Mystery Drugs and Volunteering, Aug 1

Yesterday I fell victim to the dreaded South African studying abroad head cold. All of the abroad students seem to be sick, and I now am unfortunately joining in with them. Although I will admit that surfing on Friday probably didn’t help it out, it was still totally worth it. This cold was going to befall me no matter what. I have now spent the whole of the day sleeping and drinking vitamin water. (I’m so thankful they have that here!) I went to the pharmacist yesterday and he gave me a mild drug called “Corenza C,” to help my cold. He told me that it would help but that what I needed most was sleep, ordering me not to go out. I am obeying his orders to the full (although I will be attending church in 2 hours) and have slept for most of the day. It would be just my luck that today is absolutely gorgeous, sunny and warm, and that my friends invited me to go surfing. I would rather recover though, than go out surfing today.

Yesterday I volunteered at SHAWCO. I woke up in the morning at 6:45 am . I arrived at the SHAWCO offices at 7:45 (I was told to be there by 8:00). Unfortunately I forgot to take into account that, due to what locals call “South African time”, 8 am really means 9 am. Thus the bus did not leave until 9:30 am. So I did a lot of waiting outside yesterday morning in the cold wind, probably not the best thing for my sickness.

We drove out in the SHAWCO van to the township where the pediatric medical clinic was supposed to be set up. The poverty in the townships is striking. Picture the worst shacks in Tijuana constructed side by side into a city. These townships are expansive and the conditions are the lowest concentration of poverty that I have ever seen in my life. It is hard to take in, because just a few miles away in Cape Town there exist nice neighborhoods. The shanty townships are a haunting reminder of South Africa’s past of apartheid, and there is currently little being done in order to change the cycle of poverty within them.

We arrived on the site to discover that the head of the clinic was not there this morning, so there were no patients waiting for us. Some of the students who were there were doing a project where they handed out soup. Once the soup was brought out, children came piling in. There were about 75 kids on the premises, playing and yelling, it was utter chaos. After soup was dispatched a few parents came in with their children for the medical students to see. I was not able to help out much with the medical side of the examinations yesterday, due to the small number of patients. But, I was told that when it gets more busy I will be able to assist by measuring and weighing the children, in order to chart their growth and ensure they aren’t suffering from malnutrition/nourishment - a problem among township children.

I did some menial work, and once I was finished, I played with the kids. They of course were very fascinated by my hair, and loved my ring on my finger. We played games similar to duck, duck, goose, and ring around the rosie, but of course they were played in Xhosa. I do not speak Xhosa thus I was a little lost as to how to play duck, duck, goose, when I was chosen. They thought that this was very funny. I lost once in one of the games, and next thing I knew, all of the children had surrounded me, hitting me and chanting something in Xhosa. It was crazy and I couldn’t escape. I later found out that this is what they do when someone loses the game, and normally the loser should run away to avoid being hassled. I did not know this, thus I was a little shocked when it happened. The other leaders of the clinic thought it was very amusing, and were laughing and taking pictures. I had a ton of fun playing with the kids and observing how a clinic is run. I will be volunteering for SHAWCO a lot more while I’m here.

After we returned from SHAWCO volunteering yesterday, we had a Brai with our landlady. It was very fun, and we all brought food to share. Hanli’s house is even more artsy and gorgeous in the inside. It was great talking with her about her views on how South Africa is doing in the post-apartheid period.

And that is all I have been up to over this weekend. As I said before, I have literally done nothing today but sleep. I’m excited to go check out this church called “Common Ground” this evening. It is supposed to be the church where a lot of UCT students go. Pray that I can get well soon, because its lame to be sick when you’re living by yourself!