Welcome to Africa!
This post was uploaded at april 2nd.
When I arrived at Johannesburg Airport (where I had to spend the night) a very friendly black guy immediately approached me. He asked me what I was doing in South Africa and where I had come from. When I tried to move on, he asked me if I needed a taxi. I said I was fine and walked through. I found out very quickly that his keen engagement wasn’t about my blond hair or my friendly face, but about booking a taxi! ...I probably gave this Barbie impression, because soon I was followed by six African men, all shouting: “Taxi! Taxi! Taxi! Best Taxi for you! Best Taxi driver from Africa”! Finally I decided to ask this innocent-looking, tiny, little man, for a place to stay and you guessed it... replied, “Hotel? I’ll take you there! Best Taxi!” Eventually I decided that my best option was to spend the night at the airport – no time to get lost and on-the-spot for my connecting flight in the morning.
After
spending the night wedged between two snoring Brazilian guys, I flew to Durban
where I was picked up from the airport by Wilma from Be More. She gave me my
Simcard (0730043397). When we were walking to the car, she told me with a smile
that I could drive if I’d like to. I was surprised by this offer, until I
looked into the car window and saw the wheel in front of me. Aha! the wheel is
of course on the ‘wrong’ side! I slowly walked, a little embarrassed, to the
other side of the car. That’s a thing I’m still not used to! In fact, every
time I have to cross the street I still look to the right first and have to give
myself a little pat on the back. In any case, the environment here is
amazing! Everything is so green and so beautiful! At this moment I’m staying at a Backpackers in
Ushaka where I have my own room. I’ve made two Scottish friends (gingers) and
you probably won’t believe it, but their names are Billy and Willy!!Today was my first day at OVSA! I was picked up by Marlijn (stepped into the car on the right side for the first time!), she is my supervisor. She looks a bit like Addison Montgomery from Grey’s Anatomy. She is very nice and has so far showed me lots of things! We first went to this cute place to have breakfast, where a spider was walking through my yoghurt. “Welcome to Africa!” she said after I screamed! We searched together for another place to stay, because Ushaka is not very close to the OVSA’s office and it’s not that safe for me to travel from there every day. We eventually went to have a look at a place called Tekweni Backpackers. This is where Ben works. Ben is a real ‘cutie’ as Marlijn calls him. I won’t be uploading any photos of Ben yet, because you girls might ask for his number! Tomorrow I will be moving to Ben (!), because eThekwini is really much safer and easier to travel to and from. I will be sharing an apartment with a girl from England.
My colleagues are incredibly friendly and they were very happy to see me! I didn’t do very much today, as I am still getting to know the organisation; they showed me what they have done so far in terms of social media and fundraising – in particular how they receive most of their donations. It’s hard to see that such a beautiful organisation like OVSA receiving so little money. On the other hand, I researched a bit on the internet and it’s unbelievable how many charities are active in South Africa. I am willing to work and think hard about ways to best help this organisation and I might need your help to manage that! I will keep you posted!
This week is the Easter Holiday, so I will probably visit one of the OneVoice South Africa (OVSA) schools next week. I also haven’t taken lots of pictures, and I’m sorry for that. They’re on their way!
For now, thank you for reading! I miss you guys!
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