Saturday, 27 October 2012

The story of a white girl in a township

Whilst Sarah was playing with fish I travelled down the coast a little to a place called Kommetjie Road. On this road is basically a hostel and a township with the little town of Kommetjie at the end, this became my home for two weeks.
View from my hostel

In the township of Masiphumelele is the Sinethemba Special Care Centre which is a day centre for children with disabilities. They provide care for children from two surrounding townships- Masiphumelele which is a black township and Ocean View which is a coloured township. I stayed in the hostel, which got rather lonely as I was the only person staying, whilst working at the centre during the day. The bus driver, Albert would pick up all the children in the morning from both townships. For the two weeks that I was there Albert became my personal chauffeur and would let me sit in the front with him, which was apparently a great honour!
My day would start at 8am, once we arrived at the centre the kids would all go to their classrooms. The classes are split by the needs of the children- for example there is a class of high dependency children and a class for all non-verbal children. I was put in a class with 7 kids, all very verbal and all semi-mobile (some had to crawl around as they cant provide wheelchairs for them all). I soon had a favourite called Leo. He is 8 years old and has Down Syndrome. From the very first day he was calling me his girl friend and soon became very protective of me, he even kicked one of the other volunteers when he joked I was not Leo's girl friend but his!
Jody and Liyabona

Leo

Inati (girl), Inati (boy), Batibile and Leo

Although I mostly spent my time in that class it was nice every so often to escape the noise and spend time with some of the other kids at the centre. I would always end up in Bella's, one of the carers, room as she was in charge of the baby room. Unfortunately these kids are suffering from conditions such as cerebral palsy  and so they can't play as much as other toddlers might and so I learned how to do massages on them to help relieve the tension built up in their muscles.
One of the classrooms
Unlike any of the experience I had had before with special needs kids, I was just thrown straight in to being a carer and so was often left with many kids on my own which was challenging at times however I soon learnt the best way to distract each kid from causing more chaos! For example Mlungisi (yes most had tricky African names!) would love to bounce on the trampoline whereas Batibile could sit for hours chatting on the play phone.

Like most of the carers and staff my favourite time of the day quickly became 1 o'clock. This was when the kids would go to sleep and the staff could have their lunch. Our lunch hour would consist of us all squishing into the tiny staff room to chat or more often than not snooze until inevitably the children would wake up and demand you push them on the swing or read them a story.
On the Saturday between my two weeks of work the staff and children put on a school concert. The children were all in costumes and would dance along to the songs whilst the carers sang. It was such a fun morning which all the kids loved as the whole week after they would ask to sing the songs over and over!

School concert
Inati as Peter Rabbit
Singing in the rain!
What would always pull on my heart strings was when Albert and I would drop the children off at their "houses". Many of these disabled kids who face so many challenges already in their day are living in what we would call a shack- many with no running water or electricity. Despite this the children always had the biggest smiles on their faces and would never complain.  

Where do you work when you have a fear of fish? The aquarium of course!

The Two Oceans Aquarium is at the waterfront and very easy to get to using the new bus system in Cape Town. As an intern I was allowed to help out with pretty much anything, whilst signing absolutely nothing ie. no health and safety. 
Just chilling with Hopper
Week 1 was spent with the penguins, 11 African penguins and 7 Rockhoppers. Let me just say there was a lot of dead fish involved but now, at the end of my two weeks, it doesn't phase me at all. Chopping up pilchards and stuffing prawns inside squid seemed a fair price to pay for my penguin experience. The rockies were the friendliest and on my first day I was asked to literally p..p..pick up a penguin! You bend down with your hands outstretched and they jump on so that they are lying with their belly on your hands. They are also very happy to hop onto your lap if you sit down in their enclosure. I was totally in my element! My other tasks included weighing a chick, which was a ball of warm fluff, and even feeding the rockies on my last day. I figure that leaving Two Oceans with this experience and all 10 fingers still intact puts me in good stead should I ever want to work with penguins in the future.
Rockies on a walk through the aquarium to their outside enclosure
Diesel looks a bit scruffy during her mault
Two week old African chick
Zuki taking part in a radio interview
For my second week I worked with aquarists (yup, I didn't know what that meant either, basically they are the ones in charge of the fish tanks). I did my fair share of tank cleaning but had a great time with everything else. I fed tiny pieces of fish to baby sharks using a skewer, fed eels using some tongs and fed the nemos with...my hand! They literally form a ball of fish around your hand but they were so soft. I am definitely well on my way to curing my ridiculous fish fear hurray!
Even though I was kept busy, there was plenty of time for me to wander. A couple of other interns and I loved to sit and watch the predator tank but there was a slight risk of snoozing since it was so relaxing, especially when they started playing Enya. 
Looking into the predator tank from the roof- wouldn't want to fall in there!
Cannelloni training to eat in a cage so the sharks won't bother her
Large sting ray in the predator exhibit
Tiny baby sharks
 I don't want to bore anyone with too many aquarium stories but I do have to tell you about one more sighting. While on our way out for some drinks, friends and I were confused by a lot of people milling around on the street. Then all of a sudden we worked it out- it was a small film set, and guess who was filming? None other than the biggest crush of my teenage years, Orlando Bloom! I slightly embarrassed myself in front of these people who I had only known for a short period of time, but I don't care. I even managed to snap a photo. Best evening in Cape Town by far!
Orlando Bloom!!



Sunday, 21 October 2012

Being proper tourists

Waterfront and Table Mountain
Having had a full on busy month in Botswana we arrived in Cape Town with only one plan for the first week, to visit Robben Island. Luckily it was a sunny day although quite windy which meant the ferry crossing was a little bumpy! Robben Island is situated 8km off the coast of Cape Town and before we arrived we didn't know much about it other than Nelson Mandela being imprisoned there. When we first arrived on the island we went on a bus tour which took us through residents houses which are still inhabited by ex guards and ex prisoners. We also saw a leper graveyard filled with hundreds of graves as they were housed on the island until 1930. At this point the lepers were removed and all the existing buildings were burnt. The only building that survived was the church , which is apparently one of the cheapest places to get married- for a measly R80 (£5.80). 


Quarry and Cave where prisoners worked
Cape Town from Robben Island
We then visited the high security prison which was used for political prisoners while the medium security prison was used for the criminals! Our guide around the prison was an ex-political prisoner who spent 7 years on the island. For the main talk we sat in the cell in which he was imprisoned which meant he could describe exactly how life was, including how terribly the blacks were treated even compared to the coloured prisoners. The food rations were tiny and they were forced to wear shorts and a t-shirt with no shoes or jacket all year round. The treatment of one political prisoner was particularly interesting. Most people have heard of Mandela however we learned more about Robert Sobukwe. He spent many years on the island after leading protests against apartheid laws. The government feared that he was particularly influencial and so imprisoned him in solitary confinement. He was allowed no contact with anyone, even his guards, but was given plenty of tobacco to smoke in the hope that he would die from it. The fear the government had for him lead to the Sobukwe Clause, this meant they could keep him imprisoned for as long as they wanted and it applied only to him.
On the ferry back we froze our buts off sitting on the top deck although it was worth it for the view of Cape Town ahead of us and Robben Island retreating in the background.

Communal cell
Sobukwe's House
Our ex-political prisoner guide
The corner where Mandela hid his book from the guards
Mandela's cell
Maximum security prison
Prison and penguins on the same island?!
Penguins with their nests
Another opportunity arose for us to be tourists when we headed south to stay with friends. We visited Boulders Beach which is the home of a wild colony of African penguins, appropriately on International African Penguin Day. The weather was gorgeous and so we hung out on the beach after watching the penguins. We also visited the oldest vineyard in South Africa- Groot Constantia. We had a gorgeous lunch and sampled one of their wines.


Just chillin!
Unusual sign! 
Boulders Beach
Main house at the vineyard
Where we ate our gorgeous lunch

The next picture is irrelevant to the rest of the post however we had to put it in...
Amusing shop on the way to the bus stop (for those who don't know we live on Midmar Gardens!) 
   

Friday, 5 October 2012

"Ohh David Livingstone came from Scotland too!" (part 3)

Day 4
We didn't think that we could top day 3 but we were wrong! Very early in the morning we headed back to the conservation centre to meet Mary. She is 21 years old like Sarah, and her family live at the centre.  

This is Mary!
We went on a walk through the bush, luckily meeting no other animals, apart from a little chameleon. At the end of the walk we were able to thank our elephants with a snack. There were two ways we could feed her-either you told her to open her mouth and you put the food on her tongue or she hoovered it from your hand using her trunk. 
Stopping for a snack


We then had a mad dash to Royal Livingstone where we caught our boat to Livingstone Island. The view of the falls was a lot more impressive as you could see the Zimbabwe side. From there we swam across the river, avoiding rocks and the current that could drag us over the edge of the falls, to what is known as Devils Pool. It is 15m deep and right on the edge of the falls. We jumped in and were allowed to peer over the edge (with people holding our feet) to see the falls and gorge below. Lets just say that's the most adrenaline we have felt in a while!  Once we swam back to the island we were fed a yummy breakfast, of scones, bacon and eggs, under a gazebo.
David Livingstone plaque 
Devils Pool
Just a little bit terrified! 
Hanging out
Right on the edge
Brekkie...NOM! 
For the rest of the day we took the opportunity to sunbathe- we can't leave Africa without a tan!
To round off our trip Option decided to show us the Zambian nightlife. We drank and danced at a Mexican bar where we recognised some of the songs and Options friends declared their love for us....hahaa!

Royal Livingstone with Nyami Nyami cocktails
Day 5
We met Mma Shana's son Jay in Livingstone and travelled back to Maun with him. It was a very long 12 hours but allowed us to recover from Zambia, before being welcomed back home with hugs from Mma Shana and Cecie! 
Mma Shana (our Botswana Mum) 

Wednesday, 3 October 2012

"Ohh David Livingstone came from Scotland too!" (part 2)

Day 3
In the morning we visited Mukuni Village where we were given a tour by a lady called Lumbo. Life there seems very difficult and they have some interesting history. For example a male Chief cannot retire and if he doesn't die naturally the council poison him! Also, next to the Chief's 'palace' there is a 700 year old tree which David Livingstone sat under when he visited. Later we spent all the money in our purse at the craft market because although the villagers were very friendly they made you feel really guilty about them not being able to feed their families. 
A typical village house
Tree used to make love potions 
700 year old tree (and our taxi)
Male Chief's 'Palace' 
Village jail- used for those who disrespect their parents (David you would spend most of your time there!)
Later that afternoon we thought we would take a casual walk...in the bush...with lions! It was a bit nerve racking when they ran towards us and our only form of defense was a stick. We were able to stroke their backs and carry their tails.  

Katie and Nelly
moment of panic! 
Nelly and Simba 



Just chatting...with a lion next to us! 

Then we decided since we still had 10 fingers we would walk with some cheetahs. Although they are wild animals it was just like stroking the acts at home, especially when they purr really loudly! All the interactions are done at a conservation centre where they hope to breed and release the offspring into the wild.

Lillian, Susan and Maga