All good things come to an end.....

Tomorrow is my last day on project and my last full day in Cape Town, before I head east to Durban on Saturday morning. In a week’s time I’ll actually be back home! I can’t believe how fast the past month has gone……it seems like only a few days ago that I was saying goodbye to everybody!


I am having mixed feelings about leaving. In some ways I have to admit that it is a relief, as, after a month, I am tired of breaking up fights, washing porridge dishes and having sand thrown at me! Plus my poor hands can’t take many more days of washing up and I am in serious need of a manicure! A lot of volunteers arrived here at the same time as me and are also leaving this weekend, so there is a general feeling of winding down. But I will definitely be sad to say goodbye to Sophie and the children at Children of Hope and, as corny as it sounds, they will stay with me forever.

One of the hardest things about volunteering on a project like this is that the results cannot be seen immediately as they are the result of the work of a lot of people over many months and years. However, last Thursday afternoon four of us ran a Job Skills Workshop in the Red Hill Community Centre. It was for people looking for work and we kept it pretty simple, focusing on how to write a CV, what sort of questions you might be asked at interviews and how to present yourself at an interview. Yesterday, Mylena, one of the other volunteers who works in the pre-school next to the community centre told us that the Mum of one of her pupils had attended the session and had since approached Mylena to show her the CV she’d written based on our advice. Apparently this lady had never known how to do it before and was really proud of herself, which is just fantastic!

Those small things are what keeps us all going when it’s cold, raining, we’re tired and just damn well sick of small children! In the long term though, there is a project I’d like to help raise funds for when I get home. This morning Amanda, our Project Manager, told me that Children of Hope need to raise 250,000 Rand to install a flushing toilet. Believe me, the facilities up there are pretty grim – to the point where the volunteers drink very little before heading to work in the morning so that we don’t need to use them!

Since I got here I have taken about a million pictures and can’t wait to bore everyone with them when I get back! Like summer camp, I don’t think the true amazingness of this experience will really hit me until I get home. For now, all I know is that, despite the times when I have wanted to throttle the kids, despite the week of torrential rain, despite the dramas of sharing a house with so many other people, coming here and working at Children of Hope is one of the best things I have ever done and has changed me forever.

Keep away from people who belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. ~ Mark Twain

Puzzling times

After a few minutes a boy came over and joined me, without saying anything, and we just got on with the jigsaw for a while before we started chatting. His name is Tamby and he’s 11 and speaks pretty good English. Up in Red Hill, where I work in the mornings, most of the kids can communicate in pretty decent English, but down in Masiphumele the residents speak Xhosa (the most bizarre sounding clicking language!) and the children in the primary schools there can’t speak much English until they are in the higher grades. So Tamby and I got on with our puzzle and just chatted about small things like music, films, what he does at school, etc. He asked me how often volunteers are at the library and I told him that we’re there every day of the week but that I’ll only be there again tomorrow and he said he was disappointed because he only wants to do puzzles with me. He pretty much broke my heart there and then and totally turned my day and mood around – so has saved my housemates from me being a total grump tonight!

On Sunday I went to Robben Island. It’s something I have wanted to do since I got here, but unfortunately the wind in Cape Town means the boat trips are often cancelled. Luckily Sunday’s trip went ahead and it was so worth the wait. The tours are run by former prisoners and are just fascinating. South Africa is a beautiful country but is still so divided and I think will continue to be so for a long time. Change is frustratingly slow, which is something I have also found while trying to recover from my eating disorder, as it is impossible to make big changes overnight to something so long-standing. One of the other volunteers here pointed out though that the generation of kids we are working with and helping now will be the ones that will grow up and make the changes to live in a fairer society. Sadly, they won’t all make it that far, and to believe they will is far too idealistic, but if even just a handful of the kids I have worked with out here manage to do something successful with their lives, to help change things for generations to come, then it will have been worth all of the snotty noses, bites and exploding yogurts I have been dealing with!

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

Nelson Mandela

All things wise and wonderful

Life at Children of Hope is going smoothly and I am settling into some kind of routine, which isn't bad considering the kids are crazy! I generally arrive at around 8.30am, when they are having breakfast, am pounced on for hugs and attention, and then set about putting out their toothbrushes and cups of water so that they can brush their teeth. After that I have the terribly glam task of washing the breakfast dishes, before I join Sophie in the classroom for stories, ABCs and counting. Snack is at 10am, when I supervise, open yoghurt pots and juice cartons, cut up their fruit, break up fights and clean up spills, then the children go outside to run around, let off steam and beat each other up before coming back inside at about 11am to colour in and play with blocks. They have lunch not long before noon (sometimes earlier if Sophie is really sick of them!) and then go down for a nap. Then all I have left to do is clean up the lunch dishes before being picked up at and driven back to the house in Fish Hoek.

In the house there is a book which most past volunteers have written in, generally with advice for anyone else about what to do in the area and also programme-specific tips. Among things I have learned and will be sharing are the following pointers:

• no day will go by without somebody's yoghurt pot exploding in their bag
• always put out water cups in the same colour at teeth-brushing time....a single red cup in a sea of blue ones creates havoc and fighting
• always fill the cups up with the exact same amount of water - the kids always want the 'biggest' of everything, no matter what it is
• ditto for blobs of toothpaste and pieces of fruit
• small children never get tired of the same joke - twice a day, every single day, I somehow find the will to laugh when a kid gives me their dirty breakfast/lunch bowl and pretends to have lost the spoon
• drawing pictures for them is unwise - one kid sees you draw a cat for someone else, and you're suddenly drawing twenty cats......which isn't bad considering I was 'strongly discouraged' from taking GCSE art.

I complain, but I do actually enjoy it. There have been times recently when I've been tired, fed up (generally due to the bloody awful weather last week!) and wondered if I should have come for just a fortnight, but really that would not have been enough. The children are just about starting to get to know me, and me them, and I feel like I am finally connecting with them. The pre-school experience is definitely the toughest, but I feel like I am getting so much out of it as I am there every day and am always needed in some way, even if it is just opening yoghurt pots. And, very importantly, play rehearsals are going fairly well, although the mice who squeak during 'Old Macdonald Had A Farm' have been demoted due to misbehaviour and nobody has yet managed to start 'All Things Bright and Beautifully' correctly......in Red Hill the song starts 'All Things Wise and Wonderful', and no doubt will do so on the actual opening night!

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

~ Aesop, The Lion and the Mouse

Bite me!

Things up at Children of Hope Pre-School certainly continue to be interesting.....in the past week, Clare (the other volunteer who has been there with me) and I have been left alone with the toddlers who spent that time screaming and running into walls head-first, I have been bitten by a small child (nothing serious for those who asked if my tetanus was up to date!), and Clare had to break up a fight where one little one threw a potty over another. It's crazy, no day is the same as the previous, sometimes I just want to hide from the kids and cry, but on the whole I am actually having a pretty damn good time. One of the other volunteers who normally works in the vet clinic came up to the pre-school for a morning last week and decided that working with dogs was far easier.....and that's saying something considering there was an incident at her place of work last week when a big dog attacked a puppy!

The reason we were left alone with the smallest children is because the older ones are rehearsing in the church hall for their end of year school play, and amidst the potty-throwing chaos last week we could hear the tune of 'I Believe in Angels', which is kind of ironic when you think about it! Anyway, on Friday I actually had a chance to watch the rehearsal and, while what I am about to say may sound cheesy, it was actually pretty inspirational. Sophie, who set up the school and currently works as principal, teacher and cook, tells the audience about the school, what the children have been learning and how they all have a dream, and then the six kids who are set to graduate and go to primary school in January step forward and say what they want to be when they grow up. Of the six, there will hopefully be one policeman (that's my little Cheslyn!), a fireman, a nurse and three doctors. Children of Hope has only been open for a couple of years and African Impact has already had reports from the local primary schools that the children who go there are starting Grade One at a far higher standard than their peers. Considering how primitive the conditions up there are, the fact that the school isn't even government-registered and that Sophie and the other teacher, Ntombie, are not even trained, I think that's pretty amazing and it means those six children actually do have a real chance of achieving their dreams. I could not be more proud to be a part of that, even if it does mean being bitten every once in a while!

Since the weekend the weather here in Cape Town has been almost British, with lots of wind and rain, although it is set to improve by Thursday. The pre-school is really just a couple of shacks, and it has been cold there this week, so I can't imagine what it must be like in winter. One of the afternoon projects is doing renovation work at the schools at that township, so hopefully it won't be too bad for them next winter. On Thursday afternoon I was working at the Red Hill Pre-School chipping old paint off the walls, but most of my afternoon work has been in the library doing jigsaws, playing games and reading as part of the after school club. In some ways the library work is a lot easier than that in pre-school - almost a welcome break from shouting 'no!' all morning, but as much as I come home at lunchtime feeling shattered, filthy and sick of kids, I think it's secretly my favourite thing. However, from this week I will also be able to spend a couple of afternoons a week assisting in a medical clinic in the Masiphumele township, which should be exciting. Although I'm informed it will mostly be helping with paperwork, I will still get to wear a while coat which keeps me happy!

I am learning so much about myself here. I am absolutely not the most flexible person in the world and like a plan, which is a definite family trait. Life in Africa however, does not go to plan.....sometimes we are supposed to be doing something and it gets cancelled, I'm told I'll be working in one place and suddenly I'm assisting somewhere else. It's not easy for me to 'go with the flow', but I am actually managing pretty well and hopefully it's something I can continue to do when I get home. Hopefully I won't turn back into a scary control freak as I fly back to the UK! Anway, internet access here is pretty limited and I had better stop rambling. And as corny as it is, I am going to end this post with a quote from the school play......

I have a dream, a fantasy
To help me through reality

And my destination makes it worth the while

Pushing through the darkness still another mile

I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see

- Abba

Finally here!

Wow, after all of the worry and nerves I'm finally here in Fish Hoek and so far I am absolutely LOVING it!

I arrived in Cape Town on Sunday morning and was driven to the volunteer house in Fish Hoek at the same time as a couple of others. The area is beyond beautiful, just so stunning. In fact, I need to work on my adjectives as stunning doesn't even begin to cover it!

I'm living with 13 other volunteers from all over the world, including the UK, Switzerland, Austria, Canada, USA and Mexico, all here for roughly the same time as me. We're a happy mixture of teachers, medics and vets and are bonding well so far over shots of Tequila in the Fish Hoek beach bar! In the mornings we all get driven to our various projects, be they in the schools, medical centres or vet clinics, then after lunch we're all mixed together in all of the different community projects.

So, the most important thing......the projects! Well, as part of the induction on Monday, all of us new volunteers were taken to see all of the various schools and medical centres. I'll be spending my mornings working at Children of Good Hope Educare Centre, which is a pre-school on the Red Hill Township. In the afternoons so far I've been working in the library as part of the after school drop in centre, just doing general stuff like reading with the younger kids and playing puzzles. On Mondays I will be going to Hokisa Orphanage and doing one on one reading work with a 12 year old girl called Fundiswa. I'm actually really lucky to be able to take part in this particular project as the people who run the orphanage are very careful about who is selected to work with the children. Only the longer term volunteers are able to go there as the kids have been through so much already that it would be really unfair to have volunteers just dropping in and out of their lives. And funnily, as the work is reading skills, those with strong accents are also ruled out.....hopefully Fundiswa won't pick up too much of my lovely Northern tones!

The pre-school is definitely a challenge, but it's crazy good fun too! The kids are aged 10 months to about 6 and the can be WILD at times! So far I've been jumped on, swung on, had banana mushed all over me.....and I'm actually working with the older class! The school was founded and run by a lady called Sophie, and at the moment she is working as principal, teacher, cook and cleaner as there is only one other teacher there who looks after the very little ones. My work is pretty much helping out wherever is needed. When I get there the kids are normally finishing with breakfast so after that we get their teeth brushed, wash up and then help with the morning lesson. The morning just flies by after that, and involves a lot more washing up, sweeping floors and general crowd control. So far I have fallen for Cheslyn, who is very cute and cheeky, but sharp as a button!

I wish I had time to write more, to really let people know just how incredible it is to be here, how overwhelming and awesome the experience has been after just three days. It seriously feels like I've been here for much longer! Tomorrow afternoon I'm down to do building work up at the other pre-school in Red Hill, so I am expecting to end up covered in paint as that's how everyone else has come home this week! And there's going to be no time for sleep at the weekends either, as there's a wine and cheese tasting tour in Stellenbosch scheduled for Saturday and plans to go to Cape Town on Sunday!

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, MUST be attained.

~ Marie Curie