spring

It’s very cold and the rain of spring has started in Richmond this week. I packed poorly so this means that I’m basically wearing every long-sleeved thing that I own, one on top of the other, and am very thankful that I packed a raincoat. Despite feeling a little miserable because I could never warm up all day long, today I am thankful for what I do have, and in particular for food. I’m thankful that not only when I’m at home in Canada do I have a wonderful husband who cooks spectacular meals and never complains about slaving away over the stove, but I’m thankful that I have food to eat at all.

In addition to working at the hospice, I’ve also been helping collect and distribute food to some of the poorest people I’ve ever met. On Thursdays and Fridays this means working at a soup kitchen where we feed school children what is quite possibly the only meal they may eat that day. I always look forward to going to the soup kitchen because the children are so happy and appreciative and I know it means a lot to them just getting a bowl of rice and cooked cabbage. We sing songs and play games and I worry about them while they run barefoot in a yard littered with debris, but these children are resilient and don’t seem to notice the garbage that I try not to step on.

Thinking about my life in Canada, today I’m thankful for the ability to cook food (even though I’m a terrible cook) because we unfortunately weren’t able to do so at the soup kitchen today. The pot was full of chopped cabbage, but the tanks were out of gas. There was some difficulty in getting new gas tanks to us, so we had to close up without serving any food. It baffled me – we have food, we just can’t cook it. It’s a situation I don’t think I’ve ever been in in Canada, where my kitchen is always stocked and my appliances are always functioning. The worst part is that this means all of the kids we normally serve will not get a meal today.

I’m not writing this to try to evoke guilt for living in a society where we’re able to cook and eat whenever we want. That’s taken care of by the news, covering the famine in the horn of Africa where people are dying and have no food because it hasn’t rained in three years – that should make us want to do something to reach out to those in need. But I’m experiencing the reality of people living on very little and if anything, I’m incredibly impressed by how happy they can be, and I’m hoping I can be as appreciative of the things in my life that I might take for granted... like the stove.

on being sick

Part of adjusting to a new culture is always getting sick, right?? In Canada, I have the immune system of a rock. I’m rarely sick enough that I can’t work and am bedridden, but I’ve been hit and have never experienced a sickness like this before. It started as a migraine on Saturday – I guess I’ve never actually had a migraine before because I could not imagine the incomprehensible head pain prior to this experience. Every move I made felt like someone was smashing my head with a hammer. I took some Advil and assumed I’d be better in the morning, but it was worse. On Sunday came the nausea and it didn’t stop until Tuesday night. I’ve never experienced vomiting continuously for 3 days straight. Luckily I have access to the doctor at the hospice, who gave me prescription migraine medicine on Monday and told me “it’s a miracle tablet, you’ll go to sleep and when you wake up it will be gone.” Unfortunately I woke up with more vomiting. So all this to say... after 5 different medications I’m finally feeling ok... and hats off to those of you who go through this regularly. I don’t know how you do it.

The ladies at the hospice aren’t convinced that it’s only a migraine. Could be anything, they say. Maybe viral, maybe I shouldn’t drink the water, maybe it was something I ate. Not sure, but I don’t ever want to go through this again!

Sorry for the depressing update... this is all part of traveling I suppose (as I recall, I was also quite sick when I was in Kazakhstan... hmm...). So in Krista vs the World, the world has definitely won this one.

I’ll wrap up with a few more pictures. So far I’ve only taken pictures on my phone so they’re not amazing quality, but I’ll take some better ones soon.

This is the soup kitchen I help at on Thursdays and Fridays. We prepare and serve cabbage and rice – those two big pots can feed over 50 kids.

Some of the kids eating. They come in shifts.

View from the soup kitchen

Woman pumping water for her home

Hi all, hope you had a nice Labour Day! It wasn’t a holiday here so I had my first day at the hospice on Monday. It was really interesting since I’ve never worked in a health care facility before. I met all of the patients and learned that most of them are HIV positive but some have Tuberculosis. I’m told that TB is as much a killer now in South Africa as AIDS is because even though it’s treatable, for some reason the doctors in clinics don’t take the testing for it seriously and turn patients away without medication (according to the hospice worker I was speaking with). Then the illness goes untreated for several months so by the time a patient is brought to the hospice, they are very weak and frail. Their weak state is due to both disease (HIV or TB) and malnourishment. I can’t believe how skinny some of the patients here are. There’s a little boy that I’ve been working with who looks like he came straight out of a World Vision infomercial. He has the tiniest waist and legs to the point that he is 5 years old but wearing pants for an 18 month old. When he arrived he was so weak he couldn’t walk but now he has more strength so I’ve been getting him to play games and catch with me.

Of course with such a pandemic as HIV/AIDS, the patients do not always become well enough to go home. One patient died at the hospice last week. It’s heartbreaking after getting to know them while they’re here but sometimes by the time they come to the hospice, they are so ill that they have basically come so that they can have a comfortable place to die. As you can imagine, I’m already learning a lot about the culture of South Africa and the nature of HIV and those it affects.

So far I’ve spent two days getting to know the patients and staff. They’re a nice, welcoming group and I’m looking forward to working with them. I also spent some time working with the children here. I don’t have a lot of experience with small children/babies, but I’ve already fallen in love with one of the little girls. It’s pretty amazing how you can show your love for a child without even being able to speak the same language. I’m sure I’ll write more on this later... better wrap it up now as my internet time is limited. I’ll end with a couple pictures of where I’m staying, as pictures are always the best part of blogs. :)

The view from my room at the guest house

The room I'm staying in

Outside of the guest house

The front gate (for those of you who were concerned about my safety, this is just to prove that there is some measure of security here!)

Cheers,
K

On my way...

This morning I left Canada. It was bittersweet as I really enjoy Canada in the fall and thought to myself, "Why didn't I plan this trip for January when I will want to desperately escape this country??" But it doesn't matter what time of year I travel or what I will be missing back home; I'm finally off to Africa - a dream I have had for over a decade. I thrive on international travel and while the 18 hour flight I am about to board will be dreadfully long and boring, I know that when I arrive I will be able to spend the next 2 months doing something that may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience (though hopefully not). I'll be working in Richmond, South Africa with an organization that runs a children's centre and a hospice for adults diagnosed with HIV. I'm no expert on the illness so I expect this to be a huge learning experience and come armed with educational resources (mostly for me). To be very honest, I have no idea what to expect when I arrive but I am thrilled to have the opportunity to help those in need and to share my experiences here.

Stay posted, and feel free to leave comments... will update again after I've arrived!