Christine Marshallsay worked hard to raise most of the significant amount of cash needed for her South African project. Your Club was very pleased to be able to help a bit – as for the result , these are Christine’s words – a life changing experience.
In the impressive setting of St. Lucia, South Africa, I had the opportunity to interact with and educate children in 3 day care centres. The children touched my heart and I will never forget my experiences, good and bad, that I had.
I had planned to travel to South Africa and volunteer, with the company African Impact, for two months however there were so many things that I had started that I wanted to finish, children that I just couldn’t say goodbye to yet and experiences that I wanted still to have, therefore I booked to stay an extra month.
As well as working in the crèches, I also took part in the following:
- Home based care, which is when we took a home carer around an area called Monzi. We visited sick people at their homes and gave them a food package containing basic foods like potatoes, rice, milk, sugar and then fruit and veg. We also took toys and school equipment for the children. Whilst there, we discussed how they were feeling and about their history. We regularly gave pain relief tablets, sachets for diarrhea, vitamin c tablets and we would always give an energy shake.
- I helped out at the local medical centre in a town called Ezwenelisha. Here they saw minor injuries, had ante natal care, deliveries, immunizations, family planning, chronic diseases, they had a TB clinic and cervical screening. Whilst there I weighed the patients, measured height, blood pressure, temperature and blood sugar if needed, filling out health cards so cutting down on the work load for the nurses. There were no doctors at this clinic.
- Helping out at an African impact set up Support group for HIV sufferers. At the support group we gave them yoga exercises from a local yoga instructor, information that answered questions from the previous week (for example, why people have high blood pressure.) We also gave them an energy drink and things like toothpaste and brushes, clothes for them or their family, biscuits or other food items. They also have a singing session – this bought me to tears many times, their singing and spirit is amazing!
- HIV education in the local primary school and for adults in Monzi. It would run for a week, finishing with a short test on Friday. We taught out of a booklet and this was translated into Zulu by a translator. We also did a condom demonstration and provided transport to and from the hall used to teach.
- Gardening, building and painting
- Lesson planning
- Reading club that was held at the local high school.
There were so many amazing memories that I will remember forever, however there are some awful memories. One example is that at one of the crèches a baby of one week old was bought in. Her mother was my age, 19, and at university a few hours away. The mother was HIV positive and she has a son of age 3 who doesn’t have the HI virus. The little baby girl was born without HIV but through breast feeding, she passed on the virus. Her grandmother then took over the care of her children. Whilst I was working at the crèche, I was her main carer. One day she was absolutely fine but then the next day would not stop being sick. We found out that her feed was not simply formula feed but also had powdered cereal in. A baby of 1 week can’t stomach this and she became very ill. I visited her grandmother to let her know the reason for the baby being ill and she explained that she didn’t have enough money to spend on formula milk so bought a cheap cereal powder. I started to sponsor the baby by buying her formula milk so that the grandmother didn’t need to use the cereal. Unfortunately, when I got home I read an email that explained that the baby passed away. This was due to ignorance. They weren’t educated in how to raise a baby when not being breast fed.
I learnt so many things whilst being in South Africa but the main thing I learnt was that I still want to fulfill my dream of becoming a doctor. I didn’t gain the exam results I needed to go straight into medicine but, after volunteering at this project, I’m not going to quit. I’m doing medical science at Birmingham University and after this going to do graduate entry medicine. I also hope to go back to South Africa to volunteer again in the near future.