How Do You Say Peekaboo in Xhosa?

We've spent a month each in Trujillo, Peru and Paris, but Cape Town will end up as our longest stay on this trip.  Why did we decide to stay here for so long?  In addition to being ridiculously beautiful (we'll have pictures up at some point), the city is also home to our second volunteering project.

For six weeks, we are volunteering at Baphumelele Children's Home, a sanctuary for orphaned, abandoned or neglected children.  The home is located in Khayelitsha, the largest township (in South Africa, a term referring to Apartheid holdover non-white settlements on the periphery of urban centers) in the Cape Town area with 1.5 million people people living in shanties.  The residents here face poverty, some of the highest crime rates in the developed world, and frighteningly high HIV infection rates.  In fact, HIV/AIDS is the reason many of the children are orphans, and a number of them are infected themselves.

Baphumelele looks after over 200 kids of varying ages, but Magge and I focus on the "Baby House", a group of nearly thirty three month to three year olds.  We, and four other volunteers on our shift, assist four full time caregivers in this task.  The primary chores are helping to prepare bottles and food, feeding, brushing teeth, bathing, but most of all we play with them.  We're supposed to "attempt to carry out at least one activity" per play session, but anyone who has dealt with kids that age knows a structured activity is an unlikely event.  Thirty kids that age that barely speak or understand English (their first language is Xhosa) running around a room makes it extra unlikely.  If I can get a kid to play catch or sing a song with me, I chalk one up in the success column.

Even though the ratio of adults to children seems good, being in the Baby House can still be overwhelming.  The kids are all craving adult attention, and they swarm anyone that walks through the door.  If I sit down, there are immediately three rugrats squirming their way into my lap.  There are always a few kids crying, and they don't listen to the volunteers very well (probably due to a combination of the language barrier and the itinerant nature of the volunteers).  Some of them have behavioral or even neurological issues, and dealing with them can be taxing.  One child, whom Magge guesses suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome, lacks coordination and has to wear a helmet as he stumbles around the room, knocking others down to the floor.  He's taken a liking to Magge, and she does a fantastic job of showing him attention when some of the other volunteers prefer to ignore him.

Thankfully, the long, intense days are balanced by a schedule that allows us to recharge and explore the Cape Town area.  We work in three day shifts; when we're on shift, we stay in the Baphumelele complex, and our off shift time is spent in a house just outside of Cape Town.  Aviva, the organization that administers the volunteer program at Baphumelele along with various other programs across the country, organizes activities for its volunteers and provides plenty of resources.  Both Magge and I have been impressed with how well the operation is run and it is definitely a nice change from our disorganized time with Bruce Peru in Trujillo.  We've already been here for one week and are very much looking forward to the next five.