Sorry its taken a while to write on here but we are in South Africa safe and sound!
My home for the next three months is the township of Mpophomeni, not far from the town of Howick in South Africa. I am staying for the first two weeks with one of my five team members Ruth, in one of the volunteers houses which has been an eye opener to say the least. I have been so humbled, there is mum called Nksoi who lives with her three sons and they live together in a two roomed house in the township where the charity is based, one bedroom and one sitting room/kitchen. As soon as we arrived they brought out home made biscuits and Roiboos tea and welcomed us with big smiles. They then gave us their beds!! And they are sleeping on the sofas (one turns into a bed) in the other room. For a bathroom there is a toilet which doesn't really flush and then a just a simple cold tap. If we want hotter water we have to add water from the kettle and use the plastic tubs to wash...so far I have been using a flannel and soap and washing my hair directly under the tap. I know it sounds hard but I am getting used to it surprisingly quickly but it doesn't stop me realising how lucky we really are.
Over the past few days we have been shown the family centre and met some of the children who are amazing! They love playing with our sunglasses and teaching us Zulu. We have all been given an individual mentor who we are going to stay with most mornings, mine is called Mama Titi and she is lovely! She spends most of her time at the care centre which we visited yesterday and today, where they have four rooms to look after very very ill people who can't live at home due to their condition of HIV. On Tuesday I went with a lady called Nelly up to another township to do home visits. This was up in the hills so we had to do a lot of walking but met some people living in worse conditions that those in Mpophomeni. They all speak Zulu so at the moment the language is a bit of a barrier but it will get easier..I am trying to remember words!
It has been very very hot, Tuesday was 34 degrees but in the evening we had the most beautiful storm ever, very loud on the tin roof but the lighting was stunning, lighting up the sky.
Lots of love,
Esther
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