allyson and bryan

I know it was a bit of a surprise to you that Bryan and I decided to volunteer at an orphanage in Africa. It was a bit of a surprise to veteran volunteer (and one of my favorite travel people ever) Jayney when I told her before our first shift, "Well, I'm not really a kid person." And in all honesty, before our first day at Baphumelele, I was full of doubt and worry as I heard about conditions there and realized what our days would entail -- and as I listened to other Aviva volunteers talk about their projects with penguins and safaris and nature conservation.

True: Hanging out with 80 small humans every day for five weeks isn't exactly something that, before we planned this trip, I ever thought I would do. But let me just say -- after spending just three days on the project I've never felt better about a decision in my life. The kids are just amazing. They range in age from six weeks to 18 years, and live at Baphumelele in Khayelitsha around the clock, arriving via a variety of expectedly sad circumstances. Yes, some of them (we don't know who) have HIV, and many are underdeveloped and/or suffer from a variety of emotional and physical handicaps. But their smiles? Huge, indiscriminate, and in endless supply. It's hard to describe how it makes you feel to walk into a small dirt playground after just one day of work and have five tiny toddlers turn, smile, and run full-steam toward you with their tiny arms outstretched.

So what do we do each day? It's an exhaustingly full day -- one that can start as early as 4 a.m. if you choose to help with baths. (None of us have done this yet, but we will.) I'll list out a basic schedule below. Our "shifts" consist of three days and three overnights, meaning we arrive at Baphumelele at 10 a.m. on, say, Monday -- and are picked up at 10 a.m. that Thursday morning. Then we have three days off before starting over again. Bryan, Jen and I will work five shifts total before our last day on August 22.

What surprises me most about the program is how much one-on-one (or really, more like one-on-seven) time we actually get with the kids. Mostly they want to play or sit with you or just be held for a few minutes.

6:30 a.m. -- WAKE UP
7:00 a.m. -- Prep baby bottles for the day
8:30 a.m. -- Assist with teeth brushing
9:00 a.m. -- Wash breakfast dishes and help clean up
10:00 a.m. -- Play with toddlers in playground (weather-permitting) or inside (otherwise)
12:00 p.m. -- Distribute lunch and help toddlers eat
1:00 p.m. -- LUNCH BREAK*
2:30 p.m. -- Prep afternoon snack for toddlers and pre-schoolers
3:00 p.m. -- Pick up pre-schoolers and assist with snack prep and distribution
4:00 p.m. -- Run hour-long homework session (Bryan and I are assigned to 5th-6th graders)
5:30 p.m. -- Assist with dinner prep and distribution
6:30 p.m. -- Wash dinner dishes
7:00 p.m. -- Cut vegetables for tomorrow's meals
7:30 p.m. -- DINNER BREAK
8:30 p.m. -- SLEEP**

* Note that between eight residents of the volunteer apartment, only one appliance (kettle, stove, microwave) can be used at a time. Thus, lunches are staggered.
** Or maybe play Scrabble first.

You don't do every single task every day, but you do most of them. And you also do laundry throughout the day as needed -- there's a lot of laundry. And sometimes you do other random chores, like sterilizing bottles or medicine droppers or playing soccer or sweeping the volunteer apartment. And you sleep really, really well at night, despite the lack of heat and abundance of bedbugs.

I'll tell you more about the kids next time. OH and I need to ask for permission to take photos of the kids -- I'll make sure that happens as well. In the meantime, I've uploaded a few apartment photos and some from our pre-orphanage Cape Town days, and Jen's got a set of Kili pics in case you want to revisit that madness. I can't wait to get back to Baphumelele! Honest.

stars, they're just like allyson @ 1:39 PM