The Three Volunteers

This has been our first full week of work, and let me tell you, this job is not for the faint of heart. We have been working with the 1 to 5 year olds this week and I can’t imagine a job that would require more patience, compassion and determination.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, 90% of the children we are working with have Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and as a result suffer from brain damage and growth deficiency . 60% of children born in the Western Cape (where we are now) are born with FASD, which is the highest percentage in the world. We are working at the very first school in the world (to their knowledge) that specializes in working with children with FAS. You cannot help but feel angry with the birth mothers of some of these children, as some of them have biological brothers and sisters with the same exact birth defect. This disorder is 100% preventable, and now these children will suffer for the rest of their lives.

We usually spend the day working with the kids on pronunciation of words and (try to) engage them in activities to enhance their fine motor skills. It’s hard to remain patient when you give the child a yarn and ask them to thread it through a button, and they eat the button. Or when you ask one of the 3-year-olds to repeat after you, and you say “Horse” and, with huge smiles plastered on their faces, they say “Car!” and then you say “Yellow” and they repeat “Car!” They really believe they sound just like you, and they couldn’t be more satisfied with themselves. Many of these children need more help than we're qualified to give them, but we're doing our best. It’s easy to see how one could be easily discouraged and frustrated and quickly lose hope, so we all try to remind ourselves constantly of why we came and pray for patience every day.

With names like NantlaNantla and Zcisepi, we rarely pronounce any of the children’s names right which is unfortunate when you’re trying to get them to listen to you. We find it quite amusing that all of the kids have such unique African names, but yet the bird and the dog are named Peter and Zack. At least we’ve got those two down - unfortunately they are the best behaved.

We know that several of the children are HIV positive, but we still do not know for certain who is and who isn’t. Although HIV is fairly difficult to contract, it is still pretty unnerving when a child falls and bumps their head and their nose starts gushing blood. We are all aware of the necessary safety precautions, but we also have to watch out for the other children who may have open cuts or scrapes – It can be pretty scary. We are completely drained by the end of work each day.

I think I spoke to soon when I called the South African winter "ideal." It seems to get colder and rainier every day, and we are all starting to go a little stir crazy since this weather isn’t conducive to any outdoor activities. With no source of heat, it is so cold inside that the indoor temperatures could easily rival those outside. Many layers are required at all times, and each day after getting to work, we all take note of each other’s outfits and laugh about what we happened to find to throw on that morning since none of us packed an abundance of clothing. We are certainly a sight!

This weekend will give us a nice break from work and another chance to get out on the town for some more adventures and to socialize with individuals other than children!

*We cannot post pictures of the children's faces, so these are mostly "action" shots.

Playing with the baby, the only little girl we work with

They are so sweet when playing quietly by themselves!

Amy obviously won the outfit contest on this day

Reading time

Play Time

Amy trying to control the kids during play time

Laura and I taking a break at work

Amy singing to the baby 

Laura and I dancing for the kiddos

We broke our bathroom door and Laura got stuck inside for a while. Laura didn't think it was as funny as we did.