Global Poverty Monitor

The Dream Centre is six stories high, and really of no lesser quality than an Australian hospital. Everything is well constructed, there are lovely paintings and pictures on all of the walls, the patients are mostly in private or semi-private rooms, and from what I could see most of the rooms had a TV. It was really strange to walk around and compare it to Chitima, with its concrete floors, mattresses on the floor, heat, flies, and the masses of patients sitting on the ground outside to escape the heat and the smell inside. There is just no comparison. I hate to think that the other volunteers think this is what an African hospital is like. Chitima has no doctors – the Dream Centre has Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists and Counselors, as well as many doctors and nurses, not to mention the medication and facilities available. Its crazy. I would still like to spend some time there, maybe only half a day though, to take Polaroids of the patients for them to give to their families and children. But I really don’t think the place is deserving of monetary contributions when there are so many other places that need the help so much more.

We came back to the house after that, and the Dutch boy Martain, who has been here for four weeks already, said he needed to speak to us at 5pm. So I went outside and rang Mum, and she told me about various hotels that I can stay at in Durban if I decide to take that option for my second weekend here. I’d like to go on the camping trip with the girls but if there’s any chance its not going to happen then I’ll organize my own. There is some appeal for me to stay in Durban by myself for that time, I’m not sure why, but I’m not going to make my mind up just yet. I came inside and read and chatted with some people until 5pm, when we all met up with Martain. He spoke to us about the Tree Clinic, and Project Bobbi Bear, and his thoughts on why we aren’t able to visit the project any longer. We all had a communal whinge about Tracey and the whole organization. It is true that the whole thing is very disorganized, and its so frustrating that so far we still haven’t really done anything. Its all right for the people who are here for four weeks or longer, but for Jenny and me its harder because we’ve only got two weeks, minus weekends, minus Wednesdays and minus the first two days.

Onwards, upwards, to the next blog on the blogroll - San Diego, CA

Yesterday was a pretty busy day, which was nice after a whole lot of doing nothing the day before! Becky set her alarm for 7:30am but I was awake at 7am, so I went to the bathroom and got dressed before the others were up. I still had to wait for the bathroom though because we are sharing it with at least one other room. But its worth it to have a bathroom with a shower! When I came back the others got ready and then we went down for breakfast. The kitchen was packed with people making breakfast and packing lunches. I had a bowl of muesli which was ok, and packed a jam sandwich and an apple for lunch. I went back upstairs and got my bag ready for the day, then waited for Tracey to come for orientation. When Tracey came, she handed out handbooks to everyone, and went through the rules and other bits and pieces. We were also told about an option to work with Habitats for Humanity all of next week, and also about some tours that can be arranged for us on weekends.

We split into two groups and boarded the vans to go and visit the projects. The first was the Nb… one, which is a preschool for kids aged about 4 and 5. Walking in there was the closest so far that I’ve been to feeling like I did in Mozambique. We stayed for a few minutes and took photos of the kids and some helped handing out bowls of what looked like porridge for their meal. I just stayed in the background because the kids were a bit overwhelmed and I didn’t want to compete with everyone else. Then we went back on the vans and stopped at Hillcrest to do some quick shopping and have a look around. Was I surprised to see an actual shopping centre! South Africa is nothing like Mozambique at all. This shopping centre was huge, bigger, nicer and cleaner than say Centro Halls Head. Iris said it was bigger than any shopping centre in Holland. There was a huge clothing store, a shoe store, a Kodak place, and an enormous supermarket. I think everyone would be shocked if they compared that to Maputo markets, let alone anything in Tete. In the supermarket I bought two big bottles of water, two packets of muesli bars and some powdered skim milk. We got back onto the vans then and went to the next project. This was a house with one mother and about 11 children. It’s a new project that Lean on Me have just started working with. Apparently these children have gradually come to live with the woman as their parents have died from HIV/AIDS. I think that would be a project I would be interested in getting involved with, because its only new and there is a lot that can be done. Also because there are only a few kids it would be easier to build up a rapport with them. After that we went to the little village with the baby home. The village is organized into little homes so that the kids like in a family-like environment. The baby home was actually really nice, with lots of great toys, a nice cot for each baby, carpet on the floor, painted walls, a nice kitchen and a woman cooking great-smelling food. You can tell that this project has been a favourite with volunteers in the past because it looked really nice. I decided then not to use Sally’s or Sheena’s donations towards the baby home, because there were other projects that needed the help more.

After that it was on to the dream center. I had pictured that it would be like Chitima Health Center. But I was once again surprised with what I saw when we drove up to a fully-blown hospital.

Until the next post is released, why not check out the latest at the Mesa, AZ blog?

Things are going a lot better now. After the last entry I rang Mum and talked about stuff, and she suggested I leave my room and hang around common areas to hopefully find some people who speak English. So I went to the kitchen and quickly met some people from England, who were just as annoyed and frustrated as I am about the others refusing to speak English. We went and sat in another room and talked for a while, with some other people from elsewhere but who did speak English with us. We spent the next few hours just talking and not doing a lot. I rang Mum again and asked her to find out about a hotel I can stay at in Durban. I’m thinking of leaving here on Friday 14th rather than Monday 17th, and spending three nights in Durban before I fly to Kenya. That would mean that I don’t have to spend a weekend here where we don’t get to visit the projects, and I’ll also get another mini-holiday between my volunteering work and my trip to Kenya. I’m sure there’s a lot to see in Durban and it would be great to stay somewhere nice and have a chance to see around. I want to make sure that I do whatever I want to do as this is my trip and it really has cost a lot, so I want to make the most of it and have no regrets.

After that was sorted I felt a lot better, then went into the kitchen. Becky (one of the British girls) and Iris and I decided to make dinner together, which basically ended up with Becky doing everything and Iris and I asking every now and then if there was something we can do to help. We had jacket potatoes with tuna, lettuce and tomato. It was actually really nice, even though it’s a combination I haven’t had before. After tea I asked Becky if there were any spare beds inside the house, or even in the room she was in. She took me upstairs and it turned out there was a spare bed in the room she shared with Iris and Amy (the British girl with the boyfriend, Martin). So I moved my stuff into their room, which is great for about a million reasons. First of all its with people that I like, its with people that speak English, its inside the house rather than in the rooms outside, and its near a bathroom with a shower, unlike my old room which only had a bath. Oh and I actually get a proper bed rather than the top part of a bunk. And it just seems clearer, newer and nicer. And I took a blanket from my old room so I’ll be a bit warmer too. That’s pretty much everything up until now. We’re all pretty tired here so will probably go to bed soon. Everyone’s just writing in their diaries at the moment.

Now check out another cool blog: Seattle, WA

On the aeroplane I had a window seat near the back. The flight was only an hour long, but we were served breakfast anyway. Even though I was already full I had scrambled eggs and a hash brown, yoghurt and orange juice. The flight was really short and smooth. When we landed I went straight to baggage claim and only had a wait a little while for my suitcase. I went through into the lounge and there were about four different people holding up signs. One was for the YMCA, then I found a guy with a sign for ‘Go Explore Community Volunteers’. My name was on his list (spelt wrong) so I waited there with him for the others. There were 8 of us altogether, and we put us and all of our stuff in a little van then started driving. After about half an hour we ended up at a wildlife program, where one girl was dropped off. We then drove for maybe another half hour and went to the Go Explore office. We were there only a few minutes, just met the program leader and picked up one other girl, then were back in the van. A few minutes later we arrived at the Lodge. The landscape and gardens are really nice, and it reminds me quite a bit of the Ubezi Tiger Lounge in Tete.

We took all of our stuff and gathered in the entrance, where we were given a glass of juice and then shown to our rooms. I was first, and the only one from the group to be put in Room 1. Its got two rooms with two bunks in each, so I put my stuff on one of the lower bunks then had a look around. The bathroom is pretty basic, and has only a bath and no shower. Soon another bus load of people arrived, and I had two roommates move in – Fleur and Kayleigh. They are both from Amsterdam and speak in what I assume to be Dutch. They can speak English but choose not to. The had come with a whole group of people, and wanted another of their friends to move in, so we did that, then they decided to move into the second of the two rooms, so we all moved our stuff in and I got stuck with a top bunk. I suppose I don’t mind but I’ve only ever slept in a bottom bunk before. The girls seem nice when they speak in English, which is only when they need to tell me something – the rest of the time I can’t understand anything they’re saying. Of the groups that I came from the airport with, most speak in German, so again I was out of the conversation. Its really strange – I just assumed that people would be speaking English or Afrikaans here. A lot of people in South Africa speak in Afrikaans, but all of the signs and notices in airports, shops, streets etc are all in English. So its really strange and hard to be living with a bunch of Europeans who wont speak English.

Today we just have to ‘relax and meet the other volunteers’, but we’ve been here for a couple of hours and its only just after 1pm. I have no idea what to do with the rest of today but I know it will be spent in silence, unless I can pick up a couple of extra languages really really quickly. Tomorrow we have orientation in the morning and then we’re going to visit the projects, so that will be good. Apparently on Wednesday we’re going to a talk about AIDS, and then we can start visiting the projects on Thursday. I hope that’s not all we’re doing on Wednesday otherwise I wont know what to do with myself. Also I’m not sure what happens on weekends, as I don’t think we visit the projects then.

Now it’s onwards and upwards to Sacramento, CA.

My flight went overtime because of a strong headwind, and it ended up being over 12 hours long. We ‘parked’ quite a way from the airport and boarded a bus which took us to the airport. Once inside, we lined up for ages to go through immigration and have our passports checked. Then I went to baggage claim and didn’t have to wait long for my suitcase – it was pretty hard to get it off the conveyor belt though! Went through customs which was really easy – just walked straight through the ‘nothing to claim’ line and handed in my customs declaration, no questions asked. Then I went outside and it was really cold and getting quite dark. I followed some signs that said about transfers, and almost ended up at the right place, but instead went to a hotel called Intercontinental Sun and asked whether that was the same as the Southern Sun, and was told it wasn’t, but was pointed to where to go to get a transfer bus. I finally found the right bus, and we left. The funny thing was that I could see the Southern Sun really clearly from where the bus left, but it took ages to drive there because we had to go through the airport car park again. Once there I checked in with no troubles, and organized a wakeup call for 5am. A guy took my suitcase to my room, then left me alone. The room looked exactly the same as the last time I stayed there, when it used to be the Holiday Inn. The room was really nice, with two double beds, cable TV, and a great bathroom. I rang Mum and spoke for a while, even though it was after 1am, then woke Robin up as well. He was surprised to hear from me, and said that he had just woken up anyway, right before I rang. After that I ordered breakfast for the next morning, then went to bed. I watched Princess Diaries II on TV for a while, then went to sleep.

I was woken up at 5am by my wakeup call, and my breakfast came soon after. It was enormous! It only cost around $AU13, but there was a huge bowl of muesli and dried bananas, more than I could get through, another huge bowl of fruit yoghurt, four pieces of toast, various jams, freshly squeezed orange juice, and a pot of coffee. It was so good, and I was wishing I could have brought the rest of it with me! I had a shower and got ready to go, then packed up the rest of my stuff and was downstairs just after 6am. The shuttle bus took me back to the airport, by myself this time. I had a few attempts at checking in before I finally found the right terminal. My luggage was weighed and I was directed to another counter to pay for the extra 7kg. I was really relieved because it seemed it would go smoothly. The extra weight cost R160, which is just over $30! I couldn’t believe it. I checked my suitcase in and had about half an hour to look around the shops before boarding. I was wishing I was hungry because there were some great places to eat, even a sushi bar. I bought two elephant key rings. I found the check in place and went through the metal detector, then found the gate and waited there until it was time to board.

Lets continue our travel journey, and head to Phoenix, AZ.