It has been a week since I arrived in Cape Town and this is the first time I have gotten a chance to sit and write.  So many amazing things have happened in such a short period of time, but I will try to be a thorough in my updating as possible.  But PLEASE excuse all my typos, I am writing this quickly. Also there are pictures on my Facebook!

Let me start from the beginning.  My plane landed half an hour early on the morning of May 11th. While waiting for my ride I met another AVIVA volunteer who happened to be on the same flight. Her name is Maryeke and she is from Holland.  We were picked up from the airport by a smiling woman named Ursula  who's every other word is "darling". 

We arrived safely to our AVIVA accommodation, a warm building with surrounded by a thick wall and eucalyptus trees in the garden. After unpacking the department store that I brought with me Maryeke, Laura( another volunteer who'd already grown accustom to Cape Town) and I headed into Cape Town via Mini Bus. Now, I must explain the "Mini Bus". From the perspective of a foreigner they seem a bit worrying: A  rickety old mini van with passengers piled to the brim free from seat belts and a man hanging from the open door yelling "Cape Tune, Cape Tune." But once you are inside it seems surprisingly safe and actually quite fun. 

We met up with some German girls and wandered through some of the cities nicer gardens until  and then hurried home to beat the darkness.

The second day was a near perfect day so Maryeke and I took the Minnie Bus taxi down to an area known as Camps Bay.  Camps Bay is officially where I will be owning my house! The beaches and line by homes and Cafes with the mountains jetting up into the background.  We sat in the sun and drank Cappuccinos (very African) and ate Salads. Later we wandered along the seaside and I bought an animal skin bracelet for 20 ran or 2 dollars. 

The next morning I began my work at  Masigcine. Masi is a well looked after children's home in the township of Mfuleni.  There are 30 children  living there and ss you enter the brightly colored space they all clamor on top of you, quickly taking to call you "mama."

The children's ages range from about 2 months old to 9 years old.  There are five sets of twins and at least one HIV positive baby. 

As I sat playing with the kids and trying to split myself 30 different ways in order to give them all equal attention I got to thinking how grateful I am to have had  the upbringing I had.  There is obviously no room for  individuality in an orphanage. You are another mouth to feed, another nappy to change, another crying baby who wont go to sleep. You are not a little person with emotions and feelings. I hope that while I am there I can at least connect on a deeper level with one for two of the kids. I do not just want to be another white "mama" here to play with them for a couple of months. 

For our fist shift, we( me and the other volunteer) only worked for one day ( which was exhausting enough) and in the morning we were picked up to go on a tour of the largest Townships in Cape Town. A Township is basically a enormous ghetto. 

Once inside the township its self we were met by 10 African men dressed in Black sweatshirt.  

They were the organizers of a group put together to combat crime and poverty within their community. They use soccer to keep young kids off the streets and tourism educate foreigners about the culture of the Townships. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.  We walked through the rows on tin shacks and arrived at large primary school with brightly uniform school children sitting under a tree. We were let into a classroom and encouraged to sit and talk with the children. I was a but intimidated at first, staring to a room full of confused looking school children but was quickly beckoned over by a young girl as a young boy wiped off a chair for me to sit in. We sat and chatted about the differences between the American schools and the African schools( there weren't as many as I would like), HIV rates in America, and as one boy asked "why do all the rappers throw money around, why don't they give it to the poor people?"  They are all so eager to learn and proud to be in school because "education is the future." 

We went next into a local hangout( a tin shack with newspaper wallpaper) to taste the traditional beer. The beer was loaded in into a tin can and passed around the room; its tasted like bile, but I didn't tell the African tour guides that! We then, went to a snack shop to taste the traditional snack of choice( a ball of fried bread). 

Next we were treated to lunch at one of our tour guides homes. It was quite good in fact, a sausage, corn mean with a vegetable sauce and homemade ginger beer to wash it down. 

All in all it was a wonderful experience. So many tourist never venture into the Town Ships because they are told that they are too unsafe, but I think under the right circumstances visiting them can be an enlightening experience. The people are wonderful and so eager to talk and share their world with you.