Place of Hope is an amazing place and truly fits its name. I have really enjoyed my time at POH and getting to know the clients there and the people who work there. I love spending time with the kids and getting to hear the life stories of them and their families. Many of these stories have brought me to tears instantly or at least later on that day. The things that these women have gone through, and still are able to get up each day with faith, hope and a peace with God, renews my faith. I am not sure where their strength and spirit comes from but wow, I am amazed that they can have so much.
At POH I do a little bit of everything, basically I fill in where I am needed. I work mainly as a receptionist, answering phones and controlling the keys and gate. But I also help out in the daycare, chase the school children around, run an after school program on Tuesdays, and just lend a hand where I can. But I love doing anything I can.
I have built some amazing relationships with the clients and the people who work there. I am only sad that it took so much time to build these and now my time is almost up. But I try to spend as much time as I can with my new friends, including visiting their churches on Sundays or getting lunch with them on the weekends. I have really enjoyed my time here and I hope that someday I will be able to come back again and that I will always be able to keep these relationships strong. It will be hard to say Goodbye. I do not look forward to it.
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KATY'S ACTIVIST PROJECT:
I chose A Place of Hope Women’s Shelter for my social activism project. This organization takes in women and their children who are coming out of abusive and violent relationships and have no where else to go. Violence against women is a serious problem in South Africa, so organizations like A Place of Hope are essential. Currently, the organization has 16 women and 27 children living there, along with 3 permanent residences. However, the shelter will usually hold up to 35 women and 50 children. In addition to providing the women with a place to live, they also provide food, clothing, counseling, childcare, and help the women find employment. The women are allowed to stay up to 6 months, but are not kicked out if they need to stay longer and each woman is assigned chores.
I spent 10 hours volunteering at a Place of Hope in one day, from 8:00 am to 6:00pm and I hope to go back a few more times before my time is up in South Africa. One challenge to my activist project was finding transportation to the shelter. I spent the entire day watching and playing with the children. Earlier in the day I spent time with the younger children, since the older children were at school. I sat with them while we watched the Lion King, 101 Dalmatians, and played different games. When the older kids came home, I stayed for after-care. We had an Easter egg hunt, since it was the week before Easter. I hide chocolate Easter eggs outside and then let the children run around and find as many as they could. We divided the chocolates evenly in the end among the children. After the Easter egg hunt, we played different games outside: catch, soccer, played on the swings, and just sat and talked. It was an exhausting, but very fun day.
It was my first time in any kind of day care and I learned how much attention and care children really need. The children were very sweet and welcoming to me. They fought for my attention and were excited to have a new playmate. I didn’t get to interact with any of the women staying at A Place of Hope, because they were all working. I was surprised to learn that all of the women are holding steady jobs. It was interesting for me to learn about the organization itself. As a Psychology major, the type of counseling they do for the women and children especially interested me. I also learned about the organizations main donors; where they frequently get food and other necessities for the residents. I learned that most of the people working at the shelter hadn’t received a paycheck in a while because of lack of funds. I was inspired that they were working without wages, just because they were so dedicated to the organization and the women and children. They are very understaffed because many of the workers couldn’t stay without a salary to support their families. This gave me some insight of the challenges many NGOs face. After seeing how great A Place of Hope is and the wonderful things they are doing by helping these women and children when they need it most, I decided to donate 2000 Rand to the organization that I had been raising for a fundraiser that fell through. I am going to request that this money goes to the salaries of the women working there.
The work done at a Place of Hope is specifically related to what we are learning in our Women in a Global Perspective course in many ways. It is dealing with domestic violence, a serious issue that needs to be addressed and eradicated. Domestic violence not only affects women in South Africa, but women in all countries around the world, including the United States. Women are verbally and physically abused in relationships regardless of their country, race, or class; it is a global women’s issue. A Place of Hope works to rehabilitate and heal women from their past abusive relationships, as well as empower women to become independent and strong. Ending domestic violence is an issue I feel passionately about and I plan to continue my involvement in battered women’s shelters when I return to the United States. I hope to find one close to home that I can volunteer my time.
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