Falling for South Africa

Tuesday

It’s Tuesday morning of my first week in St. Lucia, this view is definitely something I could get used to.

The sun is bright, the wind is blowing, the cloud coverage is perfect, and the temperature is just right. The low 70’s is perfect weather to me but all of the Zulu ladies are wearing sweaters, it makes since that they would think it’s cold today.

I got out of bed to get ready for my full day of work, put some ointment on my four mosquito bites, brushed my teeth, put in a fresh pair of contacts, applied some sun screen, and then lots of bug repellent. Last night was the perfect summer night, we slept with the fan on low and probably didn’t even need that-I only turned it on because I’m just used to sleeping with a fan on in the States. I pulled my contact bag out and low and behold a small spider was present, surprisingly I didn’t freak out! The first night I stayed, I pulled back my sheet to find a tiny one in my bed…I must have been extremely tired because that one didn’t scare me either, but the big, jumping one I found this morning-total freak out! Thank you Barbara for saving me 😂 I wouldn’t have made it.

After getting dressed I made my bed and also doused it in bug repellant-insects just aren’t my thing. For breakfast I had corn flakes and some mango peach juice, delicious! After breakfast we had our morning meeting and then I prepared for support group, I prepared hot tea with milk and lots of sugar. I got the plastic cups out of the cabinets and then proceeded to get the garden tools and yoga mats (to sit on) out of the garage. Since it’s Support Group day I wore a skirt so I’d fit in with the ladies. I’m not too sure about gardening in toms and a long skirt but I’ll make it work lol.

We left the house promptly at 8:30am, stopped at the garage (what we would call a gas station) and bought some break fluid. Today I’m with Nok Nok (Nokwethemba), she has a beautiful spirit about her too, her name for me is summa-thyme ☺️. We drop Shwele, Claudy, Barbara, and Kait off at Crèche (pictured below) then continued to pick up some of our members for support group in Khula.

After picking up one of our Support Group members we then go to the community supermarket to get some cookies to have with the tea, 

After that we, we continued to pick up more of our Support Group members, this is the view on the way to one of the houses, 

beautiful weather!  The windows are down, mine and Nok’s shades are on and I’m enjoying listening to the Zulu ladies speak their native language. Their use of the clicking sounds is remarkable, it makes me want to learn.

 (Nok took her shades off for the photo lol she wants her eyes to be shown 😁)

We finally make it to the community center (pictured below)

and start off support group by openening up in prayer. Though I couldn’t understand what they were saying, I took that time to truly thank God for this opportunity. After prayer, I passed out the hot tea, and I must say Zulu women LOVE brown sugar!

We had 7 members in total, not including Nok and I and the cute little baby (pictured below)She was a beautiful little girl and she was infatuated with my skirt, so of course I let her play with it.  I took off my shoes, greeted the ladies, sat on a yoga mat, and enjoyed the moment.

Something that really excited me about the initial visit with the Zulu ladies of Khula, was the fact that I was greeted with a customary Zulu handshake, I was absolutely shocked that I got it right, and on the first try!! (Tuesday win). I’ve included a link to a youtube video of a traditional handshake, but I will say that I was wayyyy better than the guy in this video added- I actually knew what I was doing hahah Zulu Handshake Youtube.  We talked about the holidays, 2016 was a terrible year for most of the ladies. A lot of things happened, deaths and many sicknesses, but there were also some good. The Zulu ladies were all so welcoming. I cannot wait to come back to support group! I had one of the older ladies (a GoGo) to ‘welcome me back home’, I thought that was really sweet-I know that my parents will appreciate that lol. I also had another woman to honor me and tell me that she loves me. This melted my heart; the Zulu culture is affectionate in that way.  During the meeting I told the ladies how I am a Christian and how I was very proud to read through the entire Bible in 2016, they all clapped for me and was very happy that I am wanting to learn more about the Bible. The ladies here believe in God, and also in the power of their Zulu ancestors, I was happy to be able to easily share my faith with them. The meeting lasted from 9am to  12pm, we all chatted and emotionally supported one another. To end the meeting, we (more like they) sung two songs, danced, and prayed. The Zulu culture is majestic. Though I was unable to sing the songs, I did participate in the dancing. I felt entwined with the Zulu women, and it definitely helped to look the part. I was happy to move my braids and swing my hips to the harmonizing vocals of the Zulu women in my bare feet and long skirt.

We packed into the avanza, dropped off two of our support group members at their homes and then headed to pick up Shwele and the crew. Once we arrived back at the house, we unpacked our supplies, and then headed to the common area to eat lunch. We had potatoe wedges with chicken, tomato, and cheese sandwiches, yum. On the way to the garage to pack away the items I admired all of the fruit trees that surrounded me we had coconuts  Avocados Lemons and GrapefruitsMy mission is to get at least one of these fruits in it’s ripest forms before the monkeys get to them first😂

After lunch we have about a 20 minute break, then Shwele and I begin to plan for the rest of the week. We planned our Home Based Care Vists for Khula and Ezwenelisha and then prepared pain relief medications and multivitamin packets for the 10 patients we will see this week. I showed Nok some pictures on my phone, then Shwele, Nok, and I played with some Snapchat filters, we had an absolute ball 😂, these women are crazy and it’s amazing. At one point we were laughing so hard, Claudy came to see what was going on. When one of the ladies was looking through my phone she saw the verse of Romans 8:28, she asked for an explanation so I gave her one and told me how that has been hard for her to believe due to having such a terrible year- I will be working on that.after a little fun with the face swap snapchat filter the three of us hopped in the fortuner and headed to the Banana Box (a supermarket). Shwele gave me the Rands to buy the items and I loaded the cart with bake beans, potatoes, and tomatoes. When I got  to the counter the female cashier immediately started speaking in Zulu- my brown skin, long braids, and long skirt gave her the impression that I was South African, thankfully Shwele answered her question because I had no idea what she said. The man packing the groceries into bags was very friendly. He spoke to me in English, and proceeded with helping us put the bags into the fortuner. Once we got into the car Shwele laughed and stated that he was up to something. Since the banana box did not have the milk we wanted we left and went to the spar. After the spar trip we headed home to finish preparing the food parcels for the nutritional segment of our work week this week. We prepared 9 bags in total and each was filled with 1 can of bake beans, 2 fresh tomatoes, 3 large potatoes, and 1 liter of milk- while this may seem like only a little bit, the people receiving these items will be extremely grateful.

We cleaned up our project, ended the days work, and then the rest of the day was ours. Kait, Barbara, and Claudy walked to the beach, I stayed behind to nap instead. Once they returned around 5:45pm it was time for our afternoon debriefing session. We all set on the couch and told Kim about our days. As soon as that was done we ate dinner, the menu for the night was a green salad with fried tenders. Before that though, I gracefully fell down some stairs with a cup full of juice in my hand, thankfully the glass cup didn’t break, but I can promise you that I will be very sore Wednesday…Thank you again Emily for the advil hahah-you’re awesome. I don’t even know how I fell, I’m just clumsy. I was happy that the charm My Forever bought me didn’t break, unfortunately it broke me when I landed on it lol. After dinner and my debacle we all sat on the couch and discussed some weekend and day trips. All I’ll say right now is that I’m excited 🐘☺️!

Here’s come pictures of the common area and kitchen! More pictures to come!

Wednesday 

I wake up to the sound of my alarm at 7am Wednesday morning. I roll over and immediately, I’m reminded of falling the previous night. My body hurts. I take some Advil then rise out of bed to start my day. My breakfast is the same, cereal, and I take the time to notice the weather. It will be hotter today, but it’s beautiful.  After breakfast we have our morning meeting and I’m excited to have Hame Based Care with Shwele in Khula. We load up the avanza with the medical box, black folder, and some food parcels and then we’re off to start our day at 9am.

We drop Mumsy off at the spar and then we head to town to buy some bananas, we don’t buy the bananas from an actual store we get them from some ladies who sell them on the side of the local roads. I plop the bananas onto my lap as Shwele finishes the sale with the lady who had a painted red face. Shwele hands her 10 Rands and then we proceed to put the bananas in the 5 prepared nutrition bags we loaded in the boot (the trunk). Once we provide the bags with 4 bananas each and get back into the avanza, I then ask Shwele why did the lady have a painted scarlet red face. She explained that on hot days, women who sell on the road put it on their faces as a all natural sun protection-amazing.

I’ve seen wonderful sites on the way  to our first patient house. South African skies are beautiful. 

Our first two patients were mother and daughter, very nice people. I ended up buying a handmade mat from the mother. I’m really excited to pick it up later on in the week when she’s finished. I took their vitals and then proceeded to assess their issues. I wrote down their notes, and then provided them the needed medication. The family was happy to hear that I am from America and they also proceeded to tell me that my roots are from South Africa like the GoGo at Support Group, amazing people-Welcome Home. 

The third patient we went to see wasn’t there so we moved onto the 4th, we could tell that his condition was worsening but we did all that we could do, he is a pleasant older man. He is the father of the support group member who brought her grandchild, the cute little baby. When we arrived the baby was taking a nap on a mat outside of the house. They had sprayed poison inside the home to keep the bugs away so we had the appointment outdoors. I experienced the authority of a man in the Zulu Culture for the first time, the two men of the family sat on buckets while Shwele and I and the other women of the family sat on cushions in the grass. After the baby woke up, mom pulled out her breast and began to feed her baby- I wasn’t uncomfortable at all. Here in Zululand it’s inappropriate to show any part of your upper thigh, but if you wanted to you could walk around topless. After the child ate and was satisfied, the mother prepared a cardboard box to place her in-even with nothing the child is loved and happy. We said our goodbyes and visited the next patient. On our way out I saw the cutest house with the lion king painted on it ☺️

Our next patient was 17 years old. She suffers from juvenile onset diabetes and epilepsy. She was a very sweet girl and we could tell that her condition has vastly improved. In this home, we were held at a position of honor, the father sat on the floor while we sat on actual chairs, and the young girl avoided eye contact at all costs. We gave her an energy booster, checked her weight and blood pressure, and then made our way to our final patient. Again beautiful skies.This final home based care visit was very interesting, let’s just say I had my first marriage proposal 🙊 the young man went so far as to even ask how many cows it takes in my country for him to marry me, jokingly Shwele and I said 20 (that’s double the normal rate). The GoGo (the young mans grandmother) also told me that she likes me and that I would make a wonderful daughter-in-law lol, hilarious!!! We laughed for a few minutes and then I proceeded to take the GoGo’s vitals and give her the needed medication. The ground was too sandy for Shwele to be able to drive all the way up to the hut so we had to park at the bottom of the hill and walk up, on our way back to the car low and behold, this is what I see, we laughed so hard Shwele and I, then made our way back to the house for lunch at 12:30.

For lunch I had seasoned and baked whole potatoes, bean curry, and sliced tomatoes, delicious. During lunch Mumsy relayed a message for me, the nice man who helped me bring the groceries back to the fortuner asked her where the ‘flower’ she works with was, she responded by saying that she doesn’t work in a garden 😂-perfect answer! After lunch we had a 30 minute break, I decided to stay back and hangout with the Zulu ladies in the common area to just enjoy the sound of their chatter, they are just the absolute best. My name here is officially summa thyme-here’s a selfie from the day.

Once 1:30 approached Claudy and I loaded a box with games and toys, then Claudy, Barbara, Shwele, Nok, and I headed to visit GoGo 4 in the fortuner.My time there with GoGo was amazing-even she was trying to set me up with her great grandson, three in one day? I’m on a roll! 😂 South African children are the best. We did a health check on the GoGo and then inspected her hut just in case there were repairs to be made, then we played games with the children. I had a ball!!!  I even got to see 4 day old twin girls!

Meet Nelli, she’s 15 and as you can tell loves a camera ☺️ haha good thing I do too!

After playing with the children for two hours in the hot South African sun we load the fortuner back up and then head to the house-my work day is over. It’s time for a break. I take a brief nap and then I head over to the common area to have our afternoon debrief.

Once that is over Claudy, Barbara, Kim, Kait, and I head to town to get snacks and a cool drink then head to the jetty to watch a full sunset. We saw hippos, beautiful birds, orb spiders, and crocs. Majestic

After our evening we take the 10 minute walk back to the house. I love that we always have the days meals and left overs spread out. We try really hard to not have wasted left overs.The night is over, the Internet has been down all day-no family I’m not dead  I just haven’t had a way to contact you lol

Thursday

It’s a new day, and it’s a hot one. Still no internet, I went to bed early and I must say it was a great nights rest. My right side hurts more today than it did yesterday, but it’s okay I’ll live. I took some more Advil then started my day. Breakfast was the usual, cereal and then I buttered some toast.

Today, Shwele and I have Home Based Care in Ezwenelisha. I load up the box, place the tomatoes in the prepared bags, tell Kim that we need R10 (R=rand) for the bananas and we get in the Fortuner. Claudy drives us to get some bananas from the local ladies then we drop her, Kait, and Nok off at crèche. Barbara is sick so she’s spending a quiet day in at the house. Again, beautiful sites as we travel to the patients house.

The first patients house we stopped at was vacant. He was a wound care patient and ended up moving to another village due to family matters. Shwele and I was able to talk to the man’s Aunt to get a lot of needed information. We obtained a phone number and decided to put him on the list to call. On to the next!

Ezwenelisha is absolutely beautiful! I get to learn a little bit about Shwele on the ride to the next patients house. I find out that she lives in Khula herself and that we were near her house on Wednesday. Shwele finds it’s very rewarding to work in the village she lives in- I think that is absolutely amazing. She’s pretty awesome. I also found out that the Ezwenelisha is government housing, that’s the reason it’s so nice here.(this straw is used to make mats)(the thing on top of the house is used to heat the water inside of the home)

The second patient we go to visit is also gone, he too went to live in another village. We didn’t need to get updated information on him, but his condition is not too bad off according to his family so Shwele and I decide to stop by the village market to drop off some gardening tools for George-He’s going to fix our garden for us.

South Africa is a beautiful country.

We are able to see our 3rd and 4th patient, they are mother and daughter-very nice ladies. They are both disabled but unfortunately aren’t able to get the grant from the government. There’s no income coming in and they aren’t able to work either, but still they are happy. They also took in a young boy about 6 years old since his mother died in December, even he seems happy as he plays with a painted shell and marble. We take the ladies vitals, needed medications, and then give them the food parcels we prepared. They were both very appreciative. We chatted and then said our goodbyes. On the way out we got halted by a herd of cows haha T.I.A.

We visit the 5th patient and that’s when I recall how different the standard are for young children here. The babies don’t wear diapers and it’s acceptable for a baby and/or young child to get into a car and only be held for safety. This home does have items for the babies and I was happy to see so, I’m not sure what the child sleeps in but I see that she does have a walk around toy. During this visit a small spider dropped on me from the Mango tree we sat under for shade, let’s just say I was itching the entire visit (Yes Priscilla, you called it haha). I took my patient’s vitals, provided a food parcel for nutrition, and then gave her the needed medication. Shwele and I say our goodbyes and move along.

Since we were unable to see some of the patients on today’s listed we decide to add some who live on the way to the house. We play some Taylor Swift in the Fortuner and drive to the outskirts of Ezwenelisha. On our final home based care visit, I work with my first confirmed diagnosis of HIV. She was an older woman and very nice, at this point she looks very well. She is on antiretrovirals and is currently on a new medication since the other one caused stomach ulcers. We do a simple check-up and provide a food parcel then make our way to Crèche to pick up the ladies we dropped off earlier in the day. It’s 12:02pm and I must say today has been eye opening. Now for lunch!

Lunch was simple and delicious! Tuna sandwiches with veggies and feta 😋. We have Internet again, yay, but unfortunately it’s super slow.

After lunch it’s time for the afternoon project Kait and I prepare for Nutrition in Khula by measuring out 200g of a powdered supplement (ePAP) then, her, Shwele, and I load into the avanza, turn on some Taylor Swift, and head to Khula. Before we start nutrition though we pick up a GoGo to take her to the clinic to get some medicine. As we rode through the streets of Khula we see children walking home from school of all ages, though the day is hot it’s beautiful. I’m still amazed at the age children start taking care of themselves. It’s common to see a 3 year old walk to daycare by themselves. On this particular trip I see a young girl probably about the age of 6 carrying a 2 year old up a hill with her back pack and all. For those of you who know my family, that’s like Markell carrying Kennedi on his hip while walking all the way home from school with his backpack and her diaper bag all by himself….(I miss all of my babies by the way!)

I got to see the inside of the clinic, meet the entire healthcare staff. Everyone was nice, and interested that I’m American-they kept speaking to me in Zulu until Shwele explained that I didn’t understand what they were saying. After The GoGo’s appointment we leave but our progress is slowed due to a fight that broke out between some school girls. Shwele is a superwoman, she saw the problem and immediately jumped into action to break it up. Once she finished she shared that her daughter is the age of the girls who were fighting and she couldn’t imagine that happening to her own-my heart was truly touched.

We move on to drop the GoGo back off at her home and then go to see our first Nutrition patient. That was fun, we saw the cutest little boy, he was in love with Kait and had some pretty awesome dance moves. I check our nutrition patients measurements and weight and am happy to see improvement. Meet dancing boy and Netewba, the girl is 12, in grade 7, she thinks I’m very beautiful, and her favorite subject is English- I think she was practicing on me and I must say that she speaks English VERY well, I told her I was proud of her and made my way to my final patient.

This next patient is a 13 year old boy who was born HIV positive. He weighed 50Ibs and was as happy as he could be, but I won’t lie my heart broke. I bought a beautiful handmade bracelet from his mother who I’m in Support Group with, Happy Girl is what we call her.The mom herself looks very healthy, I wouldn’t have ever suspected she was positive. I will never forget the faces of those I’m able to help. We end our day at 4pm and make our way back to St. Lucia. After freshening up and changing into some cooler clothes I notice that my leg has a pretty nasty hematoma 😳

At 5:45pm we have our afternoon debriefing. We tell Kim about the highs and lows of our day and then eat a delicious dinner, cottage pie. After dinner we go our separate ways, I do the dishes and then clean up the kitchen a little since it is my night, then I work on some stuff for school and then marvel in the South African heat.

I know you’re sick Barbara, but I cannot do this heat, I already took a cool shower! *turns fan on low* goodnight world

Friday

It’s the last day of my first week! So far I’ve been successful. I roll out of bed and notice that it’s still warm, here’s to another hot day!

I get ready in the same usual manner only this time I notice that my left nostril is blocked; I immediately take some preventive cold measures, I couldn’t find my nose spray at first so I almost skipped it then I didn’t remember seeing my goldenseal either. I immediately think that I got jacked at customs, but nope I looked again and found exactly what I was looking for. I didn’t want to be late for my 7:50am meeting so I check my schedule for the day then it’s off for breakfast! Today I switch it up, tuna melts yumm. Claudy and I chat about our lives and then it’s time to prepare for our days.

This morning I have home assistance with Shwele. I grab a broom and a mop with a bucket full of cleaning supplies and load up the car. Nok, Shwele,Kait, Claudy and myself hop into the fortuner to start our work day. Shwele drives and we arrive at Crèche to drop off Kait and Claudy, Barbara is still under the weather but feeling much better so she decides to take the morning off.

We’re officially ready for Home Assistance! I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this sky. Home assistance consists of cleaning, sweeping, mopping, washing dishes, washing clothes, and collecting water for those who can’t do it themselves-I think it’s awesome that we are willing to do something so simple for someone else. Shwele and I drive past a couple of watering holes to make sure there’s water there then we ride into Khula to assist our first family. As we ride through the village I’m still amazed at how well these Zulu women are able to balance things on their head- it’s remarkable. We park under a shaded tree and now it’s go time!

Y’all I worked so hard. I promise you I’ll be more appreciative when I come home. I have never missed a dust pan or lawnmower so much in my life. It’s only 10:30am and I’m tired and dirty. The woman we cleaned for was a disabled GoGo, she greeted me with a customary Zulu handshake and I was so proud to know it. I looked at her surroundings and was happy to see a photo of her and another volunteer handing up in her home. We chatted then got straight to work. I started by washing some dishes so I got three buckets out filled one with the dirty dishes and soapy water, filled the second with fresh water, and the third I left empty for the clean dishes. After washing the dishes then I filled a pretty decent size ben with 75 liters of water.. y’all I will have biceps when I return to the States 💪🏾 I helped Shwele sweep then I took over the mopping. Let’s just say I miss my swifer wet jet 😩 ringing the mop out was harder than I thought it was going to be, man we Americans and Europeans are spoiled. After the inside work, then we start on the outside. We rake… and rake…. and rake, we make several decent size piles and I’m expecting to burn the foliage…nope, we put on plastic gloves, pick it all up by hand, and then walk all the way across the yard to put it by some wood, I make at least 20 trips. By then I’ve already broken several sweats but still I keep a smile on my face. We load the empty water containers into boot and make our way to the watering hole. As soon as I get int the fortuner Taylor Swift is playing, the air conditioning is blasting and I literally inhale some water, I’ve been drinking so much water here I’ve been bloated my body hasn’t even been able to handle it. I really need to drink more water when I get home . Shwele is laughing at me because I keep sneezing, thank goodness I took an allergy pill. Once I get myself together I notice that I’m covered in sticky briars, I don’t even know when that happened.

I was hoping the watering hole was at least a 5 minute drive away, but it was only like 2 lol.

We arrive, thankfully it’s empty because I definitely needed the space- as a disclaimer filling these things without a hose or funnel is harder than you think hahaha. It takes me about what feels like an hour to fill up 175 liters, and I’m sure 50 extra liters ended up on me, my toms, and the ground around me. There’s no such thing as a smooth flow of water, just saying. Thankfully I got to cool off, but I’m sure I got a wicked tan, not a cloud in the sky. While I did that Shwele cleaned the red dirt off of the car, it was much needed.

By the time I’m almost done some more people show up to also fill their containers. I’m wearing capris today (thank goodness) so I assume I look more like a foreigner today since people say hello to me in English lol, even Shwele commented on how people must know I’m not from here today. I met some really nice people and they all said how South Africa is a beautiful country and that they like for people from other countries to visit. We’re finally done at the watering hole, we go back to the GoGo’s house and drop of the 175 liters of water. Someone should’ve told me that I needed to do some weight training before I came here because I was not prepared lol!

My water is all gone and now I’m hungry. We say our goodbyes and then head to go get my mat. I was so excited. We walk in and the lady is so happy to see us, she was even in the process of making another mat-true talent. She gives Shwele and I a gift and I am so grateful, I hand her over 200 Rand and I get Shwele to take a a picture.
We say goodbyes then head to the local ladies to get some bananas I’m starved. I get a whole bunch of bananas for only 10 Rand! That’s crazy cheap-that’s $0.71 for 14 bananas!!!!

I immediately tear into a banana and give one to Shwele then we drive down the road to get Nok, Kait and Claudy from Crèche. It’s crazy hot and I feel dirty, but never did my smile leave my face. Claudy, Kait, and I chat about our days and we make our way back to St. Lucia. As soon as we get to the house I change my shirt and everything under it, I’m sticky, that’s when I notice that I have a foot tan lol it looks ridiculous.

Lunch was amazing as always, we had white rice with a tomato based sauce, and some farmers sausage. I load up on water and then prepare for the afternoon. I have to ask Shwele a few questions on what we’re doing this afternoon, the ladies joke with me about the size of my bum and how I’m from South Africa and easily teach me some Zulu. I grab the scale and the rest of the medical supplies out of the closet and then I measure out 200g of ePAP for each of the three nutrition containers. Since I’m prepared already I decide to lounge on the couch until it’s time to load up the Fortuner. It’s been a great car day lol.

The time has come for Shwele and I to head to Ezwenelisha, it’s 1:30pm and kids are walking home from school and I’m currently thanking God for cloud coverage. I’m almost positive it got hotter after I changed my shirt, still I’m extremely happy to be here. Taylor Swift is playing, the air is on 18.5 C and we soon make the familiar left turn at the sign that says ‘ Ezwenelisha 6km ‘ from the sun and food I could go for a serious nap at this moment, still I have some good to give. I sit up straight, sip some water, and arrive at my first nutrition patient of the day- GoGo boyfriend’s neighbor.

This patient is also a confirmed positive case of HIV, it’s too hot to have his appointment in the hut so we have it outside. The first time I seen him on Monday he was very talkative, this time he’s not, I can tell that he’s not feeling too well, he is on antiretrovirals but still appears to be losing weight. I take some body measurements and can confirm that he’s lost 1.5cm just around his arm. We provide some adult nappys (diapers) since it’s hard for him to move around and also some ePAP, I pray for his health.

We continue the drive through Ezwenelisha to the next patients home, high school students are now walking home from school- I can tell their general grade because they all wear ties as part of the uniform, the girls and the boys. I admire all of the planted gum trees and take in my environment this patient wasn’t home she had to go to the clinic so we just provided the nutrition anyway after talking with the family. Right after that we head to GoGo 4 children

Nelli looked the same as she did the two days before. I talked to her for a little while and was sad to learn that she wasn’t in school at the moment. When we arrived she was working in a workbook, I asked her if she liked it and she quickly responded yes-this really hurt to hear. She has the want to learn but unfortunately she can’t (I cannot tell if its due to her being on her menstrual cycle or if she is unable to afford a uniform). On the ride to the home I asked Shwele why Nelli and the other children were nutrition patients of ours and she explained that all of them had been malnourished due to not having enough food to eat for long periods of time- my heart shattered into a billion pieces. It’s amazing how these children still remain to smile, and I love that they do. As I was sitting on the ground talking to the children as Shwele spoke to the GoGo in Zulu the thinnest dog came up to me, I rubbed behind it’s ears and he easily responded as if that was the best thing in the world-unfortunately he did look like the sad pictures you see on tv- I quickly registered that this animal is just as hungry as the people are. I wish I could take her home, she’s a really sweet dog…We say our goodbyes and then make our way to the final GoGos hut.

We drive through the beautiful Ezwenelisha to my Zulu husband’s (just kidding babe) GoGos home, give her some glasses, and then chat for a bit. We advise her to still go to the optometrist and then make our way home. The Friday workday ends at 3:50pm. I’ll will never forget these skies.

I’m excited for tonight! Our social butterfly Kait has planned our volunteer night. We are having a Zulu Cultural Night in Veyane full with Zulu dancing, mat making, and traditional eating. Within 30 minutes it has gotten cloudy, and appears it may rain, I appreciate a break, it’s been a long day. I hop out the Fortuner, put the things in the garage away, grab a banana and chill.

Veyane

We all change to get ready for a Zulu evening. Once we’re all done we load into the avanza turn Taylor Swift on loud and head to Khula to emerged ourselves into the Zulu culture. We approach Veyane and I’m immediately excited to see what they have prepared for us. Claudy signed us in and we meet our guide. We quickly notice that we get to tour with another group of volunteers, yay!

Our guide is a traditional Zulu woman herself, so she’s very nice and extremely informative. We learn some simple opening phrases in Zulu such as hello, how are you, thank you, etc. and then continue to make our way through the village. As soon as we get inside after telling the gate keeper in Zulu that we come in peace, we get to pick out our clothing for the evening. Normally, single Zulu women wear the beads pictured with nothing underneath 🙊. We learn about the family roles, the building of the huts, the making of the mats, and then head into ‘the kitchen’ to greet some of the Zulu boys using a traditional Zulu handshake. Somehow during that time I was made Queen for the night, but of course I didn’t mind lol. After we watch the young men change the spears from shields to bags we all head to ‘the meeting room’ here we get a more in depth lesson about the Zulu culture and that’s when I become Queen. I strip out of my clothes, the guide dresses me in traditional jewelry and we are good to go. (My skirt is made out of real cow hide by the way) It’s time for a traditional Zulu show back in ‘the kitchen’. I must say that the dancing is AMAZING and very intense. The high kicks, sudden jerks, and vibrations from the beating of the drums made it hard to take my eyes away. We enjoy about 30 to 45 minutes of interactive entertainment full of singing and dancing and I must say that I’m impressed. (I attempted a traditional high kick lol)

The Zulu culture is intricate in so many ways. Once the entertainment portion of the evening is over, we enjoy a traditional Zulu meal. We wash our hands in the prepared basin, serve ourselves a well prepared meal, and then begin dinner by opening up in prayer. It was delicious. Chicken, vegetables, and steamed bread. Once we’re finished we decide to end our adventure with a hippo hunt in the avanza! We saw 3 hippos, a croc and a deer, I’d call that pretty successful. 

Everything in St. Lucia basically closes at 11:00pm it’s a little before 10 now but we decide to go out anyway, the first Friday night in SA we all get to spend together. We check out some common areas in town, meet some other tourist, and some locals and just have a good time. I met some pretty interesting folks, one person had 3 wives, and another was going to school for computer software. I shared with him that my dad is a retired computer programmer from IBM and he was absolutely amazed. He was telling me how hard it is for people from South Africa to get into American schools but once they do it free-this I find to be a blessing, I used to be a bit salty for not being able to get more financial aid but now…it’s no way I could be. His dream is to work for IBM, Google, Microsoft, or Amazon one day, I pray he makes it because he has all the potential in the world.

It’s almost 2am but it’s still hot, I take a cold shower now it’s time for bed.

Saturday

My alarm goes off at 7:05am, I wanted to snooze but quickly remembered that I had a fun day ahead of me! I put on a bathing suit and a quite colorful sundress, grab a banana, lots of water, and sunblock and then Kait and I are off to Cape Vidal promptly at 8am. Steve is our tour guide and I must say he’s pretty awesome.

To all of my mutual Grey’s Anatomy fans doesn’t he look like Sloan!?!

Anyways lol, it’s a cool day and appears that it may rain, I don’t particularly mind because I really don’t want to be in the hot sun all day today. Steve picks us up at our gate and then we head to a hotel to pick up the other two folks who are touring with us, they’re French. On the way to the beach we do a bit of a big game drive and I must say that today was the PERFECT day for it. The name of the park is Isimangaliso which means the land of miracles and wonders and it truly looked like its name. We see Zebras,wilder beast, Some ellies (they were really close, Kait and I was scared lol) an african fish eagle, warthogs, a black rhino (very rare), buffalos, white rhinos, baboons, kudus, and of course God’s marvelous vegetative works and so much more. (if I get better internet connection I may be able to upload more pictures)

Since it rained a little, Kait and I didn’t spend too much time on the beach, but it was still a great time.My hematoma is still pretty bad. Steve cooks up a braai and man was it good! We chat and boy is he an interesting guy he surfs, hikes, motor crosses, and a freelance tour guide-if you ever come to St. Lucia SA, book him lol. That’s buffalo steak by the way. It’s time to go back to the house, we have a game drive on the way back too, the food made me sleepy so I’m sure I may have missed a picture or two lol. Steve drops us off at the gate to our home, we tell the other ladies about our day, I shower to get some of this sand off of me, head into town to check out a couple of shops and some fruit, then it’s back to house for a nap. It’s about 5:30pm, I set my alarm for 7pm to wake up in time to go get some dinner, but when I wake up I’m not feeling to well. I honestly just think my body is tired, so I skip dinner with the ladies to go back to sleep and the rest of my day is spent in my dreams.

Sunday

I wake up around 8:50am, and immediately notice how much better I feel, it’s confirmed my body was just tired and I needed a break. Today is the day to find decent internet connection. If you’re wondering, the reason I haven’t been posting everyday is because I’m having a lot of trouble uploaded my pictures-I’m writing, just not publishing.

I must have slept really well last night, my covers fell off of my bed and my scarf was no where to be found. It’s a beautiful hot day, and since I skipped dinner last night I’m starving! I grab a banana and some water to hold me over.

It’s Sunday so I quickly realize how much I miss church and my church family.Since Claudy, Kait, and Barbara are all going to the beach I’ll take this time to clean, read ahead in my Bible and catch up on some school work.

After I’m satisfied with the work I’ve done so far I decide to head into town and grab and burger from Thyme Square. It’s a very cute little restaurant-the ac and free wifi makes it even better.I see Steve grabbing brunch, it’s nice to see a familiar face, I get to meet his beautiful wife and tell her all about the game drive on yesterday morning. She also volunteered with African Impact. 5 years ago Steve took her on a tour and she’s been here ever since-it’s beautiful how things work. While we talked, Steve shared that one of the same elephants we saw the day before actually charged a car after we left. Tusks through the door, flipped it and all, the people involved went to the hospital- I pray that they’re alright.

I wait the few minutes it takes to cook my takeaway (carry out) and then I make the brief walk back to the house. My lunch is delicious I got a beef bacon and cheese burger with chips (fries) and all of the trimmings (lettuce, tomato, onion, and mushroom). I enjoy the breeze and alone time. After while the ladies come back and I’m sitting in the common area doing some homework, today was lazy and perfect we have spaghetti bolognaise for dinner then Claudy, Kait, and I, hang out in the common area, I talked to my mom and my Forever and then the rest of the day was uneventful.

2nd Monday

It’s Monday of the second week. I wake up in my normal fashion but somehow I’m covered in mosquito bites. I’m thinking that I didn’t put enough ‘Off’ on when I hung out in the common area last night. Never again will I halfway put Off on again.

Today I’ll be outside all day, I have clinic pickups in the morning and physio this afternoon. It’s a beautiful day in South Africa. It’s going to be 90 today, since it’s likely I won’t come back to the house for lunch I make me a sandwich to pack then quickly gather the supplies for my day. I grab the physio bag, scale, medicine bag, pens, and then wait for the ladies to get out of their morning meeting with Kim. I’m sad to see that we’re in the Avanza today, it’s sooooooo hot lol.

As I wait, I take the time to doctor my mosquito bites. I look over at the gardener and he’s literally chopping things down with a machete lol now it’s time to get going we leave the house at exactly 8:45am we go to the PEP store to buy some airtime for Shwele’s phone-she uses it to call our patients to see who needs to go to the clinic and then we make our way to the villages, there’s not a cloud in the sky.

The ac is on and blasting, but it’s not cold and unfortunately the sun is shining on my side of the car. Since the ac is barely working Shwele and I decide to put the windows down instead and surprisingly it’s much better. When I come home to the States my left arms is going to be at least 20 shades darker than my right lol seriously. The first village we come to is Dukuduku, even with the lack of decent roads Shwele is whipping it and I’m just bouncing around the car. We help the first patient into the car and then we leave for the clinic in Khula-Sipho Zungu Clinic.
(Notice that everything is done on paper and not in the computer). This patient has really high blood pressure so the professional nurse has to ask her a bunch of questions. We leave her at the clinic because she still had to be seen and we have to go to Ezwenelisha for more patients. We stop on the side of the road so that Shwele can make some calls and I immediately break a sweat lol

We continue through the village I’m still so amazing at how the women here can walk with things in their heads. The scenery still amazes me too. The amount of fruit trees are remarkable, I see a bunch of mango, guava, and coconut. We are in the deep forest-the ground is very sandy, I held my breath a few times because I wasn’t sure the Avanza was going to make it- Shwele even stalled at one point-most of the vehicles here are manual.

We finally arrive at the patients home, he’s very nice and has a beautiful little girl with him. He gives us some sweet potatoes and I give the toddler some gum. She lives so far in the forest I doubt she ever goes anywhere so the gum is a really nice treat-I take a piece too and we chew together.

We stop by another house on the way to the clinic to pick up a lady, the Avanza tries to stall going up a hill so Shwele backs up so that we can get a running start-she literally floors it. The roads are crazy. We wait for the third patient to get themselves together and while we wait we play some African beats over the radio thank goodness the sun is facing the other way- I watch a child happily play with a broken toy. I give him and his little sister a piece of gum too. They take it with two hands to show respect and I give it to them in the same way, with both hands.

We are ready to go, to help one of our patients get into the car I lift the little girl up and place her on the grass so that we can move the seat. She’s about 3 years old and weighs half the size of Kennedi-these babies are so small. We leave the house, call another patient and then we make our way to a familiar house (the mother and daughter duo) as I wait for Ellen I enjoy the breeze and a beautiful view and listen to the Zulu ladies chat away. I see the boy who was playing with the toy gun and marble a few days earlier and give him a piece of gum too. He’s very shy, it’s adorable. The wind is so soothing I could nap- Ms Ellen comes out dressed in blue and she smells really really good- like some kind of sweet lotion, I see why she took so long. Our car has almost reached its maximum capacity, it’s 11:30am we’re off for the clinic again. We see a community health worker waiting for a taxi as we go to the clinic so to be nice, Shwele gives her a ride because we are already in the way

I could get spoiled in the simplicity of South Africa, I will surely enjoy the remaining 7 weeks. Unfortunately we’re stalled by a vehicle holding long grass. But still beautiful sites along the way. We make it to Ezwenelisha clinic, this one is a bit run down, but I notice the signs indicating that America helped build the buildings. They look like small mobile homes but they seem to work. I hung out with the little girl during the appointments, she took to me quite well. She was talking to me the entire time and I’m sad to not know what she was saying. She was great at pointing and pulling at my legs and arms though. The only thing I really understood was the word ‘phone’ lol she was a sweet girl, but after she gave my phone a bath with her tongue I had to take it away.

After we’re done we drop off all of the patients and then Shwele and I share my sandwich before we can get to some real food. My water is warm, but I drink it anyway, I do not want to become dehydrated.It’s 1:45pm. Remembering the little girl, I quickly take a Wet One to my phone. Since she was so sweet I gave her another piece of gum lol. We turn on some gospel then head to the village for some authentic food. In the car Shwele played an English and Zulu mix, she turned it up and we jammed. She’s pretty awesome. When end up going to a ‘fast food’ place in Khula. It was basically someone’s kitchen, it wasn’t up to the United States standards of sanitary but the food was DELICIOUS. I’m not sure of what to call it, I had a fried donut that we broke in half to put a piece of bologna in it (I’m not even sure if I would call that bologna like we know, but it was good). I was taken to a place that sold cow brain and intestines so I really just don’t know what that ‘bologna’ was it was great though lol and some chips (fries) with a sauce that tasted like yum yum sauce to me we sat at the car wash and enjoyed the breeze, shade, meal, and 1L of coke.

The soda was 13Rand, that’s less than $1. Shwele and I talk, We bond as I show her pictures of my family and then lunch is over, time for physio in Khula.

I’m having all kinds of South African food today! We parked under a fruit bearing tree. We picked some ripe pieces off the ground, rinsed them in my warm water and enjoyed. They had the texture of a grape sort off and was the color of a plum. Very good! Shwele called it Indoni she doesn’t know the English translation but said she would find out.

Our day is done, we head to St Lucia, we go to the stationary shop so that I can exchange money, then we head to the banana box so Shwele can put money on some type of card. After we’re done we hop into the Avanza, play some African beats and go on to the house. Believe it or not, I had an awesome day even with burning up!

As soon as I step foot onto 24 Flamingo Rd I put the medical stuff away, peel out of my sweaty clothes, and take a nice cold shower. A few minutes later it’s time to eat, I decide to skip dinner since I’m still full from lunch and I’m honestly just too hot. It’s movie night, Kait picks the top three for us to all vote on since she’s leaving this weekend- our choices are Bad Neighbor, He’s Just Not That Into You, and Single Moms Club. Bad Neighbor wins, we all watch, laugh, and enjoy each other’s company. Now it time for bed.

2nd Tuesday

It’s 4:34am and I wake up to the feeling of something crawling on me. I smack the unknown creature off of my arm and immediately search for my flashlight to identify the culprit…y’all it was a big african roach. I literally freaked, it’s amazing that I did not wake the other ladies. I immediately text my mom and Forever for comfort because I just couldn’t handle that. Mom texts me back immediately (shoutout to you). If I didn’t love everything about South Africa so far, I probably would’ve started fundraising for an early flight home.

I couldn’t stop itching from just the thought of that thing being on me, so I decided to stay awake and have an early breakfast and then hangout outside and watch the monkeys. Welcome to South Africa.

It’s finally 7:00am time to get dressed. It’s cloudy this morning, and I’m really hopping it stays that way. We have planning this afternoon so I’m expecting an easier day. We arrive in Khula and immediately buy some bananas for the local ladies. I put them in a bag I found. It’s crazy that we can get all of these for only 10 Rand.

As we purchase bananas a woman comes up to us with a baby on her back and asks us if we’re having Support Group, we quickly tell her ‘yes’ and to hop on in! It’s starting to be a great day. By the way (since I cannot remember if I told you), the Support Group is for HIV positive men and women and also for family empowerment. Mostly women come to The Khula Support Group, but Kim said there is a man in the Ezwenelisha Support Group. We pick up another member, it’s so nice to see her! She speaks to me in English, I love that she took to the time to do that.

The road we usually take to get to the community center is closed, but somehow Nok talks the guys into moving the stuff so we can pass haha we saw the ‘Do Not Enter’ sign and all, but still kept going 😂 This is Africa.

We approach another familiar road, the first think that Nok says is how sandy it is, it’s almost as if as soon as she said that we got STUCK, the women immediately jumped into action a pushed us out. (I blurred out the middle woman’s eyes so that you cannot identify her). It’s safe to say that we took another way 😂😂. We pick up more members, these are some amazing women! The ladies are happy to see me and I am truly happy to see them. Windows are down, it’s 9:45am and I’m enjoying listening to the chatter of the Zulu women. We finally arrive at the community center, we use a different room this time because we expect it to be cooler and less noisy. We run out of chairs for all the women, so I quickly find one and clear it off so that The GoGo could have a seat. She was extremely grateful for that action- she hugged me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. The lady who honored me at the last meeting also gave me a very embracing hug, she grabbed my bum and everything lol. I didn’t find this inappropriate because Kim already told me how touchy Zulu women are lol.

Support Group was great and much needed. A lot has happened to these women in the past week. There were tears, stories of family members abandoning their children, babies being born by school girls and being left in toilets and on the public transportation, and stories of 13 year old girls being raped by family members. Let us all keep this world in prayer.

We end the meeting with prayer and singing. I take note of how the women carry the children they orphaned and then we make our way to drop off the members we drove. It’s 11:50am and its hot. I go to get a sip of water then remember it that I forgot my bottles in the fridge. We drop the members off then make our way to Crèche to pick up Shwele, Kait, Barbara, and Claudy. In the car ride over I ask Nok about church and she said that she will be happy to take me. I’m excited!!

Everyday the children from Crèche wave bye, it’s the most adorable thing ever!

Once we pick all the girls up we go to the house for some lunch, since I ate breakfast so early I am starving! On the way into town we drop Barbara off at the PEP store so she’s there.

Lunch was delicious! We had chicken mayo with raw vegetables and I had a side of last nights dinner, it was delicious! Once lunch is over then it’s time for planning. Shwele and I grap the folders for Khula and Ezwenelisha and we figure out what patients we need to go see this week. Shwele gave me the lead on this one and and was very happy that she trusted me to do so, once that’s taken care of we refill the medication bag and it’s time to go shopping for the food parcels. Kim gave me the option to skip shopping because the other volunteers were finished already and hanging by the pool, I declined- I’d rather finish all of my work and hang out with the Zulu ladies.

Nok, Shwele and I hop into the Fortuner and then we head on to the Banana Box and to Spar. Tomorrow is laundry day, and since I know the girls will have a lot for Mumsy to do I decide to take my clothes to the laundromat. I ask Nok to stop by there and she does, they said that I was sweet for doing that. Shopping is done now it’s time to arrange the food parcels. I

It’s 4:40pm and we are done! Dinner is at 6:15 so I have time to relax. I decide to shower since the day has been terribly hot-it was the perfect way to take a break.We have our normal afternoon debriefing session at 5:45, we tell Kim about our days and then it’s time for dinner. Non made a vegetarian pizza and it was amazing!!

Since it’s Tuesday we planned for a sundowner at the Jetty but it’s very cloudy so we have snacks and games inside instead. The games for tonight are Frustration and Uno, we have a ball! A storm is coming, so the lights keep flickering, we unplug everything so that we avoid shortening anything out. It’s warm, and late, the thunder and lightning is coming and now it’s starting to rain.
We go back to our rooms to undress, and there’s a knock at the door, it’s Kim. She picks up my mat to view it, and immediately we all start screaming-it’s another roach. We laugh at how ridiculous we all are. Since we freak out, Kim drops the mat, and the roach immediately finds its way to hide under my bed. Kim tries to find it but fails, and I decide to sleep on another bed. I grab the comforter, my blanket, my pillows, shake them to ensure that it’s free of roaches and hop onto a top bunk located inside our room.

We’re tired and decide to call it a night. Barbara and I chat for a while and unfortunately we are met with that daunting hum of the electricity shutting down, and the fan that was barely cooling us in the first place slowly comes to a stop. We admire the thunder and the lightening and eventually we fall asleep. (a photo of lightening from the top bunk)

It’s 10:35pm.

2nd Wednesday

Its 7:00am. The power has not returned and it’s burning up inside our room. Barbara opens the door in hopes of being met with a cool breeze and unfortunately it’s the same temperature outside that it is inside.

We get dressed, use as little water as we can in hopes of saving some and then head out for breakfast. I’m happy that I packed wipes because I am not happy about not having water. Instead of the normal cereal, I have an apricot jam sandwich. It’s a cloudy day in St Lucia, I decide against taking pictures today because I am uncertain when the power will return.

Today I have Home Based Care in Khula. I load the Avanza with the black medical box and 5 food parcels and then Shwele, Mumsy, and I are off. We go to the gas station to get some petrol, and there we drop Mumsy off to go to spar which is only a few steps away. Once the petrol is collected and paid for it’s time to visit Khula. Shwele and I talk about the storm and how tired we both are and all of a sudden we start to yawn in synchrony. We had four house visits and 1 medication collection at the clinic all before lunch. Shwele and I make our way back to the house since time has run out, it’s time for lunch.

It’s 12:19pm, still no power. Since there is no way to cook we have chicken mayo sandwiches for lunch. I have an upset stomach and am generally not feeling well, I choose to take a nap on the couch. 30 minutes later, I’m assisting Claudy and Barbara with with box to take to GoGo 4s. I have the option to stay at home to recuperate but I decline it’s too hot, I’d rather be out. Nok, Mumsy, Shwele, Barbara, Claudy, and I hop into the Fortuner and then we’re off for GoGos.

Nelli and the other kids are so happy to see us, and I am very happy that most of them were coming home from school. African Impact was able to donate some school uniforms to them and I am literally ecstatic for that. We do the usual, play games with them and just enjoy their company. This one was very happy to see me, she gave me a bunch of hugs and was playing with my braids for quite a while. Even though I wasn’t sure about having power at the house, I let her play with my phone and this is what I got out of it lol.

We leave GoGo 4s and come home to find that there still isn’t any power. It’s 4:19pm. Since there is nothing to do at the house. We decide to go to the PEP store to get a SIM card. After we pick that up we go to a few shops in town, and go back to the house to only find that the women sold us the wrong size SIM card. We immediately go back to find that the store is now closed. The trip is not wasted Kait and I decide to go out to eat at John Dory’s this was an excellent choice! After we eat the rest of the girls (Kim, Claudy, and Barbara) come for wine and dessert. We ate great food, and made new friends, it was worth it.

We return to the house around 11pm, still no power. We prepare for bed.

 2nd Thursday

Around 2:44am I wake up to the sound of our ceiling fan. After 27 hours we have power!! I immediately plug my phone up to charge it. Unfortunately the room is still extremely hot but that’s okay we have electricity.

We wake up at 7am, and we still have power (it’s been known to only last for a couple of hours at a time), yay! Unfortunately we don’t have water yet so still we are unable to shower, thankfully I have every possible wipe you could have-I came prepared. I text my love ones to let them know that I’m okay, eat a simple breakfast (jam and butter sandwhich and an orange), and I prepare for my day (Shoutout to T’Conya by the way! I love your random text messages to check in on me-you’re the best!). I have HBC in Ezwenelisha, and it’s cool outside. Today will be a great day.

I work with my first wound care patient. He was stabbed back in October and unfortunately he did not immediately seek medical attention so his arm is extremely infected. He has been using traditional methods, but the wound has not healed. We prescribe some ibuprofen, multivitamins, and antiseptic ointment. I advise him to keep the wound as clean as possible, and Shwele believes that the wound looks better, to me it looks like he might lose the arm it’s almost scary to believe that the arm was in worse shape that it is now.

We go the next patient, a confirmed case of HIV. We chat for a while, take vitals, and almost seconds after complaining of a genital rash he asks me to be his second wife 😳, I decline. We prescribe a cream and make our way to the next patient.This was patient was a GoGo, I was happily greeted with a Zulu Handshake. I notice that it’s the older women who mostly greet me in that manner. We have a delightful appointment, she’s 80+ and full of life. It’s starting to drizzle, the roads in Ezwenelisha are already bad so we head to the clinic to drop of the promised ibuprofen- it’s unfortunate the clinic is slowing running out of supplies, but thankfully we can help out.

It’s 11:30am, we leave the clinic to try to see more patients, the roads in Ezwenelisha are terrible today, but still it’s beautiful here. Thank goodness we are in the Fortuner, we wouldn’t have gotten far in the Avanza.
We see our final patient. It’s a GoGo and for some reason she has a baby monkey in a cage. I’m not too sure of what that is about, but I won’t question it. She was extremely happy to see us, she thought that we dropped her as a patient but that wasn’t the case at all- we were just closed for the holidays.

It’s 12:00pm, we’re late picking up Nok, Claudy, Kait, and Barbara but we are on our way. We get stopped by a heard of cows and for the first time in my life I saw a cow with ribs poking out, wow-a skinny cow.. the animals are just as hungry as the people are. 12:23pm we get the girls, it’s time to head to St. Lucia for lunch. We have a tuna pasta bake. It was yum!!

Luckily Shwele and I are still in the Fortuner, though it’s cloudy it has gotten a bit warm. We have Nutrition in Khula this afternoon, we arrive at the first patients house. She’s doing well, we take the standard weight and body measurements to determine her BMI. The cute little dancing boy that we saw last week comes home from school, as we are packing he offers to take my bags to the car in return for something sweet-I gave him chips instead and he was very happy with that. The family wants to know more about me on this visit. The older woman asks for my surname (last name) to see if I’m related to anyone she may know. Shwele forgot what my last name was so she tells them that I am the daughter of President Obama-we all laugh, now it’s time to go to the next patient.

We arrive at Happy Girl’s house to see if we can meet with her son. He’s at the clinic receiving ARVs so we cannot take any body measurements at this time, but as of last week his weight was improving and he appeared to be doing very well. We give mom the ePAP then make our way back to the house.

Our day is over! I’m extremely tired for some reason so I decide to take an hour long nap. I wake up around 5:50 to prepare for our meeting and then we have dinner. We have a vegetable and meatball sauce with mashed potatoes, Non made it-her birthday was yesterday☺️. Unfortunately we didn’t have any power and she forgot herself that it was her birthday, so we didn’t do anything special. It’s my night to do the dishes so I quickly do them then wait in the room until it’s time for our night game drive. I’m super excited!

We change our clothes to long shirts, sweaters, and long pants to be ready for pick up at 7:50pm. We’re expecting that it will be cold. We do the same drive that we did last week, just during the night. We seen a baby chameleon, zebras, kudus, buffalo, hippos, frogs, hyenas, bush babies, and wilder beast. Since it was cloudy we didn’t see any stars which also made is basically impossible to take pictures. Between not being able to see anything and trying to avoid eating bugs I don’t think I really liked the night game drive.

We arrive home around 11:00pm I immediately shower and then it’s time for bed. I’m thanking the Lord that it’s cool out.

Goodnight

2nd Friday

It’s the end of the week already, wow time is flying. I wake up, eat my breakfast and prepare for Home Assistance with Shwele. It’s a beautiful day so far in St. Lucia. We are off to a bit of a late start since the Ladies meeting with Kim ran a bit long. Today we are all in one car-Shwele and I are in the front, Mumsy, Barbara, Claudy, and Kait are in the back. The Avanza is low on break fluid again so we stop by the garage to get some-we’re convinced that it’s leaking now since we had already bought some last week.

We arrive in Khula to drop Mumsy, Babs(Barbara), Claudy and Kait off at Crèche then we go to our first home of the morning. I admire how the photos on the business trucks are a reflection of the people they serve.

The lady whose house we cleaned today has a motor neuron disease. She was a bit down today because of her disease and the many other problems in her life. This was when I realized how much I admire Shwele. We both shared with the woman that even though she’s going through a tough time she’s still alive and that’s a blessing from God. We told her how the Lord would not put her in any situation that she could not make it through and that if it’s in his will she will be okay. The lady was so grateful for those words.

We finish sweeping and washing the dishes then head to the GoGos house we cleaned for last week to collect more water. When we pulled up, there was a large tour for the traditional healer so we decided to come back. I grabbed some chips, a soda, and some igwinya (fried sweet bread) from the fast food place and supermarket next door, then Shwele and I head to the watering hole. I quickly eat my lunch while Shwele rinses off the mud on the Avanza. Soon, it’s time to pick the girls up from Crèche.

This morning was rewarding. I quickly recall how much Shwele talks about God during our appointments, and it’s honestly remarkable how much of a positive change of mood occurs in our patients, it’s a blessing. Since I bought lunch in Khula, I skip lunch at the house and head to PEP to fix my SIM card situation…I need data!!!

An hour later..

I got data woohoo and a SA phone number 😏 I’m legit. If a +27 number text or call you, it’s me lolShwele and I get the Fortuner for Ezwenelisha woohooo! I load the car for nutrition then play ‘Made A Way’ for Shwele over the Bluetooth- she loves it ☺️ now I’m playing it on repeat. I must get her a copy!

We go to GoGo 4’s to give Nelli and Maaphi a uniform for school. This made my day!! This is what we do. This is who I’m apart of 😊 Nelli is going to school in a very nice uniform that fits! So many children here do not attend school because they cannot afford a uniform, so this is a true blessing.

Shwele has a meeting at 4 so I get dropped off at the After School Reading Club-it’s nice to see what the education volunteers get to do. I let an 11 year old girl read to me in English, and then Reading Club is over. Barbara passes the kids snacks out and then I hop in the car with her, Kait, Mumsy, and Non.We’re home after a very productive Friday. I take a break, and decide to work on uploading these pictures to my blog. The internet here is so slow, it’s frustrating (sorry for the wait).

Today we’re having a braai (barbecue). Kim and Claudy are making Burgers and Chips (fries) and I am excited. After a while we eat, and I must say that it was delicious!

Since I’m the social butterfly this week, I decide that we should play some card games. We play Balderdash and it’s really funny how it was my idea and I’m the one who lost lol. My allergies are killing me so I decide to take some Benadryl and just go to bed. Kait and Claudy decide to go out. It’s Kait’s last Friday here in SA, I will surely miss her!-hopefully I’ll see her again in the near future (she may have some planning to do in Martha’s Vineyard?)

Today was a wonderful day

2nd Saturday

My Saturday morning is very much so uneventful. I wake up around 10:30am- that Benadryl really knocked me out. I get out of bed, get dressed, and then walk to Thyme Square to enjoy some air condition and a delicious breakfast.

Since they have wifi I stay for a few hours, unfortunately it is slow too, but I make it work. (I got all of this for only R108 by the way, that’s about $7.50)

After enjoying some alone time I decide to head back to the house to finish preparing for my instructor contact. I sit by the pool until I am interrupted by the monkeys, I quickly adjust my seating so I can see what they are doing-they tend to steal just about anything. I briefly talk to my mother and then I call my professor promptly at 5pm my time, 10am EST. My professor and I talk for about 30minutes about my experiences so far-she’s pretty awesome, I will be sure to keep in touch so I can get a reference lol.

I lay around for most of the day doing basically nothing, then around 7:30pm Kait, Barbara, and Myself leave for dinner at Ocean Basket. Claudy comes eventually and we decide to hangout around town.

3rd Sunday

It’s 7:40am and Kait has officially left us, since I’ve only gotten 4 hours of sleep so far I jump right back into bed after saying my goodbyes. Girl I miss you already! Here’s to you Kait! 

It’s 10:30am, it is officially time to get up and get my day started. I make up my bed, shower, fill up my watter bottles, and start my day. I make a few errands around town such as going to the ATM, passing by the PEP store to get enough data to last until I leave here, and then stopping by my favorite place to have brunch, Thyme Square-this is only my third time here and Paula is already letting me order off of the menu, I told her exactly what I wanted and she quickly said that she could do that for me. Big Thumbs UP!(steak with onions, grilled tomato, two fried eggs, chips, and a coke for R103 = $7.36)

We have two new people coming to day, the new business manager Valerie, and an education volunteer named Helene. Helene is 18 and from Belgium, she’s currently taking a Gap Year how awesome-shoutout to her parents for financially supporting her! I do not know too much about Valerie at the moment, we haven’t been properly introduced but she’s an older gal and seems pretty cool.

Today my plans are to be very lowkey-and first things first I must read my Bible!