Presents, new children and a broken down car!

Sanibonani 

Picking up the children

So after being here for nearly 5 months you would think I had experienced most things her at Saint Anthony’s but that is definitely not the case! On Monday, 13^th January, I helped Londi (social worker) pick up the children being hosted/living in Ladysmith. He is always on the road so I thought I’d do him a favour and do the driving!

After a good 2 hour drive, we arrived at our first stop, which was a township called Dreifontein. This is where Zodwa (Khwezi Cottage, 12 years old) was being hosted by a family, who has hosted children from Saint Anthony’s before.   She seemed very happy there! Next stop was a small township on the other side of Ladysmith where Simelokuhle (Witness of God Cottage, 8 years old) was staying. As we approached, Londi pointed out a tiny mud house about 20 meters away. This is where he used to live with his mother however she unfortunately passed away which means the house belongs to him. Out of the kindness of their heart, the neighbours have offered to look after him during school holidays. By this time, it was already 2 pm and we had another 14 children to pick up so Londi and I were keen to get a move on but the car thought otherwise and decided to break down (key stopped turning!). Thankfully Malume was also running some errands in Ladysmith so he came and picked us up and together we continued picking up the remaining children. (The car is now back at Saint Anthony’s after taking a week to be fixed!) Although it was an extremely long day, it was great to see where the children were staying but also to get a little background on the child or the house family. 

By 20^th January, all 69 children were back at Saint Anthony’s. They were all officially welcomed back with an assembly during which the staff, myself and an ex Saint Anthony’s gave a short motivational speech. It is great to have them all back, I have really missed them!

Reach for Star

The response to the Reach for a Star Project I led last year was mind-blowing! Malume’s office was FULL of presents, I am not exaggerating!

The Office

Lindo

Moyo

Siboniso

All of the Saint Anthony’s staff worked together to sort all of them into piles and were later distributed to the children. Each child received on average 14 presents, making nearly 1 500 presents in total! They were all extremely happy!

If this wasn’t enough, Mr Theron (man who hosted the children’s Christmas party – see previous post) visited the home last week with a car full of presents. Each child received a brand new school bag filled with stationary and for those who do not go to school, a goody bag full of sweets, drinks and snacks! These children have really been spoiled recently J

The Children with Mr Theron

Projects

Having been here for nearly 5 months now and completed most of the work given to me by Malume, I have time to work on my own projects. These include:

•   ICT lessons: these will take place twice a week (one lesson for the Zanzibar boys and one for the Masakhane girls) and last 1.5 hours each. I want to cover Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel with them.
• English elocution lessons: these will take places in small groups of 3-4, again girls and boys separate. During these sessions each child will take it in turn to read parts of a text aloud, giving them the opportunity to work on their pronunciation and ask questions on any words they might not understand. These sessions will only last 30-45 mins and I want to make the text as appealing to them as possible so will cover topics such as dance, football and Justin Bieber (of course!).
• Career guest speakers: I would like to invite professionals to come and speak to the children about their career. These will help give the older children some idea of what they can do in life and motivate them to do so. The main things I want the speakers to cover are: what does that job involve; how to get that job; what do they need to study at school/university/college; what course do you need to do; where can that course be done; benefits and negatives of the job; what kind of person would be good at this job. The professionals I want to invite are doctor, nurse, teacher, social worker, ranger, farmer and policeman as these are the most common career paths.
• Talent show: in order to boost the children’s confidence (last year the Home hosted a modelling competition) I wanted to organise a talent show based on the famous programme called “SA’s got talent” but I would call it “Saint Anthony’s Got Talent”. This would be judged by presenters from the local radio station and there would also be a prize for the top three children.

New children  

Last week, Friday 24^th January, three new children joined the Saint Anthony’s family. They are Malipongwe, Nonfikelelo and Nondumiso. Although I am unaware of the full story, what I do know is that Malipongwe’s mother (Nonfikelelo ‘s sister) is only 13 years old! He is still struggling to adjust; he doesn’t eat well, cries when not held and gets very attached very quickly. He also doesn’t sleep through the night, something which the care workers are not used to anymore!

A few months ago I spoke about Nqobani who has been having seizures since hitting his head on some bricks. He is has been diagnosed as epileptic and is now on medication. Since coming back, he has been very well however he became very poorly again Saturday (fitted many times in a short space of time) which means he is now is hospital again. He is going to another hospital tomorrow (Wednesday 29^th January) to see a specialist. Myself along with his care workers and the health and education officer went to visit him on Sunday. Although he was a bit shaky to start with, he went back to his cute cheeky self after a bit of food J I will keep you updated on his status but please keep him in your prayers.  

My baby Nqobani after a bit of food and TLC

As you can see, life here in South Africa is still very exciting and I still love every minute even after 5 months. I now only have 10 weeks left until I have to head back to the UK so I intend to make them count! This means a few more safaris, a visit to Limpopo and spending LOADS of time with these adorable children!

Until next time...

Isabel x

How to apply for a volunteer South African visa!

Hey everyone!

So I thought it would be a good idea to write a post about how to apply for a South African visa. From my own experience, the South African Embassy’s website is too brief which means you will find yourself making many trips to the Embassy! If you live in London than it’s not a problem but, if like me, it costs you £20 a time, it helps to have everything done correctly the first time round J They are also very hard to get hold of on the phone so hopefully the information below can help answer any questions you might have.

 It is important to note that you don’t actually need a visa if you going to South Africa for a period of 3 months or less. You can also extend your visa after three months for a further three months for a small fee. However if you are planning on staying longer than that (like me) you will need an official visa.

Due to the nature of my stay, I applied for a Volunteers visa. Below is a list taken from the Embassy’s website (http://southafricahouseuk.com/) of all the documents you need to supply in order to qualify for a volunteers visa. Next to each document, I have added more information (where possible and necessary) to help make sure you know exactly what it is and what you need to do:

#	Document required (taken from website)	Extra information from me
1	Form BI-84 to be fully completed in black ink	This form is straight forward and can be downloaded from this link: http://southafricahouseuk.com/documents/bi84.pdf
2	Two passport size photographs. See guidelines on Passport & ID Photograph Specifications	You can get these done in all photo booths.
3	A valid passport in respect of each applicant. The passport must be valid for no less than 30 days after expiry of the intended stay and must contain two blank pages for endorsements.	The visa actually takes up a whole page therefore they need at least one blank page (not sure why they say two).
4	A statement confirming the purpose and duration of the visit.	This needs to be written by the organisation you are going to do charity work in. It also needs to have their header at the top and be address to you (not the embassy).  As well as the duration of the visit, it needs to include both your start and end date and state that the organisation will provide food and accommodation. Finally, it needs to be signed by the organisation.
5	Include a yellow fever vaccination certificate if travelled or intends travelling from or through a yellow fever endemic area. Provided that the certificate shall not be required where that person travelled or intends travelling in direct transit through such area or where an application is made in the Republic.	This depends on your travelling history. Three years ago, I travelled to Gambia which was a yellow fever endemic area hence why I had to have one. Although it was not compulsory to have the vaccine done to enter South Africa when I left, these things do change therefore it may be worth checking with your nurse/doctor.
6	If a minor child subject to guardianship or custody is accompanying the applicant or joining the applicant in South Africa, then proof of guardianship and custody is required. In the case of an unaccompanied minor, consent from the guardian is required.	Not applicable to me so I have no extra information unfortunately.
7	Proof of sufficient financial means.	This can either be bank statements or pays slips of three consecutive months.  By sufficient means, they are referring to you having enough money to live on whilst in South Africa.
8	In the case of sojourn not exceeding 12 months, submission of proof of a valid return air ticket.  A person who is unable to comply with the requirement to submit proof of a valid return ticket may be required to make a deposit; provided that such deposit shall be refunded to the depositor after the final departure of the applicant or after a permit contemplated in section 25 of the Act has been issued to the applicant; provided further that the payment of the deposit may be effected by means of a bank guaranteed cheque or credit card at places where such facility exists.	This is one of two options. If you’re not sure when you want to return home, you may pay £600 to the deposit instead of buying a return ticket (see 18). This is what I had originally planned to do but I spoke to a previous volunteer who opted for the deposit option and she unfortunately never received her deposit back! For this reason I decided to buy my return ticket.
9	A marriage certificate in the case of a married applicant.	Not applicable to me so I have no extra information unfortunately although this appears to be very straight forward.
10	Proof of relationship as contemplated in regulation 3.	Not applicable to me so I have no extra information unfortunately although this appears to be very straight forward.
11	A death certificate in the case of a widowed applicant.	Not applicable to me so I have no extra information unfortunately although this appears to be very straight forward.
12	A decree of divorce in the case of a divorced applicant; or  Proof of legal separation in the case of a separated applicant. An affidavit, substantially corresponding to Form 12 contained in Annexure A, confirming any spousal relationship of the applicant and the particulars of any children born of such relationship	Not applicable to me so I have no extra information unfortunately although this appears to be very straight forward.
13	A police clearance certificate. “Police Clearance Certificate” means a certificate issued by the police or security authority in each country where the relevant applicant resided for 12 months or longer since having attained the age of 18 years, in respect of criminal records or the character of the applicant, which certificate shall not be older than six months at the time of its submission'	This is now known as Subject Access. All you need to is fill in a form (download here: http://content.met.police.uk/Article/Making-a-subject-access-request/1400005855548/1400005855548) and post it along with a cheque of £10 to the address given on the form. This can take a while so I would suggest getting the process started 6 months before your leaving date.
14	Medical Report in respect of each applicant. A “Medical Report” means a report by a medical practitioner with regard to an applicant’s general state of health, detailing any medical condition he or she suffers from, which report shall not be older than six months at the time of its submission.	This can be done by your doctor and may incur a small cost.
15	Radiological report in respect of each applicant (not required in respect of children under the age of 12 years or pregnant women). A “Radiological Report” means a report by a radiologist certifying that the applicant has been examined and that no signs of active pulmonary tuberculosis could be detected which report shall not be older than six months at the time of its submission.	In order to get the report, you first need to get an X-ray of your chest done. This is then followed up with a report of the X-Ray. As my local doctor didn’t provide the service, they had to refer me to a clinic/hospital. Here you will have to pay for the X-Ray (not cheap!) and sometimes the referral.
16	Unabridged birth certificate.	Please note that the Embassy states that if documents issued are in a foreign language must be officially translated to English by a sworn translator.
17	Proof of non-remunerative voluntary or charitable activities to be undertaken.	The statement (4) does this.
18	A deposit of £600-00 (which is subject to change) in lieu of a return ticket will be requested. Only cheques, cash or postal orders are acceptable. Cheques and postal orders should be made payable to South African High Commission The deposit may be claimed back only once the applicant has left South Africa or if he/she has acquired permanent residence in South Africa	As explained above (8), there is a risk of not getting your deposit back. However if you would rather go for this option, make sure to inform yourself fully! I think there might be another form to fill, which isn’t mentioned on the website therefore it might be worth giving them a call. Their number for Home Affairs is: +44 (0) 20 7925 8900 but it states on the website to only call between 15:00 – 17:00 however no one ever came to the phone so I just called throughout the day until I eventually got through!

Hope you have found the above useful! If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to comment below or send me an email at isabel@cwgrain.com

Until next time...

Isabel x

Three weeks Three Destinations!

Good morning fellow readers!

For the last three weeks, I have been discovering the beautiful country that is South Africa but now I am back to tell you ALL about it!!!

Destination 1: Sabi Sand Game Reserve for Christmas

This game reserve is situated on the south-western corner of Kruger National Park. There is actually no fence between the reserves which means the animals, including the Big Five, roam around freely between the two game reserves.

Christoph and I set off for the Reserve on Monday 23^rd December. Although Google maps said it would take us 7 hours to get there, journey times are pretty unpredictable here in South Africa as most roads are single lanes. This means if you get stuck behind a truck (which very often happens) it’s likely a 7 hour journey turns into a 9 hour one! So instead of taking the risk of not getting to the reserve in time (gates close at around 5/6 pm) we had planned to stay overnight in a Restcamp situated right at the very south of Kruger National Park.

Our journey went very smoothly despite the lack of signposts and the large amounts of potholes!! Christoph and I were both very intrigued about how the restcamp would be like as it only cost us £30 for a two people hut for one night! We arrived at the Pretoriuskop Restcamp at around 4pm where we were directed to our cute little hut:

The restcamp is self catering with communal showers and showers however it is very well kitted out with a restaurant, a mini supermarket, a swimming pool and each hut has its own barbecue! So it is perfect if you’re not looking for your typical intimate luxury lodge. Prices are also very reasonable however if you plan to do two game drives a day (also organised by the restcamp) then it actually works out more or less the same as spending a night at a 4/5 star lodge!

So after a good night’s sleep, we headed the following morning to the Sabi Sand Game Reserve which was approximately 2 hours further north of where we were. One thing to mention is that we encountered a lot of fees we were not aware of! For example when we arrived at the restcamp, we had to pay for staying in the Kruger National Park and we had the same once we entered the Sabi Sand Game Reserve. We weren’t made aware of these so both Christoph and I were a bit shocked when we were asked to cough up nearly R700 in fees (nearly £50) on top of everything else we had already paid.

In addition to these fees, what Christoph and I hadn’t realised is that we would have to drive from the gate to the lodge which was situated 15km deep in the Reserve. At the Reserve I stayed in with my mum in November, there was a car park right by the gate where we were collected by a ranger in the great big land cruiser. I just assumed Sabi Sands would have the same system but I couldn’t have been more wrong! These 15km was a gravel road with loads of potholes and hug stones but to make matters worse, we were driving a Corolla! But after scrapping the bottom of the car a few times and nearly getting a puncture, we arrived at the Umkumbe Lodge (http://www.umkumbe.co.za/) where we would spend three nights (from 24^th – 27^th December). We were greeted by Courtney, one of the rangers, who showed us to our room. The lodge’s location is amazing as it overlooks the river which is a hotspot for animals during the summer when water is scarce.

Love sun downers ;)

Christmas Day

Tom and Jerry

Velvet monkeys often invaded the lodge

We had an absolutely amazing stay with some of my key highlights being:

•  Seeing on our first drive the two animals I was most desperate to see (hyena and leopard)
• Sitting on the tracker seat (seat right at the very front of the cruiser, on the left hand side of the bonnet)
• Having two buffalos walk past the front of the car whilst I was on the tracker seat (they were about 2 meters away from me!)
• Having breakfast on the terrace and seeing elephants, buffalos and a leopard wondering around the river
• Having an elephant bull come and graze 15 meters away from our room (this happened right before we left the lodge)

In addition to the amazing sightings, the lodge itself was beautiful with a huge terrace, sun loungers, a small infinity pool, a boma (where we had our dinners every night), a well stocked bar (always important!) and delicious food! Everything we ate was made at the lodge including the bread, cakes and rusks! The staff are also super friendly; we had both Courtney and Mike, who were around mine and Christoph’s age so we got on with them really well!

As you can see, we had an absolutely incredible time here and were very sad to leave! The elephant didn’t make our departure any easier either! (I personally think he was coming to say goodbye J )

So after our last morning game drive and a lovely big breakfast we headed to Johannesburg Airport where we would take the plane the following morning...

Destination 2:  Cape Town for New Years

After a very short sleep at the lovely Southern Sun hotel (situated just 5 minutes from the airport and provides a free transfer from and to the airport) we headed to Johannesburg airport at 5 am for our 7:30 am flight to Cape Town! Two hours later we landed in the mother city but were welcomed by a very dark sky and rain... thought I was in England! However by the afternoon the skies had cleared and left a lovely blue sky and sun, which is how it stayed for the whole of our stay.

For the duration of our stay in Cape Town (one week) we stayed at a guest house called Loloho Lodge (www.loloholodge.com) which is situated at Sea Point. The location was perfect (5 minutes walk from the sea and a 40 minute walk to the V&A Waterfront), the staff very friendly (from the UK!) and the rooms nice and spacious. The lodge also had sun loungers, a pool and prepared breakfast every morning (both continental and hot!). I could not recommend this place more! Although the Waterfront is where most of the restaurants are, Sea Point has also many hidden gems and has far less people which makes it easier to get a table!

Although Cape Town could be done in 5 days, I would recommend spreading things over a whole week as some attraction can take a lot longer than you think such as Table Mountain and Robben Island. Plus it’s nice to spend a day chilling at the pool (especially in the summer... it gets pretty hot!) Here is a list of all what we did, with which company and also any tips I think could be useful for anyone going to Cape Town!

Attraction	Company	Tip
Table Mountain: AMAZING!	None	You can either trek up or take the cable car. We decided to take the cable car but we made sure to book our tickets before. Although you have to choose when you want to go and at what time (am or pm) they are valid for 14 days from that day. This is ideal as it can get quite cloudy up there (known as a tablecloth!) If you don’t buy one, you’re looking at queuing for about an hour to buy the ticket and then another hour to get onto the cable car!
Full Day Wine tasting: AMAZING	African Eagle	We could chose between a half or full day. On the half day you only visit one vineyard so we opted for the full day during which we visited three vineyards plus another for lunch! At one of the vineyards (Sevenwacht) the wines were paired with Italian cheese whilst in Marianne they were paired with Biltong! At the final vineyard, we also got to taste some brandy... not a fan but Christoph liked it and even ended up buying a bottle! We also took a small break in the town of Stellenbosch as well as at the Drakenstein Correctional Centre which is where Mandela spent the last part of his imprisonment (14 months).
Cape Point Tour: AMZAZING VIEWS BUT TOO RUSHED	Hylton Ross	Although this could also be a full day, we opted for the half day (second part consisted of visiting a vineyard which was had already visited a few days earlier). Although we had some amazing views, we only stopped at Cape Point and Simon’s Town to see the Penguins. Therefore I would recommend using your own car and doing the trip yourself. That way you can stop along the way to admire the views and also go to Cap of Good Hope, which this tour didn’t.
Robben Island: VERY MOVING	None	Again book tickets early! We were very lucky to get tickets on our last day in Cape Town. It is definitely worth seeing – it is one of my holiday highlights! Your ticket includes the boat journey, a bus tour on the island and a guided tour of the prison. The boat journey was lots of fun as we saw dolphins, seals and a penguin J The best part however is the guided tour of the prison not only because you got to see Mandela cells and find out a little about each of the prisoners in Section A but because the tours are done by ex political prisoners only. This made the whole place and the stories much more real (if that makes sense!). Whatever you do, don’t leave Cape Town without visiting Robben Island!

Cape Town in pictures:

V&A Waterfront

Table Mountain

Biltong and chocolates

Drakenstein Correctional Centre

WineTasting

Cape Point #1

Cape Point #2

Boulders, Cape Town

South African Penguins (previously known as Jackass Penguins!)

Nelson Mandela's cell

So after 7 incredible days in Cape Town it was time to take the car and drive to our next and final stop.

Destination 3: Langebaan for beach and sun!

Langebaan is where Christoph is currently working and living. It is located just two hours north of Cape Town along the Western Coast. The place consists only of holiday houses, most of which were empty. This meant I had the beach all to myself most of the time. Sounds good right? Shame it was cloudy 5 out of the 7 days I was there L I nevertheless had a very relaxing time! This is the view from Christoph’s terrace:

But on the 11^th January, it was time to say goodbye to Western Cape and head back to Saint Anthony’s, which I was actually very much looking forward to! The children are now slowing starting to return to the Home but should all be back here by the 17^th! Cannot wait J

Hope you have all had a lovely Christmas and New Year!

Sending you all lots and lots of love from a very hot SA!

Isabel x