My volunteering experiences this week have opened my eyes to new personal life stories of children in South Africa that I would never have thought were possible. The first ones came from my time spent at the homeless shelter called the Arch. It was rainy when we went on monday so we tried to stay inside and talk with the kids and some of the adults there. While hanging out in one room, an old lady came in pushing a stoller with a baby inside. I was immediatly drawn to the baby of course and went over to talk to him. I found out his name was Unknot (spelling?) and that he was 9 months old. He was a very cute baby and well behaved after I took him out of his seat (after asking permission from the grandmother of course). I then went over to the ladies who were cooking in the corner of the room who told me that the lady who brought the baby in takes care of him most of the time and is the greatgrandmother of the baby. When I asked why she was taking care of him, she said that his mother was attending high school so she couldnt take care of him during the day!! I also found out the grandmother of the baby, aka the high schoolers' mom, passed away and could not take care of the baby. This story was really shocking to me not necessarily because of the teenage mother but because the great grandmother, the baby and the mother were all living in this homeless shelter. Although I am glad that the mother is still going to school and trying to get an education.
The second story came from an teenager, 9th grade i think, who I met after we went to another area of the shelter. Cucumber (dont know his real name) and his two friends, Tutsi and Cheeseball (Tutsi was a real name but cheeseball isnt) first approached me and then proceeded to ask if I would marry him (Cucumber). Don't worry Kevin I told them that I wouldn't think my boyfriend would like that too much! So instead of talking about marriage we talked about America and if I knew any celebrities. When it was time to go for the day, Cucumber and some of the little kids walked us out to the enterence where we waited for our car. Then he proceeded to tell us that his older brother was his role model and that some day he wanted to become a business man. The scary thing about this little boy was when he told us that he doesnt have any family with him at the shelter and that he started doing drugs when he was 11 years old. Luckly he said that he stopped when he was 14 and i assume now that he is 15 or 16. Unfortunatley our car came shortly after that so we didnt get to talk to him more about his life but just hearing that was undescribable for me.
The last experience I heard about was at LEAP on tuesday morning. All morning I had been working with this girl during her math class and trying to get her ready for the test she had today. During their break I asked her if there was anything she had questions on and if she was ready for the test. She said that she understood everything and that she was going to study when she got home that night. Then in life orientation class, a whole different story was shared. This forteen year old girl proceeded to tell the entire class that she has been living on her own for a year in a hall with a bunch of other families. Her mom lives somewhat far away from Cape Town and her older sister is off somewhere with her boyfriend. Apparently she hasnt lived with her mom for 4 years now and is constantly having to search for her own food at night. When asked why she didnt want to go live with her mother or at the safehouse, she said that she didnt want to talk to her mom and the safefhouse had too many rules. After talking about her situation with the group, the teachers in the room decided that they were going to call her mom to talk to her and try to figure out a living situation for her. Hearing this story really baffled me and immediately made me think of her academic work. She had a test today but how is she able to study and focus in a noisy hall after searching for her own food? My other question is why is this the first time the school is hearing about this? All day yesterday I could not stop thinking about this little girl and what she was going to go through at night after she left school. Before I went to bed I wrote in my journal and then prayed for her protection and strength to do the right thing and find help in order to live a better life both emotionally, mentially and academically.
These stories that I have heard have had an extremely powerful impact on my life in the past couple of days. They have opened my eyes to the hardships South Africans face everyday in addition to the historical past of apartheid. Before coming here I never thought that my everyday interactions with people would be so powerful but they are and will be throughout the rest of my stay. I guess it took these powerful stories for me to realize how lucky I am to live the life that I live in addition to knowing why I was put on this earth. I now know that my life goal is to help others in any possible way that I can and South Africa will truely help me achieve that goal in more ways than anyone can imagine....
South African fact: On a lighter note, below is a list of words that have different meanings here then they do at home. The words on the left are South African and the words on the right are the American equivalent:
Lekker=awesome or great
Washing = laundry
Drag = a long road
Belt = seat belt in a car
Lift= a ride somewhere in a car
Holiday = vacation
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