Week 46 - Project 365

I can't believe how quickly my visit to South Africa has gone, I fly back to Dubai on Tuesday. I feel so at home here, that I don't want to leave. Santa Shoebox is a year round project but October and November are what we call the 'silly season' and we see little of our husbands and children for several weeks. To me it feels like my husband is the one who has gone away and that I am at home in South Africa waiting for his return. The reality is that this isn't my home anymore and there have been many tears saying goodbye to this beautiful country and some amazing people with no idea when or if ever I'll return.

Sunday morning didn't start very well, we were still ill from the night before and the food we had eaten in the township the previous day. I declare that I now have the full blown flu and require plenty of bed rest and alcohol. I left my friends around 3pm to arrive at anthers where I had a total melt down and there were lots of tears from exhaustion and the realisation that I had just started my 'goodbye' tour. We did manage to pop out for a late breakfast and I very much enjoyed wandering around the grounds of the gifts shops, although I didn't buy anything. My Sunday Photo this week was what the Santa Shoebox project was all about that was the celebrations where the children receive their gifts.

Day 312 #onedailypositive #wooden #fmsphotoaday#music #snaphappybritmums #project365 a rare day off from volunteering during my stay in South Africa and a chance to wander around the craft shops at the local tearoom sphere we had a late breakfast. I've no idea whether this record player in a wooden box still plays music or not but it was fitting for today's photo prompts and I rather liked it.

Monday I packed boxes into cartons, I sorted boxes, I sorted cartons. 

Day 313 #onedailypositive #distraction #fmsphotoaday#sky #snaphappybritmums #project365 it's all Christmas gifts and shoeboxes. I spent a lot of time today looking for distractions in the hope the boxes would magically pack themselves.

Tuesday I packed boxes into cartons, I sorted boxes, I sorted boxes, I sorted cartons

Day 314 #onedailypositive #golden #fmsphotoaday#SomethingRed #snaphappybritmums #project The Golden hour after a day of packing boxes, enjoying a glass of wine

Wednesday I went for coffee with a friend, I collected 350 boxes from a school, I unloaded 350 boxes, I sorted around 50 boxes, I lost the will to live. I wrote out the remaining 150+ name labels.

Day 315 #onedailypositive #blank #fmsphotoaday#stairs #snaphappybritmums #project365

Thursday I tracked down a friend's old maid to give her, her annual christmas money. I collected toiletries from a sponsor, I met a friend for lunch. I packed and sorted 90 more boxes. I collapsed into bed at 11pm.

Day 316 #onedailypositive #curly #fmsphotoaday#YourBreakfast #snaphappybritmums #project365@mcdonalds_za and @kfcsouthafrica has been the staple diet for us volunteers during the @santashoebox drop off in Pretoria. It was only after I took the photo I noticed the curly phone charger

Friday I loaded the van, I drove my friends car to a celebration day in Silverlakes, at the children's home, despite it being a year since I've seen them all I was greater with so much love it was overwhelming. I unloaded a pile of donations. I met my friend with the van who had to go to Joburg to collect cartons and drop at another celebration and drove into Mamelodi to the Alaskan Informal Settlement to drop the boxes off I'd been making all week for their celebration day to be held in December. I felt so much at home today surrounded by people I've spent the previous 4 years volunteering with.

Day 317 #onedailypositive #OneWord #fmsphotoaday#popcorn #snaphappybritmums #project365 YES

Saturday was a 'me day' I visited Irene Christmas market, a place I used to take Bob for walks most weeks, I shopped for new clothes for when I start my new job in Dubai next week and visited a friend and her family for lunch and had an awesome time. I then went to see another friend to say goodbye to their family, then back to where I was staying for a braai, a few drinks and fell into bed around midnight. 

Day 318 #onedailypositive #peace #fmsphotoaday#BlackAndWhite #snaphappybritmums #project365Peace in Afrikaans

My Santa Shoebox journey is now over, it's been 5 glorious years. I can't say I've loved every minute of it, but I will very much miss being involved in this wonderful project.

Week 45 - Project 365

Oh my what a week, anyone that thinks volunteering is easy should've joined me this week, there have been days I've been so exhausted i've just sat and cried. There is still so much to do for Santa Shoebox to ensure every single child gets  a box that has been promised and that's nearly 7000 of them. 
Sunday was operation wrap up, we started at 8am and got home at 10pm. We had to check and scan boxes and pack them into cartons ready for collection on Tuesday, the hall had to be cleaned and tided, the fillers and waste had to be packed into the van and taken to storage. I can't remember eating, using the loo or much else to be honest with you, but it all got done as usual and plans were made for the rest of the week as to how and where we were going to source the extra boxes from that donors failed to drop off or are late with delivery.

Day 305 #onedailypositive #two #fmsphotoaday#pyjamas #snaphappybritmums #project365 it's been a long two weeks, my feet are killing me, my nails are broken, my back is agony, I can't stop thinking about @santashoebox but I suspect having those boxes at the bottom of my bed don't help

Monday was a day of emptying the ford van into the Storage Unit in Lyttleton and crying, I was so exhausted that I kept breaking down into tears and every bone in my body ached. I decided to say 'sod it' and went to have my nails done as every one was broken to the core. I can't even remember whose house I slept in on Monday night.

Day 306 #onedailypositive #fur #fmsphotoaday #flat #snaphappybritmums #project365 yesterday's photo prompts. I'm so tired after 2 weeks voluntary work with @santashoebox it hurts just to type this. This is me this morning flat on my back in bed with wild hair

Tuesday was a long and boring day, it involved going to a cooperate to collect their late boxes and explaining to donors just why I can't give them the location of the child they've given a box to and why it would be highly inappropriate for them and 7000 other donors to just 'borrow' the child for a weekend to shoe them and I quote 'what it is like to live in a real family' geez most of these kids do live in real families, with mums and dads and grandparents and attend school, they are disadvantaged because they are poor, or miss schooling due to ill health or financial issues. For animal tales I reposted a visit to Reitvlei Dam from my trip there two weeks ago.

Day 307 ‪#‎onedailypositive‬ ‪#‎cutlery‬ ‪#‎fmsphotoaday‬ ‪#‎baking‬‪#‎snaphappybritmums‬ ‪#‎project365‬ I'm staying a variety of houses while I visit South Africa so I'm using items from various friends kitchen to enable me to bake cup cakes for celebration days.

Wednesday was a morning of rest and blog posts about how tired I am and washing and some shopping before heading off to storage to unload the van (again) the evening was spent with friends at Ridgebacks, drinking Jam Jars and eating bar snacks, goodbyes were said to a dear friend who is moving away from the area, a few tears were shed. I remember where I slept on Wednesday night.

Day 308 ‪#‎onedailypositive‬ ‪#‎childhood‬ ‪#‎fmsphotoaday‬ ‪#‎sparkle‬‪#‎snaphappybritmums‬ ‪#‎project365‬ with @fordsouthafrica @santashoebox for a photo shoot in Johannesburg ‪#‎PresentsInTransit‬ ‪#‎ssb2015‬ adding a little bit of sparkle to kids with a disadvantaged childhood

Thursday I did some washing and headed off to Kempton Park for the Ford South Africa photo shoot and I collected stationery and paint from a donor to take to several of the facilities I've supported over the years. I headed out to the Viva Sharehouse in Cullinian to spend a wonderful evening with dear friends, hoping that their first grandchild would make an appearance while I was there.

Day 309 ‪#‎onedailypositive‬ ‪#‎6oclock‬ ‪#‎fmsphotoaday‬ ‪#‎bonfire‬‪#‎snaphappybritmums‬ ‪#‎project365‬ no bonfire here for Nov 5th in South Africa but a few citronella candles to keep the mozzies away at the Viva Sharehouse

Friday was a chilled out day, a few chores to complete in the share house, which I'll tell you more about in another blog post when I return to Dubai and then I drove over in the late afternoon to another friends house ready for the celebration days on Saturday.

Day 310 ‪#‎onedailypositive‬ ‪#‎AFace‬ ‪#‎fmsphotoaday‬ ‪#‎reading‬‪#‎snaphappybritmums‬ ‪#‎project365‬ this is my serious face trying to figure out from my lists what to do after a miscommunication re delivery dates of 60 @santashoebox that arrive on Nov 17th to a facility that think they're having their gifts tomorrow. We phoned and explained and we're throwing them a none Santa shoebox party instead with snacks and drinks and party games and they'll get their boxes another week

Saturday was a bit of a disaster, between the two of us we managed to mess up the delivery dates for a celebration and they had gathered all the children together on a weekend in expectation of receiving boxes from us, we explained the confusion with the delivery and I sourced a donor for crisps, sweets and drinks for a impromptu party instead. The children sang songs, danced and they insisted we stayed for lunch. We then had another celebration which was much better organised than the previous years and the care provider had listened to us and had locked the gates and only let in the children who were receiving boxes from us. It was difficult to drive off and not hand out gifts to the other expectant children who stood behind the fence, but we just can't give gifts to everyone, no matter how much we want to. The final facility was empty when we arrived, the care giver had gone out for the day, knowing what time we would be there, it was 38c, we were running out of water and needed to use a bathroom and I just couldn't stand the thought or the smell of the long drop. We left the boxes with another carer who locked them safely away. We returned at 4pm and I was so ill from the heat, lack of sanitation and food and we were both up half the night taking it in turns in the bathroom from the chicken we'd eaten earlier in the day.

Day 311 #onedailypositive #AQuote #fmsphotoaday#WhatYouWoreToday #snaphappybritmums#project365 this is my @santashoebox tshirt I'm wearing to one of three celebrations today in Soshanguve, no quote as such but a much loved and received logo that is not only on my tshirt but the @fordsouthafrica van I'm driving to deliver the gifts.

Volunteering has wiped me out

As many of you know I'm currently in South Africa working with several charities and organisations as a volunteer for 5 weeks.

I lived in South Africa for 4 years, moving to Dubai in December 2014 and I'm so happy to be back home, even if it's just for a few weeks.

You can read more about the charity work I do by clicking the 'charity' link in my blog and here are a is a recent post about some of the work I did out here.

I've spent the last 2 weeks working with The Santa Shoebox Project a national charity that aims to collect and distribute 100,000 boxes country wide to vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

This is my 5th and final year of involvement with the charity as when I return to Dubai i will be working full time in a school and I won't be able to travel during the school term and unfortunately the 'drop off' days are in October and November.

In 2011 we collected and distributed 1,200 boxes

In 2012 we collected and distributed 3,300 boxes

In 2013 we collected and distributed 6,000 boxes

In 2014 we collected and distributed 7,000 boxes

In 2015 the boxes are still coming in but we're on target for 7000 boxes

The Santa Shoebox project is a year round job. We are all volunteers in Pretoria and we all give what time and money we can to support this charity. Some of us are involved in supporting the facilities the rest of the year with donations, teaching, building schools, etc.

We have 2 drop offs in Pretoria which are now both closed for this year and run over 2 days and 3 days for drop off.

The year starts in March when we visit facilities far and wide, covering 100's of kilometres, assisting facilities with registering online, making tough decisions as to which facilities we have to decline, collect and upload name lists, sex and age. We market the project, we collect donations, we contact cooperate donors, recruit volunteers, we meet monthly to discuss our progress. We have NO budget, we are all volunteers, sacrificing family life to ensure that every child in every facility we assist receive a santa shoebox.

For the drop off days we have to set up, this involves printing and writing labels, collecting fillers from the Stor_age unit in the Van from Ford South Africa, who both sponsor us. Laying the hall out, sorting the fillers before the public start to drop off.

We then process every single box, we add a PEP carrier bag who sponsor 85% of the operational costs from Cape Town, we check each and every box contains toiletries, clothing (the right size) a toy, educational supplies and sweets. We scan and pack every box into cartons ready for Laser Logisitics to collect and store until the delivery dates ready for the celebration.

The public don't see all of this, they see the box they drop at the already set up hall and that is the end of their involvement, unless they volunteer or attend a celebration day.

We then spend the next two days, cleaning, tidying, taking everything back to Stor_age, sourcing donors and making up the gaps for the people who pledged a box and failed to show and supervising Laser Logisitics collection of the cartons.

We are 158 boxes short of our target, plus our extras and boot magic for when we attend a facility to discover new children have joined or the kids from neighbouring houses 'pop along' in the hope of a gift from us.

Over the past three days I have worked from 8am till 10pm, I have cried with exhaustion, I've broken every finger nail to the bone, I have lifted and moved and numbered cartons to ensure everything is in place, I have swept floors, taken the trash out, I have written lists of the children's names who boxes we need to make up, I've collected late boxes from cooperates, I have contacted and arranged to collect individuals donors boxes who don't understand why we have deadlines. I haven't been doing all of this alone, well actually the last two days there has only been two of us and numbers started to dwindle on Sunday afternoon. I do understand I'm the only member either without a job or children to look after, but I do worry as to who will do all of this next year, when I'm not here.

This is my bedroom at one of the houses I'm staying at.

This is the coordinator and I sorting lists and organising pick ups and additional boxes late into the evenings.

I've drawn up a schedule for Stor-age to meet the other volunteers to tidy, sort and pack up the missing boxes over the next two weeks.

I get such fulfilment from this project and I cry every single time I realise that this will be my last year with them, it may be a few years before I come back to South Africa, even for a visit, I want to stay involved, carry on raising funds. I have just over 2 weeks until I return to Dubai, so I'm making the most of it, there will be Jam Jar sessions in the local bar, there will be visits to facilities for celebrations, I've driven 5 different vehicles so far, I've stayed in 3 different houses and even stopping in a caravan at a share house next week, as well as a few other friends as well.

Several of the volunteers are moving overseas or away from Pretoria, it's not going to be the same again and that also makes me sad, but I'll leave you with a picture of happiness, with my friends after a 12 hour day and promise to bring you more photos next week of the celebration days, jam jars and a visit to some of the facilities with people that I will forever hold close to my heart.

Week 44 - My Sunday Photo. Volunteering in South Africa

This should've been a photo of the team, in the school hall with 7000 christmas gifts neatly packed into the cartons and captioned 'Job done'

Sadly this is what we will be doing all day. We have to finish checking approx 400 boxes then we can start wrapping up and the computer system will tell us what boxes are needed for which carton.

We were a couple hundred pledges short so team have been making up these boxes over the weekend from physical donations from the public and cooperates. Around 500 boxes that have been pledged just haven't been delivered, either people forgot, many just can't be arsed to get up and bring the boxes in or they've simply changed their mind.

What this means is that 500 children will go without a gift, but those 500 children are spread over 89 facilities, 30 kids here, 10 kids there, maybe just one child.

We cannot and will not go to a facility for celebration day, knowing that some of the children there will not receive a gift, so today is being spent, making boxes, we've run out of boxes, we're running low on things to put in our none existent box.

2011 we were learning
2012 we were short of boxes
2013 we hit target and were making boxes for the Joburg team to help them out
2014 we were over target
2015 we are under target, making a plan and making boxes

Over the next week we need the following donations to help us reach our target, and require the following:

toothbrush/paste/soap/face cloth
sweets
toys
clothing
shoeboxes

If you would like to support the work I'm doing in South Africa you can make a donation here, if you're in Pretoria and can get to the Chinese School today with any donations or just your time to help us with the packing we'd love to see you, especially if you could bring us a decorated shoebox and maybe a cafe latte.

Week 43 - My Sunday Photo. Volunteering in South Africa

62 Santa Shoeboxes, pledged, shopped, packed, labelled and waiting for drop off number 2 to start on Wednesday.

Pretoria North drop off processed 900 boxes on Friday and Saturday. Pretoria East/Centurion will be processing over 6000 boxes. Help us help as many children as we can.

I have the following boxes to make up, as I over pledged so if anyone wants to sponsor a box or two, please let me know. The average box costs £10/R200/AED56

Boy                                                                                      Girl
Nhlonipho aged 9                                                                Lebongang aged 12
Tebohos aged 9                                                                    Keneilwet aged 12
Tumelo aged 7                                                                     Gugukethu aged 12


Santa Shoebox is very special to me, it's where I first found friendship in October 2011 when I dropped off my 5 boxes, met Brittany, Janet and Dorette and ended up staying for 5 years. Sadly this will be my last year with SSB as I now have a job and live in Dubai, but I plan to carry on raising awareness and funds for these wonderful people and the rest of the committee and volunteers to support them in the valuable work they do in the community supporting vulnerable and disadvantaged children.

Want to know more?

How you can support vulnerable and disadvantaged children in South Africa

The charities and sponsors I'm working with in South Africa