OK, I have added a donation button to the side of my blog to make it easier for people to donate if they can't come to an event in person. There is a 'purpose' box when you type in the amount you would like to donate so if you would like me to use the money for a specific thing just write it in. Projects I'm hoping to do with the kids include things like drumming but it cost up to R400 so at the moment I can only plan for a one off session with them.
All donations will be used towards my trip back, so it maybe that I use it to help pay for my flights or medical aide, or I could use it taking the kids on an outing. But I might also use it for a holiday or to buy nice food :)
Thanks,
Damson.
Tuesday, 7 May 2013
Monday, 6 May 2013
Googels.
For the last week I've been running a toothbrushing competition in the house. Basically, whoever brushed their teeth the best or made the most improvement over the week, I promised to take to Clicks (SA's version of Boots) and they could pick a new toothbrush. In the mornings they had to pracise brushing their teeth on their own, then in the evening I would take my toothbrush into the house and all the kids would line up in a row in the corridor (Boys and girls have seperate bathrooms and they aren't allowed in each others so the corridor is neutral territory!) and copy me brushing my teeth. The winner was a kid called Googels because his eyes are so adoarbly massive. When he was younger, they used to call him Uil (owl). So today, as promised, I picked him up from the house and took him down to clicks.
He was so excited! When we were leaving he was shouting to all his friends and saying "see you later, I'm going to Clicks!" and he was chatting all the way and waving to people. The kids hardly ever leave the home if they don't have family or a volunteer to take them out so the only time Googels leaves the home other than for school is on the out weekends or in the holidays.
He picked a nice new blue toothbrush and got a tube of toothpaste, then we went to pick and pay (think Tesco or Asda but South African) because it's one of the other boys 11th birthday today and I didn't have time to make him anything, so we got him a dot-to-dot colouring book and some coloured pencils-although it's just occured to me the kid can't count...I'll have to use it as a learn to count book instead!
He was so excited! When we were leaving he was shouting to all his friends and saying "see you later, I'm going to Clicks!" and he was chatting all the way and waving to people. The kids hardly ever leave the home if they don't have family or a volunteer to take them out so the only time Googels leaves the home other than for school is on the out weekends or in the holidays.
He picked a nice new blue toothbrush and got a tube of toothpaste, then we went to pick and pay (think Tesco or Asda but South African) because it's one of the other boys 11th birthday today and I didn't have time to make him anything, so we got him a dot-to-dot colouring book and some coloured pencils-although it's just occured to me the kid can't count...I'll have to use it as a learn to count book instead!
Thursday, 2 May 2013
Tuesday, 30 April 2013
My Artwork:
I'm sat in the house waiting for the kids to go to sleep so I can go and now we've got new and improved internet that we can now use inside (sometimes it even works when it's raining!) I decided to edit the picture of the sunset we saw to what it should have looked like if it hadn't been so flipping cloudy! Here it is:
Praise and Worship.
Yesterday was one of the longest but best days of my year here I think. I started at 6 and when I got to the house, everyone was already up and getting dressed-although I missed waking them up, a task I quite enjoy! I went to room 3 to check both boys were doing something productive and not just standing in their PJ's beatboxing, only to find their was only one boy in there! I asked the child where his room-mate was and he happily told me the boy had gone home for the weekend. Now some of the children do go to a foster family or their volunteers on the weekends, but it's the same children every weekend and if it's a special event, we usually know by Thursday on the weekend plan and we pack their bag that night. It turns out it was a very last minute arrangement!
The rest of the day went pretty much as planned except for it was a Monday, so everything was a bit stressful. In the evening, we had 2 homework aunties coming as well as the church auntie AND it was the night of Praise and Worship: this is when all the children have to go to the activity hall and sing religious songs for an hour or so with all the church aunties and uncles. Because we had all these extra activities we had to run everything a little early so although we did allow the kinders outside but only in the small area outside the house. The house used to be the C.H.I.L.L.I unit so it is completely fenced off from the other houses and has it's own-slightly run down-playing area. We kept them in this area so we could call them into shower quickly and easily. There is a frame that used to hold swings and one of the children wanted to climb up it to sit on top. He jumped onto my back so I was giving him a piggy back, then clambered up to sit on my shoulders. Once there, he stood up so he could hoist himself up and sit atop the beam. Of course when the other kinders saw him up there, they all wanted to join in! I ended up being the climbing frame for 5 children, helping them up, then standing beneath them so they could drop down and land on something soft and squishy! After maybe 20 minutes of this, I suggested a new game. I explained we had to stand very still. Then we had to kneel down, then lie down. Then sleep! For some bizzare reason the 4 boys didn't want to play this game, instead they decided jumping on me was much more fun. I spent the next 10 minutes rolling around on the grass playing with them and trying to escape! I had so much fun :)
Today when I went to speak to the kid's social worker, I saw the head social worker and she said she'd been watching us play for most of the time and was amazed I could lift and support so many of them so often...my shoulders ached so much this morning though!
The rest of the day went pretty much as planned except for it was a Monday, so everything was a bit stressful. In the evening, we had 2 homework aunties coming as well as the church auntie AND it was the night of Praise and Worship: this is when all the children have to go to the activity hall and sing religious songs for an hour or so with all the church aunties and uncles. Because we had all these extra activities we had to run everything a little early so although we did allow the kinders outside but only in the small area outside the house. The house used to be the C.H.I.L.L.I unit so it is completely fenced off from the other houses and has it's own-slightly run down-playing area. We kept them in this area so we could call them into shower quickly and easily. There is a frame that used to hold swings and one of the children wanted to climb up it to sit on top. He jumped onto my back so I was giving him a piggy back, then clambered up to sit on my shoulders. Once there, he stood up so he could hoist himself up and sit atop the beam. Of course when the other kinders saw him up there, they all wanted to join in! I ended up being the climbing frame for 5 children, helping them up, then standing beneath them so they could drop down and land on something soft and squishy! After maybe 20 minutes of this, I suggested a new game. I explained we had to stand very still. Then we had to kneel down, then lie down. Then sleep! For some bizzare reason the 4 boys didn't want to play this game, instead they decided jumping on me was much more fun. I spent the next 10 minutes rolling around on the grass playing with them and trying to escape! I had so much fun :)
Today when I went to speak to the kid's social worker, I saw the head social worker and she said she'd been watching us play for most of the time and was amazed I could lift and support so many of them so often...my shoulders ached so much this morning though!
Sunday, 28 April 2013
Family Day.
Yesterday was family day at the Home so all the kids families could come and see them and we had a load of activities planned. The kids had organised some dances and a modelling show and then, as always, we did some boeresports.
In the evening, about 8 of us went to Signal Hill to watch the sunset. The veiw was breathtaking!
It was really cloudy! In some places you could see the cloud falling over the road. But when the cloud cleared for a few seconds, it was amazing. The whole of Cape Town was blanketed in cloud!
In the evening, about 8 of us went to Signal Hill to watch the sunset. The veiw was breathtaking!
Tuesday, 23 April 2013
IMPORTANT: NEW DOMAIN!
On the first of May I plan on changing the domain to: damsonincapetown.blogspot.com so if you find my blog through googling damsonsafricanvolunteering it may not come up, just to let you know :)
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