So yesterday marked exactly 6months since I arrived in South Africa. What a crazy time it has been. I've had my highs and my lows but overall it has been absolutely incredible. I found being back at project after our travels has been quite hard. After spending so much time with the other volunteers home had never felt so far away and although I've never once felt like coming home I was suddenly missing my friends and family more than ever and the thought of still not seeing everyone for another 7months was really tough. I was also moved cottages the day I arrived back so I was with a completely different group of children. In the end we found our feet again and were back into routine and I love my new cottage and never thought I'd enjoy working with teenagers as much as I have. I have been helping Karabo (one the the youngest boys) learn the alphabet. It's has been a challenge but its definitely proven that my patience has improved over the last 6months. Myself and Linsey have also been running daily homework sessions with 5 of the boys that go to a special needs school it can also be very challenging at times and even getting them to turn up is half the struggle but it has been extremely rewarding too. We've taught a few of the children to swim which has been one of the highlights for me. As well as obviously doing all our hospital visits and homework sessions. Quite a lot of our time over the past 6 weeks has been spent visiting our friend Alex in hospital. On the way back to his project in Botswana after Cape Town he was involved in a horrific car accident. We are extremely luckily that he is alive and is recovering quickly. He was airlifted to Johannesburg to a lovely private hospital where he was looked after very well. He flew back to the Uk on Monday and is starting his rehabilitation there in the hope to be back at his project in Botswana before long. Here is his blog post about the crash if you have time I really recommend you give it a read:
Clearly the last 6 weeks have been a complete mixture of emotions. I have also celebrated my 19th birthday and spent a lovely weekend in Magaliesburg for Erin's 18th (unfortunately she only joined us for an hour of the holiday as her partner Melissa was sick in hospital - she is fine now)
So now we are into the second half of our year and with that comes a whole new bunch of challenges especially as WE ARE MOVING!!!
Myself and Linsey will be moving to Umtata (now known as Mthatha) in the Eastern cape. We will be working at Bethany home which is the project we were originally selected for but for various reasons couldn't go to in August. We have given this decision hours and hours of thought and along with Project Trust we think it is the best way forward. Although I always thought I'd be spending the full 12 months here at st Mary's in Johannesburg this opportunity is too good to give up. We are so luckily to be able to spend 6months in urban Joburg and 6months in the more rural part of South Africa in Umtata. We will be working with very young children. In the mornings we will be teaching in a pre school and in the afternoons will be taking care of the babies. We will also have our own tiny flat where we can cook for ourselves which is one thing we've really missed. Life at our new project is going to be very different and no doubt it will take a while to adjust to and will come with all its different challenges. We are both very excited about the move and extremely grateful for Peter Wilson and the rest of Project Trust for making this happen.
We plan to travel to the eastern cape next Saturday which means leaving here next Friday. This morning we had tell the children the news which definitely wasn't easy. I know it is going to break my heart on Friday having to say goodbye to the kids. We've become so close to them and they really do feel like family, some of them even call me 'mummy'. However St Mary's and these wonderful children will always have a special place in my heart and I hope to come back to visit them as soon as I'm back in South Africa after this year.
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