Placement today went very well! I worked in the salon with two other volunteers who are hairstylists and volunteer their time to come in and cut/style the hair of the patients for free. They are super nice and I really enjoyed working with them. I got to wash hair and talk with the patients that came in to the salon. Wow…it is amazing to watch their facial expressions in the mirror as they are getting their hair done. They walked out looking like completely different people and you could see the smiles it brought to their faces. I then began working on a quote for the 750 treats we are putting together for the patients and staff at Valkenberg. This is a much more difficult task than I thought. First of all…not all of the patients and staff speak English. Some might speak Afrikkans or isiXhosa and there is a varied degree of education so it needs to be something that everyone can understand. I came up with 2 pages of options but we will need to work on narrowing them down.
After volunteering the staff took us to a restaurant in one of the townships that is very well known and was showcased during the World Cup called Mzoli’s. There was also a band that played called Abakhaya Marimba Band and they were fabulous. We then went to see a youth group called Bongani perform and they were so gifted. It is formed from a community center that tries to help those in the townships have healthy outlets through music, dance and the performing arts. It was a real treat to have the opportunity to see them perform.
After we got back I went in to town to try to exchange some currency…news flash…every other country besides the US I believe closes early. Banks close here no later than 3:00pm or 3:30pm. Better luck tomorrow!
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