Week 4: NEW PROJECT!!!

Over the past few weeks my projects have been changing but I didn’t want to share it until I knew what was going on. As I mentioned previously many of the staff including the LSE do not have first aid training. What started as a small, short workshop for the LSE and support workers (home-based care) is turning into a huge project. In my development of the short workshop I discovered that there are NO policies regarding emergency response. So if a child is injured, for example, the LSE have no procedures to follow. When you think about how many children are attending the camps (at least 400 in OV alone, more than 400 in Masi, about 100 in Red Hill, 100 in Capricorn…and the list goes on for each community) it is absolutely necessary that the LSE have some idea of how to help an injured child. In fact, most people are not sure what the emergency number is even (they don’t have 911 here). So I started asking around to the high-ups for Living Hope and they soon realized the need for a full First Aid training program for all their staff (180 and growing). They have asked me to develop it from the ground up, from the actual training in first aid to their policies regarding what to do if a child breaks a bone (it is not as easy as calling 911 here), to actually writing down the legal documentation for all of Living Hope to be approved by the Board of Directors. I am really excited about this!!! I will have to draw from all my training and experiences from Lifeguarding to BC Ambulance to pretty much everything in order to complete this.
After Youth Camp last weekend Meagan was driving me home when we passed a Church in Ocean view. She said, “Oh, that’s where I will be working tomorrow (instead of doing the Club at the Multi-purpose center).” I asked her what she meant and she said… “Oh I guess I should have told you, Nathan was wondering if you would mind helping me out starting a brand new kids club at the Methodist Church instead of helping Timmy and Julie in Mountain view?” I was so excited!!! So it would just be her and I building this new Club from the ground up. So now during the day I would be preparing the First Aid policies and procedures, as well as preparing to teach all of Living Hope/Living Way/Living Grace staff, and in the afternoons I would be preparing for Kids Club and running the new club with Meagan.
The first day of club (Monday) was a lot of fun. Melissa and Chris brought some Multi Kids and helped us out for the first day. We played capture the flag, which was a lot different then back home. The kids went crazy and pretty much dogpiled on the buckets with the balls inside. At the end of it there was a lot of laughing, a few tears, and little pieces of streamer everywhere (they had streamer bracelets on that the kids on the other team would try to rip off to get them “out”). We got the kids to clean up, then Meagan talked to them for a bit, then we prayed and sang a worship song, then got their names and fed them. Oh, I forgot to mention that Meagan was dressed as a clown and I was a cowgirl with face painting and everything. Now to put this into perspective, imagine this over-crowded community with lots of kids running around, and this face-painted clown with the wig and everything coming down the street with a white chick (white people usually don’t go into these communities) who is wearing a cowboy hat with a horse painted on her face followed by all these kids screaming and running around and being…well…kids. Needless to say, we attracted quite a bit of attention. On Day 2 and 3 of the Club Meagan and I went door-to-door around “The Flats” to promote the club. Some people were really receptive and asked us to come in a sit down for a while. A lot of the kids already knew Meagan from the presentations she does in the schools and were really excited that we were starting a new Kids Club in their area. Others were a lot more reserved, or were Muslim and were not quite as open or excited about the club. After we walked around we went back to the Methodist Church where there was about 30 kids waiting. We played a few games that I played in camp when I was young (Red Rover and Giants, Wizards, Elves), took attendance, and fed everyone. Kids Clubs only run Mon-Wed with Thursday as the planning day and Friday the training day. Meagan and Melissa wanted to learn how to play poker and I always have my cards with mw in my bag (the same cards that caused so many problems at customs in the Airport…stupid cards…I should have thrown them out :P) So we spent part of our lunch on Thursday playing poker. Of course the other OV LSE gave me a hard time about promoting gambling and bringing in my crazy Canadian customs but I know they just wanted in on the action ( :); they were kidding don’t worry, these guys are never actually serious).
PEPFAR is the company that supports a lot of what Living Hope does and have said they want at least 80 kids in this Club (with only Meagan and I running it that will be a challenge). Well after the first 3 days (not all of the surrounding areas even knew about the Club yet) we had 72 kids on the register. Cool!!!
On a more serious note, Danielle said that the body of a 3-year-old girl was found murdered in Masi on Monday. A lot of rumours were flying around that it was a Zimbabwean couple that murdered her. There is a lot of racism and bad pride in Masi because this Black community has a lot of history and pride in their culture and land. They don’t always appreciate people from other places coming in to take their land (a lot of Zim people migrate here; most of the community is made of people from the Eastern Cape). A lot of the Zim stores were raided and looted. It later came out that it was not a Zim couple, but possibly a Zim Sanghoma (Witch Doctor; I’m not sure of the spelling) that told the couple to do it. Apparently a lot of people rioted on Tuesday. It got so bad that Tuesday night the Police shut down Masi to all traffic (no one in or out). This is the season for children going missing due to sacrifices since Halloween is coming up, which commemorates Satan’s birthday here. On Wednesday a rumour started that another woman was missing in Masi and that her body had been found with her breasts cut off. Masi was still in a bit of panic and people were obviously scared and fearing for their and their children’s lives. A woman named Faith is involved in Living Hope. She owns the house that the murderous couple lived in. The people of Masi were mad that she allowed such a couple to live in their community, so some of the citizens torched the house that the couple lived in, as well as the house that Faith currently lives in. She now stays in a bungalow that she works in behind the preschool. On Thursday we heard that some of the LSE in Masi have organized a March with the preschool kids and some of the Kids Clubs kids through Masi to show that the kids aren’t afraid. Danielle was able to go see the March (she was actually the only white person there). What it turned into was completely incredible. Not only did the preschool kids and Kids Club kids march, but children in grades 1-3 were pulled out of school to join the march through Masi. They were equipped with signs that said things like… “My body is my own” and “We have a future, don’t destroy it,” “Stop the killing,” “I deserve to have a future” and other things in both English and Goza. Danielle got some pictures that I will put up soon, but she estimates that there was between 400 and 500 kids. With this many young children you would think that it would be chaos, but they were all really serious and walked nicely in long lines through the town. They seemed to understand what they were marching for and took it quite seriously. I really hope this is the end of what is happening there. Apparently the missing woman was found and there was no woman with cut-off breasts, so things should start to calm down…hopefully!
Friday afternoon Meagan and Melissa picked me up (Friday afternoons have ended early for me since there is no Kids Club; starting next week all the volunteers will be doing something like Habitat for Humanity on Fridays working on peoples houses which should be a lot of fun!). We headed out for Weinberg with Melissa so she could get fitted for a bridesmaid dress. On the way we got a Gatspy, which is pretty much the most AMAZING THING EVER!!! Basically it is a sandwich on bread filled with different veggies, a kind of meat (chicken, beef, or bologna), and FRIES!!! It is actually pretty tasty, you should all try it sometime!
This past weekend was really restful for me. The weather here is absolutely amazing (except for one cloudy day we have had straight sun for over a week!!) so I went to the beach by our house on Saturday. I realized that I have been here for over a month and haven’t gone in the ocean yet; I have run by it many times but I haven’t swam, so it was time. The water was really warm surprisingly, and so incredibly clear. It was pretty much the temp of the pool back home!! The beach was packed though, and I got to meet quite a few people. I will be going back very soon, that’s for sure!
At the end of week 4, I am totally immersed in what I am doing here. I am really enjoying it and time is flying by way too quickly! Sorry for taking so long to put up more updates, I will try to come on every weekend!