Just touched down in Londontown

04 Jul 2008 at 18:39

Well I've arrived safely in London early early yesterday morning - so sad that I've left south africa though. I'm terribly sad to leave but at the same time couldn't be happier with the experience I had there, its left me with the feeling that I'll be back again soon enough.

I've already started work here and just settling into our castle. I'm working at Bearwood College outside of London and its an old victorian mansion with an olympic size pool, 4 soccer fields, tennis courts, riding stables, so I think I'll be okay here. I have a mobile number here too so am reachable now. I'm going to try in the next couple days to upload loads of photos now that I have the time and internet.

-Lou xox

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Beautiful Times in CapeTown

01 Jul 2008 at 22:53

I dont even know where to begin since we arrived here in Capetown but because I am writing you realize that we survived the rental car adventure. We picked up the car in the morning and we given the cutest little white whip that the 3 of us piled into and set off for Cape Point, the most south western point where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic. With me driving and Margs giving directions we were well on our way but didnt really know what we were in for. The drive is exactly along the coast and we found out later its known as one of the most beautiful drives in the world, and seriously, its the best one I've ever been on. With the ocean on one side and the table mountain range on the other it was the best hour drive. We stopped along the way at Boulders Beach and hung out with hundreds of penguins, they literally follow you around - so cute! We made it to the point but didnt realize we were in for a hike to the top but made it to the lighthouse and looked down at the blue...

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Last fews days at Agape

28 Jun 2008 at 17:09

So I'm actually sitting in Cape Town right now with Margs and Sabine, we flew in this morning around noon. We finished our work at Agape yesterday and it was so sad saying goodbye to all the kids. For our last day we had all the little ones over and then the older at lunch time to our house to swim in the sun for the afternoon. We made pancakes for about 30 children while they were swimming, it was the perfect afternoon to end things off. It was so sad as they were driving away in the bus, blowing kisses goodbye - we had to promise we'd be back and keep in touch.

This past week since the safari has been one crazy full day after another. We spent Monday and Tuesday on normal schedule with the kids and homework class, but things were a little quieter around since 12 kids are in London. On Wednesday we made a trip to another Be More project site in Pinetown called the Dreamcenter. It is a hospital with 6 floors for patients solely who have been directed from a government hospital...

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A weekend at Hluhluwe and 5 birthdays celebrated!!

23 Jun 2008 at 10:47

Well we arrived home late last night from a safari weekend about 3 hours straight north along the coast to a place called Hluhluwe (pronounced Slusluey). It was a gorgeous weekend, we had the hottest weather we've had yet and the 6 of us from Agape and 5 from the Dreamcenter all went up together Friday afternoon. Saturday morning we took a boat cruise along the river to see the hippos and crocodiles and I got to drive the boat! We saw tons of monkeys too but we have them constantly in our backyard at home so we're getting used to them climbing around us. In the afternoon we went to a local market - with tons of crafts, furniture and jewelry and delicious fruit! We then went to a cheetah farm where they've rescued injured cheetahs in the wild because they are endangered species and will breed them and put their offspring back into the wild so they can keep on existing - we had the opportunity to go into the cheetah cages but i stepped back and thought I'd stay on the outside. Back...

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Agape Children

17 Jun 2008 at 13:17

photo 1: me and Mthobisi at homework time

photo 2: around Waterfall in the town we live in

photo 3: rainy day movie time with Sbonga and Mbali

photo 4: on the way to school in the morning

photo 5: our girls weekend at the beach having lunch

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Lazy Beach days

15 Jun 2008 at 18:02

So the weekend is kind of winding down in Bluff, Durban and the 5 of us girls are so sad its almost over! We've been staying at a backpackers 30 meters from the beach - it is gorgeous and so convenient. We have our own room that essentially looks like a barn and these marathon runners beside us. There is a massive marathon starting from Durban that took place today and it takes the fastest runner something like 7 hours to finish.

Basically we've been relaxing and catching up on sleep from the past 2 weeks since Friday. We've been lazing around the beach, drinking wine, making good food and hitting the town. One of the guys that actually works at the hostel and lives here is from Victoria (go figure I travel to South Africa to meet another boy from out west) and he has a bunch of local friends from around here that have been taking us out. Last night we went to the famous Harvey Wallbangers club - its about a 30 min drive for us but picture this. We call 2 cabs because there was...

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Did you know?

12 Jun 2008 at 14:12

So today was a heartbreaking yet heartwarming day. Today, I held my first HIV positive baby (who also happens to be TB positive). It was volunteer day today which means we go around and visit other projects that are going on in our area - meet other children and families and other projects from Be More other than ours; Agape.

First off we went to the Tree Clinic - it has been around for 15 years started by this women Jackie and it is a safe space for women and children. They all come on Wednesdays - some walk over 7 hours to get there - to come and talk about violence against women, disease because they will be banished if they do so in their community. 80% of the women there are positive (HIV positive) and they come to a safe space to sing and pray. We hand out donations of clothes, food and supplies to everyone that comes to the tree. It is literally just a massive tree that we all sit under right off of the highway. The Tree Clinic is also a place to get very very basic first...

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Photos from the First Week in SA

10 Jun 2008 at 14:13

It takes so much time to upload these but I thought it was worth it:
photo 1: Our Volunteer house in Waterfall, South Africa

photo 2: Margo and I outside the cabin at the foot of the Drakensburg Mountains

photo 3: Margs and I at the top of Lesotho 3000m high - holding the KCA shirt!

photo 4: Lesotho is not for sissies

photo 5: our cuties at Agape

photo 6: play time!

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The Kids of Agape

09 Jun 2008 at 13:43

Lucky me - I've come across internet twice in two days! So today we're working at the orphanage and are on our lunch break now - so we've walked into town. Basically our schedule consists of this:
6:30am - Wake Up (considering we crashed at 8:30pm last nite its pretty easy to get up early)
8:30am - Leave for Agape
9-1pm - Play with the under 5 year olds and feed them lunch, brush their teeth and get ready for nap time
1-3pm - Lunch Time
3-5pm - Homework session when the older ones arrive home from school

On Mondays and Thursdays we take some of the older ones back to our place and make dinner and hang out - tonight is girls night because Jeremy is going to sleep over at Agape and we're taking 4 girls back with us - so GIRLS NIGHT (for those of you back home)

We just found out today that the children of Agape (the choir) have a major performance in downtown Durban on Saturday night along with 3 other very popular South African artists. We were booked to go on a safari...

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Arrived in South Africa!!

08 Jun 2008 at 14:02

Hello friends and loved ones, I have just for the first time made it to the internet since I arrived on Thursday. After 3 flights and 20 hours of flying (which wasnt too bad with gravol) I made it and got picked up by Tessa (our project manager) and taken to our house. We are living in a town called Waterfall, about 30 minutes outside of Durban, South Africa. It is up in the hills away from the water - but absolutly stunning. The 6 volunteers live in a house together about a 5 minute drive away from Agape - the child care center we are all working in. My family for the month is Margo, Jeremy, Karen, Nika, and Sabina. (all of them are from Holland except myself and margs - so we're picking up some pretty hilarious terms that they say in English and we're teaching them some funny ones too) I will post photos of us soon - you'll love them. We all just got back from a weekend in the Drakensburg mountains about a 3 hour drive north of us. They told us to bring warm clothes but we didnt...

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23 Days Before I leave for Agape

12 May 2008 at 16:12

So as some of you may or may not realize I am traveling to South Africa on June 4th 2008 with Margo to Agape Orphanage outside of Durban. The only thing that stands between us and there is about 24 hours of flying, but we'll make it soon enough. We are volunteering at the orphanage with 4 others from the Netherlands so should be cool to live with them at the volunteer house. We are at the orphanage during the week helping out the aunties with the children and then on weekends can go traveling and do our own thing. (Margs and I really want to do some sort of safari - and she is going bungee jumping, its the highest one in the world - I told her I'd take photos) So we're basically just getting all ready for the trip, we both got new camping bags and booked some hostels for our travels afterwards in Cape Town but we're going to see who we meet and how it goes before we decide on too much else. I am so excited to get out of Montreal for the summer and just cant wait until we finally...

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Name: Louise O'Shea
Age: 23

Volunteered at Agape from 02 June 2008 to 28 June 2008.

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Would you like to know more about Be More, then check the website at www.be-more.org. You can find the latest news, more information about my project and you can become a donor!

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