Gap Yah's and Saving the World.

OK. First off, I don't have facebook-I wasted too much time on it! But I'm getting LOADS of hits from fb and I'm curious who put me up there? I have a feeling it might be next years PT group or something given as the hits from fb are from all round the UK. If anyone knows where the link is, please message me or comment so I can say thanks!

Right, down to business!

So me and another volunteer were sat in the kitchen talking about our expectations before we came out and how they've changed since we've been here. Now I'd had a years worth of experience working with kids before I flew and I think I was pretty realistic on what would be accomplished in a year and the changes I would be able to make. In short, basically none! One or two new volunteers have arrived recently and it interests me how much they see their role as wholly world changing.

Let me get a few things straight:

• You are a volunteer, this is good.
• You are probably going to an institution that has seen many volunteers pass through each year.
• It is highly likely that the kids older than 12 will ignore you.
• No-one will be gushing with emotions that you are there to 'save them'.
• You are a foreigner. You cannot change national ways of life to suit your own. Even if you disagree with them.
• You will have to work HARD to get respect.
• The vision you have in your head of Africa. You know, that desolate mud hut scene with a starving baby gazing deep into the camera, telling you (with his/her eyes) that just £2 a month could feed a family or build a well or whatever...That's TV. It's an advert designed to part you and your money.
• You won't be working with solely black kids. I once heard there are only 5 black kids in my home. The rest are coloured or white. Kids from all ethnicity's can be abused.

You're gonna come out here as a volunteer, which don't get me wrong is great, but you're only here for a year. You have to scale down what you think you can achieve in so little time. And somethings you can't change even if you 'know' your way is better. In South Africa, they like to make things sweet. We find banana in the baked beans, pineapple in our potato salad and a lot of vegetables get cooked with sugar or cinnamon to make them sweeter. You may think of this a totally unhealthy and you might not enjoy the taste but that's because you weren't brought up with those tastes and habits. My kids won't eat pumpkin or sweet potato unless it is literally drowning in sugar. The kitchen cook it in cinnamon then the Tannie pours at least one dessert spoon full of sugar over it.

The home I'm at has an unusual amount of volunteers, around 30 at one given time. And those volunteers are always changing so every academic year there are maybe 50 or more volunteers that pass through. The scheme here has been running for 6 years I think, so the kids have seen hundreds of foreign teenagers come and go. Imagine how that must feel for them, especially if they've become close friends with an old volunteer. The younger kids will probably see you as a new plaything, but the older kids will ignore you at best. At worst, they will try to break you. It's fun for them, like when kids in school tried to make the supply teacher cry, they will do the same to you. If you show them a weakness and they don't like you...well...just try not to break :) Some of the kids might even be older than you. Try asking/telling someone to do something when you are shorter, younger and newer than them. It's also their home. They were here before you and will be here when you leave. They have to be here. You don't. It's hard. 

But if you work hard, show you're worth it and don't mess about you'll be fine! :)