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 About Cycling, Funerals and Apartheid

As some time passed since I wrote my last post there are some news to share with you. At work there isn’t happening a lot of new stuff anymore - we got used to our daily routine, accepted that our tasks mostly aren’t very exciting and we quickly got attached to the babies. But on the weekends there is still a lot of new stuff to discover for us!

The weekend of the 16^th we had quite a lot of work to do. The graduation certificates for the Early Learning Groups and the Baby Gym had to be finished and there was a big event: the Momentum 94.7 Cycling Challenge. For a donation of 1000 Rand (approximately 70€) cyclists could compete for Cotlands. In exchange they would get a Cotlands Jersey and a Goody Bag with energy bars, cosmetic products, vouchers and much more. On Friday we already helped at the Momentum Expo where all the organisations that cyclists could race for had the chance to present themselves. The cycling challenge itself was on Sunday and our job should be the cheerleading.  Our boss had asked us to bring some volunteer friends and as the challenge started very early and we also had to schedule some extra time because many roads were blocked our whole tired volunteer cheering group started at five am to go to the race. But as soon as we arrived our tiredness was overcome and dressed with our orange Cotlands shirts and caps we gave everything to motivate the cyclists especially those driving for Cotlands. Even though we had a lot of fun we were quite relieved when the race was finished because cheerleading was much more exhausting than expected!

Last weekend it was time for real South African experiences again. On Friday we had a really nice Braai and on Saturday we went to a funeral – but don’t worry it was no one that we actually knew. It was the funeral of an aunt of another volunteers host family. They knew that we would like to see what funeral ceremonies are like in South Africa so they invited us. In Germany that would maybe be a little bit strange but here funerals and weddings aren’t only celebrated with the close family – everyone can come. It is not important that you really knew the person it is much more about showing your solicitousness with the relatives.

The funeral started quite early at seven in the morning with a church service that lasted about two hours and took place in a big tent near the family’s house in Soweto. There was a lot of singing but unfortunately everything was in Tswana so that we couldn’t understand a word. After that the whole funeral party drove to the cemetery in a big procession. Everyone put on the car’s hazard flasher and then we started the chaotic procession consisting of about 300 funeral guests that partially had to be transported in big buses. Arriving at the cemetery we were very happy to have arrived without an accident because driving in Soweto is always very adventurous and the funeral procession didn’t really make it easier. The cemetery was very big and thousands of graves were lined up in rows as far as the eye could reach. Then the burial took place accompanied by a lot of singing again. After that we went back to the family’s place for lunch. A cow had been slaughtered for that and in addition we had other typical food. What was most surprising about the funeral for us is that we didn’t see anyone crying – the atmosphere was rather cheerful.

The day after the weather was very bad, so we thought that we could directly go on with our cultural experiences and went to the Apartheid Museum. This exhibition depicts the South African history beginning with the slow raise of Apartheid in the beginning of the 20^th century to its legal anchoring from 1948 to 1994 and post-Apartheid time of reconciliation until today. Even though we already knew a lot about Apartheid from school the museum was very interesting and served as a reminder that Apartheid is not so long ago and though aftermath is still recognizable in daily life it is impressive how fast a country could overcome such a shaping period.

Besides these new experiences these last weeks we were planning our Christmas holidays together with three other volunteers. We are leaving on 11^th of December and planning to do the Garden Route, an approximately 750 kilometre long route along the southern coast of South Africa with beautiful nature, beaches, national parks, pretty coastal towns and a lot of action offers. On Christmas Eve the five of us will arrive in Cape Town and celebrate Christmas and also New Year. On the 4^th of January we are coming back to Joburg.

For the moment we already try to get into the Christmas spirit and decorated our room as good as we could what isn’t that easy with our improvised decoration.  Furthermore it’s not that simple to get in the mood if it’s about 30°C outside. Anyway we are very much looking forward to our vacation!

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.

0 Another side of Joburg

Photo: Dylan Harbour

After the last weekend, that was quite calm and relaxed, this weekend was much more exciting and eventful.

On Friday everything started with the later celebration of Heritage Day in our project.  Everyone was supposed to come in his heritage wear or favourite sports team jersey. I unfortunately didn’t know about it early enough so that I didn’t have a very good heritage outfit, but everyone else was dressed in a variety of different outfits from typical Zulu clothing to traditional Indian Saris.

In the afternoon after work we met a South African friend that is sometimes volunteering for Cotlands and he took us to Greenside, another Suburb of Johannesburg with many small restaurants and bars.

On Saturday we met with a friend from Germany who is staying in Johannesburg as an au pair. But while we are staying in the city’s south, where mostly poor suburbs and townships are situated, she is living in Randburg, a richer northern suburb. So far we hadn’t really been in the north of Joburg and it was interesting to see the city’s differences the farer we got to the north.  Turffontein, where we live, is a very small suburb and appears to be home to many illegal immigrants. That’s why it is regarded as dangerous by many people and why we mustn’t really go out there on our own – at least not after 4 o’clock. The street scene is characterized by small houses that are surrounded by fences, sometimes like Cotlands for example even with electric fences. Cotlands actually also has its own security guards that observe the buildings 24/7. Randburg on the other hand is a chic suburb with many villas that are often hidden behind high malls, additionally secured with electric fences. There also are lots of shopping malls and other entertainment facilities.

When we arrived the family was kindly welcoming us to their home. After a short shopping trip Stella and I were having our first Braai in the evening. Braai is Afrikaans for barbecue. As South Africans seem to love their meat more than anything else, braaing seems to be a very social and cultural practise to them. Typical South African Braai meats are Boerewors, a tangy sausage,  and Sosaties, marinated cubed and skewered meat.

Of course I tried all of these delicacies on the Braai and I really loved it, especially the Boerewors. I was even permitted to help braaing as you can see on the picture (even though I thought that only men were allowed to do it).

After the Braai we went to Montecasino, a leisure complex that was designed to replicate an Italian village. When we entered the complex we could barely believe that we still were in South Africa cause everything was indicating that we were in a small Tuscan village. 

In the next morning we were having tasteful omelettes for breakfast and then we went back home. We still had to do some household chores, but after that Lea, another volunteer from Germany that is staying in Pretoria, came over with some friends. To round the weekend, we went to a nice Pizzeria and had very tasteful Pizzas for only 35 Rand, what’s only about 2,50 Euro. But I think that is even for South African standards very cheap, because most things are only slightly cheaper than in Germany.

All in all we had a very nice weekend, tasted a lot of good food and met many new friendly people. At the end of the week I will write a little more about Cotlands and our duties here.

You will hear from me!

Frederike