My first post

Sorry it's taken so long to get round to writing, I've been a bit busy, and since there's 8 of us using the computer it's been a bit difficult. Anyway, I've been here pretty much exactly a week now, so here's a quick recap...
I arrived last Monday and we just spent the day orientating ourselves, finding out where the shops were and all the rest. I went up to see some of the patients with Tiara, a canadian volunteer who was here the previous month aswell, in the evening, and everyone was really friendly. Most of the week was spent in meetings, just discussing what we can do, and what sort of help would be best.
The other volunteers are all lovely, all girls, 4 from holland, 3 of us Brits and Tiara. The Dutch girls are Anne and Femke who are both medical students, Irma, who's a bookkeeper and Willy who works in tax. For the brits there's me, Ruth, who I brought along with me, and Oona, who's from Manchester and just finished a psychology degree up in Scotland.
On Wednesday, we had bingo, which all the patients seemed to really enjoy. The hall we had it in was tiny, so it was a bit of a squeeze, but it was fun. Some of the patients need a bit of help understanding the game and finding the numbers, but even the ones who seemed confused by it all still seemed to be having a good time.
Thursday I spent quite a lot of time helping inthe laundry room with Tiara and Ruth. It was pretty fun and the guy who usually works there (Elvis) was really nice. We got to put loads of laundry out on the roof aswell, and we could see for miles. Elvis pointed out where he lives, and invited us round for dinner, but he seems to live on right the other side of town and doesn't have a car or anything, so I think we might have to give that one a miss. That evening was movie night, so I went with Tiara to the video store and we rented a Zulu comedy film. We brought all the patients down including a woman called Sbongele, who has to use a wheelchair and has a catheter, which makes it difficult for us to move her, but she's so lovely we make an extra effort to get her down. I didn't understand most/any of the movie, but it seemed to go down pretty well, and I did have a good giggle when someone started throwing snakes around for reasons I still don't entirely understand...
We got up early on Friday to help the nurses in the morning. Oona and I went up to the 6th floor and mostly just made beds and cleaned the place. We're trying to learn as much as possible, since there's a general strike on Wednesday, and apparently last time that happened, over 85% of the staff couldn't or wouldn't come in, since there's little to no transport.
We then left for a weekend safari which was really fun. We saw crocodiles and hippos and lions, giraffes, elephants, rhino, buffalo, cheetah and loads more. I've also learnt a bit of Dutch, all the important things, such as kunt u ein kopje thee voor me maken? (I think I spelt that right..) which means can you make me a cup of tea. I'm also slowly picking up some Zulu phrases, I can now say Sawubona (hello), unjani (how are you), saphila(i'm fine) and salakahle (almost certainly spelt wrong, but it means goodbye).
Today we got up early and helped the nurses again, this time I went with Ruth and Willy to the 6th floor. Ruth and I had to help clean up a woman and change the sheets on her bed, which was a bit tough, but alright. After this entry I'm going to see the psychologists with Oona and see what we can do to help them, and possibly do some initial assessments. After that I think I will be helping Elvis in the afternoon and then a bit of grocery shopping afterwards.
Anyway, I've been on here a while now, but I shall try to post a new message soon and keep everyone up to date, and write anything I've forgotten about. I might also put up some pictures if I have enough time.
Doei doei!(that's Dutch) xx

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