Saturday, May 18:

Today was a free day, and I got to Skype my Dad and sister, Laura for the first time being here. I tried to show them the Sister's guard dogs outside, and they were both coming over to me, and one of them decided to just lay his head on my lap while I was talking to them. Super cute. I ended up coming back from the house late, and went to bed early to be up for church early the next morning.  

Friday, May 17:

Every Friday is a shortened day for the students. I had another “session” with the girl who had came to talk to me on Wednesday, and then worked on the powerpoint for Sister Margaret in her office. I went back to the Sister's house with them, and continued to work on the powerpoint while waiting to skype one of my good friends. (This 6 hour time difference is really hard for trying to skype people). I tried Rooibus tea today, a South African tea. It was horrible just black, but adding milk and sugar made it a lot better. Anezka came back today from the retreat she was observing, and it was nice to see her again.

Thursday, May 16

Last night Anezka brought out fruit tea from her room and said her mom had sent it to her yesterday in the mail. I was going to ask if you could get it here, and apparently you can't in the main stores. While talking about over-priced foods, she was really surprised that we can buy candies in movie theaters, when in Czech, they only sell popcorn and drinks.

Today at school in the morning, I walked into the grade 1 class, and they were all lined up in two lines singing without a teacher. (A lot of the time, the grade 1s are better behaved than the older grades). It was really fun to hear them singing in Zulu and English. I was then needed in the grade 3 class for a while, and we went over their homework from the day before, and then Sister Margaret showed me what she wanted me to do for a powerpoint presentation I volunteered to work on. After that, Esther and I went to talk with the Aunt of a child who was “missing” from school. She lived in a nicer part of Finetown, and here the families live in actual houses (though they are very simple and small), and have electricity and water in their individual houses. We sat in their small house for a long time, but besides the little bit of English spoken, I could not understand anything. Esther was finding out what happened to the child, since she had not returned to school in a while. It turned out to be a custody battle case, as the government gives money to households with children to help families. We had tea in their house, and then left. On the journey home, we ran into two young ladies working for the government passing out pamphlets with information on HIV/AIDS and Women abuse. Doctors-in-training came to the school today from the University of Johannesburg to see children who were sick and to give our vitamins and medicine to them. They do this work for free for our school, and they come every Thursday after school. After school, I showed Magda what “Angry Birds” was on my ipod, and she got addicted to the game. She had never seen/played it before.   

Wednesday, May 15.

Yesterday a lady came to the school looking to enroll her daughter in one of the “Skills” courses, and talked to Esther about her daughter. So today they came back and I talked with the daughter one-on-one in the social work office (she didn't want Esther there too) about her life. We made a goal sheet for her of things to work on, and I listened to her as she poured out her story of previous poor choices in life and how she knows she needs to return to school in order to have a better life for herself.

This morning, Esther and I sorted out over 200 blankets that were donated to the school. They were all different colours, but not very thick unfortunately. We handed them out to every child after they were done their lunch.

I also visited the grade 3 class today for a little while to see what they were learning, but because it was right before lunch, a student was up at the front telling a story in his own language so I didn't understand anything.

At the end of the day, we handed out meal packets to some of the poorest children, and then we attended a staff meeting. I also saw a student from the Skills class today wearing a “Run Calgary” shirt, so obviously it was donated and sent over here.

Next Thursday is the grand opening of the new school, even though we are there everyday, and the Mayor and Bishop is coming, as well as a lot of important people in the religious community, the surrounding community, and possibly some board of education people. The workers are still finishing up the school, and the school yard is looking really nice. I don't want to post pictures of the school until it is done! I am hoping to video record a lot of the grand opening, and then create a video with the footage, so I will post that (if I get it approved). :)

Tuesday, May 14.

This morning the grade 4 teacher was not there at the start of school so I was asked to walk the students to their room. They sang their morning songs and said their morning prayer, and after all of that, the teacher was still not there. (Some of the teachers are still taking their exams). So, the grade 6 teacher who came by told me to read them a story, and so I read a “Noddy” book to them, and then started a Venn Diagram with them on the chalkboard, comparing Canada with South Africa. When I showed them where Canada was on the map, (Not separated by countries, just continents) they said “No, that's America!”. Thankfully breakfast time came, so I was off the hook for a while when they were eating their oatmeal, but then I was still in charge after that. So I was starting to have them pull out one of their textbooks when one of the grade 2 teachers came in to take over. Thank goodness! I'm not that skilled in working with 8 year olds, and really had no clue what to teach them/what they were learning about. But mostly the problem was that they would not be quiet for me at all.

I met with the social worker, Esther, after that, and we went to the Kindergarten Centre the Sisters also run. This is where I want to be everyday, (with new black babies to love!) and I will be there for a couple of hours now every Tuesday morning. There were an insane amount of them, all playing in the fenced-in yard, on the playground equipment and playing “house” with some plastic dishes near the building. Only a few came up to me at first, so I walked to where more children were playing. This is where I started to get a following, so we walked to the grass and I got the 30+ of them to form a big circle (which was the fastest I have ever seen a group of children make a circle, and the best circle I have ever seen made by children). The funny thing is that most of the children do not speak/know English yet, or just know how to say “good morning” and “hello”. This obviously didn't matter as I was leading all of them in a “Monkey See, Monkey Do” sort of game, and they understood my hand movements of where to go/what to do. After a while of that “game” I took them all in the shade and more joined us (but there were still so many of them playing) and we sang songs they knew in English like the Alphabet (which they sing a little differently) and Baa Baa Black Sheep and we counted and it was so funny to watch them sit there and sing and then clap afterward. The teachers there were laughing at us too, and the children also sang some of their own African songs. I also taught them a song from when I was in preschool. When we went back to the grass, they eventually started playing one of their own games with clapping and going around the circle and then it was time for me to leave.

It was almost lunch time when we came back, so Esther and I ate ours, and then I helped serve food to the students in the lunch room and helped the students on “dish duties” to dry them. Esther and I talked a lot then about what she does and what I will do with her, and then it was the end of the day.

Magda and I came home, and then walked to the Sister's house to cook for them for once, but we ended up being able to heat up left overs from last night to make a casserole with noodles we made, so it was very easy.

It feels like I have been here for a very long time, and just my time at school these past couple of days have felt like at least a week. I received an email today from one of my best friends who is volunteering in Belize for 2 years, and it was sooo good to hear from her! Perhaps her love of Africa and children as well will lead us to work together one day.

Sunday, May 12

Today I went to church in Lolli, another city 10 minutes away. Everyone was wearing heavy sweaters, while I was sweating after a while in my thin sweater. That's what it is like here, because to them, it is their winter, and it is “cold” when it is 70*F.

Church was filled with traditional music with drums, and other percussion which reminded me of Ghana. However, the service was in their language, so clearly I didn't understand the 2 ½ hours of Zulu mass, but was surprised and amused to hear them sometimes use “clicks” in the Zulu language. And, sometimes an english phrase would be said throughout the sermon, so we could get the gist of it.

After church, Magda and Anezka normally run a youth program, but due to lack of students, only Magda's program ran. We talked about respecting each other and ourselves, and then made Mother's day cards. After church I also met social worker, Esther who I will be working with, and who was very happy to meet me. I will start work with her tomorrow.

We had lunch with Sisters, and Sister Margaret talked to me more about the school, about how these children attending are the poorest of the poor, and come from very terrible living conditions.

Weirdly enough, a full page of the South African newspaper at the Sister's today was of Justin Bieber. Um, what??

Tomorrow water is off in all of my community because they are doing something to the reservoir. This should be interesting, especially at the school. Our power is running out too. Here, you pay for the power at the electric company, and then are given a code you enter into your power box in your house to get more power. So kind of like reloading minutes on a pay-as-you-go phone. And it shows up on the screen how much you have until you run out.

Monday, May 13

Well, today was the hardest day I have had since I have been here. But I will start with my fun early morning.

First of all, this morning, Magda and Anezka both said that they had never heard of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (It was when I was making my lunch for the day). In the Czech, they just have peanut butter and no jam with it. But they eat nutella, so that's great. They said that we can buy it here, and I am looking forward to that.

They also told me that they have something better than nutella, and pulled out kinder surprises!!! But, only kind of. There is a factory in South Africa that makes them, and when they aren't perfect, they donate them to the school the Sister's run. So it was just the milk chocolate and some crunchy almost “co-co puffs” in half the encasing. I tried to explain how they are illegal in the United States due to there being a toy enclosed completely inside a food, and Magda asked if Americans are not as smart as Canadians and Europeans, since anyone can see that the toy inside (which is fully encased in plastic) is not edible.

We drove to school, and saw many other children from the richer neighborhoods walking to school. The children that we have at our school come from two different slums, and would not be going to school if this school had not been built. The Sister's help all 240+ students pay for or acquire a uniform, and they must wear it every day to school. This helps them to not compare themselves to each other, though all of them are really poor. Before they blew the whistle for the students to all line up, all of the children were gathered in the front of the school (which is huge and new, by the way. They are still putting the finishing touches on it still, so there are workers everywhere still). At this time, I got to finally meet the priest from Halifax, Canada who has been very excited to meet me. He was just ordained a priest and just arrived in South Africa about 2 months ago.

When the whistle blew, the students all lined up in their grade levels (1-7) and one of the Sisters introduced me to all of the children, who all greeted me back. I just loved seeing all of them this morning, and got to talk to a lot of them. So today was very different because 3 of the 7 teachers were gone to take their teaching exams, and because the water was getting shut off. Grades 4-7 were divided from the younger ones, and while waiting for breakfast, they were singing in probably Zulu, which was really fun to hear. They sounded great, too, and were having a ton of fun moving to the music.

After breakfast, the water shut off, and so we walked some of the younger children back to their houses because you can't run a school with that many people and no usable toilets. While trying to get them to stay in 2 lines (which was completely impossible), some of the boys were teaching me how to say things in their language. Then I told them that I spoke Spanish, and they said “Spanish is what you eat”, meaning spinach. Which is just great, because of one of my favorite youtube videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyWgJZ476NE

When Sister had walked them to the railroad bridge, she let them walk the rest of the way by themselves since they were really close to all of their homes. The social worker and I continued on to the “slum” to talk to the parents of one child, and for me to see where and how most of the children lived. It was really heart-breaking, and tears formed in my eyes when I had the chance to look inside one of their “houses” made of sheets of tin nailed together. No electricity. Mostly tiny, one-room shacks, where I hear sometimes the children sleep on the floor with no bed. I've never seen poverty this bad before. Luckily, when the tears came, I was sitting with Esther talking to a parent, and had one of the girls' on my lap, and I could hide behind her. One of the houses had a little solar panel on his roof to generate a little light inside, but the light was not bright at all. Luckily, there are clean water taps around the “neighborhood” free for them to use.

Esther knew everyone in the neighborhood, and we would stop to talk to everyone we met (traditional African style), but she knew most of them. She knows more people than I do, (if that is possible). She would explain to people who I was, but in their language (she speaks all of the languages here, so about 4 plus English). So I would hear “language I can't understand...CHRISTINE... more language I can't understand... CANADA OVERSEAS... more language... Social Worker.” Everyone was so friendly and happy to meet me or just greet me while passing on the street. Africans are just so welcoming. When we walked back to the school, I found out Esther has been a social worker for 31 years, working in prisons and with delinquent youth in South Africa. The sisters asked her to come out of retirement to help them at their school. (This may be a good time to say that only half the school is grades 1-7, while the other half of the buildings are used for “Skills” programs for women and men to learn to obtain jobs. They have plumbing, electrician, carpentry, and sewing/traditional African crafts like beading, and I'm not sure what else yet.)

After school, Magda, Anezka and I went to grocery store, and it looked like a Canadian/American grocery store with food that I am used to. I found my tortilla shells and cheese (they have real cheese here unlike Ghana), so I was very happy. When the water was turned back on, the bathroom I use (we have 3 in our volunteer house) had flooded a little bit and we had to use a mop and a broom and dust pan to clean it up. The only reasonable explanation of where the water had come from was from the ceiling due to where there were water splashes around the flooded floor. The ceiling was not wet, but there is this random pipe opening, so another “I don't understand” moment. Anezka is gone for the week to another site to learn about a retreat they are running, so it's just Magda and me.

Since today was the feast day of Sister Mazarello, the founding sister of the Salesians (who the Sister's are apart of), we had mass at the Sister's house with 4 priests, 4 Sisters, and 3 20-something year olds who are living with one of the priests to see if they want to become one. They are from Swaziland, and Magda and I ended up being at the same table as them for dinner, and it was really fun to talk with them and the priest who was at the mass yesterday. One of the priests asked me if I was in Johannesburg last night. I was confused until they said that Justin Bieber was performing there last night. Why is Justin Bieber in South Africa?? Weird. So we teased the priest back asking if he was there, and he said no, that he wasn't a Bieliber. So funny!

Magda and I instantly became best friends tonight, and we are already making plans for me to come see her and Anezka in the Czech.

Thursday, May 9 

This morning, at 1:30 am, I awoke to a crazy amount of dogs barking. Apparently everyone in our neighborhood has guard dogs. By 2am I was wide awake, and I am guessing my body decided it was done sleeping. (Or was confused with the time zone). While I put my ipod on “shuffle”, it decided to play “Who Let the Dogs Out”, exactly when the dogs started barking again. Hahaha. Thanks, ipod. I love you too.

I finally got back to sleeping at 4am. I was up for 9:30 church, celebrating a Feast day. Anezka and Magda walked me to church and I caught up with two of the Sisters, as they had already gone to mass earlier in the morning. I felt great in the morning, but during church had one of my “dizzy/almost pass out” episodes, and the Sisters walked me back to their house for a little while, and then drove me back to the volunteer house where I slept some more. (I feel like all I do is sleep, but apparently my body really needs it after the insanely long flight, and change of altitude). Sister Margaret came to bring me lemon tea with homemade honey in it to make me feel better. The girls made pasta for dinner, and we ended up talking for 2 hours, getting to know each other more. They told me more about what they teach at the school, and Magda has to take one more exam for her social work degree, while Anezka has 2 more years for her teaching degree. They say they believe that I will be following the school social worker who works with the children, their parents, and does home visits. Awesome! We had real ice cream for dessert, and then all went to bed.

  Friday, May 10 

Today, I feel normal again! (If that is possible for me). I am finally getting my room organized, and trying to catch up on blogging. Today was only a half day for the school in the morning, so I was told to just sleep in again by the Sisters. They are celebrating Maria Mazarello, the founding Sister of the Salesians. The girls came back to the house to quickly eat, and then left to run activities for children, a common Friday occurrence. I will most likely be helping with this starting next week. I start my real work on Monday!

 The girls told me some wonderful news today: The girls were living in a volunteer house connected to the Sister's house until about a week ago when they were told that I was coming. The house only has room for two volunteers, so now we are in the bigger volunteer house. However, in 5 weeks when they leave, and the new American volunteer is here, the American volunteer and I will probably move back to the house connected to the Sister's because they do not like having just two girls alone here. (Although the house is gated, alarmed, and has guard dogs). This is fantastic because I won't have to worry so much about driving, and the alarm system in our current house, and also, I will have internet access all the time. Actually, constant internet is probably a bad thing; as I was glad I don't have it at night to distract me from prayer and blogging. But, it will be nice to be able to skype and upload pictures and my blog without worrying about only doing it rushed in the little time before and after dinner.

 We had dinner together again, and they seem to put cream in everything, like ice cream, and today's meal of soup with rice in it. They made me try it, and it makes it more creamier. It's just a weird concept. They also made me try a little of Anezka's homemade custard, caramel Captain Morgan's concoction. So good! It really rained tonight, apparently a rare occurrence for their “winter”. The girls had bought South African wine to celebrate their 10 month anniversary here, so we drank a glass of that tonight to celebrate.

 Magda told me tonight that they call traffic lights here “robots”. How weird. I've been saying a lot of "I don't understand" to the other volunteers about the way things are here, and they say they've been here almost a year and still don't understand.  I really like being here with them.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013. 

 Today I slept. As in all day. But I was told to do that, and really needed it. At about noon, I finally got up to take a shower, and thank goodness they have warm water here, unlike the dorms in Ghana. But they have to turn on a water heater in order to get hot water. So I was up for about an hour and a half, and then was tired again and went back to bed until 4:30. Then the other two volunteers and I went to the Sister's house to use the internet and to eat dinner with the Sisters. This apparently is a daily occurrence. So, after dinner, we stayed on the internet for a while, and then came back to our house. I got to meet “Lucky” and “Nala”, our guard dogs, and Lucky decided he really liked me by jumping up on me multiple times.

 My concerns right now:

 Last night I was freezing! I didn't expect it to get so cold here at night, and the large windows in my room make it super cold. I found another blanket in my room, though, and I can use the space heater in my room for a little while before bed. I will need to buy more warm clothes here.

 The volunteers have a car to use to get to the school we will work at, and to and from the sisters. Great! Except, first of all, I will be terrified to drive here due to the whole “driving on the other side of the road” thing. I'm still not used to it. But, mainly, they drive stick shifts here, and I don't know how to drive one. The two Czech volunteers here are leaving in 6 weeks, meaning I have to learn how to drive it. Oh dear.

 Thirdly, I am confused about everything. The volunteers talk with the Sisters about what's happening tomorrow, and who needs to do what/go where, and I'm just sitting there, confused. I know this will take time, and I'm half asleep anyway, so that's not helping. Tomorrow is a feast day, so school is canceled. Hopefully Friday I will get to go see what the school is like, and figure out what I am going to be doing. I'm excited to meet the social worker there and see what she does!

 Well, it's only 7:30pm here, but I am going to bed. I'm up at 6am tomorrow for mass, and then I don't know what else is going on. I need to start getting used to waking up early because I will begin work early every school day as well. It's only 1:30pm where you all are. Thanks again for all of your prayers and happy thoughts when I was traveling here. I REALLY appreciate you all doing that. :)

Orientation and Flying here:


 May 3-5: Orientation 

 My younger sister Laura, and my Dad dropped me off in Toronto to my orientation session before I left for South Africa. (My mom had to work) It just so happened that it was scheduled around the time I was leaving, so it worked out great for me. The Salesian Sisters were all so welcoming to me, and I ate dinner with them since I had to be dropped off early. The Sister who was in charge of cooking that night gave me chocolates and a fancy napkin in my cup at my place setting; it was really cute. The other participants arrived soon after, and the orientation weekend officially started.

Over the weekend I got to be good friends with two girls, Stephanie and Addy, both going to Cambodia at different times. Previous volunteers came back to tell us their stories, and to teach us the history of the Salesian Sisters, what to expect, how the Salesian Sisters operate their schools and development projects (exactly the way how we were taught in classes this past year), how to live in community, getting to know ourselves better in order to know how we best operate, etc. VIDES is actively involved in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in all of the places they work in the work, and is an International NGO with consultative status with the United Nations.

 May 6-7: Toronto to JFK, JFK to Dubai, Dubai to Johannesburg.

 Well, I didn't get much sleep last night, but that's what always happens before a big trip, right? Sister Jeannine took me to the airport at 3:30am! On my flight from Toronto to JFK, I slept, and from JFK to Dubai (12.5 hours) I also could really sleep as I had all 3 seats to myself. (I buckled myself in the middle, and could lay across all three seats. The plane had a great entertainment centre, and I could watch Friends, How I Met Your Mother, New Girl, etc. Awesome. And of course, Coldplay showed up again, having the option to watch their live “Paradise” video, and a documentary of their album. I slept a ton, though. The Dubai airport was cool, and it was neat to see the desert out of the plane window while approaching the airport. Also, I saw the Sailboat building, just like on the cover of Owl City's album.



 



 On my flight from Dubai to Johannesburg, I wasn't so lucky with free seats by me, and most of the plane was occupied. I slept most of the time as well, 8 hours. I like how on the flights, instead of the plane safety instructions in French and English like in Canada, it was in Arabic and English. (And the coke I got in the Dubai airport was in Arabic as well!) Our flight was late coming in, and there was a long line for getting our passports stamped. When the passport man heard that I was going to see the Salesian Sisters, he stamped it and I was on my way. (I was told this was the case when other volunteers traveled as well.) I didn't have to go through customs because I didn't have anything officially to declare. Which is probably a good thing, since my suitcases were full of pencils, toothbrushes, books, mini shampoos and lotions, etc, and I didn't know how they would feel about that.

 Two of the sisters were waiting for me with a sign with my name on it. Yes, like in the movies, like my sister Laura asked me. I was looking for them amid the rest of the people holding signs with names on them, and was thinking “man in suit, man in suit, man in suit, Ah! Sisters!!!"  They drive on the other side of the road here! I have experienced it before in other countries, but I am still not used to it. They took me back to their house, through the crazy traffic and I met the other two Sisters who lived there, as well as two other volunteers from the Czech, Magda and Anezka (pronounced “Annishka”), who has been here almost a year. They teach at the school. I ate homemade pizza with them, and tea (just like at home), was nicely greeted by one of their golden lab guard dogs who ran into their house, and then we traveled by car to the volunteer house, which is also surrounded by gates and has guard dogs. The volunteer house is really nice, and we each have our own rooms. I am so thankful that the other two girls are here with me.

 Since I am the first volunteer here from Canada, there was very limited information to give me before I came. While talking with the girls tonight, and drinking a glass of South African wine to celebrate, I had lots of questions answered. They are so wonderful and welcoming, and I'm already sad that they will be leaving in 6 weeks. However, before they leave, another volunteer will be joining us from the United States. As far as internet access goes, I will have access at the Sister's house, and apparently Skype works well. Yay!

 One of the volunteers here said tonight that “South Africa is not really Africa”. That was my main concern when I was placed here. However, I know that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. The Sisters told me while riding back from the airport, how people don't think of South Africa as poor, but in the area that we will be working, it is very poor. And, close to where we live, we passed by many “shanty towns”, little shacks, and people lighting fires outside to keep warm. It gets really cold at night here. Also, there is a social worker that works in the school here, and so she may end up being my adviser for my master's program practicum instead of one of the sisters. But, we will wait and see. Surprisingly, I am not as tired as I thought I would be. But, I did sleep as much as possible on the planes. We are 6 hours ahead of the Michigan, so it's not too bad. Anyway, I should get some sleep, but I will be updating my blog quite often! Goodnight!

Introduction:

 Well, it's back to Africa for me. This time, a different country and different purpose. I was in Ghana, West Africa in 2010 for a semester for undergrad at the University of Ghana. Currently I am pursuing a masters (graduate) social work degree in International and Community Development from the University of Calgary. My practicum is in South Africa, near Johannesburg. I will be interning through a Catholic organization called VIDES which have sites all over the world for volunteers from all over the world to volunteer in. I will be living with the Salesian Sisters there, and helping them carry out their development services for children and women. First of all, you can watch Coldplay's Paradise video. Although it was shot at first in London, it then pans to South Africa. Coldplay went to both places to film this video. I have always liked this song, and while traveling to check out the University of Calgary 2 Christmases ago, the entire album was available to listen to on the airplane. Maybe that should have been my first “clue" of where I would end up.

  Africa has always been my paradise. And it always will be. People tell me that there are children in the United States and Canada to help, and I don't need to go to Africa. Yes, that's true. But when your heart and your God tells you to go to Africa, you follow both of them. I'm living my dream. Dreams are weird things, sometimes. Like what made me like Africa in the first place? I'm thinking it was the videos and photos of children, calling me there. (Ask any one of my friends about my "black babies" and they can tell you how much I love black children.) And actually being there, playing with the children was the best experience in my life. The people there are always happy, especially the children.

 However, sometimes dreams force you to have to make sacrifices. Leaving family and friends is always hard. Trusting that everything will work out in the best way is difficult, but necessary when you are leaving everything behind.

The media makes Africa seem like nothing is there, and every child is starving. Not. True. This pains me that this is happening. In my studies, we have learned how the media does so, as well as how many efforts of people and NGO's trying to help really hurt communities instead of help them. I am so glad to have found and to have been accepted to study International Development as I have more knowledge now of how to help communities. South Africa was not my first choice for my internship. I was hoping for some of the other sites with the Sisters, like Rwanda or Zambia. But, the only available space for me was South Africa. I have very little information on exactly what I will be doing, and any logistics of the whole thing, but I guess that just makes this more of an adventure!