My Project

Boys Town, Tongaat, South Africa

I have received confirmation of my project in South Africa. I will spend 12 months in The Boys Town Boy Home, Tongaat.

Background

Girls and Boys Town

Boys Town is situated north of Durban, near Tongaat, just a stone’s throw from the Indian Ocean. One of four similar centres in South Africa, it
caters solely for boys who have been taken into care, mainly because of behavioural problems, parental neglect or abuse. Boys’ Town aims to turn boys around as often these boys find themselves on the wrong side of the law, the facility provides a secure environment in which boys can be allowed to fully develop and take a different path. is The volunteers work alongside a mainly Asian staff from the area’s high Indian population. My role will be concentrated in the afternoons and evenings when the boys return from school. I will be expected to organise sports and cultural activities, help with homework, lend a listening ear and support the other staff by providing positive male role models for the young residents. The volunteers often become very close with the residents but earning their trust and support is not a given and requires a lot of patience and dedication. Boys’ Town homes are part of a world-wide organisation and philosophy according to which the boys themselves are encouraged to develop their sense of belonging and understanding of community through being significantly involved in decision-making.

Life in South Africa

“Spending a whole year in South Africa is a great way to gain an insight into an extremely diverse country; geographically, culturally and historically. For many volunteers thoughts of Africa conjure up visions of mile after mile of rolling dense savannah, mud huts and dirt roads. South Africa doesn’t easily fit into this preconceived picture, if anything it is most defined by how many different aspects and identities it has and is suitably named ‘The Rainbow Nation.’ Wealth and poverty are often juxtaposed in close proximity and for all the hope and optimism in one of the world’s most beautiful countries, there are also a number of challenges the country is facing. You can expect to see sophisticated and 
westernised urban hubs with shopping malls, multi screen cinemas and restaurants but also sprawling townships and rural populations with a very basic standard of living. Through placing volunteers in a variety of settings and surroundings and encouraging them to communicate with and visit their fellow volunteers we aim to provide opportunities to gain a unique insight into the wide spectrum of cultures and social conditions within South Africa”.

- David Entwhistle, Desk Officer to The Republic of South Africa

The area my Project is in truly shows how diverse South Africa is. You can see houses with swimming pools right next to townships where the “houses” are made of corrugated Iron and scavenged bits of wood.

Tongaat                                                3 Minutes Walk Left of My Project

Large Houses With Pools Three Minutes walk right of My Project                  Township Shacks 3 Minutes walk to the Left 

My Accommodation

The volunteers have a flat on the Boys’ Town facility, and will eat in the dining room with the boys and the staff.

Boystown tongaat
The Boys’ Town Facility

Preparations for Departure

I need to complete my Visa application for South Africa which includes:

  • Yellow Fever Vaccination Certificate
  • Disclosure
  • Radiological Report (Chest Xray)
  • Full Medical Examination
  • Visa Fee
  • Birth Certificate

I also have to get my Rabies injection which means I will have to endure 3 shots on top of the yellow fever one!

Finance

I have finished my core fundraising for Project Trust (£5,400). This covers everything but my visa, injections and person expenses. Unfortunately South Africa is one of the most expensive countries to obtain a visa for, this is not because of the Visa fee but because of the medical checks, xrays and injection certificates (which must be done privately as they are not covered by the NHS). So I will be fundraising to help meet these costs.

As ever I would really appreciate any donations and will be eternally grateful just drop me an email (lewis@lewissouthafrica.co.uk)

Legal Notice: This will cover my visa and injection costs and not my Project Trust core fundraising. My core funding is complete.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me so far, this is going to be a truly amazing experience and I cannot wait to get started.

Yours

Lewis Sweeney-Slavin 

South Africa: Update | And so It Begins

Journey Road Sign

The Journey Begins….

I recently received a letter from the charity I will be volunteering with for 12 months. It informed me that within three weeks of receiving the letter I will know exactly what project I am placed on but more importantly who I am placed with. As you can imagine I am now stuck in a whirlwind of anxiety and excitement.

About a week ago I was also added to the South Africa Volunteers Facebook Page which sends my phone wild with constant notifications.  It’s a great forum where I can express my thoughts and feelings, often they are pretty much the same as the other volunteers. The idea of emigrating to another country is now becoming very real however there is still so much to be done in terms of exams, injections, visas etc.

On Monday I was lucky enough to be interviewed by BBC Radio Scotland who done a small piece on what I had been doing to fundraise, much to the delight of my headteacher who revels in good publicity for the school. The local news papers have also been very helpful and have really done a great job in getting the word out.

It is exactly a year since I was on selection with the charity and so much has changed; I’ve moved school, done two shows, turned 18 and now have wisdom teeth. Already Project Trust has become so much a part of my life and I haven’t even left yet! Project Trust are currently booking selection courses for 16-19 year olds who want to go any of the 23 countries it serves, if you feel like you want to make a leap of faith into what could be a life changing experience then here’s their website: www.projecttrust.org.uk. Plugging over.

I will of course let you know everything once I get my placement letter and I can’t wait to find out who I am going with! Thank you to everyone who has shown me such kind support and encouragement this simply would not be possible without you.

Binge Britain

britishbingedrinking

Boozy Brit passed out on a city centre bench

In just a few weeks time I reach the age of 18 and I will legally be able to buy alcohol. Many of us only drink socially either with friends or at family gatherings however it is reported that 1 in 13 adults in the UK are dependent on alcohol and 33,000 of us die each year from alcohol related causes. The “binge culture” seems to be rife and if you walk through pretty much any city centre on a Friday or Saturday night you will see boozy boys and girls with their head between their legs redecorating the pavement with a regurgitated kebab.

It’s not so much the long term health effects that we have to worry about but the immediate dangers a drunk person faces. First of all alcohol makes you feel warm when in actual fact you are dangerously cold, this means when you are staggering home or even worse passed out in the street your body cannot keep warm, as a result hypothermia sets in causing you to slip into a coma and ultimately die. The second danger is other people, being drunk makes a person extremely vulnerable to crime. Anything could happen when you are disorientated and cannot defend yourself, this could range from a mugging all way up to rape. The third risk is that you are not fully aware of what you are doing and therefore do not think about the possible consequences of your actions. It is this fact that lands hundreds if not thousands of young people in front of magistrates each week after vandalising a car or getting into a drink fuelled brawl.

We as a nation produce some of the finest alcoholic beverages in the world, from Scotch Whiskey in Scotland to Cornish Cider in the south of England. Our reputation for great alcohol is tarnished by our reputation for great alcohol consumption. Other European countries have a café culture relationship to alcohol and it would be socially frowned upon to be face down in the street. I am not saying other EU nations are perfect but their attitude towards alcohol is staggeringly more healthy and safer than ours. Britain has a problem with consumption in moderation, this can be seen not only with alcohol but also with food as we are not far behind America in the obesity crisis.

I’m not suggesting we need more legislation -I think we have enough of that already- all we need to do is be more responsible in our drinking. By all means let your hair down on a night out with friends but don’t become the person sitting in a police cell or lying in a hospital bed. Our behaviour goes far beyond us and can have detrimental effects on other people. Being drunk in the street is a common experience for many but it should be a lesson for us not to do it the next week. Drinking is not the problem, the problem is when we carry on drinking past that stage of being drunk. It’s up to all of us to know our limits and stick to them as best we can.

Channel 4 Report on Binge Drinking:

We Are But a Blip

lifes a journey

We don’t have long

It’s very sobering to think about how short our lives really are, in fact it is a subject the majority of us try to avoid. I am at the ripe old age of 17 and I have nearly lived a quarter of my life which is very unsettling for me to think about. As a British male I can expect to live to about 77 years old which is not long at all and it seems like the past 17 years have flashed by without me giving them a second thought. In the 60 statistical years I have left I have to fit in; university, marriage, buying a house, having a child, a career, not to mention all the unexpected life events we go through.

It brings to mind the ultimate unanswered question; why are we here?  We try to come up with rational and logical explanations but the truth is we will never have an answer that is absolutely correct. Some of us believe the life is merely a test which will determine our eternal fate, others believe we are here to leave our mark before we eventually depart. All these theories and answers have their own merits and will be the right answer to some and  of course the wrong answer to others.

We spend the first part of our life learning; to walk, to talk, to imagine, to think. Then we get to enjoy our youth; clubs, climbing the career ladder, being answerable to nobody except ourselves. The we find the person we build the rest of our lives with; fall in love, get married, have children and buy a house. Lastly we enter the afternoon of life; our hair begins to grey, wrinkles get deeper, we can’t use the stairs. I don’t believe for a second that life is that simple but we cannot ignore the fact that from the moment we are born we are running out of time and our lives are an experience of constant degeneration.

Even though our lives are short they are full of amazing milestones. I can’t wait till the day I may fall in love with someone who I will spend the rest of my life with. I also wait for the day that I may be able to hold a child in my arms and call them mine. I am only 17 but I still wait for these things like a 5-year-old on Christmas eve. The next 17 years will come as quickly as the last and  by that time I will be pretty much half way through so it is fundamentally important that I make the most of them.

Whether you believe life is a blessing from above or the result of a natural science remember it’s not long. I think the key is to do what is important to you on your own terms. Life is a journey it begins and ends the same for all of us but what happens in between is up to you, take your own path. Before you know it you’ll be on your death-bed considering your achievements and downfalls, you decide what they will be today. The clock is ticking so make every moment mean something. I believe the meaning of life is to live it. I have but a blip of existence but it is my blip and I am going to make it matter.

South Africa: Update | The Fundraising Bookshop

 

books

A few months back me and another volunteer hosted a jumble sale. The day went great but we were left with a lot of books and DVDs, as a result we have decided to set up an online bookshop. Everything we sell is in good condition and goes towards our placements so why not check us out:

http://thefundraisingbookshop.ecrater.co.uk/filter.php?sort=date

There are loads of good reads so get shopping!

 

Review: Mary and Martha (BBC Drama)

Mary and Martha Hillary Swank and Brenda Blethyn

© BBC Films 2013

The BBC drama Mary and Martha is extremely moving and at points truly heartbreaking. The stars – Oscar winner Hilary Swank and Golden Globe winner Brenda Blethyn – really portray the characters effectively and their performances pack an emotional punch.  The drama focuses around Malaria and the effect it has on the two women’s lives. It brought to my attention the very real dangers of the disease and the sheer number of people who die from it each year.

Both of the principal characters are mothers; Mary (Hilary) is an American woman who decides to withdraw her son from school after discovering he is the victim of bullying. She takes his education into her own hands and takes him off to South Africa to teach him whilst travelling. Martha (Brenda) is a British woman and her son is selected by a volunteering charity to work in an orphanage also in South Africa. Both sons are only children so it’s not surprising that their mothers adore them, this only adds greater sadness to the deep tragedy of the plot.

The boys both catch malaria and die as a result. Mary’s son falls victim to the disease due to a hole in the mosquito net and Martha’s son because he did not take his anti-malaria medication. Mary cries in agony as doctors try to resuscitate her son which was extremely hard to watch and made my heart peel.

The women bump into each other by chance in a South African Cafe whilst Mary is retracing her journey and Martha is going to visit the orphanage where her son lost his life. They are united by grief which is also what empowers them to try and make a real change. The drama climaxes in an American government committee room where both women give a very dramatic and powerful testimony which nearly brought a tear to my eye.

The unlikely pairing of the actresses makes a surprisingly fantastic combination. Both performances were utterly believable and the raw emotion both actresses show makes the drama so moving. Malaria, like HIV, is a disease which continues to devastate Africa year on year, we simply cannot comprehend what pain every African mother might feel at loosing her son to either disease. The fact that the story pivots around an American and a British mother brings the subject closer to home.

Mary and Martha is one to watch and I would especially recommend it to anyone, like me,  who is considering travelling to Africa. It is available to pre-order at Amazon.

Our Red Tape Culture

Red Tape Over Regulation

We are being limited by our own worry.

Today I received my Public Collections Fundraising permit from the council. I did not expect there to be 4 double sided pages of regulations which all seem a bit frivolous and some are even verging on unachievable. I know that the public must be protected from crime but is there really any need to go to such great lengths? I was even thinking about saying to the council thanks but no thanks due to the very complex wording of the regulations. The legal jargon seems all rather threatening especially when all you can make out is “Failure to comply will result in criminal prosecutions” and “It is an offense to…”.

We as a society have become anxious  about almost everyone and everything, this has resulted in ridiculous legislation that is more of a hindrance than a help. I’m sure we have all heard “There was a time you could leave your doors unlocked”, of course it all depends on where you live but I would feel absolutely safe if I left my front door unlocked and I quite frequently do. The point is crime levels have not increased it’s just our perception of them, in fact last year alone crime fell by 8.9% compared to 2011.

I feel this constant suspicion is particularly prevalent between people aged 40+ and young people. When I wear a hoodie on the way home from school old ladies avoid eye contact put their head down and scurry along quickly, yet when its a bit warmer and I am in a collar and tie they have no hesitation in saying hello. I agree that some teenagers are bad eggs but in the most part we wouldn’t dream of intimidating an old person. The suspicion also evident the other way in that teenage girls are suspicious of older men and if an older gentleman happens to even just glance at a school girl in passing then they are labeled a perv.

I have been honest my entire life yet all this form filling and CRB checks makes me feel like I have done something wrong. All I want to do is stand in the middle of town with a bucket yet it seems I can’t do that without filling the appropriate paperwork with the council, being CRB checked and complying with various regulations relating to the security of collection boxes and submission of statements from both myself and a chartered accountant.

I don’t know if this legislation and over regulation is echoed around the world but I suspect that it is very much a British thing. We are a nation full of unnecessary worry and I think it’s about time we all calm down and carry on. Not everyone is out to get us  in fact I can confidently guarantee that most people are honest and mean you absolutely no harm.

I suppose the moral of the story is be more trusting of people. Being more trusting will open up the world around you and will help bridge and create relationships which otherwise would not happen. Next time you see a teenager in a hoodie remember they are probably just tired and want to get home to watch the telly, and the next time you pass an old man remember he probably has daughters of his own and hasn’t got a bad bone in his body.

Duty Above All

The Queen

Her Majesty The Queen

Whether you are a royalist or not we can all agree that the Queen works hard for her age. Whilst most 86 year olds will be at home watching daytime television or baking cakes the Queen is traveling all over the world to attend countless diplomatic appointments and engagements.

For the first time in a decade the Queen has found herself in hospital again due to gastroenteritis. The Queen is elderly, the Queen is frail, the Queen gets ill but has she ever moaned about it? No. The Queen cannot retire or take it easy and she has served us well over the past 60 years. She vowed that she would be our monarch for her whole life and so far she has never let us down. She puts duty above all else and I don’t think we pay her enough credit.

I have always been a royalist and I personally admire the Queen. Even when her husband was seriously ill in hospital during the jubilee celebrations she made every engagement and celebration, in my opinion that is real commitment and sacrifice. Many people say that she is just a tourist attraction and that she does nothing of any real worth however I believe she is invaluable in that she serves as a constant in the ever-changing world of politics. I think that any Prime Minister would agree that her guidance and wisdom has aided them in making better decisions, after all who knows Britain better than the Queen?

We cannot forget that the Queen doesn’t just belong to us, she is also the Queen of the commonwealth. I have found that in the Commonwealth there is more respect for her than there is here. She is welcomed with open arms whenever she makes a trip to Australia or Canada, she is so loved all around the world and I think sometimes we take what she does for granted. We do not appreciate the fact that politics isn’t all about having debates in parliament but is also about making diplomatic connections all around the world, a job the Queen does excellently. Many world leaders have a respect for her that they simply do not have for Ministers and Prime Ministers. The Queen is also the head of the Armed Forces and the Church of England so we simply cannot imagine the strain she must be under and the decisions she will have to make, or at least agree to.

I think we have reached a happy medium in the UK where we are not living under an autocratic monarch nor are we a republic. We get the best of both worlds and in comparison to some other nations we have far more democracy and freedom. Whether you like it or not the Queen is here to stay and I don’t think she will ever stop doing her duty. She works so incredibly hard for us and has devoted her life to the service of her country. I think her commitment can only be admired and long may she reign.

 

 

South Africa: Update | Injections | Training

Inkections Lewis South Africa

Dreading injection time!

The months are slipping away and I am getting more excited by the day! I have been researching the country and have been getting all hyped up about going but secretly dreading all the things I will have to do before I leave, the main thing of course is injections. Nobody looks forward to a seemingly nice lady sticking something that really hurts into your arm or in some cases areas which need not be brought up in polite blogging.

I received an inoculations email the other day which did not make for easy reading. Project Trust recommends six inoculations and that’s just for a start, there may be even more depending on the region. The main things I am worried about are; how big the needles are, where the nurse intends on putting the needles and how much I will have to pay for the privilege. I shall not moan however, if I want to go to South Africa it is a necessary precaution and it is a lot better then catching one of the diseases the injection is designed to prevent.

I also received an email recalling me to the lovely Isle of Coll 15th-19th July 2013. Training is something to look forward to because not only will I get to sample the delights of the Project Trust kitchen again but I will also meet my partner for the first time. I have asked a few volunteers what they feel about meeting someone they are going to spend 12 months of their life with just 2 weeks before departure and I get a mixed response. Some are really looking forward to it (like me) whereas others are dreading it and see it like a date of execution. I can see why some may dread it however what’s the worst that could happen? Yes you might have a row every now and then along with some teething problems but I am sure in the end everything will be fine. I have absolute faith in Project Trust and I am sure they will pair me with the right person (although I may be reading this back in a years time regretting posting this). Having an amazing journey in common is surly a recipe for success and meeting new people is nothing to be feared after all submersing myself into South African society will be full of new and exciting people.

Thanks to everyone you has supported me thus far and remember you can follow my journey here or on my website http://lewissouthafrica.co.uk

More updates will follow in the coming weeks

The Internet: There’s no escaping it

There's no way out of the internet

There’s no way out and you might as well get used to it

Today I did the incredibly vain thing of googleing myself to see what would appear. The first few results were what I was expecting (Facebook, twitter my fundraising website etc) but as I scrolled down the seemingly endless pages of results I realised everything I had ever said or done online was readily available for the world to see. To my horror I found my abandoned Bebo account that was full of immature and attention seeking comments that were truly cringe worthy, the worst thing about it all is that I have forgotten the email address I registered the account with so I am utterly powerless to get rid of it.

Being locked out of my account made me realise we can never really be free from the Internet; if you think about how many years you have been using the Internet for, the amount of online accounts you have signed up to and the amount of online accounts you have probably forgotten about it is easy to see that there will always be information about you online. Even if you have never touched a computer before in your life there will still be endless information about you sprawled all over the Internet, sites like 192.com will happily provide your address telephone number and even birth records to anyone who wants it. How? you might ask, well increasingly public domain records are being digitised without the people the information belongs to being notified. 192.com bases most of its search software on the electoral roll as well as census information.

Increasingly employers are trawling the Internet to see if  candidates are really as wholesome as they say they are. Its not just potential employees that are being monitored; there have been countless cases of employees being sacked after drunken photos and naughty statuses have appeared online. In our ever growing and ever evolving society it seems that our worth is being measured by the amount of “likes” we get on a status or the amount of anonymous followers we have.

Of course it’s not the Internet’s fault after all the Internet only knows what we tell it; we signed up, we ticked yes to the terms and conditions so now we have to live with it. As a child of the technological age it is hard for me to imagine what life was like before the Internet and like so many other people I feel life would be incredibly difficult and even lonely without it. There is a great chance that I will be cut off from the Internet whilst I am in South Africa and I wonder if it will be a good thing to kick the addiction or a bad thing to turn the social life support off.

Nobody knows what the ever expanding Internet will be able to do next but we do know that there is no turning back. Multi-million corporations are now dependent on the Internet for business and our economy would wither away even more if we were to suddenly loose connection. It seems that the Internet has become our worst enemy whilst at the same time becoming our best friend. It has become impossible to loose contact with people; just type their name into Facebook and you can re-kindle an old friendship or even better go through the photos and read their statuses to see how kind life has been.

Many critics of the Internet remark that it is a tool for the government to watch us however I feel it has become a tool for us to watch the government; with the creation of Wiki Leaks and the countless MPs committing foe pas on Twitter the government is more transparent than ever, whether it chooses to be or not. It all boils down to being careful what we say and I have always believed that there is a simple way to be responsible on the Internet; before you type anything think to yourself Is it necessary? Is it true? Is it kind? If its not then don’t post it.

The only way to truly escape the Internet is to never have been born and since we have no control over that there is no point going on a quest to remove every scrap of information on us online. It’s just a case of thinking before posting a status or ticking a box. We say stupid things but the difference is that when we say them on the Internet they won’t go away, they will exist on some distant server just waiting to show themselves.