Home

Before I start my last message I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has read this blog, and sent messages. Its been really comforting and its great to know that people might have a better insight into the situation in Africa now.
Leaving on Saturday morning was really sad. I'd already said my goodbyes to the patients so I only had to worry about saying goodbye to the other volunteers. As soon as I gave Tiara a hug I knew I was going to cry and just let it happen. They've all seen me cry too many times to pretend I'm not a crier! It all seems like a blur now though, and I can't believe its already been 4 days since I left the DC.

Today started off a bit strangely. A lot of us were woken up last night by screaming that went on for hours. Apparently, a patient on the 4th floor tried to strangle another patient. There was one patient, Cindi, who told us that this has happened before but it wasn't taken too seriously. Thankfully, it was stopped before any serious damage was caused, and hopefully in the future claims like this will be taken seriously the first time. It was quite a strange day, torn between wanting to spend time with the patients and the volunteers. I think we got the balance right though. First I did an hour at the pharmacy. Then popped down to the laundry. We also spent some time going round giving print outs of the photos taken with some patients. They all loved them!

Not much to report from the last few days. Its been quite quiet. We all went out for the last Kareoke night at the Schlurp on Tuesday evening. Wednesday was therefore a rather slow start. I spent ages talking to Lunga and S'celo, guys from the 5th floor. We chatted for hours, it was really good! They told me all about what they thought of the dream centre and about apartheid and foods you can get in South Africa. I told them about hospitals and HIV in britain and about the food we eat. They were very surprised that we eat rabbit and duck as they don't! Charmain has been gone for the last few days, and I don't think she'll be back tomorrow for us to say goodbye as she is at the hospital having her bed-sores treated. About time to be honest they looked so sore and painful, but I am sorry I won't get to say goodbye.

Today was quite a slow start. Ruth and I went to the pharmacist, and counted some pills. I love it in there. Its nice and relaxing and it reminds me of Grandad O'Hare's pharmacy in Derry! Some girls from one of the other projects came briefly, and were quickly shown round. After that we went to visit Charmain. She didn't look too good today. She was lying in bed, with her covers pulled over her head complaining of the cold again. She was clutching a tissue to her mouth and it had blood on it and her eyes looked a lot more yellow. Her neighbour Gladys asked us to read from the Gospel for her so we started doing that. Charmain kept interrupting asking her legs to be moved. Then she started saying my speaking was making her dizzy and giving her a headache so we decided to stop! She must have really been feeling worse today though as she didn't even protest that we were leaving her. So thats a bit worrying. Then I spent some time with Thandie.

Yesterday we went into Durban to go to the Victoria Street Market and see Laura, one of the volunteers at another placement. However...on the way I got something stuck under my upper eye lid. It was horrible. The whole way on the bus I could barely see or blink. It felt like something was actually slicing into my eye, but no matter how much I looked in the mirror I couldn't see anything. By the time we arrived in Durban I was getting pretty panicked. It didn't help that Durban was absolutely heaving with people, and we didn't know where we were going, so LOADS of people kept coming up trying to help, but all telling us different things. We went to the market, but had to carry all our baggage with us. It was so packed everywhere we went...it was pretty stressful. It was quite dirty and industrial. There were some nice things, but I already had most of my gifts and stuff so I just bought a few things for myself (yey!). We got something to eat at a place called Pie City.

Thursday was quite a tame day - nothing very exciting to report. Me and Elle went to the Pharmacist to help count pills (I love doing that, its so relaxing). Charmain is doing okay, she's getting out of bed for a bit at least and is able to sit in the garden. But told one of the other volunteers that she was left in the bath for an hour the other day so thats not good. The other patients are okay too. A few even seem to be getting better. There is one lady - Cindy - who has had her hair done and just seems a bit brighter. So towards the end of this week its been a bit more positive. I spent the afternoon yesterday playing cards with some of the guys on the 5th floor. I might go up again soon so they can teach me a very confusing game. I really have no idea how to play it, but I'll try!

Well, the day after was not that much more positive. Some of the other volunteers were a bit upset because a few patients died. So, all feeling a bit down, we decided to go to kareoke across the road. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to muster the strength to really enjoy it, but I'm really glad we went. We all had a great time and it was nice to feel alive and energetic. Sometimes you can feel a bit lethargic here.

Today was a bit tougher. I think I started to really feel completely useless. There I spent most of the day painting the ladies finger and toe nails. I loved doing that, and the ladies seemed to like it. Shame theres nothing equivalent for the lads! Anyway, there was a lady on the 4th floor - Charmain, the girl we gave knitting needles to (I can't remember if I've mentioned her before) and she's quite bossy and demanding, so there aren't many people who have time for her. But she has no one. She hasn't spoken to her husband or children for years and the only family she has left is a drunk of a brother, so she gets no visitors and because she's quite vocal about her concerns, the nurses tend to avoid her. But all she wants is company (and sweets) so I tried to sit with her today as much as I could. She was really down today though because she's in a lot of pain and her matress has been put on the floor because she fell off the bed yesterday.

We just got back from our two day tour of the drakensbergs. This trip was much different from the last one, it was just 6 of us from the dream centre whereas last time there was all 8 of us plus five from Agape. I'm so tired so I'll try to be quick. It was a great weekend. We left at 5:30am on saturday (yesterday) and got to the Drakensbergs around 8am. It was freezing, so we all purchased extra hats and gloves in a shop before setting off on the days drive up the Sani Pass. We all got into a jeep type vehicle. It took hours to drive up the pass because it was so windey and very very very very bumpy. I cannot express how bumpy it was and I cannot believe that car made it up and down in one piece. It was an absolutely spectacular drive. Half way we had to show our passports to enter Lesotho and got extra stamps on our passports...yey! The mountains didn't look real most of the time...they looked like someone with an extraordinary imagination painted them.

The last few days seem to have passed really quickly. When you don't write your blog for a while, its hard to remember everything you've done. We celebrated the end of the stirke by going to the pub. It was a great laugh! The next day was a bit slow to start due to the late night. We didn't really do much yesterday. There was a patient on the 4th floor who had a birthday and a few of the volunteers know him quite well and so we threw him a surprise party and got him some cakes and a card and a present. We put balloons in his room while he was in the garden and all shouted surprise when he came back. He seemed really touched by the gesture, and it really did make his day, he was really grateful.

I was expecting today to be really really hectic, and constantly running around trying to fill in for all the absent nurses but it wasn't half as bad as I thought it was going to be. There were a good few nurses on each floor so it wasn't much different from a normal day expect we had to be up earlier to help serve the food. We had an pleasant surprise too in the form of 3 volunteers from Uthombo (I think thats how you spell it!), one of whom I knew from England so that was really good. It was a shame I couldn't have spent more time with them because we had to work, but they had a volunteer who has been here before so knew their way around.

I haven't really got time to explain everything that happened today, as we have to be up very early tomorrow to help cover the staff that are striking.
So I went with Thandie, one of the patients to the hospital, not realising how long it would take nor how far away it was. We left at 8am and got back at 6pm! The Hospital was fine, lovely staff, lovely hospital. Probably better than some of our private ones...it was immaculate and HUGE. But very confusing...got sent to loads of different places.

Well...the weekend was a great success. I think the best thing was the food and the hot showers! The lodge we stayed at was fab. Went on fantastic excursions including a cheetah sanctuary, a hippo and crocodile boat ride and a safari. And I am pleased to inform you that not only did we see the big five, we also saw Jiraffe and a cheetah in the wild...amazing!

Today we started going round to a few departments that we hadn't visited yet. First of all Ann, Femke and I went to the pharmacy. That was good, nice and relaxing. We just sit in a room and count out pills to put in bags and label them. I can imagine that as a task that is good for relaxing and switching off a bit. Then we went down to the Laundry...the guy there is all alone and as I'm sure you can imagine has MASSES of laundry to do. We spent an hour of two helping him sort out some piles and fold them. He was a really nice guy too. But a lot of the laundry was quite dirty even after it was washed, but I think they use pretty powerful chemicals to kill anything dodgy. But still, its not nice to handle so I can't imagine what it must be like to lie on it, but the place couldn't possibly afford to replace everything that gets badly soiled.

Today was really tiring. We've been on our feet all day, but its been brilliant. We got up really early and had a meeting with all the staff from the different departments. Afterwards, we had another meeting with Vincent and were expecting another long session but he just told us to go and spend time getting to know the place, the patients, staff and departments. We all kind of sat there for a while not sure exactly what we should do, but eventually we went off in little groups and went around the floors introducing ourselves.
There were some patients (and staff) who weren't all that responsive for various reasons, but the majority were at least polite and would speak to you. Some were great fun and had amazing banter. Thank goodness I'm from Manchester. When you say you're from England, they just say 'oh' when you say Manchester instantly they light up and say 'ah Manchester United!'. I had a good long chat to one of the patients about David and Victoria Beckham.