Advertisement
Published: February 19th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Well Wed 14th I called Roitarian Dr Paul and then went over to Cape Town Hospital, where I spent several hours looking around the children's HIV/Aids ward. It was clinic day so outpatients day. I was able to visit Kiketso which was great. I also talked with a great lady Kate who is helping to run Kidspositive, a charity/social business which helps HIV positive mothers to made and sell beadwork. Fantatsic!!
I got back to Aviva house then took the train to Stellenbosch.. which was rarther a long way away - 1 hour 20 mins on the tain. The train got to one station, stopped, reversed 200 yards, then went back to the same station and stopped again.. Also someone I spoke to in Stellenbosch said I was mad to get the train.. and no=one does here.. weird!!
Anyhow, me, 5 girls and 1 guy went out for Valentines night. I am running a competion to guess where we went. You have to be broad minded (there's a clue in that!) and it wasn't where you'd expect me to go...!!
Thursday was back at Bap. Painting the flat has halted for now - we've run out of balck bin
bags to cover the floor with, but we enjoyed palying cards and sorting out the books - althought the rate the children rip up the books there won't be any left soon!! All my fave books are there, lady and the tramp, tale of squirrel nutkin,., oh wait the books are for the kids not me..!!
Friday I helped peel butternut squash - do we get this in UK?? It was tricky.. We have a new kid now. Kindof exciting to see a new face, but very very sad as this means something has gone wrong with his family life. All us volunteers gave him lots of cuddles and tried to make his first few days here as easy as possible. He looks about 5. It was a girls 15th birthday and us volunteers got her a present and cake, and went and sang for her - otherwise she would have had nothingl
Sat .. well sometines it feels like groundhog day here for the kids, same old really, bathtime, breakfast, teethbrushing, playtime, snack time, playtime, lunchtime, nap time, snack time, palytime, bathtime, dinner, teethbrushing, bed. The kids don't tend to leave the baby house much, they do
have an outside play area, but staffing and money are so tight it is hard to take them further afield. One of the volunteers has paid for some older kids to have surf lessons on fridays at garys surf school. Gary is amazing by the way.
Sunday was Nalade's brithday, so well all sang, it was also a shift change so we left at 9am and the new shift will bring his cake/present.
Then me, Holly, Suzanne went to Muizenberg (again) to Gary's surf school and had a lesson.. Our AVIVA volunteer friends at the school Donna and Ed gave us the lesson, wet suits aren't flattering at all, this was yellow and blue and very hard to get into. The boards were 10 foot two. I was very scared. All surf schools here give you a refund if you can't stand on your board in a two hour lesson.. well off I went.. I was rubbish!!! I struggled to balance on the board when it was on the sand.. Ed and Donna were great. The waves were actually small straight at the beach so perfect for beginners. I was very scared and kept asking Donna/Ed to Stop
the waves!!! Anyhow, after while.. I made it standing up onto the board!! I was in shock, I couldn't believe it...!! Anyhow got up a few times, and tried paddling into the wave and catching one instead of Donna/Ed pusing me into the waves. Then switched to a body board for 5 mins, and collapsed exhausted on the beach. Anyone who knows me well knows how scared I am of getting my face wet etc and seas/oceans in general especially big wavess... Photos to follow...!! After we went for a celebratory beer, and then for food above the station - fish in batter just like home!! Back to Aviva bruised and battered but elated!!
Love to all,
Mich
PS
Get well soon Ceri and Gerry xx
Congratulations Liz on passing your driving test!
Happy Hayling Island Mum and Dad!
If you haven't had a postcard either its lost in the post or I don't have your address!! So please send it me thanks
Advertisement
Tot: 0.085s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 5; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0602s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb