Opps...

Due to lack of time and internet access, I have not been able to update this in a while. But I do have lots and lots to write about so my current plan is to do updates on my trip to Cape Town, safari, my township stay, and the rest of my placement days after I get home in just a week and a half. Also, this way, I'm able to really focus on my last days here and enjoy them as much as possible.

Halfway (ish) Point

I've reached the point in my stay where I've gotten all the basics down and now I want to push things further and do more. At the orphanage I know almost all the kids' names and personalities and have really bonded with them. At Aurora, I feel like I've gone as far as I can in that I know their schedule and what needs to be done most of the time. Aurora is extraordinarily different from the orphanage, obviously, but especially in that Aurora is very structured, there's a lot of discipline, and the people working with the kids actually care about them and pay attention to them. At the orphanage, and I was told this upfront, we the volunteers can do basically do whatever we want and are encouraged to bring our own ideas to the table so to speak. On one hand, it's great to have that freedom to do lots of activities and such with the kids. However, this also means that there's very little structure to these kids' lives. The pre-school kids (6 and under) essentially have free play time every day, all day. Seems like every little kids' dream, but eventually they get bored and sometimes end up fighting just because there isn't much else for them to do. They do have a lot of toys and such, but every one of them is broken or in very bad condition. It also means that they aren't necessarily learning numbers and letters. We've been trying to teach the older kids the alphabet and some of them have really gotten it and like to write their names and then all of our names on a blackboard in their play room.

Thankfully, one of the new girls works with children and their parents back in England so she knows lots of songs and activities to do with the kids. She's also really motivated to do stuff for them and go the extra mile for them. Yesterday, she and I put on a puppet show for the kids. We told the story of "Goldilocks and the 3 Bears" fairly badly as we made it up as we went along with no review of the story and neither of us could remember the ending. But, the kids seemed to really enjoy it. They also love singing the "Hokey Kokey" (English version) and doing the funky chicken dance. I've taken lots of videos of the little ones dancing around - they're all just so cute.

The older kids (the ones who go to school) also enjoy dancing, but most of them can dance better than I can. Most of them do Michael Jackson dance moves and I can tell that some of them are going to be even more amazing as they get older. Most of the afternoons the older kids like to run around, play and talk with us, but recently we've started helping them with homework. All of them say they have no homework and if we weren't there to go through their bookbags to find their homework, I'm not sure that they would actually do it. It doesn't seem like any of the staff check their homework or schoolwork and I'm not sure that their teachers pay that much attention either. Another volunteer here, Anne, was helping a little girl and a little boy who are in the same class. The girl had a bunch of classwork in her notebook, but the boy had absolutely nothing in his notebook. Anne tried to get him to do some writing like the girl was doing, and discovered that he didn't know how to write any letters of the alphabet. It seems to me that the learning at their school is really up to the kids, that the teachers don't necessarily put in the effort.

There's another girl at the orphanage who just shuts down whenever she's asked about her homework or school. She has literally stood and stared at the ground for 2 hours instead of responding to us about her work. One of the careworkers said she's like that at school as well. One day, Anne was talking to the girl, trying to get her to get her schoolbag and Anne asked her if there was someone scaring her or hurting her and the girl looked up at Anne for about 10 seconds before resuming staring at the floor. We're fairly certain that something has happened in this girl's past that was horrible and is now affecting her schoolwork. I'm not sure how much schooling she gets because I suspect the teacher probably ignores her instead of working with her, so she's just falling behind. I really hope that we'll be able to make some progress with her in the next 5 weeks.

The past couple weeks have been fairly uneventful. I've spent almost every day at the Haven because Aurora follows school holidays and this week has been spring break for the school kids. Because of that, all of the kids have been at the Haven all day, every day. It's bee a bit chaotic, but in the best way possible. I've gotten to spend more time with the older kids who are normally in school, but then I also have to make sure they aren't dominating over the smaller ones too much. It's so amazing to see how different each day can be. One day, they'll all behave well and be wonderful to be around and then the next, they won't listen, they'll hit you, and be really naughty. Of course, that change also happens within a few hours. Yesterday, there was one 8 year old boy named Akhona who got so upset when I started reading to or playing with another kid. He stopped talking to me, glared at me, and stomped off into a corner, where he stayed from almost an hour. All because I was reading to 2 other girls and said I couldn't read to just him right then. After he threw his little fit, he was fine, although he did try to monopolize my time for the rest of the morning.

It was 2 boys' birthdays the other day at the Haven, so they get a small toy each and all of the kids had cake, chips, an a piece of candy for their afternoon snack. They also told me the next morning they got to put on music and dance during the evening. It was all very bittersweet to witness. The staff try their hardest to make a kid's birthday special, but it is rather difficult to do with 30 other kids and a very limited budget.
Other than that, I've mostly just been bonding with all of the kids - reading to them, playing their little made-up games with them, chasing them around, and just loving all the time I get to spend with them.

The weekends here have been fairly quiet recently. A lot of the volunteers are leaving in a few days so most of them were gone last weekend - either in Cape Town or up the Wild Coast somewhere. It was also a holiday weekend - Heritage Day last Friday. I'm still not sure what that means exactly. From what I saw, it's a day to celebrate your own heritage and culture as well as the vast diversity among peoples in South Africa/ an excuse to not have work and to spend the weekend drinking with friends. But it was all good fun, especially since 2 new guys arrived then. It's nice to have new people around. And it will be very interesting to see what happens this weekend when about half the people leave and a new group arrives for the next 5 weeks.

First 3 weeks = complete

As of today, I've been in SA from 3 complete weeks and I've worked at Aurora and the AIDS Haven for 2. I also started going to the schools for their afternoon 'Lifeskills' class (HIV/AIDS teaching), but I haven't done much there. The first day with the Lifeskills, we arrived at the school after the bell had rung so not all of the kids were there. So we basically played games with them for about an hour - the first half of which I lead. I felt a bit terrified standing up in front of a bunch of middle school aged strangers. But most of them had a good attitude and spirit. There were 2 girls there asking me about my cartilage piercing because my ear was red and they wondered if it hurt. I told them that no, it didn't hurt but when I got it pierced, it hurt for about 2 weeks. They gasped, stuck their tongues out, and said their tongue piercings hurt for only a day. I said, oh that's cool, but all I was thinking was, 'you're 12 years old! Why in the world do you have your tongue pierced?'

The second time I went to the Lifeskills class, it was all in Xhosa - a native language with 'clicks' in it that's spoken by Blacks in this area. Some parts were in English, but the vast majority was lecture in Xhosa. This was the time so far that I've felt the most out of place. I always feel a bit out of place because I'm white and American, but I've grown used to that and don't really notice it anymore. I'm not sure how much longer I'll go to the Lifeskills teaching because it really doesn't seem like they need me there. But I'm only going there the afternoons that I'm at Aurora in the mornings and I'm not sure how much longer I want to work at Aurora.

Whenever I'm at Aurora, there's always at least 3 other careworkers there, plus random volunteers who come by, for a class with 8 children in it. However, most of the time, there's only 5-6 kids because they're out sick (they get sick pretty easily) or at the doctors or whatever. Twice now, I've been there when there's been more adults than children there. Of course, these kids need more attention and care but most of the time, I feel like they would be just fine without me.

I also don't get along with the teacher that well. She's a bit of an oddball. She also will slap the kids' hands or flick their mouths if they're doing something wrong or something she doesn't like. We had a conversation about it last Friday when she forced a kid to do something he didn't want to do and he was crying. I got upset not only because she was forcing this child, but more because of the lack of concern and empathy with which she did it. She seemed to view the situation with simple curiosity as she didn't know why the child didn't want to do what she wanted him to do. She could tell I was upset by this and later she brought it up by asking me if I thought they were too strict with the children. I was very upfront and honest with her. I told her that I thought it was wrong to deliberately cause a child physical pain, especially a special needs child who is incapable of understanding and processing a situation like a "normal" child. I said I thought that it's wrong to use any kind of violence with any child and that I would not do that. She basically told me that what she was doing wasn't that bad, that she had tried other ways and they didn't work, and that she knew these kids well enough to know what she was doing. I asked her if the parents also hit their kids and she said that they (Aurora/her) encourage the parents to do so. However, since then, she has not slapped any of the kids while I'm around. Whether she is doing this on purpose as to make me feel more comfortable or there just hasn't been a situation where she would hit a kid, I don't know. But she has been trying to talk to me more about all of the kids and such. I suppose she's being nice, but to me, she just seems to be ignoring the kids and talking to me instead of looking after them, which is her job. But I've seen her do this with all of the other volunteers there. They tend to focus on the 1-2 kids who will respond to them and then ignore the rest, which is not fair and is really the opposite of what I feel they're suppose to be doing.

Despite all of my frustrations with the adults in my classroom at Aurora, I really do love the kids there. I've also seen some of them really excel and develop and I know that that wouldn't happen if they were just at home.

I love working at the AIDS Haven and I hope that I'll be able to spend more of my time there. I definitely feel more needed there as the facility is starting to go through a transition. I talked with the woman in charge there and she said that in a few months time, when they've run out of money, the Haven will either be taken over by the church that owns the buildings or possibly be bought by a company in Jo'burg that has been sponsoring the Haven. So either way, it seems like the 32 kids there will still have a home there, but they will have to go through a transition as it will most likely be run differently with new people. She also said that they hope to change the living situation to simulate a home environment more. They hope to change some of the smaller buildings into cottages where about 7 kids would live with a house mother there, so it's more like a tradition family. But to be honest, the kids seem really happy now. They really are "normal" kids despite their crappy life situations. The kids with HIV do tend to be sick all of the time, but they behave just like any other kids. They will misbehave and not listen to us, but they'll also be really sweet and kind to us and to each other.

It's been interesting to see how quickly we've all formed bonds with the kids there. I have my favorite kid, Annie (my roommate who goes there every day) also has a favorite, and Ann (who just got here last Friday) has this one kid who just loves her. I've only spent 4 days at the Haven, but I already know it's going to be so difficult to leave in just 9 weeks.

Working with Little Children

I've spent 4 mornings so far working at the Aurora Special Care Centre. There are 8 children in the classroom I'm in and they're all about preschool/kindergarden aged - at least that's what they look like to me. Each day has been a bit different because they do various classroom activities every morning. For instance, this morning we were supposed to do hydro therapy but the pool's heater is broken so we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Aurora is in a very nice part of PE - looks like any other upper-middle class neighborhood to me - which makes sense as it's a private care centre and hospital as well.

Basically what I'm doing at Aurora is provide childcare in the mornings for these kids. I look after, feed, play with and change them, which sounds fairly easy. But, all of the kids are severly disabled. Raechel has cerebral palsy, so she stays in her wheelchair most of the time. She can talk quite clearly and is a bit easier to interact with than some of the others. However, she doesn't always communicate - much of the time, she's just looking around the room. Since she can't walk on her own, she does some physio work every day. I have no idea what she does there. Christiano, Clive, and Fudhail are 3 others who can't walk solo, so they also have physio. Christiano wasn't able to walk at all, but he had surgery on his legs and gets around while strapped into a large, blue, walker-type contraption. It seems he really likes being able to get around on his own.
Clive was a totally normal kid but he drowned. After they revived him, he sustained brain damage. I don't know what's going on with Fudhail, but when he came to Aurora 2 months ago, he was basically a blob. But now, he's sitting up on his own, trying to talk, and pushes his own wheelchair around the room.
Liyema is the other kid who has problems walking, but that's because she has very bad balance. She was born pre-maturely and it looks like she's had brain surgery. She'll run around the room, playing with the toys and stuff - she'll just stumble and trip a bit. The other 3 in the class - Chelsea, Mihle, and Phumelela- are very abled compared to the others in that they can go and do stuff on their own, but they tend to just play on their own and not really respond when I try to interact with them.

So far, my favorite time with them is play time because that's when I get to tickle them or fly them around the room or monster attack them or just play with their toys a bit. Liyema, Clive, and Christiano are the most responsive to this. They're also the most affectionate ones it seems.

In contrast, I've also spent one day at the AIDS Haven (I called it Safe Haven, but that was wrong). There's about 30 kids in total there, ranging from infants to age 13, but there's only 1 that old. About 75% of them have HIV and the place is essentially an orphanage. But it's not that all of the kids' parents are dead. A lot of the kids were abandoned at the hospital when they were born. For others, their parents simply can't take care of them. A lot of the kids have been there since birth and this is the only home they know.

In the morning, 2 other girls and I looked after the 11 preschool aged kids, while the other 2 guys in our group mopped up the preschool building after a tap was left running over night. We spent 3 hours with them, but after just 2 I was exhausted. The kids were all very energetic, loving, and sweet. Therewas only one who was shy. The other people in my group said that he didn't talk or play that much, but he was crying when we first got there, so I picked him up. After a while he stopped and went off to play a bit. A while later, he called over to me, "Mama!" and said something in gibberish. He wanted me to play with him on and off throughout the morning, but whenever he cried, I'd pick him up and he'd cuddle into me and stop.

Some of the others toddlers would call me and the other girls "mama" as well. I have no idea where they got that from, but it's very strange, a bit overwhelming, and really touching to hear that from a kid I've only known for an hour.

In addition to the little kids, there's about 15-20 elementary school-aged kids who started arriving home between 1:30 and 2 and we played with them for the rest of the afternoon. Some of them would sit down and play cards, others would just run around, and a lot of them asked for my cell phone, which I didn't bring here. But, if I had, I would not be giving it to them. One of the guys had brought his ipod and speakers and the kids just wanted to listen to Michael Jackson. Some of them could actually do some of his dance moves, which surprised me a bit. All in all, they're great, sweet kids and I'm so glad I'll get to spend a lot more time with them.


The AIDS Haven does take good care of these kids - they're feed well, clothed properly, and have a clean place to sleep. However, nappies (diapers) are very limited and the caretakers are reluctant to say the least about changing the kids. Usually, a kid has to sit in a dirty diaper for about an hour before a caretaker will change them. It's not a good situation in terms of nappies. Also, the place is running out of money. They think they'll close down in a few months. I have no idea where the kids are going to go when that happens. I think someone said they would just go into foster care, but I'm not sure how that works in SA. But I do know that these kids all deserve a proper, loving home.

First Week in SA

Note: I'm awful at spelling and not that great at grammer.

I landed in Port Elizabeth, South Africa last Saturday afternoon after 36 hours of travel. AS it turns out, the main organization that's run here is not the one I signed up with. It's called something that starts with a U (I'll get the name later). The program I signed up with is a smaller group that just feeds volunteers into the larger organization. For the next 2-3 weeks, there are 21 volunteers living here (including me) - 13 males, 8 females. Most of the them are from the UK, but 3 others are from the US and there's 2 Swiss girls and 1 German girl. After that time, 2 of the boys will leave and then, 5 weeks from now, all but about 7 of us will leave. We'll have a couple weeks together before the next group arrives and I'll finish my time here with them.

So far, almost everything has been different from what I expected. The majority of the volunteers are going into some schools in the townships and providing the PE for the schools by coaching and teaching different sports. Only one of the other boys, Chris, will be working at the clinich for severly disabled children with me in the mornings. About 5 others will be working at a place called The AIDS Haven that's for children with HIV/AIDS, have been abused, or in some other way, can't be at home. My plan right now is to work at the Haven 2 days a week and then at the clinic 3 days a week, but it's only in the mornings. In the afternoons on those days, I'll go to the schools and help with the HIV/AIDS lessons. I might also help with the sports lessons. It all depends on where my help is most needed.

We all took a tour of the townships we'll be working in with Kurt, one of the main staff people we work with. It was amazing to go through there - a little overwhelming to see what exists only a 5-10 min drive away. We first went to the Black township called Red Location - named for the color of the metal the government originally gave the Black Africans they forced to live there. There's a few different sections to the townships: the shacks, which are just small, metal structures; a nicer area with housed provided by the government; the nicest area where Blacks with degress and higher paying jobs live.

Driving through, I saw so many people walking about in the streets. Kurt said there's about a 75% unemployment rate in this whole area (not sure if he meant the city or the township or the province), so there's always a lot of people around. A lot of the peiople smiled and waved at us because we were in a huge, brightly colored and detailed van. Kids would run to try to keep up with us at times and shout out a line from this song-type thing that the organization uses with them at the sports lesson ("How funky is your chicken?") Women walked down the streets with babies strapped on their backs, bags on their shoulders, and containers balanced on their heads.

We stopped at an Arts and Crafts Center that has artwork and the such by local artists. The Center's run by an organization called Ubuntu, which also works in the schools and runs a clinic that focuses on HIV/AIDS in the community. However, at the moment, no one (including us) is doing work in the schools because the teachers are on strike. Hospital workers have striked too, so hopefully no one here will get too hurt or sick.

The Arts Center is located in one of the shacks area and when we got there, all of the children came over to us, but stayed back for the most part. They were all a bit shy, but some were willing to do the funky chicken dance for us. But when we left, they all shouted, waved, and ran after the van, trying to get high fives from us. The teenagers and adults who were outside also waved at us, but forgo the running. While leaving there, I felt such love from the community and from those kids. No one knew who we were exactly, but they knew the organization and were therefore immediatly friendly and kind. I was also struck by the liveliness of the communities. It seems like everyone was just out and about. We also passed by one of the main shopping areas in the townships with a local delicacy: whole sheep's head. We didn't stop and try it, but some of them might later on.

Because of the strikes, I can still work in the clinic and the Haven, but since most of the others can't do the coaching, we're going to Jefery's Bay for the weekend. I'll try to post next week after a few days of work.

T-5 days

Since I'm leaving for South Africa next Thursday, I figured it would be a good time to start this. While I'm in South Africa, I think I will have access to the internet about once a week and I'll update this then. As of now, I know that I'll be staying in Port Elizabeth, South Africa while working at a rehab clinic and teaching little kids about HIV/AIDS Monday through Friday. I'll have the weekends free to explore and go adventuring.

Next time I update this, I'll hopefully be in South Africa!