Fundraising...

Not often do we get the opportunity to see where the money  we donate really goes to. Here is your chance:) Since I'm down here and have a general idea of how things are and where the money could be spent and who needs it most there is no time like the present.Here are some projects that I came up with in the past few months...

Sport Box

Being here for 3 months now and working with the creches made me realize that these kids don't get enough physical exercise. The idea is to compile at least one Sport Box in the same fashion as the Hygiene Promotion Box (see picture) that will contain everything needed for the fun sport activities. The first box would be donated to SAEP (organization I worked for) and its 10 creches. At  the beginning the Box could just be exchanged between the creches according to their needs. If we ever get any more funds than we could compile and donate more. The box would contain scones, tennis balls,  2 large balls, 2 hoops and some sort of tennis rackets. (can be used in soooo many ways)... All the exercises and fun relay races would be presented in a  booklet as to make it easy to use... Provisional costs of the box are: scones (100R), tennis balls (40R), hoops (?), tennis racquets (80R), booklet (printing costs for no more that 20-30 pages)...

Santa Cause

Well, this one is more of a Guerrilla Style one again. The idea is to buy some toys and distribute them at random among the township kids.... Man, you should see how their little faces light up even if you just give them 5 minutes of your time, let alone a toy:)

Pimp My Creche:)
I've been working for an NGO that helps the creches for the past 3 months now... our organization cooperates with 10 creches in the township of Philippi...what about all the other creches that get no help, no funds but take care of the children just the same? There is much more creches out there that are in desperate need of our help. The problem in SA is that the government has forgotten about the preschool education all together.  The future of this country and its youth stands in the hands  of hard working, empowered women, ready to take on this huge amount of work and responsibility in order to educate the little ones...

Our maid, Naza, drew our attention to a creche in her neighborhood that took on some more kids after a creche near buy got burned to the ground. Now there are some 40 kids aged from 0-5 in this one room shack, with the roof leaking and with almost no educational aid. So we decided to come3 to the rescue:) We pinched in some money bought some food, made some home made building blocks and drove out to this creche. You should have seen the principal...she was so happy.. that is why we would like to do a bit more that is why we need your help:) You can help by donating some funds for toys, books and reparation of the roof..

See some pics of our mission No1:)

Adopt-A-Team

Since we are still under the influence of the world cup there is no time like the present to give something back to the country that hosted this  spectacle:) Just driving through the townships you can see soccer everywhere...on the streets, on every green patch there are kids and youngsters running after the round thing. They have no equipment, nothing. My idea is to give this random teams some scones and balls along with some exercises and HIV exercises..

The team in the picture comes from Guguletu. They were more than happy to pose for our camera, you should have seen how fast they put on their jerseys:)

If you would like to donate something towards this projects please contact Gabi, since I'm discovering real Africa at the moment... at: gabihum@gmail.com, +38640365671 :)

Guittar wizard and the blues festival

This was one of the best festival I've ever been to. If I would have to describe the festival in one word I would have to say that it was intimate. People of all ages sharing the love for music were having a lot of fun in a relaxing atmosphere just outside Cape Town. During the day everything was covered with picnic blankets full of people enjoying their home made treats... But when the night fell, away went the blankets and it was time for some dancing moves...Out of all the artist and bands there was one guy that just blew our minds. For a few minutes I was just standing there with my mouth wide open, trying to comprehend what was happening on stage.:) I never knew guitar was capable of those sounds. Things, the guy was doing to his guitar, I don't think  he does to his girlfriend:)

The night ended by fran pulling some hard core mechanics stuff  in order to start some peoples car. Man, he just put his battery  into their car, started it and took it out again, while the car was still going. Hmmm, I always thought you're not supposed to touch that thing.. eish:)

Sela Amanzi

Today I made my first graffiti, well I helped to make one:) The true artists were Sonja and Daniela, I was just the one with the idea and who was filling the letters with colour (the easy stuff:) We did it in order to raise awareness about the water issues. Sela Amanzi (Drink Water) or drink tap water....especialy in the townships at waters sands where water is for free this makes sense. 

People were passing us by, asking questions, discussing the graffiti and we could see the effect of our work righ there and then:) Even a local newspaper journalist came and interviewed us:) Man did he ask us a lot of questions:) Well ,everything for the cause:)....Water is life. Treat it as if it was your life...don't waste it:)

One of those moments...

Look what I did today:) I smashed SAEP car. well, technicaly no one was driving it...but there was someone chasing it down the hill:) Man, I'm ussualy one of those people who use the hand break even when its not nessesary...but I guess we all have our moments. What mad it that much more interesting was the fact that my supervisor was with me:) She was the one that saw the car going for a stroll on its own... you should have heard the scream..."Car!" I guess I set my new personal record when running after that runnaway thing....well, I was too late... BOOM:) So, I guess there is a lot of paper work in store for me in the folowing days::) I must say that the funniest moment was at the police station when the policeman asked "who was driving?" and I replied " No one:)"

Bafana Bafana

My first big soccer game... and in SA just after the world cup:) The fact that Bafana Bafana hasn't played a game in Cape Town for the past few years made the match so much more special. Tickets were sold out immediately... SA played against the yanks. The game was part of Mandela challenge, charity event  created in order to raise money towards Nelson Mandela children's  fund...

Even though we (SA) lost, the experience was one of a kind. Africans really take their soccer seriously:) Streets were full of people in yellow jersey days before the match. The actual night of the match was all about the vuvuzelas, dancing and loud disagreements with the umpire. In general people were not bummed about the lost, but  it was obvious that the bafana bafana boys could do much more. It was as if they were afraid to take chances, no one was really ready to take on full responsibility...so it never came to an actual shot at the goal. eish, did they drive me crazy...

Check out a short video capturing the atmosphere:)

Surfin' SA...

Finally....surfing! I wanted to do that ever since my plane landed here in this surfing Mecca. My enthusiasm subsided once I realized that the temperatures were not quite yet in that comfortable range...but that was back in september... Now it really is almost summer here.... and....I got my first wetsuit as a birthday present from Fran:) Thank you Frannie:) So, no more excuses....

I even put aside the "shark factor"  and dove into the water .. The waves were perfect:) And even just being there in the ocean, paddling, catching waves, soaking up the sun was great....that is life:) It is a shame that not every day is like that, sometimes you check the situation on the webcam and the ocean couldn't be more flat...can't wait for the next session...soon. Of course there are other surfing spots but Muizenberg has its advantages: great for beginners, less shark attacks and the water is a bit warmer since a little incy bincy tiny part of indian current somehow finds its way into this bay:)

Now let me explain their "shark alarm system" in a few words. Apparently there is a man, called Rasta (!?), sitting on top of the mountain range surrounding False bay, surveilling the bay with binoculars:) In case he spots a shark (a big shadow in the sea) the flags go up on every beach... There are different flags, one indicating that there is a visible shark, other that there is a shark but they lost a visual...and so on:) Even though it doesn't sound very convincing the system obviously works:) Of course there are some general precautions you should take into consideration...
 

Taking pictures....lesson No 1:)

If you're a keen photographer you'll probably burn your whole memory card in one short visit.  But let me tell you one thing...if you don't have a big zoom or if you are considerate enough to ask permission before taking the picture you can forget about taking spontaneous pictures:) You know, those spontaneous pictures you see in exhibitions and national geographic:)

Eish...it starts out like this "Molo,...bla bla bla...can I take a picture of you?" Usually they are more than happy to pose.....only now and then you get some that refuse the opportunity of a photo shoot:) As you take the first few shots...

 

they start gathering all the immediate family, extended family, children, neighbours... everyone.... This is a funny sight... yelling, laughing, gathering of the children. They are all just so excited that you get sucked into the feeling in no time... and pretty soon, if you're not careful you end up on the other side of the camera:)

before you leave be sure to take some time and show them the pics you've taken...you won't hear the end of it...the gratitude and enthusiasm... Offer to bring them a copy or two and than of course be the man/woman of your words. My list is getting bigger and bigger, I will need one full day to do the deliveries...but I cant' wait for those smiles to light up again:)

Hygiene Promotion Box

I came up with an idea of putting together a so called HPbox that would contain everything needed to teach the kids about hygiene and importance of hand washing through a series of fun activities. Today I had my second workshop and the kids, as well as teachers, loved it. Since I would like to make this a sustainable thing I put everything needed (equipment, booklet...) in a box that could be used by the creches at any given time.

The box contains: HP booklet with all the activities, book Germs! written by Judy Oetting, posters, glue, scissors, pom poms, zip seal bags, textile colour,coloured paper, soap, pepper, liquid soap, glitter... everything:)

More pictures...

Kleinmond

Another Sunday getaway... Who would of thought that I'll be doing so much climbing in SA:) But I can't sit on my ass all day long and since there are sharks in this freaking sea here I'm not that keen to go surfing...so climbing is the right kind of adventure sport for me:) although this week surfing...for sure!

Kleinmond....can be described with one word only...beautiful!  The view is outstanding. Green hills on one side, Mars like landscape on the other side . That area was most probably burnt to the ground not so long ago. Since we are talking about fires.... apparently Protea (SA national plant) has to burn in order to release it seeds...that is interesting... so those bastards throwing cigarette buds out of their car windows are doing at least someone (something) a favor:)

Climbing was phenomenal... the fact that we were alone on that "mountain" made it even better. I have a feeling that we'll return some day because they are some more craius to climb and we only just scraped the surface of all the possibilities that Kleinmond has to offer...

More info on climbing in Kleinmond can be found here:)

Fe(e)d the Street Project

 

The first Guerrilla project on African soil was a success:) Eeveryone pinched in and we made a delicious meal for the street people of Cape Town. Frans car was perfect for the job, I just hope that people don't stop the poor guy every time he drives through town, asking for more food:) We cooked pap (traditional south African meal made out of maze) and some vegetable sauce to go with it. Additionally we also had some boiled eggs, bananas and oranges. 

Equipped with food and determined to make a difference (at least in some peoples lives:) we hit the road on the back of a backy and offered "free food", "mahalo" to the homeless souls along the way.   One could just see how this suffering faces just started lighting up, smiling faces everywhere, "God bless you" or "you'll be in our hearts tonight" were some of the expressions of gratitude and-sings coming from everywhere. These are the people that everyone forgot about, living on the streets for years now, having nowhere to go and unable to find a job. I like the because they weren't begging, although some of them did run back to the car for seconds...sorry there are more hungry mouths out there that we need to feed:)

This is what real humanitarian work is all about. We are not just a bunch of dreamers, we know that we can't feed the world that way, or even heal it of all its ills but at least we made a little difference in the lives of the people we fed....if only for one day.