This post is a few days past its due date (oops!) which means
I have a lot to write about.
First I just want to talk about drawing blood all
by myself for the first time without any guidance! The nurse wasn’t even next
to me, she was across the treatment room, yet she still trusted me to find the
vein and do the procedure all on my own which was really cool. That was the
first time that I truly felt independent, capable, and confident on my own in
the professional setting and I was successful on the first time which made the
feeling even better. I’m starting to feel very comfortable at the clinic. I’m
even starting to recognize familiar faces in the waiting room which is pretty
cool. I’ve been thinking about how much I will miss all of the staff and this
amazing experience in just a few weeks.
We have all of the base colors completed for our mural at
Heaven’s Nest. It already looks so much brighter and I can’t wait to see the
final product. I love all the kids at Heaven’s Nest but there are two that I
have especially bonded with—Tylin and Sukhile. Tylin was quiet at first, but
now that we’ve spent a lot of time there she has really warmed up to me. She
smiled really wide and ran up and hugged me at our last visit.
My fun packed weekend began with shopping for soccer balls,
uniforms, and equipment for my favorite Khayelitsha Fire Fighters with Bongi,
Power, and the other coeducators involved with the project. After that, I went
to my usual Saturday hangout spot, Old Biscuit Mill, where I got my favorite
short rib Bolognese and jalepeno Mac n Cheese Balls. After that I headed to
Atlantis with a few others for our Sand Boarding adventure. Although it was
definitely much different than snowboarding (since you are not in ten layers of
snow clothes, you are barefoot, and you have basically no control over the
board) it was still so much fun and an awesome experience. My favorite part was
actually the time spent just chilling on top of the slope. After the exhausting
walk up it was nice to relax and take everything in at the top. The sky was
perfectly blue, without a cloud, and contrasted so beautifully against the
white sand. Another favorite memory from the trip was when Drew and I took the
sled down the hill and we hit some air and fell off in a not so pleasant way.
My butt was very bruised and I got sand between my teeth but we both laughed it
off and wished we had it on camera—it was definitely a sight to see.
Sunday, April 10th is up there with my favorite
days spent in Cape Town. A group of us went skydiving about an hour or so
outside of Cape Town and it was absolutely insane. I think I’ve watched the
video of my jump about 50 times already, reliving the thrill of jumping out of
a moving plane 9,000 ft in the air each time. It seems crazier and crazier with
each view. As incredible as it was, I still screamed the whole 35 second free
fall and my face was absolutely hilarious. My video was a favorite amongst my
housemates in Loch Road. The feeling was indescribable. In addition to
competing with bungee jumping for being the coolest thing I’ve ever done, there
were also some of the best views of the coastline and table mountain in the
distance. I would do it again tomorrow in a heartbeat, I loved it so much.
In my last post I talked about the 4 year old boy at the
clinic who didn’t make it despite our best efforts to save him. This week I
found out that the day after that boy died, his 2 month old sibling also
passed. The parents (who are drug users) are now under investigation and we are
waiting on the autopsy results. In combination with spending so much time with
the kids at the orphanage (who come from neglectful, abusive, or unsafe living
conditions) and since working in the pediatrics department of the clinic this
past week (where I saw one HIV positive baby and a few other’s who are still at
risk) I have just been asking myself a lot of questions. I know this kind of
stuff happens all over the world and not just in South Africa, but this is the
first time I’ve been exposed to a lot of it, and I just keep thinking, how does
this happen? How do you bring an innocent child into a world like that—into a life
of disease, abuse, or neglect? It’s hard for me to refrain from automatically assuming
that the parents are selfish and irresponsible, and deep down I know that the
situation may be out of their control/the result of circumstance, and that it
probably isn’t entirely their fault. Still it’s hard for me to come to terms
with the fact that the baby enters the world and starts its life at a
disadvantage. How is that fair? How is that not an infringement of the baby’s
human rights?
Today we got to give the soccer equipment to the team. They
were absolutely ecstatic and I loved every second of it, especially the many
hugs I received afterwards. They even had typed out signs that said “Thanks
Paige!”, “Thanks Mariko/Derek/Abby!”, “Thanks UCONN!” and “Enkosi!” It was so
cute and I could tell everyone really appreciated it and were excited to play
with the new stuff. Then we got to scrimmage with the boys and that was
definitely a workout but still a lot of fun. I was reminded of how much I love
the sport and miss playing it.
As the days start dwindling down my plan is just to enjoy as
much of what I already love about Cape Town in order to strengthen my memories
before I have to leave. This means I will definitely revisit all of my favorite
places and do some more hiking in the upcoming weeks….Stay tuned J
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