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I’ve only been here for 3 months, but it felt like another life, in another world.

We all know about the fact that some people live in poverty, but it’s so different to see it with your own eyes. Small houses made of mud, people dying of Aids or TBC, children in the street who are dirty and high on glue. You need to accept as a volunteer that you can not change these things. But I also need to remind myself sometimes that I did make a difference. Getting a boy back to school or helping a struggling mother taking care of her children, or simply by playing soccer and giving hugs.
I deeply respect the people who made this their live work to help others; because it can be really difficult. Not to give up hope in times of disappointment and to keep on trying.

South Africa gave me a lot. I’ve met wonderful people, I’ve seen beautiful nature and I’ve learned more about myself and God. It’s an experience I can not describe in a few sentences. But it has been an experience I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life.
So thank you, South Africa, for everything. You’re always in my heart. 

Judith Langelaar (Holland)

 

My most memorable moment

 

by Lisa Leupert

Since I started working in the communities of Inanda I met lots of kids with different problems. One problem that is major – which is neither HIV nor rape – is very obvious and hard to fight: Education.

A lot of kids don’t attend school because of un-wise reasons:
“My child has to play with the neighbours’ kids.” – “She is not smart enough.” – “The school uniform doesn’t fit.”
Do people not know that education is the basis for one’s life nowadays? Even though we support them as much as we can, a lot of “gogos” don’t see the necessity for their grandchildren to go to school.
One of those kids that was not placed in school (even though the family got support from YFC) was Nelle.  Her mother always told us the father wouldn’t allow her to go to school or something would be wrong with her ID. We decided to check into the situation and after a few home visits and talks to Nelle’s mother; we went to the place where her father is working – to have a face-to-face conversation.
The first impression I had was kind of scary. As I don’t understand Zulu and thus didn’t know what they are talking about, I only noticed his body-language and his tone of talking. It sounded very aggressive and offending to me – and the staff member who I went there with told me afterwards that he was indeed really angry.

With small Nelle on my arm I thought about what her life would be like in 10 years if she didn’t get to go to school now. Would she find a job?
How should someone explain to Nelle why she wasn’t allowed to get education? What would she end up doing?

Totally caught up in my thoughts I didn’t realize that suddenly the father stopped being offensive. The more our staff member talked to him and explained to him, the more he seemed to understand how important education actually is and that it would influence his daughter’s whole life if she didn’t start going to classes now.

I still didn’t understand a word – but I noticed how Nelle’s small face started to shine and how she got more and more happy listening to her father agree that she can attend school.
Her expressions already told me what the outcome was, even before our staff member could explain it to me.
Nelle’s father decided that he would buy school shoes and a bag for her and that he would accept our support.

One week later Nelle went to her first day of school. Her father’s brother took her to school and made sure she would be accepted.

 

Question: “Anke what is your most memorable moment in the last 2 months?”

That is a hard question as there were so many cool moments, but I will share one moment I will never forget.

I work in Tennyson House girls shelter in Durban.  I’ve worked with another volunteer for 5 months. Here we organize programs for the girls who are not going to school, help the others with their homework and try to do home and school visits for the girls who want to attend school. In this kind of work you get to know these girls very well, and it’s very painful when one of them is leaving again, especially when one of them is walking away.

One of the girls walked away 2 months ago. She is quite young, and during her stay here I talked a lot with her. We where a bit worried about her.  We weren’t sure if she was back home, so one month ago we decided to do a home visit for her. We went to her house and saw only her sister there.  Her sister told us that the girl wanted to go to school when she came back but that she doesn’t want to help her because she is disobedient.  Then we asked her where she was, and she told us that she went to school on her own, and that we would find her there.

We decided to go to her school, and we found her there. This girl went to school by herself, and is going every day. She was really happy to see us again, and probably we were even happier to see her. It was great to see that she is working for her own future now and she knows that she has to go to school.  It is so amazing to see her doing that, without someone who helps her.

At this moment I realized how much I love these girls.  I thank God that some of them really make decisions to change their lives.  

 

My most memorable moment

It is really hard to find one, most memorable moment. It also depends on if I look to my working life or at my private life. In my private life it would be a moment that I was with all my friends together at the beach, or at a grass field, or just at the YDC house, and talking about very serious things, and random things at almost the same time.

In my work it is also difficult to find one specific moment. I’m thinking of the times that we were with all the girls living in Tennyson House shelter, and we just sang songs! They love it, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, it sounded so beautiful!

But when I think longer about it, I think my most memorable moment was the time that Anke, Janina and I took the shelter girls to uShaka Marine World.
It was an awesome day for the girls in the first place, but for us as well!

We spent the whole day just swimming, watching dolphin shows and looking at fishes behind glass. The girls really enjoyed it, and it was a good way of escaping the shelter and our normal activities for a moment.

By Ymke

 

 

A weekend of AWESOMENESS
by Brittan Smith

 

A beautiful day in late November, a roasted turkey, fresh apple cider, a crowded kitchen, tables decorated with colourful fall leaves, great company, and food as far as the eye can see........ Sounds like any typical American Thanksgiving. 

The truth is, this wasn't any typical American Thanksgiving because this "thanksgiving" feast took place in South Africa on the shores of Shelly Beach with volunteers from all over the world. The volunteers went with Sally Mann [volunteer coordinator] and her family to spend a beautiful weekend in Shelly Beach with pristine beaches, amazing surfs, and colourful sunrises. The weekend was filled with fun in the sun, midnight board games, impromptu Bible studies on the beach, and best of a community effort towards a not-so-American Thanksgiving [but amazingly delicious nonetheless], and best of all-- great company.

It was a terrific weekend and the perfect time for the volunteers from Pietermaritzburg and Durban to have time to hang out, relax, and enjoy each others company in an ideal setting. 

 

YDC Indian night – 8 October 2009

Liz invited us, YDC, Lisa and Lynn, for a Indian night at her house.
We arrived 30 minutes too late, but we blamed it on African time. When we came in we first enjoyed the view at Liz house, it was beautiful. We also received a tour through her house.
As a starter Liz had delicious loempia’s prepared. It wasn’t that hot, so we didn’t need that many drinks.

Now it was time for diner. We were all curious how hot the food was going to be. Liz warned us to not to take too much of the sauce if we thought it was too hot. So everyone started with a little bit of sauce but after a while we took more and more.
We had salad, chicken-curry, braised green beans, braised pumpkin,  roti, rice and all other delicious food.
It was very funny to see how everyone eats: some with fork and knife, other people tried to eat like Indian people: with their hands.

Everyone liked it very much! The food was good, people were nice, and we had lots of fun! The swinging chair was very popular J

Marita and Mona made a desert. Marita made a lemon-pie. Mona received a recipe from a special Zulu desert and she also made a chocolate-pie. They were both very nice! Liz had a special Indian desert prepared called sorgie.

The food was so nice that we all eat too much.

Thanks Liz for your hospitality and your kindness!  

Lots of love,
Jacky (YDC)

fin.

 

Work has been great the last two weeks- we've done heaps with the Community team and I've been feeling pretty effective and productive! We've been working on a case with an elderly man from the Stop 8 community. When we first visited him I felt so broken for him- he was sitting on his bed, legs of just skin and bone, clothes so loose they hardly covered him. He was so fragile, weak, in a lot of pain, and very lonely. His neighbour takes care of him every day, cooking meals that the man can't even eat because he's in too much pain. He can't walk, can't do anything for himself. The Community team is trying to find him a place in some kind of aged care facility, where he can be taken care of in the most appropriate environment. The first step was to have him taken to the clinic- this proved a pretty difficult feat. First of all, the closest we could get the bakkie was on a nearby building site: a rocky hill, creek, and winding dirt path away from the man's home. Then, being unable to walk, some local men had to carry him all this way to the vehicle. When we finally got to the clinic, he waited for eight hours, receiving only a bit of medication in an attempt to relieve his pain, and a BP check. The following week Kego and I visited a few old age homes to search for a place for the man. Our problem was that many of them didn't offer full-time care- which is what this client really required. Thankfully, we finally found a place in a hospice in a nearby township. We organised a day to transport the man there- and again, the men carried him from his home- over the creek and up the hill to the car, and we helped him settle into the hospice. It was such a relief to see him move into a place where he will be well-taken care of, be able to spend time with others, and hopefully work towards recovery. It’s exciting to be part of progress like that! One of the women who lived nearby to the man shared how thankful she was that we could help out- she called me Nomusa, meaning kindness... its a real privilege to be a part of YFC in living out the mercy and kindness of Christ, and knowing that lives are being changed- not by the kindness or initiative of any volunteer from overseas, but by the love and grace of God himself.

MELODY GROENENBOOM
fin.

 

I arrived at the YDC the other evening, for my regular time with the volunteers, to discover an exhausted volunteer from Ireland. She had spent the day with staff, helping a young person to return to a family member in a rural area. They had left Pietermaritzburg at about 7.30 am and driven for about an hour and a half into a very rural area. When they got that far, the car could not go on the rutted and very winding roads, so they got out and had to walk. And walk they did!! Up and down hills…. …and then up and down more hills and paths. (She had taken lots of very beautiful scenic photos of the area where they had been.) Eventually they got to the home of the family member, only to find nobody there, but they were able to talk to a neighbour.

Then, it was more walking, to the local school, to discuss the readmission of the young person. Following a meeting with the school principal, they were able to go back to the home of the young person. This all took most of the day. Once all of this work was over, the whole journey had to be made in reverse!!

So this explained the exhaustion I encountered when I got to the YDC. Although this is not a usual day for a volunteer, it is certainly a part of working with the street team. Some of the experiences that stood out for Carla were: finding water to drink from a stream as they walked, meeting with the principal and his response to her as a white person involved in the life of his learner and the distances rural people need to travel; mostly on foot. fin.

 

Workshop Swapo

On Saturday the 5th of April we had a workshop at the drop-in centre in Swapo. The aim of the workshop was to involve the parents in the work of the centre and the lives of their children.

We invited all the parents of the children who came to the drop-in centre. We also invited a guest speaker from Social Welfare. We bought groceries and prepared ourselves for the workshop. However, we ‘only forgot’ that this is Africa, so the workshop didn’t start at 10 o’clock like we planned! We are getting used to the delay in time, so we played with the kids in the meantime. At 12 o’clock there were roughly 15 parents so we started the workshop.

One of the peer educators wrote a poem about taking the opportunities you have and shared this poem with us. We can bury our head and spirit in our problems or we can decide to change our mindset and aim for a better life. As long as you have hope you can live!!

The guest speaker spoke about the role of the parents in the lives of the children. Parents have to take responsibility, they have to be good role models and examples to their children, as most children will copy the behaviour of their parents.
The children of the centre prepared a drama and a few songs. I was so proud of them! It was great to hear them. It was fantastic to hear and see that they have motivation to come to the centre and that they enjoy it! It gave us the encouragement that there’s still hope for all these children!

When I heard the encouragements, the laughing and the applause of the parents, nothing could ruin my day anymore! fin.

 

Building Project

Hey Everyone! I’m Judith from The Netherlands and I’m here for 4 months. I work with the Yazini project in the GoLD team and in Aftercare.

I went out with Derrick in the After Care Project and we visited a family whose house was burnt down by a petrol bomb. A mother and five children lived in that house.
Youth for Christ – Khayalethu Project originally helped build the house and pay the school fees for 2 members of the family who are at boarding school. Now the house is burnt down, and the mother and a child of 2 years (who is looking very ill) are living in a little tent next to the ruined house. The two older children have moved out, and the two boys at boarding school will return home during the holidays.

The mother does casual work, and owns only very little food and clothing, but has no money.

As winter is upon us and the evenings are getting colder, with some heavy showers of rain now and then, it is difficult for the family to live in a tent that is not weather resistant. We in the After Care Project thought this is an unbearable situation for the family to live in. We therefore approached the community centre YFC and discussed the idea of rebuilding the house. They were positive and excited about the idea, but finances were a problem.
I am so grateful that I was blessed with some funding from The Netherlands, and we are now able to rebuild the house, hopefully before the real winter starts.

At the moment we are collecting materials to build the house. We have tried to involve the local people, by asking for their help with the buying of materials and then rebuilding the house. The aim of involving the local people is encourage the locals to lend a helping hand to their community members.

I feel very blessed that I can help this family and I’m very thankful for the church back in The Netherlands that makes this possible!

Judith Kwakkel!

 

Shelley Beach Weekend Away 19-21 October 2007

All us YDCers got a chance to be tourists this past weekend, when we all went down the coast to stay at the idyllic Shelley Beach. We all spend so much time concentrated in the cities we’re volunteering in – on the streets, in differing communities, in the shelters, at camps. This is work we’ve all grown to know and love, but that didn’t mean we didn’t enjoy our glimpse into the ‘other side’ of South Africa. And let me tell you – we could easily get used to this way of life! We had three separate self-contained houses, with the beach approximately ten steps from our front door, the sound of waves putting us to sleep at night. There’s something so inherently calming and peaceful about being by the seaside, so it was an amazing backdrop for our weekend.

We had a weekend filled with adventures. The air was constantly filled with the yells of English, Dutch, German, and South Africans avidly cheering after the ‘Boks World Cup win. We played games, collected shells, went for walks, somersaulted in the enormous waves, thereby gaining sand in unspeakable places. We had sing-a-longs, got caught in rip tides on our bodyboards that nearly slammed us into the rocks, as well as all turning a most marvellous shade of red from way too much sun and way too little sunscreen.

In a country with so much diversity that means every day is a learning experience, it was nice to continue that on this weekend. All of us volunteers serving in different cities, from different backgrounds, languages, nationalities and walks of life continued to learn from each other as we had our weekend away in that little corner of the world. Mostly, it was just lots of fun. Because, in the end, that’s just what beach weekends away should be about!

 

My first month in South-Africa!!

A month ago I was still in Holland and now I’m building a new life in Pietermaritzburg. Time is flying but it also feels like if I’ve been here much longer. It is really a great experience to be here.
The first week everything was new. New people, new house, new environment and a lot of new impressions. It was nice but also very exhausting. The first weekend we went to Shelly Beach with all the volunteers from Pietermaritzburg and Durban. It was a great weekend where we could relax and do our own things. It was nice to start my period in South-Africa with a little holiday.
The second week I started my volunteers work in the drop in centre of the community Hanniville together with Marchien, also a Dutch volunteer. First we met our African colleagues and then we did home visits or streetwork. It was all in Zulu so we didn’t understand anything. Our colleagues didn’t translate much for us so that was difficult. In the afternoon when the schools were out, the children came. The first day we only looked how things were going. The second day we did craft. We made some flags. It was really fun and we saw that the children were enjoying it.
I’m really exiting about my stay in Pietermaritzburg. But there are some things that I find difficult to except. Our working day starts at 8:30 pm. But it happens a lot that we have to wait for almost an our before we’re picked up to go the community. Sometimes it’s really frustrating that Africans take the time for everything and they don’t mind that they are too late. They walk also very slow but when it’s hot it’s nice.
It sometimes feels that I don’t do anything and that I’m not useful. But when a child comes to me because he/she wants a hug or just your smile, it makes my day perfect. I get so much joy from the kids. It’s really great to be here.

Ronella Hofstra
Volunteer YFC Pietmaritzburg