It's only Tuesday, yet I feel that I have been in SA for ages as I have crammed so much into the last two days!

It's quite hard knowing where to start.....

Our luggage made it here Monday evening, so that meant even though we had been able to clean our teeth, we had been wearing the same clothes since Saturday....undies have been utilised in the normal, inside out and back-to-front modes....it was soooooo nice to get a fresh set on!!

The accomodation is basic but good. We are staying in a purpose built dorm attached to a church hall in the Westville suburb of Durban, which is in the bigger burb of KwaZulu Natal, about 30 mins from the airport, 30 mins from the coast. The church hall has a huge kitchen/dining area we can make use of and wi-fi connection, and then the girls and boys dorms are situated across the garden area and consist of a bathrom, small sitting area and a couple of rooms sleeping 2, 3  or more people. We pay R50 a week rent ( approx £5) and buy our own food and petrol. There are various volunteer projects (charity based) and various volunteers..at the moment in the house there are 6 English, 1 American and 1 Aussie, with an American living nearby and a South African local who helps out.
The projects are centred around the COPT...or the Community Outreach Project Trust and are all charitable.

The area I am most interested in is Happys school (Maison Lincoln Special School), and from previous blogs, you will know that this is what SS and I are raising money for!

Happy's school is situated approx 30 mins away from Westville, in the township of Umlaze, a very poor, deprived area of Durban...this is the second largest township in South Africa after Soweto. The school cares for approx 200+ children with physical disabilities up until they qualify from their school exams...this can be any age, as it takes some of these children longer than others.

For more info on Happys, visit,
http://www.help4happys.co.uk/

Monday.
Up at 5.30am...for a surprise!! We had been told that as 2 of the volunteers were leaving on Tues that Monday was a special day, and that we were going on safari! So up and out by 6am. The roof was taken off the 4x4 and 10 of us were crammed into the car to head to Tala nature reserve, an hours drive away up into the hills, a cold, windy drive if you are sat in the back of a 4x4 with no roof......

We arrived at Tala as the sun was coming up and had our breakfast with hippos, impala's, warthogs, kudu's, rhino's, zebra, ostrich, giraffe, wildebeast, crested eagle's, Ibis,  and guinea fowl. Then, as if that wasn't amazing enough...we drove on to Natal lion park and saw the huge cats....beautiful!

After this treat, it was time to to a bit of the work which we had come for, and head to Happys!

When you first drive into Umlaze you are hit by the poverty....people living in no more than tin huts at the side of the road..driving into Happy's, conditions are better, but way below English standards, saying that, the kids are, well, happy!
The buildings are mainly brick and timber, there is a communal kitchen/dining area, various classrooms, a boys dorm, girls dorm, a minimalisitic library, a small number of showers, and toilets. Visitors to Happys have set up a football pitch in the centre of the school for the more able bodied, which is a dirt pitch, and there is a lonesome swing.
There is an over-powering smell of urine as you enter the place, and the occasional puddle as you walk around, but all the children, although dirty and dusty do look well fed and cared for, and have huge smiles. As a western person, it was heart wrenching to see, and I class myself as a 'tough cookie', but I had to wipe my eyes on a few occasions, and did want to bring several kids home with me!
The main disability appears to be cerebal palsy, although there are half a dozen albino children here, and this is classed as a 'disability' or curse also.
The main activity I did on Monday seemed to be cuddle! I helped older children with their homework, 'travel and tourism'..but the younger children just wanted to be held, cuddled, lifted up...and to see them smile so much at just being cuddled was truly uplifting..and a lesson in how much our kids take for granted the material things in life...
So...back to Westville, knackered, and covered in snot, dribble, wee, dust, dirt.......

Again up early  on Tuesday to head to a local HIV/TB clinic in another township. The charity work here 2 days a week, alternating between Mon - Tues and alternating between serving tea/coffee or soup and bread. This is a service set up by a businessman in the UK. We 'brewed up' in the waiting areas and served for a couple of hours. We thought waiting rooms in the NHS were bad...in SA they can wait for up to 7 hours! They queue to get given an appointment, 'time' then they queue for their notes, then they wait for a slip of paper to tell them which GP, then they wait to see the GP, then they wait for their medication. Then they queue to get given the time of their next appointment, then they queue to hand their notes in....phew!

After the clinic it was time to head to Marionhills, another Township, approximately half an hour out of Westville to help in a charity run creche. The kids here, who looked like 2-3 year olds, love 'white people' and you are smothered as soon as you walk in....so more snot, wee, dribble.....the only way I found to keep them sat still for a while was to sing.....so I taught them 'Heads, shoulders, knees and toes'!!

Then, back to Happy's for the afternoon....
This afternoon, I had a little boy who wanted me to 'read' him the dictionary..??? Fortunately it did have some pictures in, so I was able to say the English word and he could repeat it, and then tell me in Zulu, which I promptly forgot straightaway - language isn't my strong point!
Again a lot of intereaction was involved, lots of cuddles, lifting, pushing chairs, a little bit of football, just quality playtime with the kids. I'm not saying that nobody ever takes notice of these kids...but it's their basic health needs that are met by the staff here, ie they are fed and watered, no-one plays with them, once lessons are over they are left to their own devices....so I have been told if I want to play for the next two weeks then that can be my job.....I have a hop-scotch course to repaint, and a wheelchair basketball hoop to hang....busy, busy, busy!!!