Update for this week, Yo!

Hello everyone! Well I’m sitting here in peace and quite. All the kids are asleep. Well kinda’. Siya and Jake are just sitting wide eyed. Simon doesn’t have naps. So I guess Mary is the only one sleeping.

What’s new? Hmmm.. Well Mel and I finally got our own flat!! It’s a cute little flat about 15 min. away from Ruth’s. The new volunteer will be joining us on Wednesday of this week. It’ll be nice to have a new face around. With a new volunteer comes more time and with more time I will be looking for a job. I have a place in mind. It’s called Olive and Oil. It’s a fancier seafood restaurant. Just can’t get away from the seafood restaurants!! So hopefully in the next couple weeks I will be serving again. Yeah (sacrcasm)! But I’m hoping I won’t be serving for more than 4 months. Why you ask?

Well some land was donated to Ruth. It’s not that big and at first we were not too sure. But after thinking about it, talking about it and getting other input from other people it looks promising. Ruth’s committee has agreed that it’ll be a step forward for Sinakekele. Also Ruth has a very good chance of getting a R 1 000 000 thingy. I can’t think of the word right now!! It’ll be donated to her. That will be more than enough to get things up and running. Who knows, maybe by August Sinakekele will be taking in babies again!! It’ll only be about 6 babies at a time, but that’s all that Sinakekele will be able to accommodate. And, with more babies more volunteers are needed. So if you are interested in volunteering or know of someone who wants to volunteer for a month or perhaps a year, go to the Sinakekele web site that’s posted on the side. We might need you ASAP or perhaps in 6 months.

Umm, what else? Well I went to Unisa (the university I plan on studying at) and I should be receiving my registry in the mail any time now. I have to register on June 5th, but the lovely thing is my landlords husband works at Unisa and she said that he would take in my registry so I wouldn’t have to stand in the queue all day!! Isn’t that just wonderful?!! It’ll be an extensive study of Africa. I’m actually quite excited to get my nose back in the books and the courses look really interesting.
When I was looking at the course it said I can use this degree to be a journalist. When I went to Unisa I told them I was looking at a journalism degree and they said they had no such thing. I told them the course number and they did have it. So I’m a bit confused about what kind of degree I will be obtaining. I’ll find out when I get my registry stuff and talk to the landlord.

So that’s about it. Mel is doing good. Oh and she has her own cell now. So if you want to contact her, her number is 01127738375906.

Rogers or Sasktel

Hello everyone. Got a question.. I have a bunch of you on my phone and i've tried to sms, but those who go through Sasktel won't be able to recieve my sms's. So I was just wondering if you could e-mail me or just put a comment on here if you go through Sasktel or Rogers. Rogers works.
Thanks..
As Mel would say,
PEACE OUT!

Ruth

Here's a picture of the Grobler family.

I am just writing an entry about a day in the life of Ruth in a wee bit of detail. It is hard to understand how much she has sacrificed unless you have been here personally to see her work towards her passion.
These last couple weeks have been very trying for Mel and I. We live with the family 24/7 and one day off that consists of three hours to the mall or to the beach. Space is limited and I find myself going outside at night after the children are asleep to take a breath of air. But what I have experienced this last month is absolutely nothing compared to what Ruth has been experiencing for the last 4 years.
Around 5:30 I will insert my foam earplugs to muffle out the waking of the house. First Ruth is awake and Jake is soon to follow. You can hear him with his high pitched voice calling out, “mommy, mommy may I have some tea?” Not too soon after is Mary. She’s relatively quite. But once 6 am comes around Siyabonga needs to be woken up to take his anti-rets, Jake joining him for his morning cocktail. By this time the earplugs don’t do much because now I can hear teenage voices yelling every demand to their mother. Ruth relentlessly gives in. With the chaos of getting the kids dressed, hair done, lunches done, breakfast and not forgetting herself, I finally stagger out of bed (readint this back I should actaully get up and help!) to drive Ruth and the kids to work. If it is raining, Jay will need a ride to school because he has been in two accidents driving his bike in the rain.
Many of you know I am not a morning person. I have to endure four children and two screaming teenagers at 7am. I look forward to dropping off the last of them so I can have peace and quite with Ruth. It takes about another half hour to drive Ruth to work. I drop her off and turn up the music for my 30/45 minute journey back to 2 Wager Ave. From 8:30 to around 1 pm the house is nice and quite. Just Mel, Thandi (the maid) and moi. Unless it’s a holiday in which the kids will stay at home and a 6 hour day turns to a 12 hours day. The last two weeks have been a holiday and as of now the car is broken so the wee ones can’t get to school, therefore they are at home.
12:30 comes around and I have to go fetch the wee ones from school. They usually fall asleep by the time I get back home, very nice! They nap till around 3, maybe a wee bit earlier. When 3 hits that’s where I have to be creative to keep them busy. I am seriously lacking in productivity when it comes to keeping them occupied. When Mel and I first came we were all gung ho and ready to play sport with them, colour, you name it. One month here and all interest in activity is gone.
So we try to keep them entertained till around 4/4:30 then send them off to the bath. Believe it or not I actually have been cooking dinner each night. While they are bathing I cook dinner for them and Mel keeps an eye on them so they don’t get the floors completely wet, wee in a cup or on the floor (boys will be boys!!!), or stop them from fighting. They usually stay in the tub till around 5 and usually dinner is ready by then. If not I will just turn the television on to keep them from running the house down. Usually works for only Simon and sometimes Jake. I finally get dinner ready and they’re usually very good at the table while they eat. 6 o’clock comes around and it’s time again for Siya and Jakes cocktails. Ruth will usually walk in around that time.
So she’s already had a 12 hour day and I promise you as soon as she steps into the house all the kids, including the teenagers, latch on to her like a bee to honey. Something triggers in Jake and he starts to wine. Justin and Taz are demanding something. Simon starts to wine. Yhew!! I thought the mornings were bad! So she tries her hardest to give attention to her 6 children and relax from her long day. I don’t think she ever has time to relax!
7 pm comes around and it’s bedtime for the wee ones. They have to make a wee before they go to bed and that can be a challenge sometimes. Their bedroom is one big bedroom that they share with their mother. Ruth will usually settle them in with a book. You will hear little whispers and sometimes yelling for about an hour until silence comes across. Ahhhhh!!! So it’s usually about 8 pm. Finally things start to settle in the house. The teenagers are winding down and Ruth will usually spend time with them till around 9. After 9 sometimes 10 she will get her laptop and do Sinakekele business. It is the only time that she get check her e-mails, check property, banking, all the things that one would do during the day or on the weekend. Around 11/12 she crawls into bed with Mary and catches about 5/6 hours of sleep till she starts her day again.
Her weekends consists of trying to organize the house and catch up on things that she has left for so long. With the kids running around it’s hard to get things done because they get into everything!!
If you don’t know the house that Ruth is renting out right now has been put up for sale so she’s on the look out to purchase property. If that doesn’t work out, she’s got to rent another house. One Sunday after a two day weekend to herself, she came back home to some problems. The same day she had to look at property and then return home to a barking teenager. I have never seen her break down, but that day she broke down.
For four years now this is what Ruth has been dealing with. No breaks in sight, no long term support in her grasp. I’ve convinced myself if this was anyone else they would’ve quit by now. I know I would’ve. I know I’m already considered it and I’ve only been here for less than a month. But I have to go back and remember why I’m here and why she’s doing what she’s doing.
Ruth was telling me that we have to put our heads together to get some funding in. I mentioned to her the only way you’re going to start getting regular support is to start taking in babies in again and adopting them out internationally. TLC (a home for abandoned babies in Johannesburg) gets about %80 of their funds internationally, most of it being from families that have adopted from TLC. So I’m thinking that would be the best thing to do to get regular funding. No response.
The next morning while driving to work she said she needs to start taking in babies again! Yes!! So she now has set goals. She needs to get a bigger space. A house for her family and a flat for the volunteers. Next goal is to have at least two babies at Sinakekele by August.
Now is the time to move. She’s ready to move. We’re all eager to get going!!!!! I’m feeling very optimistic, anxious, excited and again, very eager!! I’m sure the next few months will be full of big changes for me, Mel and Sinakekele. Keep us all in your thoughts and especially your prayers!! Till next time!

Wee update...

Hello everyone. We’ll I guess I should update on what’s going on here in Durban. Are you ready for the excitement?!?!?! Are ya? Are ya? Well not too much!! I won’t be posting any pictures on this post because I didn’t realize that Ruth gets charged by how much MB, etc. she sends out. She doesn’t get charged hourly, so I’ll be keeping it to words for now.
The kids are kids. They are keeping us on our feet!! They are on their second week of holiday and will be back to school next week. Whoo hoo!!!

Last week Ruth, Mel and I looked at some property. It is 5.5 acres and it only cost’s about $100 000 Canadian! And it also has a house on it. It is about 20 min. from Umhlanga, so it’s not too far from the beach!! So keep that in your prayers because absolutely everyone is ready and anxious to move forward and get Sinakekele going again!!

Also some good news. Carolyn, a previous volunteer from Switzerland, had a fundraiser concert for Ruth. Actually it was her brother. They raised about 5 500 Swiss Franks!! Sorry if I called the currency the wrong thing!! The Blake family are starts!!! And the other bands that played for free! And Carolyn is planning on coming in August for a visit!! So with that money Ruth will be purchasing a volunteer car which will take a load off of Ruth. I’ll take you for a cruise in your car Carolyn:o) Maybe you could drive;o)

Oh, we’ve been going to the beach once in awhile. I’ll tell you a little story. A few weeks ago a HUGE wave washed in shore knocking businesses, trees, etc. down. When the tide receded it brought with it raw sewage as well. So when Mel and I went down to the beach the lifeguard told us there was a breakout of Hepatitis in the water. I asked what kind because I got my Hep. A and B shots. That didn’t stop us from going in. We both feel just fine. A few minutes later Mel came up to me and asked were the hippopotamus’s are. I thought I had problems with accents!! HAHAHA.

Oh and there’s another funny thing that happened at German customs. I got my stamp in my passport and I was waiting for Mel outside of customs. When she came out I told her the customs person wanted me. Mel proceeded on telling me that he was pretty hot but little did she know he was a women. Hehehe. That also happened in Joburg. I could tell you about many Mel moments. She keeps me smiling.

So that’s about all that’s going on now. Oh yeah, I got a phone!! So if you ever want to grab a call card and give me or Mel a ring, my number is 0112773211791. Catch up soon!
Ciao!

ps. It was just brought to my attention that I said we went around Dublin. Sorry I think we were in Belfest. My bad! And I might have spelled Belfast wrong.

p.s.s My sinakekele e-mail is finally up and running, so if you were trying to e-mail me before it wouldn't of come through. So that one again is cindee@sinakekele.org.za

Finally in South Africa!!

Hello everyone!! Well I’m happy to say that Mel and I finally arrived in South Africa after a 40 hour journey from Newcastle. I thought the traveling would never stop. But it’s so nice to finally unpack the bags and settle down.
I just have to think of where I last left off. I believe I was still in Ireland. It was very nice and relaxing there. The last night in Ireland Mel, Karen and I went to Dublin to check out the sights for a wee bit and then off to a pub to enjoy a Guinness. It was prime! So I’ve done 1 thing on my top 100 things to do. After my stellar beer we went off to meet Mable. I haven’t seen Mabel for over 3 years. I met her at TLC. Oh Mable (that’s for you Jen) she looks so good and it was sooo nice to see her again! We had some Italian food and enjoyed some fine conversation. She’s heading off to the Philippines to do some volunteer work as a dentist. All the best!
The next morning we got up very, very early to head off to our last destination before South Africa.
We arrived in Newcastle early in the morning to meet up with a very tired Linsay and Tony (Linday’s boyfriend). We got on the metro to go to her flat. Settled in a bit and Tony fried us some breakfast. It was very good, thanks Tony. We took it easy for the rest of the day. Linds figured Mel and I would be very tired from traveling, she couldn’t be more right! So we just took it easy for the rest of the night and caught up on life. It was very nice seeing her again.
The next day we saw a wee bit of Newcastle and then headed back to her flat while she went to work. She works at a call center and she had a few good stories for us. We visited a bit before we got ready for our journey to South Africa.
I got up at 3 am the next morning to catch a taxi by 5 for our flight. Linds got up to see us off . Thanks for everything Linds!
There isn’t much to tell about our way down to South African except that I thought it was never gonna end! It took about an hour to get to Heathrow and then over and hour to get to Frankfurt. We were in Frankfurt for about 6/7 hours and then we prepared for our close to 11 hour flight to Oberg. We arrived in Joburg and hung out for about 4 hours at the airport until we had to board our 1 hour flight to Durban. Let me tell you that that was the longest plane ride ever. I was so anxious and I’m sure if I continued shaking my legs on the flight I would’ve put a hold through the floor!
Finally we arrived in South Africa about 2 pm Africa time to see Ruth. Oh it was so good to see her again. I can’t tell you how nice it is to be back here. She didn’t bring the kids because Mel and I have two huge suit cases each.
So now here we are on the second day readjusting/adjusting to life at Sinakekele. I must say it doesn’t take long at all.
Oh the kids! Have they ever grown and for those of you who know the kids, is it ever odd to hear Mary and Jake speak so good! They’ve grown up so much! I would have to say that Jake has changed the most physically. He’s not as round as he used to be.
So Ruth (founder of Sinakekele) is living in a house not too far from Gateway (that’s for those who know where Gateway is). There are three bedrooms and Jay (Ruth’s biological son) made up his own room. It’s quite nice but the property has been put up for sale and Sinakekele will be on the move again.
For those who don’t know Ruth has been in and out of houses for the last year and half. She is trying to fundraise enough money to build a nice big place on property outside of Durban so she can take in more abandoned babies. I’ll just give you a general idea of the rising problem of abandoned babies due to AIDS, poverty and unemployment.
3 babies are abandoned every 48 hours in KwaZulu Natal. The situation is so critical that the newspapers have likened the dustbins in Durban to the graveyards of newborn babies and fetuses. I found the previous fact and statement at www.carteblanche.co.za.
Even though Ruth doesn’t have a permanent place yet, she is hoping to take in babies very soon. She is getting help from her church and everyone is ready and anxious to move forward, so it’s just a matter of time. I think this next year will see a lot of changes at Sinakekele and I’m looking forward to seeing it grow. Please keep your prayers going for Sinakekele. They are well needed;o)

Me again. I'm writting this a couple days later cause the internet went off. Umm, I usually don't like doing this, but I figure it's good enough reason. Ruth is in desperate needs of funds. She barely makes the bills (food, school funds, petrol/gas, etc..) each month. She is also working full time, so she's doing all she can. She is really wanting the next place she moves to finally be the property to stay and take in babies. She also would like to get a volunteer car to take added pressure off of her because they don't have school buses here so she's gotta find ways to get the kids to and from school, not only school, but two of the babies have HIV/AIDS and need to go to the doctor regularly, also basic running around like groceries and getting the kids out of the house. Let's just say it's really hectic right now for her and her kids. It's pretty lax for me right now, but hopefully soon things will start to pick up.

If you are interested in donating in Canada it is tax recieptable (sorry if I spelt that wrong). But the thing is with that is %15 is taken for the organization is goes through. I know of a previous volunteer that wires money to Ruth and would be more than happy to wire it for you if you are interested. If you have any questions please e-mail me at cindee@sinakekele.org.za It will take a couple days for that e-mail to be up and running. Today is March 29.

Will update when something exciting happens! Ciao!

In Ireland

Hello everyone. Well here we are in Waringstown, Ireland. i have come to the understanding that although i am Canadian we are all really americans at heart! (Karen just put that on there, she really meant that Canada is the best country ever and she wishes to live in saskatchewan!)
Anyways..
This last week has gone extremely fast! One more day in Ireland and then off to Newcastle, England. And the chauch I am purchased the tickets for Newcastle for the 6 am flight and we fly out of Dublin. Karen lives much closer to Belfast and it takes an hour and a half to drive to Dublin. I really have to pay more attention to detail in e-mails!!! So we have to get leave at 3 am Thursday morning!
So how has the trip gone so far you ask? Well it's gone really good. The flight from Canada to Frankfurt went well. They don't have tv.'s in the back of the seats and to make things worse most the music stations weren't working, and to make things more worse, Mel's little entertainment unit wasn't working at all!

We got so bored we decided to stick the water bottles on our heads.







We landed safley in Frankfurt and stored our luggage and purchased a train ticket to Liege, Belgium. I think it took about 2 hours to get there. We arrived at around 11 am to the beautiful face of Nathalie!! So good to see her again. It's been close to three years since i've seen her last, but it feels like I just saw her. This photo is her and I at the Eiffel Tower.
The first day in Liege she showed us around. It's really cute and I do like Liege better than Brussels;o) Really I do! Everything is made of concrete and is really close together. They have cafe's and shops all over the place. We stopped at a pub and had a fruit flavoured beer. Was it ever good!!
After we went back to Nathalies and relaxed and went to bed very early.



The next morning we took off to Brussels and met her friends for lunch. After lunch we walked around and saw the sights of Brussels. I'm just gonna stick some pictures from Brussels.














Above is Nathalie with the troll and to the right is the peeing boy of Brussels. Nathalie was explaining to me the story of the peeing boy and I compleltly misunderstood her. She said that there was a fire going out of a bomb and he peed on it to put out the fire and saved the city. I thought she said bum instead of bomb. I later asked her again about the story and she clairfied the bum part;o)

The next morning we got up early and took a train to Paris! It took about two hours. We arrived and took the Metro to our backpackers and set out to the city of romance. We went to the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, The Obeliske, Notre Dame, Champs Elysee and Moulin Rouge. There was a couple more things, but i've forgotten the names.




















At the top is Mel at the Arc de Triumph and beside that picture is the Obliske with the Eiffel Tower in the backround. On the left hand side is Nathalie and I in front of Norte Dame and to the right is Mel and I in front of the Eiffel Tower. And to the right again is Moulin Rouge, oo lala!


I must say we were all exhausted by the time we finished sight seeing! We had some food and in my salad I found a chicken bone, mmmm.. Oh and I now know how to eat salad and fries with a fork and knife. I'm a proper young lady now. After we ate we went back to the backpackers.
Got up the next morning and did a little bit more sight seeing and then just barley caught our train to Lyon. We arrived 3 min. before departure. It was just like the tv. shows with the running and the sweating and the jumping on the train. Well not that extreme, but the running was happening. It was exciting!

We were greeted in Lyon by Melissa's family. We hopped in the car to Bourgoin, France. It's a beautiful little town/villiage outside of Lyon. We went back to her cousin Marta's house and ate. When you eat in France you eat lots!! The courses never end!! I didn't know that they served in courses and neither Mel or I paced ourselves, so by the third course our buttons were popping off! And not to mention you drink good wine with each meal. A meal lasts about 2/3 hours. Lots of visiting. But it was a shame with the language barrier. It was very hard to have a conversation. A couple of her cousins spoke a little bit of english and our french really didn't amount to anything. I shouldn't of droped out of my university french class!!
The next day we got up and had another 3/4 hour meal with another one of her cousins. After lunch/supper, or lupper, we went to a rugby match with her cousin Virginie and then back to her other cousins house for another meal. We were still full from the other one but we made room for more food. I should mention Melissa has a million cousins here and I hardly remember the names. Finished that meal up and went back to Marta's to get ready for the next day.
We got up a wee bit early and went to a restauraunt/hotel for a very fine meal! Boy was it good. We started off with some duck liver (it was very good!) . The second course was frog legs and they were so tasty. The third was duck. After the duck we had cheese. The French have cheese after each meal. After the cheese was dessert. And of course we had wine with the meal. Oh was it good wine! It was from Bordeaux which I'm guessing is a popular place for wine. And I can't help but thinking of the wine tasting we had at Joey's. Deb this wine is much better then the wine we ever had!! No aftertaste. So good, but i'm sure it would cost you an arm and a leg to bring in! You would love it.
After the meal we visited more and drank a bit more... Well I drank a bit more, Mel drank a lot more!! You should've seen her the next morning. Hehe.. Oh and my apologies for no pictures from Bourgois. They are all on Mels camera.

The next morning we got up to leave for Dublin. Boy was that a long day. Our layover went from 7 hours to 10 hours in Stansted. Our plane got was delayed. And poor Karen!! She was waiting at the airport in Dublin for four hours with nothing to do! And again, why I flew into Dublin, I don't know!! My most sincere apologies Karen!!




This is Mel and I in Stansted.





The next day we got up and went to Newcastle for some lunch and we had a beautiful view of the mountains. We later went to a castle. Sorry Shar I don't think this one would make Most Haunted. It's very modern inside. We walked around the lake by Castle Wellan. It is just absolutley gorgeous here!! The air the scenery. It was nice to get out in the country again and get some fresh air.


This is a large chair that was by the lake.
Below is the Castle again.





















After the Castle we went to the worlds largest maze and if it wasn't for Karen i'm sure it would have taken us at least 45 min. to do! The sun was starting to set and Karen decided to help us out a wee bit, actually she just told us how to get through.
So here we are on the last day in Ireland, (should have stayed longer! I really don't know what I was thinking when I booked the tikcets). We are just eating something quick and then off to Belfast. Get to see Mable. It's been three years as well!
And I promise not to have such long blogs! Also I apologies for grammer/punctuation mistakes. Mel and Karen are patiently waiting for me as I finish this so I quickly went through for mistakes.
So next time I write will be in South Africa!!!!!!!!! Can't wait!

Never was too fond of Goodbyes!

Well the time has come for me to leave Regina. Am I excited you ask? I've been asked that many times and at the time yes, but as of now.. ummm, yes and no. I'm gonna miss my family and friends and oddly enough work! I think it's the people I work with and some of the customers.

This last week has been full of many goodbyes. I'm quite anxious to get on that plane and say my final goodbyes.

Being from Canada we had to have a couple goodbye parties in the snow. Hot tub and BBQ. Sorry Elliot I didn't know how to rotate the piture, so everyone, turn your heads.

Wild deer we had. Good stuff..

Lucky Nathan was the only guy in a hot tub full of some good looking women! I'll miss you all from work! And Evan, I didn't get the classic Evan pose for my going away! I guess when I come back.




And yes that is the fry guys. Fry guy number 2 and fry guy number 7.

Have to get one of Mark. Since you left Joey's there has been a huge void in mostly everyone's hearts.




A huge thanks to everyone at work for many, many good times, support through hard times and lottsa' laughs! I'll miss you all!!

To my friends. I'll miss you all eventhough I don't see many of you all that much since you are all over the place. But when I get to see you it's like you never left. And I don't have many pictures so i'll keep it short.

Jen, it just won't be the same without you!! I'll think of you everyday and shed a tear!

And to the crazy ladies. Many memories have been created with you and i'll never forget. I'll miss you all!

Now to my family.It's a small family here and Regina so there wasn't that much for going away. I worked it out so I would have one last b-day here before I left. So we had birthday/going away part for moi.

This was at my grandpa's 98th birthday. I'm sure i'll be seeing many more times!! Tough old man!

My big bro. and sis.

Great Grandpa with the rugrats.

And a radom picture of the family I thought i'd throw in.

A many thanks to each one of you for your constant support *cough*.. Me going back to South Africa would be impossible without you. I'll miss you all very much and look forward to seeing everyone.

I bid everyone a farewell.