Cynthia Roobottom

Friday 21st May

Fri, 21 May 10 14:49:29 +0200

. Last day today.Had a good party for the kids last night and finally got to hear them all sing together which was great . We also organised a magician/clown and a dance group.The warrior Knights ( a sort of local Diversity) They invited the Agape kids to dance too and they were brilliant. The kids loved it and screamed and yelled their heads off.We were all deaf by the end of the night.
Have managed to make some impact on the place by organising the boys who work there to get all the rubbish on the site into one place and ordering two 5 ton trucks to shift it. So have spent some of the choir raffle money on that, the project, and the party. The cucumber project is also coming along well, lets hope it continues!
Staggering back to our house in a bit and going to crash out for an hour before starting to clean the place for the next lot of volunteers
Flying home via Dubai tomorrow. Emirates airlines. 18 hour journey.
Arriving home about 1230. It's been a great experience and I am looking forward now to going home to my lovely friends and family. wil post a final blog and loads of photos when I get back

Wednesday 19th May

Wed, 19 May 10 16:02:58 +0200

Wednesday, only three more days to go.on the one hand it seems to have flown by biut on the other we seem to have been away from home for ages. The younger volunteers are not missing their home and family in the same way as we probably are.
Last night was film night and tonight is cooking night,
so I have decided to take some time out to put together the project plan and justification for the "cucumber project"
Well, we are starting to make some progress . We now have 1500 plants in pots and the main watering system set up. Still some way to go tho' and progress does seem to be slow as the system chosen is very labour intensive. But that's probably me being impatient as usual. In addition to the project I have put together a proposal outlining how we might utilise the old playground area by clearing all the rubbish and transforming it into a peace Garden , One of the African employees, called Boy is very enthusiastic about the projects so I have suggested they transfer him to the projects, I have investigated costs of the rubbish removal and clearance and it will be about, 350R amonth so we will need to find those costs,. I do believe we could raise more funds if sponsors could see that Agape is making good use of its current resources, and making considerable improvements to the environment.

I have attached a few pictures albeit the wrong way round. The first one is athe school bus with about 30 kids in it. Both my camera and cam corder have flat batterries and the charging cables seem to have got lost in the post here. but I will have loads of pictures including some of the cucumber project when I get back!

Monday 17th May

Mon, 17 May 10 14:28:07 +0200

Well the cinema went Ok we Had 40 kids 10 each and they all behaved very well.

Sunday was brilliant . went to a touristy Zulu village to watch traditional zulu singing and dancing. Ann and I were the only audience so we had our own private show. Then Ann told the group I knew some Zulu songs and I ended up singing with the whole group ( all in Full Zulu traditional dress) for about 15 minutes. It was a fabulous experience and afterwards there were , cheers and tears(mine) and hugs and kisses all round.
Then we went to look at the snakes and crocodiles. We had a lecture on snakes and handled one, and then chatted to the rangers about wildlife before going through the beautiful 1000 hills countryside to a hotel for lunch and a few (or More) drinks.

Back to work today and the Dutch girls are staying over at the orphanage tonight and getting up with the kids at 5.30 to go to school with them. Ann and I have decided we are too old to share our sleeping accommodation with teenagers and too tired to get up at 5.30 so we will catch them up later.
Time to go back to work. Will try to get some photos on the site tomorrow

Saturday 15th May

Sat, 15 May 10 12:22:44 +0200

Had to rush away yesterday. Today,( theoretically our day off) we are taking 38 kids to the cinema, should be an experience! I will update the blog next week

Saturday 15th May

Sat, 15 May 10 12:21:07 +0200

Had to rush away yesterday.(Today, theoretically our day off) we are taking 38 kids to the cinema, should be an experience! I will update the blog next week

Friday 14th May

Fri, 14 May 10 14:32:03 +0200

Another hectic week . nothing as dramatic as at bobbie bear I think but still hectic. Last Friday the creche teacher was sacked so the one tiny auntie and the volunteers are now running the creche. on Tuesday we had a visit from Tamara from be more to discss how it was all going and to fund our expenses. Just Giving don't seem to have transferred any money yet as they are busy with the LondonMarathon? Also on Tuesday we had the younger children at home for film night. the dutch volunteers chose Fame ( a contender for worst music since Annie,) but the kids got bored with it( as did I) so we ended up playing games and jigsaws and singing.
On Wednesday one of the kids fell off the school bus and broke her arm so Floor got up out of a sick bed (she's now got the dreaded cough and cold) and took the kid to hospital . It took most of the day. So that left 3 of us. Then the special needs auntie had to take another child to the clinic so that meant we had two special needs kids as well.Then I got called away to deal with the polytunnel project, where we are trying to set up a system to grow cucumbers hydroponically. All the tubing , sawdust and bags had arrived , so three of the boys and I set about filling 500 pots with sawdust. We still don't have a project plan or a business plan , so I wrote out a template for the guy who is supposed to be running the project and asked him to complete it. If we can't get the plans Be-more may not fund the project.
Meanwhile back at the creche Ann and Jolande are struggling on . We have a new baby( gorgeous) , one month old,to be fed and 30 kids and 2 special needs kids. They have run out of toilet paper, soap , water and the lights have gone out and the toilets are coverd in Sh**. Then Zogwa appeared, none of us had met her before, she asked Ann if she would make Agape her 2nd home and didn't get the answer she was expecting!
Back home for a shower and a power nap and then back for homework class.
Wednesday Slightly improved Floor had struggled in in the morning to help out and we are making progress with the cucumber project, except they were carrying all the pots to the wrong end of the tunnel and had to redo it.
Then we took 25 toddlers to the beach in Durban
, when we arrived the usual entry was closed as they are redoing all of the beach front for the World Cup so we had to load the kids back on the bus and take them a mile further on.
, There were three of us and two Aunties.Most of the kids loved the beach, but the wind was blowing a gale and the sea was quite rough. Nevertheless some of them dashed to the water, One of the aunties Thought it a good plan to try the throw them in method of helping them swim. this was o.k. for most but one of them was terrified and made a dash for the road 100 yards away . I only just caught him in time.
Thursday all hands on deck today so abit better, then cooking night at home ( Spaghetti). and we did a bit of singing and a bit of TV. The girls are a bit shyer in this group and like to look at magazines.
Friday we have been shopping this morning for birthday presents for the party next week . We have also booked a children's entertainer and a local dance group.Cucumbers are planted in tunnel one and the pots are being soaked for tunnel 2.
Got to go bus here and kids are comming to us for swimming

access weblog

Tue, 11 May 10 13:04:20 +0200

There are some web blogs posted on the is site. you can access them through cynthiaroobottom.be-more.org

Monday 10th May

Mon, 10 May 10 15:06:25 +0200

Unbelievably only 12 days to go. This is the second attempt at sending this message. I have just spent 30minutes writing, only to be confounded again by this web site . the most un user -friendly thing I have come across.
so here goes again.

Well this weekend we had a bit if time off, Jolande one of our dutch volunteers went off the Drakkensberg mountains which she really enjoyed. The other dutch volunteer took the older boys to a football match on Sunday and we went with Ann's (my sister)friends to a small game park for a picnic , we saw loads of game which was nice but I think I would have liked the football. This week is going to bre particularly hectic as the creche/ nursery teacher has been sacked ( She was smacking the children ). Tomorrow night is film night at the house, Wednesday we are taking the little ones to the beach, Thursday is cooking night and on Saturday we will take the older girls to the cinema. Next week we are to organise a party for our last night.
I am also trying to make progress with the poly tunnel project, there are 3 polytunnels on site going to wasre. A guy is supposed to be setting up a hydroponic system for growing cucumbers but he rarely turns up for meetings and seems to have no project or business plan s. so .with the p\ ermission ofd the manger Pamela and the founder Zogwa, I am trying to push things forward. Looks like end of lunchbreak. Back to work Hey ho

Thursday 6th may

Thu, 06 May 10 13:50:49 +0200

Well time is flying by. yesterday we went to the volunteers get together and visited all the other projects. I was most moved by the Bobbie Bear project which helps abused children by rescuing them, taking care of the, fighting, for them in court , tracking down rapists and abusers. The woman who is co director spoke to us and I was very impressed with her dedication and passion . What a fantastic job they are doing.

We also went to a street kid project where they provide a safe space for street kids , and an ambulance service for kids who are injured in fights , accidents etc. There is a sort of National health service here but a lot of people say its appalling and getting worse as much needed funds are going into stadiums etc. for the World cup. One of the things that shocked me was when a reasonably well dressed white woman came to our car in Durban tcity centre and asked for money for bread.There is poverty as well as wealth in every race here.

Tonight is cooking night and its the boy's turn to come to the house and prepare a meal. So who knows what we will have to eat. Probably spaghetti. better rush got to get the transport back to agape for homework support.

Friday 30th April

Fri, 30 Apr 10 12:58:27 +0200

Hi folks , well I have been here nearly a week now and am still sdjusting to the time, Go to bed at about 8pm shattered. Agape is amazing, the kids are great but it would be easy to spoil them. The little ones are really curious about our wrinkled white skin and like to play with our hair. On monday we just arrived and met Pamela , who runs Agape. Tuesday we get there at about 9 and help the little ones with their breakfast. then it's songs and singing games. Ann, my sister, is great at those. Then it's lunch and we go home and I sleep and then back at 3 to play with the little ones and to help the older kids with their homework. Last night some of the older girls came to the house to cook a meal ( mountains of spaghetti) and were trying to teach me to dance which they thoughtwas hilarious, and it was. Today we took the little ones home to swim in our pool and they had a great time leaping into our arms in th water and the jumping around with us. This afternoon we have some time to write at the internet cafe and do some shopping , but we have to walk home which is quit a trek up some very steep hills!I am going to try to attach some pictures with the help of one of the young Dutch voluuteers. So here goes.

Getting ready

Wed, 17 Feb 10 12:49:00 +0100

I am busy getting ready for my trip to Agape on 23rd april. I am halfway through the "jabs" process which was far less bother than I had imagined. Next thing is to start setting up the systems for people to sponsor me. I am not very computer literate( self taught) so it takes me a while to navigate my way round the sites.I will let you know when I am up and running.