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Published: January 24th 2007
Do the words michelle 20 babies and bathtime go together???
thanks for the messages and emails :-) And Mike for the words! Connection here (am in different net cafe) is not so good so haven't got the photos yet!!
Round 1 of postcards are on their way out but should take 2 weeks approx!!
Well sat night most of us volunteers went to a local bar in Obs. We got carded but all talked our way out of it as none of us carry passports etc! It was a sand pit for a beer garden!!
Sunday was another 7am start, and this time a tour of the Townships (which are basically the poorst parts of SA where some of the people were sent duirng aparteid). Our guide was a local to the township whcih was great. I was a little worried about beign a tourist, but everyone there welcomed us and were happy to show us their homes, as it is a way of raising awareness fo their poverty. Official stats put unemployment at 23% which is absolute *******! Much higher!! People live in shacks and try to make a living by the side of the road- making jewellery out of coke cans and washing cars or standing waiting for work to come along. They are very proactive in trying to help themselves. First I saw a pottery place which was funded by donations to tecah the locals how to make and paint pottery to sell (Steffi Graph tennis player funds it as well as a centre in Pristina - Children for tomorrow ), there was also a jewellery making place = lots of wonderful beads. I then went to the Baptist church in the township of Langa for their sunday service which was brilliant. Made to feel very welcome and lots of wonderful singing and a true celebration of their belief. I also saw a medicine man - very traditional using animal bones etc to heal people umm!! Some of the people talked football to me and support the gunners or liverpool, so that was fun to chat about.
On the tour were some new friends who volunteer on the orphanage with me, and also some random other travellers. One of them had a text alert to say the Table mountain cable car had just reopended (closed for last 5 days becasue of high winds) so we were all dropped off there, and I went up for the afternoon. It was a bit scary on the way up, the floor rotates 360 degrees so you can see all round, and it is very very steep the route the cable car takes. On top there were little rabbit like animals, I forget what they're called, and lots of fauna.
After I went to the V&A waterfront, and past Malcolm's hotel which looks wonderful (bet they don't have cockroaches!!) and had a walk around. Got my hair braided for practical work purposes only!!! In the evening I had an early night as it was an 7am start the next day too!!
Monday I went on a cape peninsular tour (by the way AVIVA get special rates on tours, they are very cheap and run by Day Trippers a great company, hence my first three full days have all been tours!!).
Again we took a minibus with bikes - 3 of us from Aviva, then some other travellers joined us.
We stopped at Hoke bay (where I saw a Rotray sign advertising their meetigns - I bet its all fishermen!!) and took a cruise out to see lots and lots of seals! They drove to Bolders Beach to see the penguins which were great but smelly! Hiked up cape point and cape of good hope, took about 20 minutes up each, then biked back across Cape Point/Table Mountain Nature Reserve for a while, was exhausting!!
Everyone forget about all the safety precautuons you all told me to take!! The most dangerous thing in SA which no one mentioned is .. the baboons!! Apparently they have bigger teeth than lions. Saw lots of them and they broke into cars, smashed windows and stole food...!!!!!
In the evening back at the AVIVA house we chatted about the orphanges and some of the volunteers who had been there longer told us what to expect ie anything!!!
So first day at workyesterday (Tues). We wnet for 10am briefing. Teh firts thign I saw an the entrace to the Bap Orphanges offcie was... a Rotary Internation wheel!! I felt gret as was a bit nervour about my first day so brilliant to see R. Turns out the 1850 Germna ditrci sippoirts Bap and also one of the Rotarisn Peter Hugo loved it so much here he is now the finance dircetor! He isn't in the orphange daily but I hoep to catch up with him on the next 6 weeks. The Rotary Club of Signal Hill in Cape Town have also given money towards the baby house.
After the trainign which wasn't really trianign at all, just a chat abotu the histry and soem other vaugue stuff! I started work.. in the baby house...!! There are 39 babies and toddlers under 5. The firts task was to make lunch - so pout out baout 28 bowls (as soem of the kids were at school), get water for a drink, and had out the food, wash up. It is nap time after lunch, so we were free until the 3pm-7pm shift... So it was snacks at 3pm, followed by playtime, then bathtime and dinner and bed... I was quite scared of all these babies!! There wa sno training the actual care of them so Ijust got stuckl in. Bathtime was a crazy yet quite touchign expericne. I had to undress the babies down to their nappies, and then a careworker (paid emmber of staff) would take the nappy off, was them and pass them onto another volunter and care workers, who would dry them. For soem reason they put vaseline on them, maybe a cheapo mositeriser? The second care worker would then out the new nappy on and a baby gro thing, and I;d look after them - ie put them in their cot (which I scared of getting them mixed up!! ) or taking them to the livign room where the other children were. I was lookign after all the babies waitign to be washed, and they climb at lot, and want a lot of attention. Its hard as sometimes they wnat attention and it is not good for me to favour one child over all the others, and also they mustn't bond with the volunteers really. Hence we are not supoiosed to feed, wash or cuddle the babies as they don't understand when we leave, but the careworkers are so so busy we do. Anyhow then it wad feed time and 'my baby' was avery very fussy eater so that didn't go to well and she ended up hitting the bowl out of my hand.. but it was all soted out in the end!!!
Some of the kids have dsabilites like cerebal palsy, have been abused so are quite and opthers are very helpful and can speak a little Englih. The most important words I learnt are sala pansiey (that;s not how you spell it!!) which is Xhosa for sit down!! Quite hard for me to judge when a child is upset or just attention seeking! I then did book covering with the older children ages 11, and back to the baby house to help with teethbrushing which is anghitmare! The careworkers don't have a culture of cleaning teeth, so don't help much and the children swallow the toothpaste but its ok we have the speical kids toothpaste!! After that the 5 volunteers including me on the shift head back to our flat pretty exhaused. We have a 7pm curfew after the shift is over, just a safety precaution. Its a good flat = 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms, flush toilet and a shower, microwave and fridge!! We have plans to buy paint and decorate it though!! I was thinking about you all at RCCB last night :-) How was the food????
So this morning was a 6am start with 7pm shift start - preparng the babies bottles and teethbrushing. Its goign be hard to lean all their names, some are difficult to pronounce but mostly they all look the same to me at the moment!!! Anyhow that took until 8am they the volunteers when back to our litle flat and cleaned, and relaxed until 10am - snack time and then play time. Play time was good, I'm felling more comfortable wiht the children. Thsy do have quite a lot of toys, but it is very hard to control so many children. We have no authority here and the children I think pick up on this!!! So after playtime, and reading some childrens books, and singing animal fair a lot... it wa slunchtime.. the same as yesterday... rice and some saussage/bean thing in a sauce. Again I was heping feed and was a lto more successful (differt child),.Thsi one was great - he knew how to use a spoon but could never keep the food on the spoon for it to go in his mouth - it kept falling off so I helped out. The food is mostly supermaket donated ie out of date stuff, so yesterdya they had danish pastries..!! I felt a big achievemnt when he ate 90% of his lunch! After more washing up we were picked up by the AVIVBA minibus and take back into cnetre of Cape Towb/Observatory. So I;ve jsut donw soem washing, and then headed out ot his cafe!!
Well that's it for now.. and off to do some food shopping and get some eye drops from the pharmacy - my eyes hurt will all the wind/sand. Its 31 degress here by the way!
Hope you are all enjoying this blog - its very theraputic to type so much!! Sorry for the spelling this machine doens't have a checker on it..!!!Any tips of under 5s and how to feed them, games/songs would be great as I am going to be spending a bit of time in the baby house.
Lots of love to everyone,
Mich
xx
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Emma
non-member comment
Table Mountain
Sounds like you're having a great time. The vaseline is probably to prevent nappy rash, not that I'm an expert in motherhood or paediatrics or anything! BTW did you know that there is a Table Mountain in the Black Moutains in S. Wales? It's profile is similar to that of the one you went up but suffice to say that the Welsh one is a couple of hour's stroll and somewhat shorter than the one in S.A. Have a good weekend. I'm looking after the 8-11's tonight and the 4-7's tomorrow. No idea how to entertain under fives. You sould sing to them or show them picture books I suppose. Sorry!! Take care, Emma.