Aaaaand…there it is.

This was Wednesday’s traffick mess. Burts water main turned fountain. Quite spectacular! You should see what that embankment looks like now a day or two later – there are deep gashes in it where the water redid the landscaping.

A pretty sunrise…kind of cool to see. At the moment it’s usually still too dark to see a sunrise when I pass this point. I. cannot.wait for the 21st of June. Ask me why, go ahead.

Okay I’ll tell you! 🙂

Because after the 21st, it’s going to slowly but surely start getting light sooner in the mornings! Whoo-hoo! I am well aware that the coldest parts of winter usually comes after this point. I’m okay with that – but the leaving home in the dark bit really doesn’t do it for me.

Do you remember last year, when you helped me build a roof on a school? Well this year’s community outreach project has rolled around and it’s completely different. Secret place teams had the opportunity to challenge each other to do anything and ours got challenged to provide toys for a childrens hospital or a children’s ward in a hospital.

The team has selected Joburg Gen. Until yesterday I have never been there before. Wow, what an eye opener! We went there to suss out what they really needed, and obviously I can’t show you the children, but there are a few things I can show you. The ward we looked at was the children’s oncology ward (286). Before I start though, I just need to mention CHOC. You guys are the bees knees. Seriously, as far as we went things were pointed out to us, by the day mother, that make a REAL difference in the quality of care they can provide to the little patients…and mostly they came sponsored from CHOC. She also spoke very highly of the CHOC houses and how it allows the little guys to get out over weekend and experience a bit of real life and joy in the middle of their fight against cancer.

Truly – I tip my hat to you.

This is the baby room.

This room is where they do bone marrow transplants. What they really need for this room is a way to isolate the air.

Excellent view of JHB from way up here.

There’s a mom, who has been sleeping in this chair since February. As far as I know her son is in there for leukemia. Her husband has passed away and it’s just the two of them. Can you imagine what it must be like, if you have lived in a chair by your sick baby’s side since February?

One of the cots. They need cot mattrasses, but it’s a bit tricky since it doesn’t look like any two cots are the same size around there. Also they are not always in that ward, when they’re not needed they get sent back to the pool for use in other wards. At the moment in this particular cot there is a scrunched up piece of egg carton foam with a sheet over it.

I felt sick to my stomach after leaving there yesterday. Not because it was dirty or run down or anything – parts of it was, parts of it really wasn’t. I think the good people of that hospital are doing the best they can with what they have, and it’s plenty! I felt ill thinking about what life must be like for those families. When I look at one of those little cots, I try to see Nicola in it, and how I would feel if she was in there fighting for her life like those children. I hope to God we never have to go through that…even in a private hospital.

If you feel like pitching in with something, what they really need is:

• Fluffy blankets
• Pillow cases
• Drinking cups (hard plastic ones)
• Tea bags for the moms
• Someone to fix a toilet that’s been broken since the beginning of the year
• Someone to fix a wall mounted urn in the mom’s kitchen that’s leaking non stop
• Games for a PS3 that was donated to the ward. The boys wish list include Grand Theft Auto or something Wrestling
• Nappies for bigger kids
• Food ingredients – there is a lovely revamped kitchen someone donated for the mothers, and sometimes they cook food for everyone on the ward. The children love their mom’s cooking (who wouldn’t after hospital food for months on end?)

Anyhoo, I’m off to do some shopping with the rest of the team. Initially we were going to do toys, but it’s a bit silly – they definitely do not want or need toys. So we’re getting blankets.

I think I may have pissed off the weather last week by calling this season hardly a winter. It snowed on the mountains, and got this “lovely” breeze almost the moment it happened. It is f-ing freezing! I take it all back. This winter is deffinitely not a pansy.

So SO cold! Brrr…