khayelitsha & BAP

i haven't given myself ample time to decompress from the last few days but i'm going to write while things are still fresh. these past 4 days have been incredibly sobering, sad, enraging...all the feelings i'd expect to have after seeing the things i've seen recently. i can't compare it to anything for those of you that haven't seen if firsthand. i've tried to take pictures but, like the beauty of cape town, you simply can't believe it until you see it with your own eyes. i know most of you will not.

i've just finished the three days of my volunteer shift in khayelitsha. to give a little history, during apartheid, anyone who wasn't white was forced to move from their homes in cape town and set up communities elsewhere. whites occupied these areas and didn't want to live near blacks or coloured people so townships were created. although apartheid is over, many coloured and black people still live far out, segregated from most of their white neighbors. these townships are a dense collection of shanty homes made up of no more than 4 walls of wood and tin. the ground is the natural dirt and the citizens are forced to share a water spout and bathrooms. as many as a million people are believed to live in khayelitsha. it's impossible to really know, as many people live in one shack. it's common for 2 families to occupy the same shack and for one family will use it during the day and the other at night. many shacks share power from the same makeshift electrical pole.

on monday, the day before i started my shift, we took a tour of the townships around cape town, including kayelitsha. i couldn't believe what i saw from the car windows. it was exactly what i had imagined but so much worse. seeing it up close left all of us speechless. i couldn't help from crying. these shacks sat on the dirt, one on top of the next. we passed through with the windows closed because they said our security was compromised in the townships. i hated looking from closed windows. i wanted to see the people up close, talk to them...try to understand how they lived in a place like this. i cursed the fact that people in this world have to live like this. "it's not right," i kept saying. it's really not. i must bring attention to the fact that ALL of the inhabitants of these townships are black. they're people just like you and i but the color of their skin is their curse.

we went to baphumelele children's home (BAP) on tuesday morning. after seeing the township on monday, i had a better idea of what to expect on tuesday when i went to volunteer and how bad it would be. i so badly wanted to see the kids. make them smile. show them that i cared. after a brief orientation, i was shown the "america house", where the babies and toddlers live. we had to learn from one other volunteer all of things we had to know during our shift, as she was leaving to the airport that night. it was just going to be myself and another volunteer from northern england, named helen, and 27 babies and toddlers. there is a caregiving staff, made up of local women who work in a day shift and a night shift. these women, i realized over the 3 days, do the bare minimum of what is required of them. they don't provide very much love or nurturing to the children. they are responsible for bottle feeding, changing, bathing and general welfare. our role is to provide support to them on the these tasks and also provide stimulation and care.

our daily schedule is as follows:
7:00-8:15 - prepare bottles, brush teeth, take toddlers across the street to preschool

10:00-12:00 - "tummy time" with the babies, helping them learn to crawl/walk, play educational games, sing, watch the occasional einstein/barney/sesame video, feed lunch, put down for nap

2:45 - 7:00 - pick toddlers up from preschool, give snack to all kids, play, feed dinner bathe them, brush teeth, watch "nemo" (or finding nemo) and put them to bed

during the off hours we have a break to read, eat, etc. overall, i really enjoyed my first shift. the kids are awesome. so energetic, so lovable, so cute. many are sick, but we are not told with what. truthfully, it doesn't matter to me. for safety purposes, we're to assume all of them are HIV positive, although their not. they are not all orphans. some are but some have been abandoned or have parents that are unable to care for them. some of the parents come to visit sometime. the only things i disliked about the shift was the manner in which the caregivers treat the kids. i won't go in to many details here but i will say that it wouldn't be acceptable in the states, or elsewhere for that matter. i'm learning a little bit of xhosa, which is the language they speak. it's hard to say many words but i know how to say most general commands like "get out!", "move!", "sit down!". they speak a little english and i'm trying to teach them little bits as i go. i'm looking forward to making a small impact on the lives of these kids while i'm here. i'd like the time they spend with me to be filled with joy, fun and ALOT OF LOVE!

khayelitsha pics in following post. i'm not taking pics at BAP for a little bit longer. want to get to know kids before i start taking shots of them. but...LOTS more posts to come. i love your comments and support. thanks.