Aker hem / Going home

Nu ar dagen har, dagen da jag ska flyga hem igen, och nu ska jag byta sommar mot vinter. Jag har haft en underbar resa, jag har lart mig massor, fatt manga nya vanner och manga vackra minnen.

Pa vagen till flygplatsen idag ska jag ge barnen det jag kopt ifran mina arbetskamrater Eivy och Anne-Marie, det blev en hel del for deras pengar som jag vet barnen kommer alska. Jag fragade forestandaren vad de helst ville ha, och de sa aktivitetstavlor till spjalsangarna, for de spenderar sa mycket tid i sina sangar, men det fanns inga i Athlone, och jag akte till the Waterfront och hittade endast tva stycken sadana, sa jag kopte andra saker ocksa som jag vet att de kommer ha kul med och saker de behover. Kopte aven:

~Tva par bekvama skor
~Tva pooler, perfekt for dem att leka i utanfor!
~Bollhavsbollar, att fylla en pool med inomhus kanske nar det ar vinter
~Ett paket blojor
~Sex forpackningar vatservetter, eftersom de anvander samma trasa till alla barnen att torka rumpor med
~ En vattenmugg (de har bara tva till alla) en extra bra som inte lacker.
~ Tre nya clips till handduksblojorna

Tack Eivy och Anne-Marie! Ni anar inte hur uppskattat det kommer bli! Jag hoppas ni tycker era pengar ar val spenderade.



Now the day has come, when I'm flying home again, and about to change summer for winter. I have had a wonderful trip, I've learnt so much, had many new friends and many beautiful memories.

On the way to the airport today I will give the children the things I bought from my work colleagues Eivy and Anne-Marie, there were many things their money gave and I know the children will love it. I asked the person running the orphanage what they most wanted, and she said activity boards for the cots, since they spend a lot of time in them, but I couldn't find any in Athlone, so I went to the waterfront and found two of them in a toyshop, there for I bought other things too that I know the children will have fun with and things they need. So I bought:

~ Two pairs of comfortable shoes
~ Two pools, ideal to have outside
~ Big bag of balls to have in the pool inside for the winter
~ A package of nappies
~ Six packages of wet wipes, because they use the same cloth to wipe all babies' bums with.
~ A water mug (they only have two for all of them) this is a good one that won't leak.
~ Three new clips for the towel nappies.

Thank you Eivy and Anne-Marie, you have no clue how appreciated this will be, I hope you feel your money is well spent.

En vecka kvar / One week to go

Torstig? / Thirsty?Joda, Daniel vet att han inte far, men ah vad han ar busig. / Oh yes, Daniel knows he can't do that, but he is a cheeky monkey.
Jag och lilla Eloise / Me and little Eloise
Jag klar pa Abenique efter badet. Se vilket leende! / Me dressing Abenique after bath. Look at that smile!
Ashleigh brukar vara busig nar hon ska kla pa sig. / Ashleigh is very cheeky when it comes to dress.
Jag och lilla Valentina, hon har borjat le nu! Halsbandet ar min skyddsangel min syster gav mig innan jag akte hit. / Me and little Valentina, she has started to smile now! The necklace was given to me as a guardian angel before I went here from my sister.



I fredags hade jag och Gemma hand om hela grupp A sjalva, da resten av barnhemmet var pa utflykt, och det gick jattebra. Vi kande oss nagot stolta over att ha klarat det. Fast pa natten sedan fick vi magsjukan bada tva. Som tur ar hann jag njuta av annu en solnedgang uppe pa Signal Hill med Ashleigh och Therese med massa tjejsnack, eldflugor och vackra stjarnor, det var helt otroligt!

Lagger upp bilder tagna idag pa barnhemmet.



Today it is only a week until I am home again, and I can feel it. I'm more attached to the kids than I thought I would be, you see their daily progress and lovely laughter, and hoping they will have good lives when they grow up.

On Friday, me and Gemma took care of the whole of group A ourselves, when the rest of the orphanage was out, and it went fine. We felt quite proud to manage that task. The night after I had a belly bug though, but luckily I had the time to enjoy another sunset at the beautiful Signal Hill with Ashleigh and Therese with a lot of girl talk, fire flies and beautiful stars, it was totally amazing!

Putting up some pictures taken today from the orphanage.

Tara

Vi har en ny liten bebisflicka pa barnhemmet som hittades tva dagar gammal i en soppase i en buske, hon ar helt underbar och har fatt namnet Tara. Det kanns jobbigt att tanka pa vad som kunnat handa, men som tur var hittade en kvinna som var ute och letade mat henne, hon sag en hand vifta till i busken. Det skrevs om henne i tidningen har ocksa.

Det ar sa mysigt att gosa med de sma, och jag kommer verkligen sakna att halla sma bebisar, och deras lukt.. alla vet ju hur underbart bebisar doftar. Som tur ar har jag min egen "bebis" hemma att gosa med, jag saknar Julia sa mycket, och nu raknar jag dagarna tills jag far krama henne igen.


We have a new little baby girl in the orphanage that was found two days old in a bin bag in a bush, she is lovely and was given the name Tara. It feels bad thinking about what could've happened, but luckily a woman searching for food found her, she saw a hand waving in the bush. It was written about her in the newspaper here as well.

It is so nice cuddling with the small babies, and I will really miss holding small babies, and their smell... everybody knows how nice babies smell. Luckily I have my own "baby" at home to cuddle with, I miss Julia so much, and now I am counting the days until I can cuddle her again.

Hoppsan / Woops

Jag kan tyvarr inte lagga upp bilder for tillfallet, jag har placerat mitt minneskort pa golvet i Peters van, och jag far inte tillbaks det forran i morgon. Hihi.

Idag har vi en slappardag utan planer. Det regnar ute och det ar en allman "ta det lugnt" dag. Igar gick jag, Stina och Ashley pa bio och sag My Best Friend's Girl. Det var kul att komma ut. Filmen hade ju inget extra sa, men den fick oss att skratta, och det behover man ju alltid.

Tiden har borjar ta slut nu, och jag har massor jag fortfarande vill gora! Ska forsoka hitta pa lite i helgen om vadret ar bra, men nu borjar det bli varmt har!

Unfortunately I can't put up any pictures at the moment, I have placed my memory card on the floor in Peter's van, and I won't get it back until tomorrow. Hehe.

Today we're having a relaxing day with no plans. It's raining outside and it's just one of those "take it easy" days. Yesterday me, Stina and Ashley went to the cinema and saw My Best Friend's Girl. It was nice to get out. The film was nothing extraordinary, but it made us laugh, which one always need.

Time is running out now, and I have lots I still want to do! Will try and do some things this weekend if the weather is good. But it is getting warm here now!

Knivhotad! / Knife threatened!

Ja, igar gick vi ut pa annu en promenad med barnen in till centrum, dar finns en snall frukthandlare som alltid ger barnen frukt att ta med sig till barnhemmet. Har gatt dit nagra ganger och kanner mig anda ganska saker, men igar sa hande det. Vi var tre volontarer och fem barn, varav tva dubbelvagnar och en i en egen vagn. Medan Stina sprang bort till frukthandlaren kommer en aldre man fram och fragar efter smapengar. Nej, sa jag till mannen, vi tar aldrig med oss pengar ut, vilket var sant, och da drar han upp en stor kniv ur fickan och borjar saga hotfulla saker pa Afrikaans medan han gor huggrorelser med kniven mot mig. Ashley satt med ryggen mot honom, sa hon sag det aldrig, medan mannen gick bort lite fran oss sa jag vad som hant, och vi var tvungna att stanna kvar, for vi kunde inte dra alla vagnarna sjalva. Som tur ar kom Stina tillbaka precis och jag forklarade situationen och gick ivag, lite skakis. Lite langre bort kom en dam fram till oss (for knivmannen var lite bakom oss) och sa at oss att akta oss for den mannen, for han har en kniv i bakfickan. Vilket vi nu redan visste. En man var snall och foljde oss en bit pa vagen och bad oss peka ut vem som gjorde det, detta ar vardagen for manga, och det ar skrammande. Detta fick mig att inse hur fort det kan ga nar det val hander, och nu tanker jag inte ga ut dit nagot mer iaf, utan bara pa valdigt sakra stallen (Beratta INTE detta till mamma eller Julia saklart...)

Senare tog jag, Therese, Stina, Yvonne och Ashley en taxi upp till signal hill for att se solnedgangen. Det var Yvonnes sista dag, sa vi ville gora nagot speciellt, och det var det verkligen, en underbart vacker solnedgang! Ska lagga upp bilder i morgon. Senare pa kvallen gick vi pa en trendig restaurant som heter Sinns i Wembley square och traffade ett stort gang nya volontarer, de flesta svenskar. Valdigt trevligt, och det ar otroligt hur manga nya vanner man far pa en san har resa.

Stina och Therese sov over hos Sean inatt, och pa formiddagen akte vi ner till Camps bay till den harliga stranden och solade. Vi lyxade till det med solsangar. Det var harligt att se vagorna rulla in och se det glittrande havet, fast det blaste ganska mycket.


Yesterday we took another walk into the town centre with the children. There is a fruit seller who always gives us fruit to bring back to the orphanage, very kind of him. I've felt quite safe walking there when we are so many, but yesterday it happened. We were three volunteers and five children, in two double prams and one single. Whilst Stina runs to the fruit seller this old man comes up to us and asks us for change, I told him we never bring money with us, which was true, and then he takes up this big sharp knife and makes stabbing movements towards me and sounds threatening in Afrikaans. Ashley was sitting with her back towards him, so she never saw what he did, whilst the man walked away a bit from us I told her what happened, but we had to stay there, cause there was no chance we could take all prams with us just the two of us, but luckily Stina came, I explained the situation, and we rapidly moved away a bit shaken by the incident.
A bit further away a lady comes up to us and says (because the knife man was just a bit behind us) "be careful with that man, he has a knife in his back pocket". We had already found that out though.. A man was kind enough to walk us a bit on the way, and asked us to point out who did it. It is shocking how this is everyday life for so many people, and it made me realize how quickly something like this can happen, you can never be prepared. I will never go there again now. Only stick to the safe safe safe places, if such exists... I just wrote in Swedish, don't let my mother or Julia know about this...

Later, me, Stina, Therese, Ashley and Yvonne took a taxi up to Signal hill to see the sunset. It was Yvonne's last day and we wanted to do something special, and it really was, an absolutely amazing sunset. Will put pictures up tomorrow. Later at night we went to a quite trendy restaurant called Sinns in Wembley Square which was very nice, there we met a lot of new volunteers, mostly Swedish girls, and that was nice. It's amazing how many new friends you make on a journey like this.

Stina and Therese also spent the night at Sean's place tonight, and in the morning we went down to Camps bay to the lovely beach. We even had the luxury of sun beds. It was so nice lying there watching the waves roll in and the glittery sea, although it was quite windy.

Sa liten! / So small!

Tillbaka pa barnhemmet idag. Tog taget i morse med Yvonne, en skotsk tjej. Det ar storhelg har, sa nagra barn var inte dar idag utan hemma hos sina foraldrar, det var bara 6 barn att ta hand om, sa da tankte vi att vi kunde ta med dem ut pa en promenad, for pa den manaden jag varit har har de inte de minsta varit ute utanfor barnhemmet en enda gang. Nar vi klatt pa barnen kom en i personalen fram och berattade att en volontar blivit ranad precis utanfor barnhemmet morgonen innan, hon blev av med sin mobiltelefon, och ville bara kolla att jag inte skulle ga ensam.

Vi tog sjalvklart inte med oss nagra vardesaker, och gick ut. Den aldsta pojken, Ivan, studsade upp och ner i vagnen och gav ivag massor med glada tjut. Han var sa exalterad over att fa komma ut, det var en san syn! En annan flicka, som brukar grata ofta, och som hade gratit hela morgonen var knapptyst hela vagen och beundrade den lilla strommen, de herrelosa hundarna, bilarna som tutade och graset.

Efter lunchen fick jag bada den allra minsta Eloise, oj sa skor hon ser ut, jag visste nastan inte hur jag skulle gora, jag kunde balansera hela hennes kropp med en hand. Den minsta blojan rackte upp till brostvartorna pa henne. Sedan skulle hon klas pa, eftersom hon ar for tidigt fodd maste hon halla varmen, sa det var vattentata underbyxor, strumpbyxor, body, fleece-overall och tre filtar och sin lilla mintgrona mossa. Hon skakade av kold nar jag kladde pa henne, stackarn.

Kl 16 ungefar, badas barnen, och sedan laggs de i sangen dar de vantar pa sin nattflaska, de ar riktigt griniga precis innan vallingen ar klar, och da brukar vi sjunga for dem. De alskar att hora oss sjunga, de blir som hypnotiserade ibland. Daniel var snall, jag sjong for honom nar vi bytte bloja idag, och han appladerade mig. Hihi

Back in the orphanage today. Took the train this morning with Yvonne, a Scottish girl. Its a red day here, so many children were home with their families, there was only 6 kids in the A-group today, so we decided to take them out for a walk in their prams, because during the month I have been here, the A group children hasnt been on the other side of the fence. When we had dressed the children a member of staff came up to me and said a volunteer was mugged yesterday morning right outside the orphanage, she had lost her mobile phone, and just wanted to make sure I wasnt going alone.

We of course didnt bring any valuables and went out. The oldest boy, Ivan, was so excited he was all bouncy in his pram, and made lots of happy noises. He was so happy to be outside, and that was beautiful to see his joy. Another girl, who cries a lot, and who had been crying all morning turned absolutetly silent, and were watching the stream, the stray dogs, the beeping cars and the grass with big eyes.

After lunch I got to give the smallest baby, Eloise, a bath. She looks so fragile. I almost didn't know how to do it, I could balance her whole body with only one hand. The smallest nappy reached her up to her nipples. Then when dressing her, since she is a premature, she needs to be kept warm, so on top of nappy, she had waterproof knickers, stockings, thin overall, warm fleece overall, 3 blankets and a green hat. She was shivering from cold as I dressed her, poor thing.

Around 4 pm, the rest of the babies are bathed, and then they are placed in the beds in await of their bed time bottle. Before they get their bottles they are quite restless and noisy, and hungry of course, so we normally sing to them. They love hearing us sing, they almost become hypnotized. Daniel was so kind, as I was singing to him when I changed his nappy he applauded me.. haha.

Recovery / Aterhamtning

Nu har jag varit sjuk en vecka med elandig hosta, men idag kanns det mycket mycket battre. Var hos doktorn igar och fick medicin for luftvagsinflammation, och en utskrift av penicillin ifall att det skulle overga i infektion. En lakare i Sverige skulle nog aldrig skriva ut nagonting "ifall att". Bruce fran you2africa var snall nog att ga med mig dit. Det var uppskattat.
Langtar till barnhemmet jattemycket, saknar att halla sma bebisar i famnen och komma ut lite.
Just nu ar jag pa the waterfront och har handlat en present till min vaninna som fatt en liten bebis.
Saknar Julia sa himla mycket. Pratade med henne over telefon i forrigar, och hon grat efter mig, och det gjorde ont i hjartat, da jag inte kan vara dar och trosta henne. Jag sa att hon far tanka att over halva tiden redan har gatt, och att det inte ar sa langt kvar.

Sa ja, i morgon atergar jag till barnhemmet med nya krafter, och ska ladda upp fler bilder denna vecka darifran sa ni far se lite mer.


Now I have been ill for a week with a terrible cough, but today I feel very very much better. Was at the doctor's yesterday and got medicine for airwayinflammation, and a prescription for penicillin just in case it would turn into an infection. A doctor in Sweden would never prescribe something "just in case". Bruce from You2Africa walked me there, that was really kind of him, and much appreciated.
Missing the orphanage loads now, missing to hold little babies in my arms and get out a bit.
Right now I am at the waterfront and have been shopping a gift for my friend's new baby.
Missing Julia so very much. Talked to her over the phone day before yesterday, and she was crying for me, and that really hurt knowing I'm so far away to comfort her. I said she has to think about that over half the time already has past and it's not so far to go.

So tomorrow I return to the orphanage with new strength, and I will upload more pictures this week so you get to know a bit more of how it looks!