Nadines Abschlussbericht

Final report
15.12.2007-13.3.2008

I spent 3 months in Middelburg in the Children’s Home of the Dianne Lang Foundation.
During this time I experienced a lot – many good and nice things as well as some bad things. But the mixture of both made my stay as great as it was.
I arrived one week before Christmas when the children had holidays for 6 weeks. It was a very good chance to get to know all the children much better and quicker because when I worked from 7h00 till 19h00 I spent 12 hours a day with them. Also the fact that I celebrated Christmas and New-Years-Day with them gave me the possibility to integrate myself much quicker.
At the beginning it wasn’t always easy to get in contact or to communicate with the staff because of our different languages. But during my stay it got better with some of the staff-members.
Furthermore I liked the fact that the Foundation didn’t give me too much rules, so that I was free, could use my own imagination and had the possibility to do the things I had in mind. That’s why I could paint all the rooms of the children, organize 2 birthday-parties and do other things like salt-dough or beadwork. So I used my own ideas and left my own impression which will hopefully last for a long time.
The only problem to realise the activities was sometimes the staff. As a volunteer you have to be very tough and self-confident to convince the staff with your “new and unknown” ideas. Also you have to set them limits so that they don’t transfer their work to you.
The first month, during the school-holidays, we were two volunteers. When school started again a new volunteer arrived and a lot of daily things changed. Because of the fact that the children came back from school and finished lunch not before 14h30 and had a lot of homework to do there wasn’t much time left for other activities e.g. going for a walk.
In this time I experienced a lot of problems with the homework of the children. The first days I was really desperate because I couldn’t believe that a child of grade 5 is unable to give me the result of 190+1. But during the time I recognized that this isn’t the fault of the child but of the teacher, especially of them in the township schools. The problem is that the township school can’t offer the children a good education. That’s why it is very difficult for them to get out of all the bad circumstances.

To play with the children, to see them laughing and being happy is such a nice feeling that I won’t forget my whole life. I got to know a lot of backgrounds of the children and it is really unbelievable to see how happy and wonderful they are now. Every child needs a lot of love but also gives you a lot of love back. For them it is very important to have someone who shows them that they are special and that they were loved by someone.
Of course I also experienced a few negative things concerning the children. Although all of the 40 children are wonderful, they can be very naughty. Sometimes it was a big problem to handle them because they don’t show much respect to a 19year old girl. That’s why they often didn’t listen.
Another good thing was the weekly staff-meeting. To take part at a staff-meeting is very important for a volunteer because so you get involved with all the staff-problems, you know what’s going on and you feel like a part of the staff.

In my opinion the mixture of holidays and school-time during my stay was the best. During the holidays I had a very intensive contact with the children, when school started again I learned the other side of their lives and could help them a lot with their homework.

All in all it was a very nice time with a lot of experiences which made me more tolerant, open-minded and influenced me very much. That’s why the decision to spend some time of my life in the Children’s Home in Middelburg was one of the best in my life and I will always remember it in a very good way!