0 Volunteer at Camp Footprints

Today it’s time for a topic that I already wanted to treat some time ago but somehow totally forgot to report about it: my stay at Camp Footprints some weeks ago. Camp Footprints is a project that organises camps for children with special needs. Lindy, the founder of the organisation that also worked for Cotlands in the past, invited me to come and work at one of the camps as a volunteer and so I spent a long weekend working at Camp Footprints. The camp took place at Phiri Camp in Dinokeng Game Reserve which is about 90 minutes’ drive from Joburg. The campsite was very nice, as there was a lot of space, a huge fireplace and nice bungalows for the night. Even though the children didn’t sleep in tents – it would have been quite cold anyway – sleeping bags provided the real camping atmosphere!

The whole program was set up and realised by Lindy, our group of 12 volunteers and the camp staff. Some of us, including me, already arrived Thursday afternoon, when we already set up some things and made a detailed time schedule for the program. Then on Friday morning the children arrived. They were a group of about 50 children from The Gateway School – a school for learners with special educational needs - at the age of 15 to 17. The needs of the children were very diverse. There were many children with ADHD, some autistic kids or with Down’s syndrome, some were physically disabled and lots of other disabilities but I also didn’t really get to know details about all of the children. Anyway I really liked the work with the children even though it was quite a challenge as I didn’t really have any experiences.

During the three days of camp we did lots of different activities with the children. Most of the time we divided them into groups and worked with several stations of activities from sack racing, egg and spoon race and other sporting activities to little dance sessions or soccer exercises. On the first evening we also had a big Potjiekos competition. A Potjiekos is a traditional South African stew that’s slowly cooked in a round iron pot over the fire. Four groups had to cook their own Potjiekos, set up a small restaurant and serve their dish to a jury that would rate the food, the atmosphere and the group’s teamwork. I was in the lucky situation to be a member of the jury so that I could try all the four stews and most of them tasted quite nice!

The rest of the evening was spent around the big fireplace with some singing and hot chocolate.

The next morning all the children had the chance to go on a game drive which was the first time for many of them. They were all really excited when we finally spotted elephants, giraffes and a lot of smaller game and tried to imitate the animals for the rest of the day.

In the evening everyone had to help planning and practising for our concert for the evening. With the help of us volunteers in three groups the children practised for a dancing, a singing and a drum part. After a lot of excitement the show was a big success: everyone had fun and all the children were quite proud of their performance. And to our luck after that they all wearily fell into their beds!

On Sunday morning the camp slowly came to an end. After breakfast, a lastquick game and packing up everyone proudly received a certificate and a group picture. Then it really was time to say goodbye what took quite some time because everyone wanted to hug everyone else. After that procedure the whole group got on their buses and left us behind, that we still had to pack up all the stuff.

Even though we only spent three days with the kids we all came quite close to them and it was fascinating what kind of secrets they committed to us after such a short period of time. They all were really amiable and it was a very nice experience to work with them!

0 Lion scratches and other premieres

Today I finally got a lot of photos for you, because I think that my weekend can be much better described in pictures than by words. But before that, just a few introducing words:

Even though the spring weather here in Joburg is already very nice – normally at least 25°C and the sun is always shining – I have to spend most of my time during the week inside working. After work, at about 16:30, Stella and I normally go to the gym and after that it’s already dark. That’s why we definitely wanted to do something in the nature and open air this weekend and quickly found our perfect activity: Lion Park.

Lion Park is a small game reserve in the north of Johannesburg. Certainly it’s not comparable to popular reserves like Kruger national park for example – and of course that’s also on my to-do-list – but it’s a good start if you only want to spend one day and not disburse too much money. And even though the name could suggest that, the park is not only home to lions. There are springboks, antelopes, wildebeests, cheetahs, giraffes, wild dogs, ostriches and of course brown and white lions living in separated areas. And what’s probably the highlight: the lion and cheetah cubs.

So we were joining a guided drive through the different areas. Our guide told us a lot about the animals and we had the chance to get really close to them and in the meantime take lots of pictures. But the best is yet to come: the interaction with the lion cubs. The cubs are between three and six months old and live in a separated enclosure. We could stroke them almost like normal cats and they were completely peaceful and so cute. Only one of them was quite playful and that’s how I got my first lion scratches that I would not want to miss anymore. But now see yourself!

Even though I unreasonably didn’t stick to "business before pleasure", I still have to say some words to our project. Because after our one month period of grace we got some new duties: We have to bring the two five- and six-year-old children that are living at Cotlands to school. It’s not far away so that we can walk and even though we have to start work earlier now it’s a pleasant way to stretch our legs and get some fresh air. Furthermore we normally don’t walk around in our area because it’s not that save, especially after four o’clock, so it’s a nice chance to get to know the area a little better.

So far it was always varied to walk them to school, because we always met many other children that are going to our early learning groups or our homework assistance. At first we were a little bit confused when children, that we only met once or twice before, ran across the street, loudly shouting our names and just hugging us. But they are all really sweet and we enjoy having our personal welcoming committee wherever we go.

Last but not least I kept my promise from the last post: I took some pictures of our area and I hope that they can give you a first impression of Turffontein.