the lighthouse.



As we were leaving this area we saw wild ostrich's running around near the beach! Ursula said this is very uncommon. So as we were leaving she pulled into an ostrich farm where you can see my up close pictures of the ostriches.



Also, in the pics, you will see some pictures of the township where I went to buy my sand painting and my woven bags, and pics of the women making the bags. Enjoy! The link is below:

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IZMWbVw5ZSw

Chinese is the new black?

I thought it was brown...(my attempt at a joke there)

Anyway, check out this article about South Africa classifying chinese as black now.

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2008/06/19/in-south-africa-chinese-is-the-new-black/?mod=yhoofront

Philani Weaving Project

Today was one of my days off and I had planned to have Ursula take me back to the townships to buy some souveneirs. You can find a lot of that stuff anyway, but I specifically wanted me money going back to them. I'm sure they've made some of the stuff that's being sold in the stores, but for whatever reason I just felt better about buying directly from the people who made it.

Anyway, another girl, Rachel, came with. Rachel is from England and volunteered with AVIVA last summer at Home of Hope. She came back this summer on her own to volunteer again and this time to do more on the social work side of things. So anyway she wanted to come too.

First we went to the township of Langa. Here I bought this sand painting of a giraffe. I don't know how to explain it but it's pretty cool. From there we went to another township, Khayelitsha, to a community center where they do weaving projects. The whole thing is actually called the Philani Weaving Project. There are women learning the trades and making all these rugs, bags, jewelry, tablecloths, and aprons to sell. This provides a small income for the women, but it's also a project to provide funding for children in the area--specifically for nutrition and health care. I put the link to the project up in the post below this if you want to get more in depth information. I ended up buying 4 bags, 2 bracelets, and a lanyard because I couldn't choose!! Some of that will be souvenirs but anyway, it was a good shopping day :)

Tomorrow I'll be doing my Cape Point tour, which I hear covers A LOT of stuff, so I'm sure I'll have a lot to say and more pictures will be coming soon.

Links

Hey everyone! Here's some links to places I've seen and more places I plan to go to. That way you can see for yourself, because my pictures and explanations might not do it justice.

Vicky's Bed & Breakfast
http://www.nomvuyos-tours.co.za/vickys.shtml
**I think Vicky has her own website, but I can't find it, and this one at least explains it a bit and gives you some background. I visted there on my first day and might go back to stay for a night.

Shark Dive
http://www.whitesharkprojects.co.za/
**My shark dive is scheduled for Monday, June 23rd!! This is the company I will be going with!

Robben Island
http://www.robben-island.org.za/

Philani Outreach Programme
http://www.philani.org.za/
**This is the community center in one of the townships I went to, Khayelitsha. I went back there today and ended up buying 4 bags, 2 bracelets, and a landyard there :)

Victoria & Alfred Waterfront
http://www.waterfront.co.za/
**This is the waterfront where I did A TON of shopping before heading to Robben Island.

Mama Africa's
http://www.dining-out.co.za/member_details-MemberID-138.html
**This is where I had ostrich, crocodile, kudu, and spring buck

Home of Hope
http://www.homeofhope.co.za/
**This is where I'm working.

AVIVA
http://www.aviva-sa.com/
**This is the organization I'm here through. The link is at the right side of the blog as well.

Table Mountain
http://www.tablemountain.net/
http://downhilladventures.com/abseiling.php
**These are for the cable car and to abseil...which I think I want to do!! If I don't chicken out.

Ostrich Ranch
http://www.ostrichranch.co.za/
**Haven't gone yet but I hope to...you can sit on an ostrich!

Abakhaya
http://www.fiveseasonsmusic.co.za/bands_abakhaya.htm
**This is for the band that I saw at Mama Africa (LOVED THEM!)


That's all I can think of at the moment...

First Batch of Pictures

Ok, here's my first batch of pictures. There's not a lot, and they may not be that interesting for you, but people have been begging, so here they are!

Some are from Robben Island, some from Mama Africa's, some from the waterfront, and some of my babies. It's not all of the babies because some were sleeping and stuff when I had my camera out. You might notice that there's a lot of pictures of one baby in particualr, she has earrings. That's MY baby :) That's why. I think once you see her you'll know why. Just trust me that her personality backs up the cute face. I emailed Ivan today and said, "I've been meaning to talk to you about our moving to South Africa to establish residency so we can adopt Lona." He didn't think it was all that funny... so I told him I'd see him later after I established residency on my own and adopted Lona. hehe (South Africa doesn't allow international adoptions by the way, so it's out of the question unless I move here...hmmm....I do love Lona).

More pictures will be coming soon, I should have some more over the next couple of days. Anyway, here's the link:

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IZMWbVw5ZR8

Youth Day

Today is Youth Day in South Africa. It's a national holiday--everything's closed. Back in the 70's, during apartheid, there was a movement to have all the black schools be forced to learn & speak Afrikaans in their classes. This was on top of the government spending 15 times as much on white students as black students. So, this lead to demonstrations over the course of 8 months, and during that time over 700 youth were killed. After apartheid ended, they chose one day, June 16th, to honor those people who had been killed. (A little world history lesson for you).

So, this also meant no school. Which means the couple who run Home of Hope, Eleanor & Richard, their granddaughter who they care for & 2 foster children were home today as well. These kids range between the ages of like 2 and 6ish I think...and can be a handful to say the least. I guess they're pretty typical, but when you're already trying to care for 8 babies and the babies are your focus, sometimes the big kids can just be too much. On top of that, almost all of our babies have colds, and one of them is teething right now. So she cried nearly nonstop all day,which as you know, can be infectious it seems. Nobody was a happy camper today. Made for a long, long, long day. I seriously still hear babies crying somewhere. I don't know where it's coming from though! Obviously it's in my head. Today was a first for me to change the trachea tube on our little guy. My roomie Kathleen walked me through every step, I've watched her do it twice now. It wasn't too bad, just seems like a lot of steps to remember (although it's really not) and just a mental thing that you have this baby's oxygen source in your hands, literally. Kinda scary. Anyway, I'm glad I've done it but will be thankful to have Kathleen walk me through it a few more times. And hopefully we won't have to do it for much longer anyway. He's to go to the doctor on the 25th to see if he can breathe on this own!! For his sake and mine, let's pray he can!! I talked a bit more with Eleanor today about some of the babies. My favorite little baby's mother has HIV and has a drinking problem as well. So, if she took her anti-viral meds while pregnant (which would prevent HIV from transferring to the baby) they wouldn't have worked anyway since she was drinking. Apparently her mother just came out and gave her up because she knew she couldn't/wouldn't care for her. Eleanor thinks my little baby has HIV, because she's SOOO tiny. Not to mention the circumstances she came from. I'll send pics soon. I know I keep saying that, but I will.

One more day of work and then 3 days off! The weather looks rainy 2 of the 3 days. The one day it's not supposed to rain I will be Cape Point tour that AVIVA provides. Looking forward to it. One of the days I need to sit down and do some homework (boo) but this is the last week of my class, thank God. I've slacked a bit this week. When you don't get home until 6...well it just seems like the evening is totally gone. And when you get up at 5:15 your totally exhausted when you get some anyway. I'm sure people do it all the time but I don't get to see much daylight (dark when I go to work and nearly dark when I leave) and anyway it just makes me tired! My other day off I may go back to the township to buy some souvenirs from them :) Anyway, talk soon.

Waterfront & Robben Island

Hello! Today was another day off for me. A few of had scheduled a tour of Robben Island, which is where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. So we headed down to the waterfront around 9 a.m. to do some shopping...and boy did I! I have about 3 bags of stuff that I bought, mostly for me, but some will be souvenirs for other people. I still have to sit down and really look at what I bought. I got a ton of post cards (keep an eye out) and most of the other stuff is to decorate with. The cool thing is that everything is so cheap! If I had been in the states I probably could have bought like only a few things before I'd spent too much, today I had 3 full bags of stuff and only spent $154!!! (AWESOME!)

So, then it was time to board the ferry to go to Robben Island. A little background for you: Robben Island used to be where people with leprosy were sent. If they had children, the babies were immediately taken away so they wouldn't catch it, and sent back to the mainland for adoption. Eventually it was a military type base. Finally, it was a prison. When there was a lot of political uprising going on people were arrested and sent to Robben Island. They kept the common criminals and the political criminals separate because they didn't want the politicals to influence the commons.

Once we got off the ferry we got onto a bus with our guide, Kente (pronounced Kentay). He was super informative and really funny too. First they drove us around the island stopping in front of various buildings to tell us who was kept there or what happened in those places. There was a building with a lot of kennels that housed the german shepherds that the guards patrolled with. Also, around the buildings were walls with narrow walk ways known as "no man's land" where the dogs would walk to catch anyone trying to escape.

We got to our first stop and met our new guide, Sparks, who is a former prisoner. He was in for terrorism (although he promised not to terrorize us :), he was very involved in politics and this is what landed him there. So we walked into a large room with concrete floors & walls, and bars on the windows, which also had just 3 small blankets lying on the floor. Apparently this room housed about 85 prisoners. They each only had those 3 blankets to sleep with, and had to fold them exactly a certain way or they'd be sent to solitary confinement--2 to lay on and 1 to cover with (and it can get very cold here at night!! Thinks 40's or less). Also, the Coloreds & Asian prisoners were given long pants & shirts to wear & shoes & socks too. Black prisoners were only given shorts and short shirts, no shoes or socks. The food was different too. Blacks were given less food to eat. They all had access to water on only 3 days of the week. (Water has to be brought into the island). They had to shower with cold water.

We moved on to the individual cells. These were probably smaller than a lot of closets. Again, they just had the 3 blankets, a chair I think, and a bucket...yes, the bucket was used for going to the bathroom. They had to carry their buckets with them to pick up their food and keep it with them while they ate. If they forget to take their bucket back to the cell with them...they had nothing to use. The only cell that was set up was the one that Nelson Mandela stayed in. (For those reading who don't know much about Nelson Mandela-- he was part of a political group trying to end apartheid. He served time for 27 years, 18 of those at Robben Island. He was the first elected president when South Africa finally had a democracy--there's a VERY brief synopsis for you).

I'm trying to think of any other tidbits of info I got today... during apartheid everyone was issued an identification card that stated what race group they were a part of (whites, coloreds, blacks) and it also stated where they could go; they had to be carrying this pass at all times. If they were stopped by police and were somewhere they shouldn't be at a given time, they would be arrested. Everyone called it a "dumbie pass" because they felt it was so stupid. At 10:00 p.m. an alarm would sound and at this time blacks couldn't be in any other area, even with the pass. There was an activist (whose name I can't remember) who organized a day when everyone would disobey the pass, thinking then everyone would be arrested, the jails would be full, and they'd have to stop the system. Instead, the police just opened fire on the people.

Both Kente & Sparks made a special point of saying that we shouldn't be angry about what happened at Robben Island, for we would be no better than the guards and the politicians who had made it that way in the first place. Instead we should be thankful it's not that way anymore and simply learn from it. Sparks said that he is friends with the former guards now.

**Sidenote: Ursula (our driver & tour guide with AVIVA) said that she actually preferred life during apartheid (she's colored too). She felt that although there were restrictions and things like that, that she was safer. People weren't stealing and weren't desperate then... I dunno. Some of us have discussed it and wondered if maybe it wasn't as bad for her because she was colored and not black? It would have been interesting to visit SA during apartheid.

Ok, so after we got back to the waterfront I did a bit more shopping and watched some street performers--dancing, singing, and playing drums. I love street performers!

Back to work tomorrow, for 3 days, so the blog will be slow I'm thinking. Take care.

Mama Africa!

Today was my first day off of work. I decided I was going to sleep in...I ended up sleeping until 1:30!!! I guess I needed it, after my long traveling to get here and then just jumping straight into their time zone (9 hour difference from Arizona).

Anyway, once I got up I met our volunteer coordinator, Megan, who is much like a house mom. She's going to schedule my shark diving for a couple weeks from now for me!! Then I decided I needed to run to the mall. The thing is, the mall--which is like a typical mall plus a grocery store, is about a 15 minute walk. So you want to be sure you need to go, and you can't buy much because you have to be able to carry it all back with you. I'm thinking I'll probably drop a few pounds here from all the walking to the store, and because you often think twice about eating because you'll have to go buy more of it! haha

So anyway, today was a really nice day, the temperature was probably 65 and it was sunny. I walked to the mall and got a new camera too. My camera broke on the way here! I also got an adapter for my computer (the outlets are different) and some groceries. When I was leaving the mall, I looked to my right and there it was-- Table Mountain! Today was the first day it's been clear enough for me to see it. Pretty amazing. Look it up. It literally looks just like a table. Since it's winter it's typically cloudy and rainy and there are clouds covering it which they call the "tablecloth." Anyway, that was pretty exciting.

Tonight, Debbie (Heather's mom) wanted to go out to eat and I was the only one who wanted to go, so we went to this placed called Mama Africas. It's like the must do for tourists. It's got a lot of African decorations and serves up a lot of different food. I got this meal which brings a little bit of everything. So tonight, along with my margaritas (haha....they don't taste the same though), I had crocodile, ostrich, spring buck, and kudu (which is another type of antelope). All of it was good, but the crocodile can be best described as fatty chicken. Everything else somewhat tasted like some variation of steak. The spring buck was really chewy though. I'm just happy to have tried all of them! They also had a live band, which was amazing! If you know me, you know I'm into music that has a steal drum sound to it...that's what I got. They took a lot of American songs and gave them an African spin. I bought one of their cd's, and we had the lead singer, Zwelly, sign it and got a picture with him (it'll be coming soon). They were awesome to listen to and also to watch, I took video as well. He just looked like he was having the time of his life and was so entertaining. So anyway, that was my first day off :)

Tomorrow we're heading to Robben Island, which is where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. I'm excited about this because I like the cultural stuff. Anyway, will write again soon.

Peace

Baby Stuff

To add to the first post about the orphanage--- I got a chance to speak with one of the founders today. She was telling me how they'd like to take on more babies but can't because of the lack of volunteers. So although I feel like we could care for more babies, the key is that they all get the one-on-one time and attention they deserve. Makes sense. Make sure you're doing something right you know? They all get tons of attention and love every minute of it. I have to say, bath time is my favorite :) They all love baths, well except for 1, and we put this moisturizer in their hair that makes them all smell so good!!! I'll have to make sure I use the same on my kids someday because they smell so good. :)

A little more about the babies-- One of them has a trech tube in (spelling?) for him to breath out of. So I'm observing how to do that and in a couple weeks I'll be the one who has to do it all the time! Scary. This tube is how he breathes you know? Since it's winter here everyone's got colds right now and so we have to suction out the tube all the time. He's such a good baby when we do it too. We just lay him down and there's a little machine we turn on and it just sucks any fluid right out of the tube. He's one of the brothers from the same mom. They're all so cute and tiny! Our youngest is like 10-12 weeks old, and seems so much smaller than that-- where's newborn clothes, but at the same time she seems so much stronger than typical 10 week olds. You don't have to be careful with her or anything, she can hold her head up and is fairly strong. She's one who was left somewhere. One of the other babies mom's stopped by today to visit. She goes back and forth on whether she wants to keep the baby or not, but they've given her chances to visit and all she has to do is show up and hang with the baby...she skips them a lot and doesn't stay long when she comes. It's sad, but like I was telling someone else--it's sad that they are "in the system," but it's actually great for them because the alternative is no good. I can't imagine how many babies aren't found or are living in horrible conditions. Anyway, pictures will come soon. You have to see these little faces!

Oh, and one more thing. Remember the email I sent out about donating money to buy a house for some of the kids? I found out what happened with that. They're still raising money for a bit longer and definitely need help. But anyway, when they thought they had it for sure, a woman in the neighborhood started trying to buy it as well because "she didn't want HIV babies in her neighborhood." Can you believe people? Anyway, let me know if you want to donate.

AIDS in South Africa info

I've had some questions about the AIDS epidemic here in South Africa and why it's so widespread. Here are some websites you can check out which talk about that in detail...

http://www.avert.org/aidssouthafrica.htm

http://aids.about.com/cs/aidsfactsheets/a/africa.htm
**interesting note on this one which I didn't know, the President of South Africa doesn't believe HIV causes AIDS!!

http://www.aids.org.za/index.htm

http://www.africaaction.org/docs03/tac0303.htm

First Day

So today was my first day working at the orphanage. It was me & Kathleen, my roomie. Plus the house has 3 staff people who clean, make the food, and help with the babies as well. And there are social workers and the people who run it just popping in throughout the day to play with the babies as well.

There are 8 babies right now, ranging in age from like 12 weeks to almost 2 years old. Although most of them are a lot smaller than they should be for their age due to health problems, and developmental delays and things like that. We know for sure that one of them is HIV positive. However, what I learned today is that South African law prohibits testing kids for HIV unless they are being adopted or if they are having serious health problems. Can you believe that? So really, all of them could be HIV positive and we just don't know; there's a good guess (just based on size and being sickly) that at least 6 of the 8 are infected. What's a bit scary is that we don't take any extra precautions, such as wearing gloves or anything when changing them...I may ask about this, but what I do know is that I've read that things may be different but it's the way they are here and that we can't just run in and know a better way, you know? So anyway, it's just like working in the day care again. We come in get them out of their beds, get them dressed, and start the routine of feeding, napping, and changing. At the end of the day we give them baths too and start putting them to bed for the night nurse to come in. They are all adorable and have stories. I don't know all the stores yet, but here's a few: 2 of them are brothers whose mother is a prostitute, they have an older sister in the system and the mother is pregnant again, and they both show some signs of fetal alcohol syndrome, one of them is ok developmentally but has health problems and the other, well you can tell he'll likely never recover or be completely normal. Another baby was raped. I don't know how that's physically possible, but it's a problem here. Another was left at a hospital. A couple are dustbin babies--they literally are just thrown out. Some have just been handed over as the parents knew they couldn't care for them. It's crazy. But, this is a great place for them and hopefully they'll find foster homes or be adopted.

Some funny things about this project---before I started I was just being told left and right how busy they are and how they need more volunteers and how exhausted you'll be from the 12 hour shifts.... there are 8 babies and at any given time you could have 2-5 people caring for them!! You're not that busy really :) And yes 12 hours is a long day, but we only work 2 days then we're off 2 days, etc. OR we'll work 3 days then be off 3 days...so that's very doable as well. What I figured out is 2 things: most of the people here are in college between the ages of 18-21...so they've never had full time jobs before! So yeah, it's kicking their asses. The other thing is that I did work for 5 years in a nursery...so this isn't new to me. I'm not having a hard time remembering things or learning new things or whatever. There's only very subtle differences. I found myself a little bored at times, but I'm also not complaining. It is my summer and I'd rather not kill myself you know?

So anyway, that's about it for the work stuff. Tonight there was a volunteer BBQ for all the volunteers from both houses & the staff to mingle. It was nice. Still going on actually with some, and some are going out but I'd rather type this, talk to people, and get to sleep!! I have homework to do too. I"m still in classes for another couple weeks and then they'll be done until I get back home (YAYAYAYAY!) So I work tomorrow and then am off Friday & Saturday. So I'll be meeting with our volunteer coordinator to set up all my tours and things I wanna do while I'm here!!!

Later. And be sure to email me if you have any questions or comments or whatever!