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Hello everyone!

Appologies people, I am already behind... but here is a catch-up of what happend in week 2 and 3!
After finishing the training it all really took off.
I had already told you all about the little boy who was raped, unfortunately his case is still ungoing and now ready to be referred to childline. Poor little boy. Necessary steps have been taken to make him more safe. I notice I find it difficult to see the right way of handling. I know this is not my fault, I have never done this before, but somewhere I wish I could see the next steps. This is pure practise and I know this. I realize I am just a little to hard on myself. It is such a different world and way of thinking. I'll get there tho!

I have aquired quiete a few cases in week 2 and 3, some harder than others.
I will highlight 2 of them.

Hello everyone!

My sincere appologies for not taking the appropriate time to write another weblog entry earlier. Its just that my laptop is still broken and don't see a quick fix option anywhere soon..

I know I am considerately behind on Umthombo, only 5 weeks right... hehe

I decided to skip over to Bobbi Bear as this is what a lot of people where looking forward too!

I've started people.. Possibly one of the hardest things I'll ever do. Work with abused and rape children.. MAN it can be tough..

You will see me write very small pieces of cases I handel(d), but as you can understand, for privacy purposes I will not go into details.

Lets start at the beginning.
After 2 weeks of travelling through South Africa via the coast - will come back on this later - I arrived back in the outskirts of Durban on the 12th of February. I'd stay that night in the hostel I booked there.

Week 3: Christmas was at our door.
We had already a great Christmas braai with all the staff behind us.
But now it was time for the children to experience the 2011 christmas festivities.
Unfortunately not too much was arranged by Umthombo themselves so it fell on our shoulders.
Here is where your first donation money has gone too.

Martijn and me had both put down about 300 rand (25 pounds or 30 euros).
We wanted to take the kids to the ice rink.
We found it quiet funny to take them to a cold place for christmas, as it should be.
Imagine it to be about 32 degrees outside at the moment haha.

We planned to take about 10 kids with us. All these kids would be rewarded for going back home and getting their diplomas.
Unfortunately in the south african tradition this did not go according to plan.
We could only get 3 kids as the rest had already left for different local parties.

Sawubonani! Welcome to a new addition to my Weblog.
I will continue my writings about Umthombo, Week 2.

Week 2 was quiet different from week 1.

Week 2 brought way more laughter for both sides.
My role in Umthombo became more aparent.
It became clear that my input is really focused on the children, something I hoped would happen. I became more clear that me being there really makes them laugh and enjoy themselves more.
The first children started to recognize my name and therefor associate it with fun. The connection with the other volunteers was already great but week 2 showed us all how good a team we are. I thoroughly enjoy their company.

As you might have seen on my christmas wish week 2 brought me some first photos with. On the picture you see me carry a little boy who struggles with HIV/Aids and a rare skin decease.

Thank you for reading yet another piece of my weblog.

In this part I will speak about my first volunteering project Umthombo. This is the project for which I volunteer for a total of 2 months. 3 weeks have so far past by.

I chose to write about Umthombo slightly later as I wanted to give a good representation of my I experiences on this great project. This part will consist of 2 or 3 parts.

Quick refresher: Umthombo puts all its efforts into taking care of as many street children as they can.

The first week:

Now the story continues...

Early that next morning my eyes where forced open again. It was time to start the real trip onto Drakensberg. A quick breakfast got my body going again.

I packed all my stuff, and we all waited for our guide to arrive. The sun was already using its powers to make me into a cooked lobster. Luckily I was able to use someones sun cream.

Soon after our guide arrived and we jumped into our Land Rover Defender. I offerd to take the back seat as that would give me a good spot to make photos. A great idea although my bum thinks differently. As some of you might know these land rovers are not well known for their great shock dempers...

Our trip started on tarmac but soon turned into a rocky sand path. This meant the car went up and down constantly. This was ofcourse amplified in the back haha.

Hello everyone!

Welcome to another chapter in my South Africa trip.
I hope everyone is doing well!

As could be read in my message of a few days ago, I have been to Drakensberg and Lesotho in a 3 day trip.

What a shear beauty!! :D One of the most beautiful places I have been so far!

It all started last friday. At 1pm we where picked up at the hostel we stay in. It was one of the local busses. They call it public transport but its more like they all are in a local race who gets at there destination first. Driving 120 where 80 is allowed..Red lights are seen as Green lights.. You get the point.. We had to pick up some of the the others we had met in the earlier hostel. They were waiting at there own projects.

Hello Everybody!

I've decided to write my weblog in english as this makes it easier for none dutch speakers to read my blog. And most of us dutch people speak English anyway.

I have safely arrived in South Africa and have had my first days at Umthombo. What a amazing country and project, I already like it a lot!!

But first things first.

I had a total of 3 flights planned.

Amsterdam - Heathrow:

It immediately started off very interesting.
After I provided the British airways staff my boarding card I took a seat to write in my diary. (thanks mam and sis!)
I heard a bit off stuffle in the background and looked up. A older gentleman at that point was asked to put his handluggage in luggage checker.
He clearly didn't like this as he shoved the bag in and pulled it out so hard the entire baggage checker was thrown through the room.

Hallo iedereen,

Ik ben blij te mogen zeggen dat mijn Visa voor Zuid Afrika aangevraagd is!
Dit is echt een pak van mijn hart.. Ik had de aanvraagtijd volledig onderschat. Nu maar hopen dat er geen problemen zijn.

Na bijna een uur aan vertragingen bij NS tussen Oss en Den haag, was ik gelukkig om 11 uur nog ruim optijd. Binnen 10 minuten stond ik al weer buiten. De man achter de balie was erg vriendelijk, dit was prettig.

Ik vind het erg leuk om te laten weten dat ik samen met een medevrijwilliger zal gaan vliegen op 4 december. Vertrektijd 17.55.

Mocht er iemand geintresseerd zijn gedag te zeggen, ik denk er aan om ongeveer 3 uur op het vliegveld te zijn. Dit geeft me genoeg tijd om alles te regelen. Laat het even weten als je geintresseerd bent te komen.

Groetjes,

Danny

Hallo Iedereen,

Welkom op mijn weblog. Hier zal je al mijn ervaringen in Zuidafrika kunnen gaan lezen. Voor een periode van 3.5 maanden zal ik vrijwilligerswerk gaan doen bij Umthombo en Bobbi Bear. Ik zal proberen zo veel mogelijk verhalen te plaatsen, indien mogelijk met foto's!

Op dit moment ben ik weer even in Nederland om de laatste dingetjes te regelen. Helaas gaat papierwerk samen met lange wachttijden. VOG is aangevraagd en dan kan ook de speciale visa geheel aangevraagd worden! Spannend!

Tot snel!

Danny