Beach Walk

I have never walked so much in my life! I just thought Croatia was a lot of walking. Here in Cape Town, you have to walk 30 minutes to get anywhere! Thirty minutes doesn't seem like a lot, but when you add in the walk back and all the sketchy buses and people that you are having to run from, it adds up!



But, I really wanted to see Blawbaurgh beach before I left. So, me and Laina decided the walk was worth it. We set out after work to walk to the beach. We walked through a homeless village, a mini bus parade, and a Chinese shop where all the drug lords hang out. Then, we made it to the beach. Once we got there we were debating if we really wanted to concur the walk back. It was a great beach! Kinda deserted, but great. I have never seen a sport as cool as kite surfing. If I didn't have a fear of water, I would definitely give the sport a go. These people get air born for up to minutes at a time, and they go so so fast. It looks bloody awesome, as all the British folks would say.

Table Mountain is still the most amazing thing to me. In the picture above you can see the 'table cloth' directly above the mountain. This happens almost everyday. Rarely is Table Mountain completely uncovered by clouds. Some days, if you didn't know that Table Mountain existed, you would be completely oblivious to it. The clouds just take it over. Directly beside Table Mountain is Lions' Head.

Just thought I would give a quick post on the beach walk! :)

Hope

The kids that I have had the chance to meet through my experience with Home of Hope are absolutely adorable! Yes, they can be annoying little ankle bitters who wipe snot all over you, but they can also be so so so sweet. I stopped a moment today to think of the kids and the future that they might have. All of these kids have Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, and most of them are HIV +. So, they are going to have a tough life. Home of Hope is trying to help these kids and give them a better chance in life, but in the long run there's only so much you can do. It's very disappointing to know that these kids, who have no say in the disorders they are put in this life with, are very likely to end up living under the bridges like the street people that we fed a few nights ago. The possibility that these kids will grow up, finish high school, get a job, and be able to take care of themselves is very very slim. It's nice to be able to help these kids grow and develop into the best person they can be, but there's only so much you can do.


I got the chance to volunteer with a girl from New Jersey who is studying Anthropology/Biology back in the States. She is writing a thesis on FASD, so she is very aware of the problems that these kids face. She is studying the differences in the prevalence of FASD in the US and SA. She was telling me that in the US, FASD is controlled through awareness and counseling. The highest prevalence in the US is with the Native Americans because they were moved about so much in the previous years. According to her, they had nothing better to do than to drink and they did not know of the risks. Whereas, here the kids that are suffering from the disorder are mostly orphans, street kids, and kids of the townships. One reason behind this is lack of awareness, and another is lack of care! Some of the children's mothers are mentally retarded themselves and just don't understand, and others no nothing else to do but drink.
The awareness of FASD is still very low here in SA. But, the problem is just beginning to be recognized. So, maybe in the near future awareness can be raised for this disorder and more children can be sparred from the effects of it.

How much of a difference can a few volunteers really make? We were talking about this earlier and came to the conclusion that we will not even think about it. Some days it just seems so tough. We make all of these sandwiches and take them to the street people, but then we just leave and all these people are just left without a warm place to sleep and a decent meal or medical care.

We spend so much time wiping these kids noses and trying our best to help them reach their highest potential, and then we just leave and the kids continue on with their life.

I absolutely love this picture. We worked a while to get all of the kids in one area around me. The final product turned out priceless! :)

Snotty Noses

I never want to wipe another snotty nose in my life! Especially a green, slimy one! It's winter in South Africa, so all the kids are passing around various flues. All six of the kids at the orphanage bring along green snotty noses every morning. So, my entire day was spent wiping nose after nose after nose after nose. Even though the kid in the picture looks so cute, innocent, and clean, in real life he's actually a snotty nosed little bugger! Don't get me wrong, I love him to death, but the snotty noses are turning me off a bit for the moment.


Snotty noses aren't the only thing that I am tired of....fights are another! Breaking up arguments seems like my life's work, second to wiping noses. I do not understand why one toy can be so darn important. These kids will kill each other over one freakin lego, when there's about 500 other identical legos in the toy box. I just don't get it!
OH! and there's one kid that has decided it's so much fun to bite me. Every morning as soon as he gets a break from fighting the other kids, he waits for a moment when am not looking and bites me. Crazy, crazy kid. I have so many bruises on my legs where he has bitten me. He's worse than a dog, when he bites he just won't let go.

The little boy in the photo below has grown on me. At first, I absolutely HATED him. He would not listen to anything I said and he would head butt me as often as possible. He would try to kill the other kids, and he's autistic so he's pretty capable! But, one day I had some one on one time with him (which is rare), and he won me over! Not to say that he's gotten any better...but he's a pretty cool kid. He still head butts me for fun and tries to kill his friends and the dog, but we sort of have an agreement now.

Kids are cute, but I definitely don't think I can handle a career dealing with them.

Peninsula Tour

This Sunday I was able to participate in the Cape Peninsula tour. It was absolutely fabulous! Getting out of Cape Town was so nice, and the tour led us to some much safer, nicer areas! We got to drive up Table Mountain, through many beaches and marinas, to Boulder's Beach penguin colony, and down to the most south western point of Africa. The tour took about 8 hours form start to finish. I have some favorite pictures that I want to share:

Penguins at Boulder's Beach:
Wild ostriches along our drive:

I LOVE the rainbow above the mountain:

Table Mountain and Lion's Head:

Street Feeding Experience

Last night I had the opportunity to go street feeding with Ursala. It was a very eye-opening, emotional experience for numerous reasons! But, let me start at the beginning:


Street feeding is where a group of volunteers puts in about 150 Rand a piece (which is about $20) to buy bread, fruit, and such for the homeless. On this particular street feeding, we ended up making about 200 sandwiches, buying about 100 bananas, and 100 oranges. We loaded the car up around 7:30 and went into Cape Town to begin the feeding. On the way in, Ursala was explaining to us what to expect and how thankful the people would be for the food. We were all a bit nervous since there was only seven volunteers going, and she told us that we would be greatly out numbered.


When we got there, Ursala honked several times and people just came running out of different directions and lining up in front of us. It was shocking at first, seeing all of these people who had no place to call home lined up in front of you. I think we all looked at each other with tear-filled eyes at this point. But, we held it together and handed out the food to these unfortunate people. As we handed out the food, the people really wouldn't speak to us much. A few of them said thank you or nodded a bit, but the majority just took the food and went off to eat it. Some of the people even asked why we didn't bring more, or why we didn't bring them soup or tea since it was cold! This was very difficult to respond to, since we were told they would be thankful for anything we gave them. It seemed strange that they should be picky, considering we were giving them the first bit of food they had gotten in days.

Right as we were finishing up handing out food, we heard a ruckus behind us where Ursala was giving out the clothes. Two men had gotten in a fight over the last sweater that Ursala had. The men were literally getting in a fight like you would see on WWF. It was ridiculous! It was a bit scary since we were greatly out numbered by these people and all of them were getting in on the fight. But, someone that drove past saw the fight and called the police, who arrived within minutes. Apparently, there's a new politician in office here in South Africa who is forcing police to be very strict with the street people. So, everyone of the men were lined up under one of the bridges and checked for passports (which none of them had). We left after that, but Ursala said they would either end up in jail or sent back to their home country. It was very disappointing that we had started out hoping to help these people, and we ended up only causing trouble because of a simple sweater. It was very eye-opening to be reminded by these people how much we take for granted. At home, we would never have to argue over a sweater, or fight for food. We also have a home to go to, and a warm blanket to climb under at night. In our circumstances, it's very hard to reason how these people could argue over a sweater, but for them, it is like a million dollars!

The next bridge that we went to was home to a group of about 30 street people who all looked after each other like family. These people had boxes set up with little doors between them, and in each box a husband and wife lived. They also had boxes where sisters and brothers lived. These people were SO nice and thankful for the most part!

There was this lady named Zelda, who is dying of AIDS. She chatted with me and another volunteer for about thirty minutes(which was a great accomplishment considering she could barely speak), telling us about her life and how she ended up on the street. It was a heartbreaking story! She had grown up in a township and had been abused and raped at a young age. So, when she was a teenager, she ran away and had nothing else to do but live as a street person. She is know 66 and still living under a bridge. She is such a nice lady and had so much to tell us about life! It was just heartbreaking that she had no medication for her disease, and she was just SO sick! Telling her bye was the worst! She wanted a picture with us, and she begin to cry in the picture because she realized that it might be the last picture she would ever be in:( She ended by telling me she loved me, and not to forget it! Such a great lady with such a horrible life! I don't know how such terrible things can happen to such great people :(

There was another man who was completely unforgettable. I got to have a conversation with him for about 20 minutes. He mainly wanted to talk about politics, which I'm not great at, but I was able to relate when he asked about America's new president. There was one time where he asked me about some politicians name in America who had moved from South Africa. Of course, I had no clue who he was speaking of! He thought it was crazy that I had access to all of those resources (I suppose he was speaking of the Internet) and I didn't know all these things. (I think I'll definitely be looking them up after that:) He said if he had the chance he would know all of their names. Such a great man! But, all the political talk is not why this guy is sticking in my head. Toward the end of our conversation he begin to talk about his life. He ended up on the streets because he didn't want to be stuck in a drug neighborhood, which he had grew up in. He said that he left when he was twenty because he didn't feel safe walking down the street he had grew up on any longer. Apparently, when he was in his teens the area changed and drug lords took over the area. So, at twenty he had nowhere else to go but the streets. He has now been on the streets for twenty five years and said that he felt like it was the only place he could go. If he went back to live with his family, he said he would feel unsafe (which is a lot to say if you would prefer the streets) and he really didn't want to go back. But, the saddest part of the whole chat was when he started talking about death. Apparently he too is dying of a condition which he chose not to name. He told me that he didn't really fear dying, because he really had nothing much to live for anyway. He said that he didn't want a funeral, he just wanted to be thrown into a hole. His reason was because he had came into this world with nothing and he wanted to go out with nothing. As he was telling me this, tears filled his eyes. I kept wondering if it was the talk of death, the reality of dying, or the reminiscing of his life that brought him to tears. All of it was enough to upset me.

How can some people be so unfortunate in life? Sometimes circumstances that can't be helped at all, like which family you are born into, control your life and tape you to a poor way of life. Zelda and this man are both examples of unforgettably great people that have been faced with terrible challenges in life. They both left us with a hug and told us never to forget that they loved us and that God would bless us forever so we didn't have to live the same life that they had.





The experience was shocking, unforgettable, emotional, and a bit scary all at the same time. There were many unforgettable people that would just completely break your heart! The experience was very humbling and it brought to light all of the items that we fortunate people generally take for granted. While I do not think I am up for another street feeding project, I will never forget this experience or the few people that I was fortunate enough to get to spend time with!

Declining Patience

Patience!!! I have always had a lot of it when it comes to kids. But, something has changed in the last week and half, and now I feel like I have no patience to spare. I think it is the combination of the kids and the adults (who are by far crazier than the kids) that really gets to me. After trying to deal with two adults with opposing views, and then coming in and trying to entertain six kids ( by myself!) , I feel completely zapped of all patience. A kid can look at me the wrong way, and I feel like changing their light to yellow (which means you're about to be in big trouble mister!) !

It seems like things change day to day. Home of Hope is going through many changes right now, and they are very unorganized at the moment. They are throwing different hours on my everyday, and I just never quite know what to expect. This is also testing my Patience in every way possible. I know it must be difficult on the kids, who need routine, to come in and find something different everyday. So, hopefully with much collaboration between the owner, the teacher, and myself, we can get things straightened out and get the kids and incoming volunteers into a regular routine. It would be great, for me and my patience, if all this hard work actually led to something visible in the next couple weeks.

I can not leave this post about patience with talking about Bubba. I can't remember if I mentioned Bubba in previous posts, but I will just start from the beginning just in case. Bubba is the mother of the owner of the orphanage. She is about seventy years old (but she's a feisty one!), and fosters four kids herself. She lives in the house connecting the orphanage that I am placed in. Two of the kids that I care for in the daytime are her daughter's foster kids. So, needless to say, she feels that she must have input in my day to day involvement at the orphanage. She meets me every morning at the gate (when I am trying to struggle four little ones inside so they don't get flattened by cars) and begins to tell me what I will do that day. She is SO incredibly hard to deal with! She started off this week with telling me that I must watch her kids until one because she was supposed to have the mornings off. Well, this begin an argument between her and the teacher, because I was also supposed to help the teacher between 12-1. After much fuss, Bubba won (probably because she's ancient!) and I am now watching her kids until one every afternoon.

But, now I have to tell the part that really caused me to loose my patience!

Today, Bubba asked me to bring the kids to her house and feed them lunch because it was warmer and the kids were too cold in the orphanage. So, I carried the kids over, gave them lunch, and put them down for their naps. Then, I stayed and talked to her for a bit while I waited on the teacher to get back. When the teacher got back, I got my bag and was going to walk back over to the orphanage to help her out with organizing the classrooms. But, Bubba had other plans. She grabbed my bag, put it back down on the table and said, "No, your bag stays with me until one. (It was 12:45 at the moment). That way I know that you don't leave until you are supposed to leave." I was totally shocked by it, because I was going to end up being there much later than one as it was. So, I ended up explaining to her that it was my bag, with my stuff in it, and that it was coming with me. If she really didn't trust me and wanted to assure that I didn't leave before one, she could have just looked out the window at the car sitting parked in her driveway!

Ugh! Patience!!! It is so hard to keep sometimes.

This is a very short video of the kids going crazy. I had to cut it short because one was playing with a plug and one had to "go make a wee".

Everyday is different. Some are good, some are trying, and some are just completely exhausting! I am now scared to say that I have a technique down that works with the kids, because as soon as I do, they prove me wrong (what a child-like thing to do). But, I can see the difference that can be made in these kid's lives by my effort and patience with this project! So, it will all be worth it in the end! ~

Success with the Kids

Today was my first day alone with the kids! Adele, the other volunteer, finished her time up with Home of Hope and went back home today. So, at first I was a little nervous, considering the kids try to run over me in as many ways they can. Over the weekend, I pondered several techniques to use with the kids, since I am not good at raising my voice with them. No good technique really clicked; so, I decided to just play it by ear and see what happened. If things got out of control I would just go to the nearest corner and roll into a ball until I thought of something better to do.


But, the day begin rather smoothly, and came out of 9 oclock with only a scratch, bite, and smack in the face from a giant Lego train. I was rather pleased with the little boogers. But, then 10 o'clock came and they decided that I looked ready for more. So, the trouble begin. It always begins with one. Little Harry, who is nearly two, decided to get up first. After Harry came Gunda, then Lutho, then Timba, and so on. At first I tried raising my voice with them and when that didn't work I simply set down and waited for them to wonder about me. It took only a minute for them to start wondering why there was no screaming going on. After that, it was like magic. One followed my lead to sit back down, then the other, then the other, until all of them were seated and waiting to see what all of the quietness was about. Once they were all seated, I begin to talk in a really low voice and see if somehow it might work. And it did! The kids were so used to hearing screaming that they calmed down and listened when I spoke quietly to them. I was amazed.

After that one incident (which nearly terrified me), things flowed smoothly the remainder of the afternoon. I am happy to report that I came out of my first day alone with only a scratch, bite, smack in the head, and one nice kick. Believe it or not, that is a good day!!

It is only the beginning of my second week, and I have already had so many crazy, wild, funny, and great experiences. I am hoping that this quiet talk technique continues to work...but, I'm sure the kids will pull something else out on my just to add to the fun. One thing I have learned is that no day is ever the same with kids,whether special needs or not.