Louise OShea

Just touched down in Londontown

Fri, 04 Jul 08 18:39:27 +0200

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

Beautiful Times in CapeTown

Tue, 01 Jul 08 22:53:07 +0200

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 waters below, it was incredible!

The next morning we made it up early and the sun was shining and it was a clear day which meant make it up table mountain as fast as you can. Its said that if you can see the top of the mountain go up because it doesn't actually happen too often. So we jumped back in our little whip to the cable car - and took the 4 min ride up literally vertical on the cable car to 1600 m high in the sky to the top of table mountain - another incredible view of Cape Town. In the afternoon we decided to do something we were warned against but in the end felt very safe. A lot of people have heard about the violence in the townships before we arrived here and the xenophobic attacks. Now we were told by our volunteer company that while working for them we were not allowed into the townships. Well we finished our work on Saturday so decided to go in. We went with a man recommended by the hostel who lives in the townships and is well respected. It was a very interested afternoon after visiting 3 townships outside of Cape Town called district 6, Langa and the last one I cant even attempt to spell. The houses we went into, well if you can call them houses were shacks and could have literally multiple families living inside. All the kids would come running up to you asking for sweets and none spoke english - it was natural for them to run over to the white girls, as clearly we really stood out. After leaving the townships we were talking to the guy that took us and he was talking about the violence and how it was very exaggerated but it did spread from Joburg down to Cape Town but not into his township but he agreed that too many foreigners were living in South Africa illegally and using the aid given to people in the townships by the government but they arent accounted for in the money so shouldn't be receiving it, or even more so, working their jobs.

Today (after a rough night of Kings - with some new fun British twists) we went down to the waterfront to see if we could find our way to Robben Island. This is one thing I've been waiting for, for awhile now but it didnt happen. We didnt realize that the main ferry broke down so there are only 3 rides out per day and are booked up already until July 7th!! So unfortunately we had to see Mandela's cell through the eyes of the museum and read the stories, so maybe when I'm back again I'll make it out to Robben Island. We strolled along the waterfront in another day of incredible sunshine and found this delicious pancake restaurant which was exactly what we wanted at 1pm after a night out. We then found this company that offered sailboat rides into the harbour during sunset for the equivalent of $10 for 1.5 hours so we hopped on for a fun boat ride. Little did we know it was a gorgeous sailboat with 3 hilarious crew members who took photoshoots of us on the boat and there was unlimited sparkling wine! And if it couldnt get any better, we saw dolphins swimming around the boat the whole time and jellyfish. It turned out to be the perfect afternoon and last one at that in Cape Town. We just got back from dinner at this place called Mama Africa. Traditional south african food and salads with live music - incredible food and atmosphere and Sabine went all out with ostrich and crocodile.

I am so sad I am leaving tomorrow afternoon but I have the entire day tomorrow with the girls before my 12 hour flight to start my next journey in London. How I am going to find my way at 7am to Ashley's house in London will be another story but I will hopefully continue this on once I arrive in London!!

-Lou xoxox

Last fews days at Agape

Sat, 28 Jun 08 17:09:11 +0200

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 with HIV/AIDS and are considered to be a severe case. There are only 2 doctors in the hospital and the hospital cannot prescribe ARVs, the nurses are only allowed to give them to the patients in order to keep them on a schedule. So once a month the patient must make a trip back to their original government hospital to receive their new round of antiretroviral treatment. We split up and visited the floors talking with some patients and spending time listening to music with them. One on floor we werent allowed actually down to the end of the hall because the priest was there and someone had just passed. One of the volunteers had told us that a man had gone to visit his family when trying to get his new dosage of ARVs one day and come back and the trip was such a strain on his body to make it to the hospital that he died when he entered the elevator at the Dreamcenter. Some really sad stories were shared as most of the patients have severe HIV/AIDS including the AIDS dementia and TB. I spent time with this one lady who when I asked to take a photo with her (they LOVE to see pictures of themselves afterwards) took off her robe and had this red dress on underneath - it was so cute. She spoke English very well, most solely speak Zulu and she showed me some beaded bracelets she makes to pass the time. I bought 3 of them from her because they were so gorgeous.

After that on Wednesday my South African mother, Rhona picked myself and Margs up from Agape and took us to her house for the night. She lives right on the beach in one of the houses on the hill, it was stunning. Rhona is on the board of directors for KCA and the only representative that actually lives and work in South Africa reporting on the projects. Kate (from KCA) told me Rhona would become a mother to me here but I didnt realize the extent she meant - she took us in as daughters for the next 2 days! We had an evening talking about KCA, the different projects in South Africa and how life is here for her. She used to be the director at one of the medical schools here but decided to take on the position with KCA and is now Director of the Blue Roof, a KCA HIV clinic in Wentworth. She took us there the next day - its in the midst of moving into a new building about 5 times larger than the one they are in now. It is a clinic owned by KCA solely for counselling, prescriptions and testing for all people in the community. They see on average 55 people a day, mostly adults but some children also. I cant wait to come back and see Rhona and everyone in the new Blue Roof when its all finished - its such a fantastic place. So not only did Rhona take me in, but the rest of her family did too and her son Nowell took us out for the night to a local bar called Bongos, this tiny place but had live music and reminded us of Bru. We had a fantastic day with the Buckley family and cant wait to see Rhona in New York in November for the Black Ball along with the children!!

Thursday night we had 7 of the middle aged boys over for dinner and a movie. They rented Honey and Step Up because they are OBSESSED with dancing and have a new dance instructor. Not only can these children sing but they can dance like you wouldn't believe. So we watched Honey for some "inspiration" I guess you could say for these little 13 year old boy who have moves that are beyond me. So adorable.

Last night we had a final dinner with the 6 of us volunteers together in Hillcrest, the town over from us and just laughed and laughed all night long. There may or may not have been a whipped cream fight in this nice restaurant but the photos will make their way up another time. We made it home just in time to see the beginning of Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday in London, Hyde Park. Literally, I am not joking I felt like a mother watching her children at one of their proudest moments. I could not stop crying and was so overwhelmed by the whole thing. Annie Lennox came on stage and did a speech about AIDS and children in South Africa and then our kids joined her in singing their song "Thina Simunye" or "We are Together" and the kids looked gorgeous. They were all stunning and smiling and lookin genuinely happy. We had paid for the girls to get their hair braided before they left and just little things that we noticed like Siphiwe dancing in the back beside Annie Lennox because hes always dancing or when Nelson Mandela did his speech on stage, Lucia, our little princess was standing beside Geri Halliwell and we thought well of course she is, they are both stars. When Nelson Mandela came on stage with his wife, he was joined by all the kids and some other stars including Geri, Annie Lennox, Will Smith and Jada and it was the perfect feeling for me of this is what these kids deserve. For us seeing them on a day to day basis living in containers with one stove to feed 50 mouths each day, running around in the dirt, no soap in any of the bathrooms and literally they look forward to being able to watch a movie; seeing them perform infront of literally millions, getting the recognition that they deserve - they are all stars. And this what every child here in South Africa should feel like at some point in their life; a star, special, and loved unconditionally (which is what Agape means - unconditional love).

Love you all!
-Lou xoxo

p.s so tomorrow we're renting a car and driving down to Cape Point where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean and going to see the penguins and I'm driving - on the opposite side of the road - wish us luck!!

A weekend at Hluhluwe and 5 birthdays celebrated!!

Mon, 23 Jun 08 10:47:47 +0200

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 at our lodge we relaxed with some wine and watched Russia win over the Netherlands in the Eurocup and lets just say Ninke and Jer are a little touchy about the subject.

We got up bright and early on Sunday morning at 4am to hop onto the 4x4s and out on an 8 hour safari ride. We were picked up and only drove 20 minutes from the lodge to begin the safari and started off seeing the giraffes as the sun wa rising. It was an incredible day with the sun shining, us offroading in the trucks filled with rhinos, giraffes, zebras and a lion in the distance. Photos are below. As we started on our trip in the pitch black outside it was freezing and Margs and I were huddled under blankets and I thought it was appropriate to sing Hakuna Matata but she said quickly that 5am was too early for a Lion King sing along, I couldnt stop laughing and kept singing Lion King songs all day long.

Its kind of sad to be back at Agape today because the children left for London early Friday morning and wont be back before we leave. Only 12 of them flew to sing at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday celebration but its the older ones that we hung out with a lot so its a noticeable change in the atmosphere at Agape. We had a massive party on Thursday to wish them good luck and a goodbye party. We had a massive bbq (they call Braai here) and the older boys were out there for about 2 hours cooking meat for 55 of us. All the kids and aunties and us ate and ate and we also celebrated 5 of their birthdays from that past week. We bought 5 birthday cakes for the kids and each of us came in carrying them with candles for Lungile, Manazi, Mthobisi, Nobuhle and Boy and their faces were glowing as we handed them their cakes and presents. It was really special to share their birthdays with all of them and then the older boys started a cake fight which was more than hilarious for the little 4 year olds covered in cake. It was a late night as we played games with prizes and gave out sweets but I didnt want to leave and say goodbye to the kids! Eventually we had to and said our thanks to Pam, the manager for everything and keeping my fingers crossed I will see them in New York in November for KCA's Black Ball, but its all up in the air right now.

I cant wait to talk to everyone once I'm in London and be more in touch and I cant believe I only have 10 days here left - margs and I are heading to Cape Town on Saturday to travel for 5 days and do a winery tour, head up Table Mountain and out to Robben Island to see where Nelson Mandela's prison cell was. I'll hopefully write before then!
Love Lou xox

Photo 1: Myself and Sizo - she wrote me a note and wrote dear Luwiz.....so cute.

Photo 2: Me and my little man Mthobisi who turned 9 and is heading to London

Photo 3: Birthday Girl Manazi is 3!

Photo 4: Us with most of the kids after the party on Thursday night in the main hall (donated by Alicia Keys)

Photo 5: These guys were dancing as we got off our boat cruise and I decided to get in touch with my African dancing side

Photo 6: Getting on the trucks at 5 am heading on the safari

Photo 7: Zebras!

Photo 8: African Sunrise

Agape Children

Tue, 17 Jun 08 13:17:16 +0200

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

Lazy Beach days

Sun, 15 Jun 08 18:02:41 +0200

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 9 of us - we literally looked like the Mr Bean car - it was the smallest thing essentially sitting on the ground with 4 of us in the back seat all drinking beers. This club was a bit different for myself and Margs (a classier but basically orchid styles) but had a sweet patio and clearly nothing stopped us from accepting beers from the guys.

Last night we also went to see the Agape children perform at the ICC, International Convention Center in downtown Durban. It was this concert called Divas in Concert and I dont think the children really knew but there was a cheque from fundraising presented and that was really all the kids were there for. They had been practicing 6 songs and thought they were doing a performance but sang for about 30 seconds on stage so they were all disappointed. They are leaving for London to perform at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday on the 21st so we dont have that much more time with some of the older ones!

Last night the show ended around 10pm downtown and we called a cab - and its a long story but because of the children we'd met one of the supervisors to the show, Ravi and he wouldnt even let us walk from the front doors of the arena down to the road. He called the cab company back to tell them to come into the parking and into the building to get it, he said its that sketchy he didn't want the 5 of us to walk the 30 seconds. Hey, we didnt mind about the personal bodyguard just shows you how even the people that live here know how sketch it is.

We're just off to the guys house down the road - we're making pizzas for dinner with them and then who knows what the plan is tonight. Tomorrow is a holiday so another day at the beach! Theres no phone at the hostel so dad, HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

-Lou xox

Did you know?

Thu, 12 Jun 08 14:12:18 +0200

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 aid care - volunteers bandage up cuts or give headache medication but sometimes they see heartwrenching things like yesterday. Yesterday at the clinic a little boy was brought by his neighbour because he was all bruised and she said she hadnt seen his mother in days and he was sitting alone in the house. We stripped the boy down to see the bruises and he was covered with much more than that - he had clearly been abused. Jackie - an expert in the field came over to check him out and knew right away he was HIV positive from the sores that entirely covered his body. She got on the phone right away to a clinic, said they were bringing him and contacted social work at the same time. He was taken by volunteers to the clinic where he did unfortunately test HIV positive, a tiny 4 year old boy left alone for days and clearly had been sexually abused. His mother was found later on in the day and she admitted she was positive also and had medication and was not giving it to him. These are the types of children we're seeing here, heartbreaking.

We moved on to another project also founded by Jackie called Bobbi Bear. This center is for rescuing children that have been raped, sexually abused and are reporting it to the police. Tiny children cannot tell their stories to the police so many times because they speak a different language, or simply feel uncomfortable telling a stranger what happened to them. Bobbi Bear steps in - the police, hospital anywhere when a rape is reported calls them to come and be the inbetween man for the child. What they do is give the child a stuffed bear and take them aside, give them a snack and say draw on the bear where you were touched - you should see the drawings on the bears, its sickening. This way there is proof at the time of the incident what has happened to the child because they cannot write it down, so when the court case comes months later on, the bear is their story and they can use that. It is a remarkable idea and has been working so well with the children. Once these children begin working with Bobbi Bear, they attend therapy sessions and the high risk children will often stay with volunteers to look after them and medicate them (because most often results in transmission of HIV). Bobbi Bear on a day to day basis serves to teach children in schools and educate them with a fun interactive program and song on HIV - and bad cells (once the HIV virus enters) and the good cells (C4 cells) and how to not let the bad ones invade. The volunteers travel throughout the area to teach children - it is a very intense program for them and they can be woken up at 4am with an emergency if a children or someone has called in a rape. They are a tremendous group of people and are helping children tell their stories all over.

So getting to my title..Did you know...today I found out something very interesting from Jackie that I hadnt known before. There are profolactic drugs out there on the market right now that can prevent the invasion of HIV cells into our C4 leukocytes if injected within a short amount of time (best if taken within 24 hours). This means that if doctors are treating patients positive for HIV and pricked themselves or an accident occured within 30 mins doctors can give themselves a profolactic injection to prevent the transmission of HIV. WHAT? So this is a drug out there that can stop this? I was AMAZED when I heard this - I literally didnt believe it and why did I not know about it before? Blows my mind. ARVs (antiretrovirals) work once one is already HIV positive and the body has tricked the C4 cells into thinking they are healthy when they are not and when they are exposed to other illnesses, the immune system crashes because the virus is actually in there and AIDS develops. ARVs work to stop the virus from replicating in the cells and spreading even further to help that person lead as normal a lifestyle as can be.

Even after hearing about these huge advancements and realizations today, we were driving through downtown Durban at about 10pm at night (with a driver, dont worry mum!) and the scene and state that the city is in, it is no wonder that HIV is still so prevelant. We could see kids sniffing glue and drugs everywhere - people shooting up - the city turns into some sort of sick town at night, as soon as the sun sets. We've been warned so many times to not go near the city as soon as the sun sets (which is 4:30-5pm) and especially after last night, theres no way we're going close. This weekend we've decided to stay around Durban for 3 nights - out in Bluff, the other side of the harbour. The 5 of us girls from Agape are staying at a backpackers on the beach for a weekend in the sun, surfing (well maybe for me...) and just relaxing! We bought tickets to go see the kids perform downtown on Saturday night at the International Conference Center so they are really excited we get to join them - they are rehersing at Agape tonight so we're going to go watch them. These children are unbelievable and make me smile more and more everyday. From when we arrive around 9am the tiny little preschoolers run up to us and all want to be hugged and held and the older ones off to school saying "Whats up Louise" or giving me a hug before getting on the bus; they have the largest capacity to love.

Tonight the older boys (16-18) are coming for dinner and we did some grocery shopping after dropping the kids off at school with them this morning. The bus fits 22 kids, this morning we fit 38 of us in there - not a comfortable or safe 30 minute drive. The older boys are hilarious and ask us about boyfriends back at home and if we're single. 4 of us are here and they said they're going to find some boys to fix us up with haha. They are so smooth and are always dancing around the center to Black Eyed Peas or Chris Brown.

The past 2 days have been so different but all in the same city - from realizing the danger and violence of the city, to holding my first HIV positive baby but then returning home to our little tikes at Agape and their smiling faces - its been a rollercoaster. I'm loving every minute of it here and cant wait to post more photos!!
-Lou xox

Photos from the First Week in SA

Tue, 10 Jun 08 14:13:49 +0200

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!

The Kids of Agape

Mon, 09 Jun 08 13:43:15 +0200

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 this weekend but are contemplating changing it because we would really love to go with the children into Durban and see them perform and help with everything - Pam (Agape manager) said she can get us tickets so we're figuring that out but most likely will stay here this weekend. Its a public holiday a week from today so we also might take the kids to play soccer - but it gets difficult when you're in charge of about 45 - 50 children.

I keep forgetting that I'm in the Southern hemisphere and its winter here right now. Its still warm, can get chilly at night but not too bad but the sun sets at about 4:30-5pm! Its pitch black by 6pm so throws all of us off and we're in bed by latest 9pm! On the weekend we were feeling a little crazy and had some bottles of wine and went to bed around 11pm hah.

I know some people have been concerned and asking me about the violence that was all over the news before I left - and really we havent seen anything in these parts. We asked Tessa and she said its mainly in the townships outside of the major cities and they keep to themselves. Be More has actually told us that we are not allowed to go into the townships while we're here working for them so we wont be going anywhere close! Margs and I are planning our trip to Cape Town for the 28th of June - so any suggestions let me know!

-Lou xoxo

Arrived in South Africa!!

Sun, 08 Jun 08 14:02:27 +0200

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 realize how cold it actually was going to be. We left our house at 1pm on friday in 25 degree weather with the sun shining and made it up into the mountains where it was between 0 and 5 and freezing cold - we slept with about 4 blankets each! We met up with 10 other volunteers from other Be More projects around Durban and all stayed at this movie-esque log cabin at the foot of the mountains. On Saturday, we went up the mountains by this tour bus, up 3000m above sea level where it was snowing. To get up into the mountains picture this sketch bus that definitely should not be going up cliff paths and me almost once shedding tears . It took about 3 hours to get up and I swear I almost jumped off the bus like 10 times. To get to the top of the mountains you actually cross a border into a different country called Lesotho. It became its own democracy in 1978 and was previously owned by the British. They were given the land by the British in the 1800s when the Zulus wanted to fight them for territory- so the British gave them the land in the mountains for safety. It is the only country in the world that is surrounded by only one other country; South Africa. So by the end of the day we had our passports stamped 4 times for leaving/entering different countries which was pretty neat. Up at the top of the mountains it is freezing and snowy - we met some of the villagers and saw how they lived in their huts with fires burning in the center. They are known for their exports of wool and beer actually. For lunch, we went to the highest pub in Africa - right at the top - and clearly Margs and I had one of their beers to toast the occasion. We traveled back down the mountain but not before I actually did jump out of the bus once. We werent even climbing the cliffs at this point, we were on a flat road and I was sleeping with Margs next to me and I felt us stop and this one lady for some reason jumped out because she felt unsafe and I woke up and saw her jumping out and decided in a daze to follow suit, and margs followed me - and then the bus drove away! We didnt realize he was turning around because one of the girls' passports didnt get stamped but all we saw was him drive off, leave us on this dirt path by ourselves but about 15 minutes he came back to get us. Its been the ongoing joke that I just woke up and literally jumped out of the bus and had no idea what was going on.

We are now on our way to do some grocery shopping for the next week and relax at our house before the week begins!

I'm excited for my first full week at Agape and we have quite the schedule - from helping to feed the little ones in the morning, making lunches, homework session with the older ones and obviously some time for fun and singing. 10 of the older children are heading to London, UK at the end of the month to sing at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday event and we are so excited for them and helping them get ready. Twice a week some of the older children come for dinner at our house and hang out, watch movies etc - and on Fridays the little ones come swimming at our house. The little ones dont know what day of the week it ever is, but somehow they know fridays = swimming.

I'm sorry I havent written very often but those of you that wanted to know I arrived safely but I'm here and everything is fantastic. Most of you are close to me and know my work with KCA (Keep A Child Alive) and how passionate I am about it but already in the couple days I've been here, I'm feeling closer to it than ever. If you never have check out www.keepachildalive.org and the work that we are doing at Agape and the ongoing help these children and families still need.

Just to quickly explain how I ended up here which a lot of people have been asking - I started working with KCA back in August of last year as a chapter leader for McGill. Through their work raising funds and awareness for antiretrovirals for children with AIDS/HIV across India and Africa - I found out about Be More. Be More is an organization based on sending volunteers to different projects across South Africa. There are different sites from Isaiah 54 which helps with emergency care for children before they are sent to foster families, to Bobbi Bear, another child care center and Agape - where we work - check all the sites out at www.be-more.org. So after finding out about their volunteer opportunities I decided Agape where KCA works is where I was meant to be!!

Margs and I raised some money before we left as our gift to the children and aunties of Agape but we still have yet to decide how to donate it - a new driveway so the children arent tripping along gravel, clothes, medication, grass for the children to play on - there is an ongoing list! So we'll let you know as soon as we decide what to do and post photos soon!

I will write again soon - love you all and hope everything is well back home.
-Lou xoxo

23 Days Before I leave for Agape

Mon, 12 May 08 16:12:31 +0200

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 arrive in South Africa. We dont have internet at the volunteer house but I'm sure will make our way to internet cafes enough to update these and add some photos!