So, I imagine that if you're reading this then you know why we're here.... However, for those of you who have accidently stumbled across this page, I am going to be spending a year volunteering in South Africa working in a children's home in the suburbs of Cape Town with the gap year charity Project Trust. I applied to PT last October and went on a selection course two weeks later. Needless to say... selection was a success :)
I'm going to be honest, this wasn't something I really thought through. I don't really think anything through. Looking back, I think that's a good thing. I mean, it's a massive thing to do and I reckon if I'd thought about it too much I'd have talked myself out of it. Thank God I didn't! Properly excited now... just under five weeks to go!
I went on my training course a couple of weeks back. Up until then the whole thing seemed pretty surreal (not gonna lie... it still does, it's just surreal in more detail now...). The course was really quite intense. Obviously, it has to be considering how much information they're trying to fit into four days. There was a lot of sitting down to be done. Don't get me wrong, it was really interesting. The course was split up in two different ways, by country and by type of project. This meant we came away with lots of new information on South Africa and also things that were relevant to the work we'll be doing. I definitely feel a lot more prepared now!
The children's home I'll be working in is called Durbanville Kinderhuis. The home is for around 150 children aged 2-18/19. They are split into twelve single-sex houses. The home receives around 30% of it's funding from the government and therefore relies heavily on donations and the work of volunteers like myself.
http://www.durbanvillekinderhuis.org.za (there's a wee link for those of you who like to do your research)
Our manager at the home, Yvonne, was actually there on the training course as she was visiting from Cape Town so that was really helpful for us volunteers. There are six of us from PT going to Durbanville but the home also has around twenty other volunteers from all over Europe- it sounds quite sociable... perfect for me then! It sounds like we'll be involved in pretty much every aspect of work at the home. We start off on night shift which basically involves sitting in the one of the houses while the children sleep. This means we are there for them if they wake up during the night and it gives them a sense of security which is really important for them. Apparently you get used to it really quickly but I, personally, remain unconvinced! I'll let you know...
The rest of our jobs include general care, starting clubs, helping with homework, admin and fundraising work. If we work day shifts, we will be assigned to a house and be responsible for getting those children ready for school (much more difficult than it sounds apparently!), getting them to and from school safely and keeping them busy (in a structured manner!) when they get home.
Now that I read this it sounds pretty simple... it's really hard to get across my expectations when I'm not fully sure myself. The thing is, life so rarely happens as you expect it will so I'm trying not to expect too much. I'll know so much more in just a few weeks time!
My address, as far as I know, is:
Durbanville Kinderhuis
Kerkstraat 1
Durbanville
Cape Town 7550
Western Cape
South Africa
PLEASE feel free to write... everyone likes to get post :)
Well done if you got this far,
Amy x
