Day 80, Blog Number 1....

Change of tactics... I've been away for 3 months already and kept meaning to write my blog but never really got round to it in East Africa because we never really had internet and since then every time i thought about doing it i realised i had soo much to catch up on it would take forever. So i never did. Now i'm regretting it so instead i'm going to write from today and then catch up some other time :)

So right now I'm in Knysna in South Africa and I've been here for about a week already! It doesn't feel that long ago that I was in cape town staying in a posh hotel and partying at the Dubliners ('Traditional Irish Pub'...)

I'm living in a really nice little house with 9 other girls who are all doing volunteering with Edge Of Africa too, but doing different projects. I am mainly in hospitals and clinics and helping with home based caring, some people are working at an elephant sanctuary, some with kids in the community and some doing similar medical-type things to me but with HIV/AIDS workshops for kids too.

Quick run down of the week:

SAT - Left Buffalo Bay on the Baz Bus and trundled along for all of about 20 minutes before getting off again in Knysna and meeting 7 lovely people in our little house on the hill. So far we are: 2 others from England, 1 from Holland, 1 from Germany, 1 from Norway, and 2 Americans. Turns out we get all our food cooked for us and brought to us at tea time! A luxury after living off dairylea sandwiches for the past week. Out for drinks... Didn't exactly end up being a quiet night and I was very very very ill by about 1am. I blame the mixture of cider, cocktails, shots, wine and then more cider. All in all i think i made a great first impression! Ha!

SUN - Recovery in the form of a whole day on the beach at Buffalo Bay :) Sun + sea + sand + milkshakes = Good sunday.

MON - Official first day on the job... ish. We met all the volunteer co-ordinators and learnt the basics about Edge of Africa. They seem to be a really good volunteering organisation who actually get their volunteers to do worthwhile work that is part of a large project not just bottle feed babies at an orphanage, get great photos, then leave and the orphanage goes back to what it was before. I'd tell you all about it but this was supposed to be a summary and i'm already babbling so try here www.edgeofafrica.com
Anyway we spent the day visiting the community projects they work. First up was with a few preschools with smiley kids who loved to have their photo taken and then giggle and point at themselves on the camera :) One of the preschools was just recently rebuilt by Edge of Africa and what used to be a tin shed is now a 5 classroom preschool with an office and a kitchen and a playground - and they have now got 80 kids on the registers instead of 30!
Next up we visited the largest rasta community in south africa and their eco-trail project. They have taken over a piece of land in the centre of the township and started removing all of the alien plant species to allow the natural Fynbos to grow. The western cape has really unique plant life but it is overrun with invading species so the rastas are creating a hiking trail with information boards and guided walks to not only educate the people in the township but to create a tourist attraction to bring in money too.
The last place we visited was pretty amazing. An HIV+ man from Chester, UK decided to move to south Africa to try to do something to make a difference. He opened a centre for children and people to express themselves through art about HIV. They do drama workshops and have a library too and its just a really nice place wehre kids can come to learn or relax or play as many of them dont really have much space to do that at home. The centre was pretty big and has soo much potential. There was a little naked 2 year old boy running around too … he was so sweet!

TUES - FRI - Did some real work! I've been in a pre-school, in Knysna hospital, in a small 8 bed clinic in Plett and out in peoples houses doing home based care.

Highlights so far ... (plus some other experiences that weren't so great)

Helping to do ECGs with some really old fashions machines.

Wheeling and walking the same patient (with a stab wound to the chest!) between 2 wards 4 times because the ward sisters couldn't decide on who they wanted where... she was not a happy bunny!

Going on rounds with the doctor and learning about testing for TB, treating DVT, and monitoring hyperglycaemic diabetics.

Observing the removal of a chest drain! (suturing without local anaesthetic!!!)

Cleaning up soiled sheets and people and emptying bed pans and catheters (on the not so fun list)

Assisting with HIV tests, taking blood pressure and blood glucose levels for home care patients and occupying children in Paeds :)

And that marks the end of my long 'quick summary'. The only bit left to talk about is this weekend in which we visited Plettenberg Bay, drank milkshakes, visited Monkeyland sanctuary to see some free roaming monkeys rescued and donated from zoos and I acquired 57 mosquito bites on one leg!!!! (True to form I'm only getting round to writing this on monday night, Monkeyland was saturday morning and the bites are still huge and red and swollen and so so ITCHY! :( )

That's All folks, I'll try and keep this up but no promises :)

written by

JL1 on January 24, 2011 from Knysna, South Africa

from the travel blog: African Travels

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