New Years Week at Lily of the Valley

Volunteering at Lily of the Valley has been fun, especially because it is nice to do something a little different. Nothing too exciting this week, just doing the normal volunteer duties—distributing food to all the houses, playing with the kids, monitoring pool time, doing reading club, conducting chest physio, going on the hospital trips… pretty standard. I enjoy chest physio even when some of the kids don’t—chest physio is for the kids that have or are recovering from TB; we have them do exercises [such as blowing bubbles through a straw and jumping on a trampoline] that are supposed to help increase their now little lung capacity. Even the most reluctant kid [I guess it is not so much fun when you have to do it every few days] gets excited in the end when they get to put a sticker on the chart.

The hospital visits happen 2-3 times a week—it is the time for the kids to get their AIDS/TB checked out and see how it is progressing. I went on a trip last Wednesday with 4 kids, and it took 8 hours. Greys Hospital is one of the best hospitals in the area, yet the entire clinic had only one doctor for children and one doctor for adults that day. You could see the need for there to be more people on staff as soon as you drove onto the hospital grounds and saw the mass of people trying to find shade against the wall with casts on their legs, bandages on their arms, and braces around their necks. Just sitting out there in the sweltering heat, hoping that someone would see them that day. I never went inside, but I hear of the rat problem in the Northdale and Edendale hospitals, and hope that this “good” one doesn’t have the same problem.

Although I am celebrating the holidays at Lily, it is weird how Christmas and New Years just seems to come and go because I am not at home like I am used to and not exposed to all the hype of the holidays. Either way, I am still enjoying myself. For New Years Eve we had a midnight braai [barbeque] and had some fireworks. It seemed just like the 4^th of July—barbeque and shooting somewhat illegal [although perhaps legal here] fireworks in the air for the pleasure of hearing all the kids say “Ooooh!” I said “Oooh!,” too. There was a huddle of small boys that were motionless the whole time, watching the firecrackers get lit on the ground, following the light into the sky with the tilt of their heads. It was a beautiful full moon and after a brief storm scare, it was perfect for New Years Eve. Of course there was music, and after the teenage boys controlling the stereo got tired of the American hip-hop, they put on some popular [contemporary] South African Zulu dance music. I had no idea what the music was saying, but figured out that “Jiga! Jiga!” means “turn around.” I was the only volunteer willing to walk over and attempt to join them… but these kids have moves that I cannot match. I had them on the floor… laughing…. But they loved it and that is what counts, right? Maybe I will bring these moves back to America.