Week 5

On Monday night we (Mandy, Ryan, Danielle, Kate (Mandy’s roommate), Rita (Mandy’s friend), some of the OV girls (Meagan, Melissa, Tracey, and Annie), and I went to Ryan Dalton’s rap concert. Ryan is an American volunteer who just fell in love with Cape Town (I think he has been here for 8 years now) and does a lot of fundraising through his concerts. He is a Christian artist who uses what he has seen in the communities in his songs. Some songs hit me pretty hard. A lot of his lyrics are pretty graphic. He is doing amazing things though.
The First Aid program development idea has changed a lot this week! Monday I got an email from Avril Thomas (wife of John Thomas who started Living Hope) saying that she wanted me to go ahead with developing a full first aid program. I am really excited about it! As the week went on however, conversations with people back home as well as here resulted in the program changing. Since my certifications aren’t valid in South Africa and due to insurance and liability reasons, I really shouldn’t be teaching the First Aid, although I can still develop the program and assist whoever does teach it. So began my search for First Aid organizations/donors. The best options I have discovered thus far are a full Level One program valid for 3 years for about 385Rand per person (about $48CAD). This is REALLY cheap, even for here. The other option I am still looking at is with a company that is affiliated with Living Hope. We are still negotiating the price, although they said they can certify me here for about 2000Rand ($250CAD). Of course there will be additional costs for renting supplies and equipment, which must be factored in. Which option we take depends a lot on the funding that is available. I will keep you updated on what we decide. I am also considering fundraising for it so if you are interested in helping please let me know.
The new Kids Club is really a lot of fun! On Monday Meagan and I got the kids to make little fish attached to straws and were taught about how the disciples were fishermen before being called by Jesus. They usually get 1 or 2 Biblical teachings a week. On Tuesday we made South African flags. I have pics of the flags; it was a pretty big hit! The kids are starting to get used to me and are actually listening…well…kind of. The Club continues to grow as the kids bring more friends and family. The other pics I have are of the first week of the new Club when Meagan and I went door-to-door promoting it. On Wednesday we brought some sports equipment and face-paints to just hang out with the kids and play with them. Most of them don’t really have a chance just to hang out and play with adults in a positive environment, so days like today are really important for forming relationships with the kids. Thursday is the planning day, both for the Kids Clubs and for the school lessons the Life Skill Educators during the day. They really have such a huge impact in this community and are doing amazing things for these kids.
Fridays the long-term volunteers (Danielle, Ryan, Becky, and I) along with Mandy and the Talley’s are starting to work on people’s houses in the communities. Our first day we started in Capricorn on a woman named Maggie’s house. Half of us started a veggie garden in her front yard, while the other half fixed the ceiling in her house which was leaking and water-logged and falling off. We finished the garden but didn’t quite get the ceiling done, so we will be coming back next Friday. I certainly hope it doesn’t rain, although it hasn’t rained here for about 2 weeks so I think it will be ok! (not to rub it in or anything).
On the weekend the OV girls came over to hang out and stay Sat night. Most of the pics I have are of breakfast the next day which was quite an ordeal! They don’t really eat breakfast, so they were pretty impressed with the pancakes, strawberries, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream that we had. Not the healthiest breakfast, but it was pretty tasty that’s for sure! Sunday morning I went to their Church instead of KOK. Their Church is pretty amazing!!! As I mentioned before their worship is quite active and a lot of fun. After that we went into what I estimate is about an hour of prayer. Their services are really charismatic, that’s for sure! Close to the end of the prayer time Meagan brought me up to her pastor. He had quite a few encouraging words for me, one of which was regarding my money situation with respect to staying here (which I hadn’t talked to ANYONE about from here). I was pretty blown away actually, especially since most people here fundraise to come and there is NO way he would know that I did not really fundraise (other than grad gifts I got from my parents and family which were very generous). Other than Becky and I, almost ALL other volunteers did not pay out of their own pocket. He said that I didn’t need to worry about it, that things would be taken care of soon, and that people I didn’t really know well would be able to support me in my decision. So it will be very interesting to see what happens now! I will keep you all posted for sure!