Edee
I know that most of the people who read this blog will already have a special relationship with South Africa and for that reason it is hard to describe an experience without using the same expressions and emotions that Caitlin, Fiona and so many others have already shared. The fact that we all had such an amazing experience should surely speak for itself. So what can I say about my experience?
Place of Safety. Before starting our placement there I expected us to have to engage the children in activities the whole time just to feel as if we were making our time worthy. I quickly learnt otherwise. Sometimes just sitting and cuddling two toddlers for a whole day is enough to make you feel you’ve done ‘a good day at work’. This is because they haven’t had much, if any, experience of love. You don’t have to bond with a child just through games. There are other ways, as we all learnt. I doubt we would have had the energy to play games all day anyway!
One of the hardest things that has ever happened to me occurred in Place of safety. One of the babies who had been there from 2 days old and who we worked with every time we were there passed away on our last week in South Africa from pneumonia. There is not much you can say about this apart from the fact that we are so so lucky to live in this country. Who knows why things like that happen in life but they do and I doubt I will ever understand why. Place of Safety has helped so many children but there are always things like this that happen and it is out of anyone’s hands. Many of the woman who work there are religious and I absolutely understand why.
SISCO brought different challenges. The boys were closer to our age which made it hard not to come across as patronising. I found that the problem of the use of glue with the boys was too hard for me to tackle. I can put my hands up and say I have no experience in dealing with those sort of issues so where to start? The only thing I could do was insist on not socialising with them if they were clearly high. If they wanted my company, they would have to be sober. I feel bad that there wasn’t anything I could do but I know that the challenge was too great. I made real friends with some of the boys there and the relationship was less volunteer-streetchild but just good friends.
I can’t add any more words to what Fiona and Caitlin said about Bobbi Bear so scroll down if you want my opinion! The one thing I would like to add could be seen as a negative but I don’t want it to come across like that. There were some days as a volunteer when I could feel so frustrated. I’m sure the others have seen a fair amount of a frustrated and angry Edee and for that I apologize. But there were several difficulties that we encountered that were out of our hands and there was nothing we could do about it. I would like to thank the girls in particular as we all had days where we would feel down but we always managed to pick each other up and focus on the positives. Mainly through hilariously immature jokes but WHATEVZ, it worked. The Jabulani Warriors (includes the biggest ‘warrior’ of them all Isaac) all played a massive role to my experience there. Love you muchos!
What can be said about Waldo that is a new compliment to him? Nothing, I believe. So I’m just going to say: love you baba, you’ve done so much for me that you probably don’t even realise. Thank you times a billion with a cherry on top. To every single person who has been part of the project, a big thank you to you! There are too many people to be thanked but some people deserve to be named. Jane, Jenn, Jean and Mimo, you are amazing woman and I have the utmost respect for you all!
To future Jabulani Warriors, let this project continue for as many years as possible because it deserves to. I’m having a bit of a life dilemma at the moment as I just don’t know which direction to take. However there is no doubt I will be running into the arms of my Durban friends soon. Can’t wait mate.
I know that most of the people who read this blog will already have a special relationship with South Africa and for that reason it is hard to describe an experience without using the same expressions and emotions that Caitlin, Fiona and so many others have already shared. The fact that we all had such an amazing experience should surely speak for itself. So what can I say about my experience?
Place of Safety. Before starting our placement there I expected us to have to engage the children in activities the whole time just to feel as if we were making our time worthy. I quickly learnt otherwise. Sometimes just sitting and cuddling two toddlers for a whole day is enough to make you feel you’ve done ‘a good day at work’. This is because they haven’t had much, if any, experience of love. You don’t have to bond with a child just through games. There are other ways, as we all learnt. I doubt we would have had the energy to play games all day anyway!
One of the hardest things that has ever happened to me occurred in Place of safety. One of the babies who had been there from 2 days old and who we worked with every time we were there passed away on our last week in South Africa from pneumonia. There is not much you can say about this apart from the fact that we are so so lucky to live in this country. Who knows why things like that happen in life but they do and I doubt I will ever understand why. Place of Safety has helped so many children but there are always things like this that happen and it is out of anyone’s hands. Many of the woman who work there are religious and I absolutely understand why.
SISCO brought different challenges. The boys were closer to our age which made it hard not to come across as patronising. I found that the problem of the use of glue with the boys was too hard for me to tackle. I can put my hands up and say I have no experience in dealing with those sort of issues so where to start? The only thing I could do was insist on not socialising with them if they were clearly high. If they wanted my company, they would have to be sober. I feel bad that there wasn’t anything I could do but I know that the challenge was too great. I made real friends with some of the boys there and the relationship was less volunteer-streetchild but just good friends.
I can’t add any more words to what Fiona and Caitlin said about Bobbi Bear so scroll down if you want my opinion! The one thing I would like to add could be seen as a negative but I don’t want it to come across like that. There were some days as a volunteer when I could feel so frustrated. I’m sure the others have seen a fair amount of a frustrated and angry Edee and for that I apologize. But there were several difficulties that we encountered that were out of our hands and there was nothing we could do about it. I would like to thank the girls in particular as we all had days where we would feel down but we always managed to pick each other up and focus on the positives. Mainly through hilariously immature jokes but WHATEVZ, it worked. The Jabulani Warriors (includes the biggest ‘warrior’ of them all Isaac) all played a massive role to my experience there. Love you muchos!
What can be said about Waldo that is a new compliment to him? Nothing, I believe. So I’m just going to say: love you baba, you’ve done so much for me that you probably don’t even realise. Thank you times a billion with a cherry on top. To every single person who has been part of the project, a big thank you to you! There are too many people to be thanked but some people deserve to be named. Jane, Jenn, Jean and Mimo, you are amazing woman and I have the utmost respect for you all!
To future Jabulani Warriors, let this project continue for as many years as possible because it deserves to. I’m having a bit of a life dilemma at the moment as I just don’t know which direction to take. However there is no doubt I will be running into the arms of my Durban friends soon. Can’t wait mate.
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