Week 7 (Nov 3 – 9)

Sorry I have not written for so long. These past 2 weeks have been really really crazy busy for me. You will see why!
During the mornings I was slowly starting to put the rest of the details for the First Aid program together. I made the secondary survey sheet they will all learn how to use when they get their full first aid course in the new year. I also researched ideas for what Meagan and I could do in the Kids Club. We decided to start speaking about the 10 Commandments. Our kids are starting to get a bit unruly so we are going to speak about why we need rules and well as the “rules” that God gave Moses. Then we would come up with our rules together. This came about because Melissa and Chris also came with us and actually commented on how bad our kids were getting. After the first few weeks they had become used to Meagan and I and had started misbehaving. I had an idea about using a whistle (I had apparently kept my work whistle in my jacket pocket all this time) to bring the children inside and calm them down. There would be rewards for coming quickly, and consequences for not (those had yet to be decided). We were going to start Tuesday.
Tuesday turned out to be a really really hot day so we decided to take them to the beach on Tuesday and would go over rules the following week. Imagine about 150 kids and 4 adults. The walk took 30-45 minutes and the kids were actually quite well behaved. We went to Long Beach which is on the Noordhoek side (the same beach the Teamhouse is on but much further down the coastline). It was so hot that day and we had to carry all the food with us. The kids here are really helpful though and we all rotated carrying the sandwiches and oranges, as well as the backpacks that Melissa, Chris, Meagan, and I had. I have pics and some video (will have to wait til I get home for you to see it). I was wearing Capri pants and rolled them up (I was planning on just getting my legs wet). See, the thing about this beach is that it is a bit more dangerous than Fish Hoek since the current and waves are so much stronger. So my plan of staying fairly dry lasted until the first big wave came. After I was completely soaked I started swimming with the kids. Most did not have any bathing suits and swam in their underwear. Meagan was smart and had brought a rope so Chris and I stood about knee deep (chest deep when the big waves came) to mark off the boundary. Some kids played in the ocean while others did back flips off the huge sand dunes (the lifeguard in me was just slightly freaking out but that’s just how things are here).
After they swam we brought them out of the water to sit and eat. I had my back turned to the group and was taking pics of some of the kids playing on the playground when Meagan started calling for me. I turned around to see all of them crowding around one of the children. His name is Shawn and he is in Meagan and my club. He is one of the youngest (I think he is 4 or 5 years old). I wasn’t sure what was going on until I came a bit closer and heard him coughing and wheezing. He was choking on his sandwich. I ran over beside him to see how badly he was choking. His breathing was pretty ineffective and he was barely getting enough air to cough. I started thinking…ok here we are and I am going to start doing abdominal thrusts (if I have time) and this kid is going to go unconscious and I’m not even sure what the emergency number is. His eyes started rolling into the back of his head as I was about to landmark when he was able (Thank God) to get one last decent breath in and cough up his sandwich (biggest chunk I have EVER seen…poor kid has probably not eaten in a while and literally inhaled his sandwich).
For those of you who are keeping up with my blogs you will know that I was considering starting an informal first aid training program until it became apparent that I could not be insured here. One of the First Aid training companies here offered Living Hope an incredible discount to train all the LSE. This will not happen until the New Year. In about a month the Christmas Kids Clubs will start. Just in Ocean view alone they are expecting about 450 kids. The children will be fed, and if anything goes wrong a lot of the LSE really aren’t sure what to do. Shawn choking right in front of me made me realize that they need something NOW. I would never forgive myself if I had the chance to train them but didn’t and something happened at one of the Christmas Clubs. I emailed Avril Thomas right away. She got back to me and asked me for dates. Another American volunteer Pat Ball was an EMT back in America. She agreed to help me run the training session, as well as get some Actar/Annie dolls for CPR training. Another company agreed to sponsor the training and rent out their dolls at a very cheap rate. We set up the training for (what Pat and I thought would be) Nov 21st and 28th.
On Thursday Meagan escorted me to Cape Town (I was not allowed to go by myself…I was at the receiving end if many jokes from the OV people about this) to get my passport stamp. I had phoned on 2 occasions to ask what I needed and was told that since I am Canadian all I needed was my passport and 425Rand (about $50). Meagan decided that in order to have a full Cape Town experience we needed to ride third class on the Cape Town train. It was quite an experience for sure. First of all I was the ONLY white person in 3rd class riding there and it was quite obvious that Meagan and I were riding the train together. Apparently this is not a common sight on the train since almost EVERYONE else was staring at us. After a few vendors came by selling pretty much anything you could ever want, and the infamous blind man who plays his keyboard as he is guided by the arm by his friend (it was really sad actually…although he was really talented) we made it. Meagan asked where we were going and I said “Home Affairs.” She asked where that was and I said “Come on now I thought we were here for an adventure…I didn’t exactly get all the directions.” So off we went.
The first thing we did was get coffee and Meagan bought something called Koeksisters which are like GINORMOUS Timbits with coconut. They were pretty tasty. We eventually found a police officer who pointed us in the right direction. Home Affairs was an adventure in itself. We got in to find 4 or 5 different lines with no signs. I just stood in the shortest line to find out that we needed to go up to the second floor. When we got upstairs there were 2 lines (and no signs) but the nice security guard pointed us in the right direction. We sat down in chairs (as the line moves everyone just slides down a chair). Sitting directly across from us was a nun. I start pulling my cards out and Meagan says…
“Jess that’s a nun we can’t play poker in front of a nun.”
So I said “Ok we will play a different game then.”
“Which game?”
“Have you ever heard of Go Fish?” I asked.
“No what’s that game?”
“Here let me show you…”
and I proceed to teach Meagan Go Fish. As I started explaining the game the nun looks at us and says…
“What are you playing?”
“Go Fish.” I answered. “Would you like to learn?”
“Sure.” she says and Meagan, a nun, and I proceed to play Go Fish in Home Affairs, Cape Town while everyone else in the room was watching. Turns out she is from Ireland and is working here. When Meagan asked what her name was she said with the STRAIGHTEST face (Meagan and I had a bit more trouble keeping our faces straight) “I am Sister Mary.” (duhhhh). We played Go Fish and Old Maid for the 2 hours or so that we were sitting in the line. Finally it was my turn and I gave him my passport and my Rand, and he gives me an application. I stare at him blankly. On the application it asks for a Letter (stating my purpose for being in Cape Town) and a return ticket. I told him that I had phoned in twice already and was told that all I needed was my passport and Rand. He asked what the name of the people I spoke to was. I asked if I could tell him whether it would make a difference or not. He said no and that I needed to come back when I have all I need. “Oh, and by the way you need to bring it back within 30 days of your current passport stamp.” I looked at it and it said November 16th. This was the 7th and they were not open weekends. NOT COOL! I emailed home to get my ticket changed ASAP (THANKS!!!!!!! :)) so I could go back the following week to get it all sorted.
On Saturday we (Ryan, Danielle, Ryan, and I) went into Cape Town to explore. We went to Company’s Gardens (the Gardens dedicated to the Dutch/East India company that founded Cape Town). There was a lot of historical sites in the Garden (I have lots of pics). After we went to a restaurant called Mesopotamia. We sat on the floor in the restaurant and decided to get the group meal. For 150 Rand (about $11) per person we had a 3 course meal and a belly dancer for entertainment. Our meal lasted almost 3 and a half hours. It was soooo tasty. They actually bring the appetizers out and tell you about each one and everyone picks one to share. We could have just come for the appetizers for how full we were but that was just the first course. We will be going back for sure!
Sunday at Church I ran into Avril. She said that she really agreed that the LSE needed training and said that she agreed so much that she bumped the training days up to Wednesday and Thursday. My response was… “This Wed and Thurs?” Well yes Jess will that be possible? “Ummmmmm….yes….I think so…I will try….wow…that’s pretty close to today eh?” So began my second stress (Keep in mind I am still thinking about the fact that I may not get everything with my plane ticket sorted in time to be allowed to stay longer). I went straight back to the Teamhouse and started preparing for my presentation. It would be 3.5 hours on Wed and 3.5 hours Thurs and I hadn’t finished my teaching materials or arranging for all the dolls. I went home and started preparing.