Amelia in South Africa 5

Amelia in South Africa

I promised myself and others at the start of my year long adventure that I would keep my journal, write my blog regularly and write for the village magazine each month. Nearly 8 months in I can safely say that I am failing with those promises. Since I last wrote in February time has gone far too quickly, I didn’t even realise that I forgot to write in March until now.

We have been busy in the Enrichment Centre welcoming a new child into the family, a little girl with Downs Syndrome who gives the greatest hugs, making our faces out of clay with the pottery lady who donates her time to the children, going on our end of term excursions – bowling and homemade banana smoothies for Life Skills, mini golf for Seniors and a farmyard visit for Juniors, being thoroughly entertained by 1 of the Senior class boys dance to Gangman Style and having an easter egg hunt in the Enrichment Centre garden. And that was all just in the 3 weeks before the Easter holiday! The other 3 girls had family and friends visiting so this was my chance to get out of Polokwane on my own. I first went to Johannesburg and stayed with one of the teachers and his family for a few days in a very nice security estate built around a golf course! So had great fun driving around in a golf buggy with their 2 children, nothing like being taught how to drive by a 10 year old! From here I went to White River, just outside of Nelspruit where I had organised to spend some time volunteering at a HIV clinic to get experience for my uni interview for nursing. I was helping on a holiday camp which they run for teenagers where they make their own films. On this camp they were learning how to edit their films aswell. The camp was 4 days long, and after spending the first half working out which children could speak English and those which pretended to not understand you when you were giving instructions it was great seeing the end result of their films. Also helping on the course was Tori, another girl from the England who had volunteered at the clinic before and is now at uni and had come out before her family holiday. The teenagers tried to teach us how to say words in Siswati but the only one I can remember is ‘come back’ from when we taught them how to play wink murder! They also showed us guava and granadilla fruits which were growing on the grounds of the clinic. I have tried guava ice’s since getting here, and love the granadilla yoghurts but eating guavas fresh off the tree is a very different taste, having to bite through the very bitter and floury tasting skin takes away the enjoyment of the fruit. I also had a fun game of netball with 6 of the boys and another of the helpers, however every possible rule was ignored during the game, but that just made it even more fun. I also had the opportunity to sit in on some of the Doctors consultations in the mother and child unit and also spent a morning with the nurse which was a great experience. I was told by many different people that trying to travel over the Easter weekend is close to impossible here so I decided to stay longer in the accommodation at the clinic, which was a great decision. Tori was also staying until the Saturday so on the Friday Chris, the son of the lady who runs the accommodation, took us to see some amazing waterfalls and to God’s Window, a spectacular view point where you can see for miles and miles. After Tori left, Edith (the lady who ran the accommodation) and her family welcomed me into their family even more so nicely, it was lovely spending the weekend with them. On the Monday I headed back to Johannesburg where it was great to meet up with 2 of the other girls and hear all about their holidays before heading back to Polokwane where I had arranged to shadow a local GP. Another thing I love about this country is the lack of rules. The doctor let me take staples out and give a flu vaccine, only in Africa! It was a great opportunity to get more insight into nursing as well for my uni application as I spent time with the nurse too.

Even after just a couple of weeks off I was missing our children so much, I really don’t know how I’m going to be able to say good bye to them at the end of this year. It is great being back at the project, we have been back just over 2 weeks now and it is so great being back. We have stopped swimming this term as we are now heading into winter so instead in Juniors and Seniors we are cooking. We have had great fun making pizza’s (imagine 8 children ages 4 to 8 and flour everywhere!) and burgers which were so tasty. This term has also seen one of the boys in Life Skills get his new wheelchair which was fundraised for by the whole school. He had moved out of his ‘buggy’ chair into a chair which we are hoping is going to enable him to become more mobile by wheeling himself.

We are heading into winter now, and I’m not sure how I am going to cope at home next winter when we moan of being cold in 15 to 20 degrees! The last few evenings we have been all sitting wrapped up in our blankets in the evening as our flat is always even colder than outside, we were grateful for this in summer but not so much now!

Time is going too quickly, 2 weeks feel like they have gone quicker than 2 days and we have a mid term break in 2 weeks so for the few days Nicola and I are going camping in Sabie, which will be a lovely change of scenery from Polokwane.

Again I can’t express how grateful I am to all the kind people who donated money towards my fundraising to get here. Working with the children I am so lucky to work with every day truly makes me realize that I couldn’t wish to spend a year in a more amazing place.

Amelia