Friday 28 March 2014

Getting our bearings


We had an hour to rest after our arrival, to make up our beds, sort our belongings and freshen up in the sparse toilet block which was shared with the children playing outside. Then we joined our hosts Gerrit and Ami in their house next door, for lunch and an introduction to the church, the children's ministry and the surrounding community, and the Afrikaans language which was used locally.

We were staying right on the edge of the township, and the church had responded to the needs of children living in poverty, neglect and all too often danger. They had set up three preschools - offering two cooked meals a day, basic lessons, a chance to play, basic hygiene - to children aged 3 to 6 living in the township, children who otherwise would be left to fend for themselves during the day, while their parents were working or sleeping off drugs and alcohol. In addition, they ran a crèche for younger children, and an orphanage for disabled children / children with HIV/AIDS. 

After we had eaten, we piled back into one of the minibuses, and Gerrit drove us into the township. We visited one family from the church who had recently moved into a new, breeze-block house, complete with an outside toilet - the height of luxury in the township. We then drove further up the hill, deeper into the township and stopped in front of a small, very basic wooden hut. This was the home of a lady who had lost her daughter to AIDS and who was now caring for her two grandsons. She very proudly welcomed us into her tiny home - housing metal bunk-beds, a table, a paraffin stove and a chair. We could only go in two at a time, otherwise there was no room. That little house was impeccably clean - we could have eaten off the floor. Even ten years on, I can still picture that house and its proud smiling owner. She had so little, had lost so much, and yet she was happy and content.

Gerrit then explained he would take us to the most dangerous area of the township - Rooidake, where the church ran a preschool. This area had the highest level of crime with drug and alcohol abuse being rife, and gun crime being a big problem. By the time we were there, the children had left for the day but we looked round the little building cowering behind high barbed wire fences. We had already been told that if we left the church compound we would need to be in twos at the very least, but if we wanted to volunteer at the Rooidake pre-school, then we would need to arrange transport with Gerrit, as it was too dangerous to go on our own. 

From Rooidake, Gerrit then took us down to the centre of town, so that we could buy food, as from the next day we would be catering for ourselves. So 13 very tired individuals descended on a strange supermarket, to try to decide what to buy! That was such a frustrating experience!! Everyone had their own ideas, but was too tired to negotiate our limited budget... Tempers started to fray, and all our individual irritations came very much to the fore! Not a pretty sight! Eventually the team leaders took control and we managed to purchase enough food to keep us happy and fed for a couple of days, although we had gone over budget, and would need to be more frugal on our next shopping trip if we were to make our money spread over the three weeks of our team! Gerrit had left us at the supermarket so we had to negotiate the crowded local bus back to the church compound. Fortunately we had a very helpful bus driver who dredged his school English back into use, to make sure we got back safely! 

We ate our evening meal with Gerrit and family, and finally sank into our creaky beds.  My three room mates fell to sleep before me, but even though I was bone-weary, my brain took a long time to switch off, as I processed all I'd seen and heard that first day in South Africa, to a background soundtrack of barking dogs coming from the surrounding township...

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