Here Sharky, Sharky, Sharky...

Another thing crossed off my bucket list and I have lived to tell the tale. Shark diving was AMAZING!!! so incredible, I recommend it to everyone. Admittedly as I rolled out of bed at 0500, after getting back from the Jesus Culture concert in Cape Town at midnight, I wondered what on earth I was doing. Willingly going under water in a cage into shark infested water. 


The closer we got to Kleinbaii, I turned to the girls to ask "why we where doing this...?" we all gave the same nervous laugh.

When we arrived at 'White Shark Encounters' we were given breakfast, a safety talk and signed our lives away on the dotted line. We gathered at the boat before driving 10-15mins out to sea in the direction of Dier Island. The nervous laugh continued as we not so lady likely got in to wetsuits. Quickly growing louder as we climbed into the cage. Very unlike me, i put up my hand opting to go first. I am not sure I would have done that a week ago, but I am quickly learning that we should grab every opportunity we can. So i did! 

Unsure of what bars to hold and trying to remember what not to hold, whilst shivering something chronic, the crew yell 'SHARK' as we take a quick breath in and dive under the water to see the magnificent creature pass by the cage without a care in the world for us. I am no longer nervous now, juts cold.  

After 15mins we got out, with grins from ear to ear, as we watched the next lot of 5 descend into the shark cage. 

The view from the boat was still something else, as you could see that sharks coming as they lunge out of the water. Three more hours passed as we watched the sharks circle the boat. Surface for the floating tuna head, which was used to tease them and then they swim away; after thrusting against the boat and cage. 

Grace, Lance, Travis and I jumped in for one last turn which although the water seemed 100 times colder we got to see some more sharky, sharky, sharkys burst out of the water with mouths wide open and shake smack the cage from side to side.

Shark size: we saw 5-6 different sharks throughout the day ranging from 2 - 3.5 meters. This time of year is not the best time of year for shark diving. 

Fabulous day! 

A little Project

The village of Hope seeks to help children infected or affected by HIV, Aids and TB. Here in the unit the house mums look after the day to day needs of the children and there is usually 3 on duty during the day and 2 over night. This morning i worked with one of the senior house mums in a nursing capacity. Observing how she went about giving the children there medication.

My aim now is to do some research myself in to aids, HIV and TB and the medications given, some of which is coming back to me from my bio and pharmacology papers at uni.

Thanks to a very good friend, back in NZ a package of medication cups and syringes are on there way to us now. This will be a great help.

Settling In

My first week is now nearly over and I have begun to adjust. A week filled with highs and lows, as i adjust to the culture shock and absorb my surroundings.  My role at Village of Hope is starting to define itself, amongst organising various donations to sport strips, in preparation for next saturdays sports day. I have learnt the school run, so now can pick up the children from school with out getting totally lost in the squatter camps. I have spent as much time as i can with the children in the unit, learning there names was task i never thought i would achieve, but thankfully i managed that shortly after i thought i was defeated. I have taken part in sports afternoons, wednesday and thursday. The kids love the sports and are so enthusiastic, as we play football on a pitch i am careful not to fall over a pot hole and twist my ankle. As we drive through the community on Tim's buggy the kids come running to say hello and hitch a ride. They are full of hugs and loving comments as we farewell then for the day and ever hopeful that we make it the following week.   

Squatter camps in Grabouw and Iraq

Day 1 on the job.

Staring the day with  team meeting and prayer, i was like a sponge absorbing as much information i could on orientation around the plot. My job after this is to try and write it all down so i dont forget.

Village of hope, has a lovely set up, in sided its razor wire fences and automatic gates which i am slowly but surely getting used to. I feel perfectly safe despite hearing about the riots in town, that enabled us to go and do sports with the children in squatter camps today. Instead of sports, after a morning of organising all the craft donations of which i was able to add to generously with the help of friends from work. Jess, grace and I made a short trip to the spar supermarket followed by lunch, a run and face painting with the kids which the boys- Travis and Lance had started nicely. With a snake hunt interrupting the face painting session we wondered down to where a group of German students are building a new house on the VOH land, out of staw and other natural resources.

The Adventures Begin

Arriving in the dark, i woke up feeling rather disorientated this morning and unsure of what to expect for my first day. To my relief, i had nothing to worry about, as i was warmly welcomed by my fellow volunteers; Jess, Grace, Lance, Travis and Neil and the Grabouw community who i attending church with this morning.

This church was something different to what i have been used to; extremely lively and powerful. The church was not like a church as you and i would imagine, it was a downstairs room of somebody's house- which moments before the service lost power- so Travis was up on stage to play guitar, before we knew it. 

We then drove over the mountains to the french corner of Cape town, Franschhoek and enjoyed a LOVEY meal. Where i was confronted with the reality of the hard divide South African living, dinning in 5 star style and being called 'My Lady'. From there we headed to Stellenbosch, for afternoon tea at a cuban cafe, where Grace and I alerted waiting staff that there toilets were flooding as water rushed out of the wall and quickly towards our feet. 

After a long day, and still felling a tad jet lagged, we joined  Tim, Maz, Nana and Rodger around the camp fire for a cup of tea.

A truly wonderful fist day. 

Take off

I have made it safely to Australia, despite the some what interesting Wellington take off. Mid storm take off from Wellington airport gives you a good feeling of turbalance before you have even started the engines. Take off number too from Sydney in an hour.