friday's at the volunteer house
08 Jun 2007 at 04:51
While I was there we started a new tradition during Volunteer House Fridays called bubble bath finishes. After the toddlers got in their brand new swimsuits donated by Lieveke's father's company and splashed about for a few hours in the pool, ate lunch that we had prepared for them, and then we were serenaded by the toddlers; they call got bubble bath. It was generally 3 to a bath. I never seen happier kids splashing about in warm bubble bath water. Water was every where. We believe we were able to scrub them down a bit more than what they normally get. It was nice to see the kids faces clean and clear. We all had so much fun doing it that it continued after that successful first time. I think some of the little ones preferred the bath over the pool. No matter what all of them loved their new bathing suits and had each of their names written inside of their suit. At 1pm,we would get them back to the orphanage for their naps. We would have a two hours to clean up the house...
wandlie caught not napping
06 Jun 2007 at 18:35
At 1pm everyday, the seven toddlers are put down to nap post the tooth brushing session and foot/hand washing that takes place on the picnic tables. I caught Wandlie not napping during nap time. Wandlie, who's cognitively handicapped, did not attend his special needs school because he need to be home for his vaccination shots.
Wandlie can't speak. He's 4 years old. He often looks out to space, but every so often you hope he connects with you even if it is for a brief second. His only way to express himself is by crying, banging, or biting. He's a lot for the Aunties to handle so he was often locked up in the toddlers room. Several previous volunteers, Gunther, Pamela, and Tessa realized this needed this situation to be fixed. Gunther and Tessa found a specialized school for handicap kids and a handful of volunteers pooled their donations together to put Wandlie in this special school for the year.
From the teachers reports to Gunther and Tessa, Wandlie is doing...
life at agape
06 Jun 2007 at 03:27
1. before the toddlers head to their nap, they all have to have their teeth brushed and hands and feet washed. Here in front row is Andishwa, Sbonga (center), and Unati holding up the rear.
2. two of the older girls hanging out in the front entrance of Agape
3. Peaceful walking toward me. She's put away her school uniform and is ready to join the other two girls.
4. Nasici hams it up w/ Mbali (who's holding the spoon).
5. Mbali - the girl of girls. what a singer! Mbali loves anything that is sparkly and pink.
6. Playground set currently on Agape grounds. It will be replaced once the new buildings are constructed. Two volunteers put their money together to buy this amazing playground set for the kids. It's made out of wood.
7. In the school Agape school bus w/ Babamuchali in order to pick up the older kids from school.
8. Snegugou playing in the room I helped paint w/ Diana and Sandra. Snegugou is really smart and eager to learn.
meet sbonga
05 Jun 2007 at 18:39
Well, as you can see I made a 3 year old pal at Agape and I miss her dearly. In my previous posts, I often wrote about my little tour guide through Agape's tomato garden and to the various handfuls of toiletas throughout the greater Durban area. She's a mischevious one and at times incredibly camera shy. She's a little thing, but when ever you carry her she helped as much as you could to hang on tight. She made me laugh every day and made me realize that everyting can be fixed with a "plaster" (band-aid) even if you don't have a visible boo boo.
1. sbonga at the volunteers' house
2. sbonga eating morning porridge w/ mbali
3. sbonga at the beach w/ her new bikini that was donated by a volunteers's father's company
4. sbonga playing mischeviously w/ the green balloon in her hand while having one of the smaller twins observing
5. sbonga walking by the eating area.
6. sbonga during one of her daily naps on my lap
7 - 12. sbonga playing w/...
fist set of photos: agape grounds + the twins
04 Jun 2007 at 14:38
Hi everyone,
Sorry it's taken me so long to get photos up. I will be sending more throughout the week.
The first set are of the agape grounds and the twins: unati + andishwa.
1. Unati is the one being held by Diana
2. Andishwa is sticking her tongue out.
3. Agape's outside entrance
4. Agape's poorly constructed new building (white) and the yellow building used to be the old kitchen and the kids bathrooms. the kids still use the bathroom.
5. Another perspective of the grounds: white trailer (foreground) is pamela's house (who runs agape and lives there with her son), the ruins of a new building taken down because it was so badly constructed, yellow building - last stanging building w/ bathrooms to be replaced, new buildings that are being reworked as we speak.
6. the twins walking to the bathroom
7. the grounds
8. the mattresses being aired out in the morning
9. the twins - andishwa in the front
10. old agape building where the bathrooms are...
Andishwa + Unati - the twins
07 May 2007 at 16:15
Andishwa and Unati - the 4 year old twins - are not identical and very sweet. They alternate in crying and I can never figure out why one is crying. All of sudden one of them bursts out in huge crocdile tears. The other shortly follows.
Andishwa is the little girl in the photo w/ me. The only successful photo post that I've had so far. I had a really sweet photo of them holding hands and going to the toilet together.
I am amazed how they both really look after each other. They move at their speed and you certainly can't make them move any faster. Andishwa has these huge brown eyes and fuller cheeks. I can only tell them apart by their cheeks and the shape of their eyes. Unati is quieter and doesn't require as much attention. She's more reserved unlike her twin, who giggles easily. However, Unati blossomed with mini - golf. She understood the concept of getting the ball to mov forward by the use of the club. Ulike many of the other little ones who picked up the...
Attempting this once again before the weekend
04 May 2007 at 14:59
My apologies for my ramblings yesterday. There is so much to tell and I feel like I am racing against the clock here at the Internet cafe to get my blog posted along with the photos. I have failed numerous times with the photos...so you might not see another photo until I get home. Sorry about that.
We had a great day today so far. The 7 little ones from age 3-7 came to our volunteer house where they jumped in the small pool in the backyard. One of volunteer's father works at a swimsuit place and so he kindly donated small suits for the 6 little girls and 1 boy named boy. All of them were excited to be in their suits which we had to label with their names. After much water and jumping around in a freezing pool (it ws my first time as well in the pool), we took them to the bath in a group of 2. I think they enjoyed the bath and the bubbles far more than the pool. After a lot more water plus bubbles - that went every where in the house, we got all of the littles dressed, had...
First two days
03 May 2007 at 16:34
Hello Everyone,
I have arrived safely and been immediately at work at the orphanage. I thought I would have more availability to the internet but that's not the case. I will probably post twice a week.
Anyway, it's beauitful here and I can't begin to tell you how the climate and the landscape reminds me of California. It is absolutely gorgeous. The volunteer house is about a 10 minute bus ride and a 25 minute walk, but there is a huge division of where we live as volunteers and where the kids are located. The socioeconomic gap is huge and as I have driven through the area I have gone through pockets of really nice manicured green lawns (white) to more crowded not so "nice" (black) areas. But all seems to be really safe. I walked home last night with one of the volunteers and it was so quiet and peaceful. Thankfully, we had a huge full moon to light our way - the sun dropped faster than we anticipated. It's becoming winter so the days are hot and then by 4pm it...
Name: Annick Shen
Volunteered at Agape from 30 April 2007 to 20 May 2007.
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