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Monday, November 3, 2008

Mondays...

...Are just too terrible for words.

Honestly, they are the worst day of the week. Just when you get used to the weekend, Monday comes along and spoils everything.

Mondays should be included in the weekend.

Who wants to start a campaign with me?

This weekend was a busy one to say the least.

But, before I get to that, I must address the question of the "9 inch heels" :) I use it as a figure of speech and so in fact, there were not actually 9 inches, but out of interest I did measure them and they are 4.5 inches. Which is bad enough to stand on for 6hrs a day, 2 days in a row. Here are the suckers. Sympathy is needed..go ahead. Especially since I have to do this again at the end of November. What is that I hear you say? I have a hole in my head? Yes dear friends, the need for some extra cash does strange things to ones reasoning.



I managed to get some colouring in books and crayons through my work to donate to a Christmas party that was held at one of the government hospitals nearby. I went along to it and to visit the kids that were in the hospital.

I went there thinking that I was going to be the one to make a difference in the kids lives, but came away feeling as though they were the ones who made a difference in my life.

The hospital is a typical South African government one. Underfunded and under staffed. They have to make do with broken/faulty machines and facilities that are in desperate need of upliftment. But, the nurses here are wonderful. They hardly get paid anything and yet, they give of themselves everyday. The children who are there are from families that cannot afford private health care and so, when the kids get sick, they land up there. Some children have been there for months. Parents dont stay nearby and dont have the transport to visit the children often and so, they get very lonely and bored. We stayed with them for 3 hrs on Saturday morning and gave them presents and treats. Because it was a Christian based party we prayed with some of the mothers who were there with their tiny babies who more often that not were HIV positive. Here are some of the precious children we spent time with.

If only people could appreciate what they have. Some of these kids have been there for months, have tubes coming out everywhere, but still smile when we come past. Its heart-wrenching and makes you realise that your problems arent so bad after all.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow Chell, what a motivating post! I do quite a lot of volutary work with children with learning/physical disabilities and I completely get where your coming from with realising that your own problems aren't so bad afterall.

Awesome "9 inch heels" too! :-)

Anonymous said...

Lovely post.. maybe thats why the crazy folks do bad stuff on mondays? " I dont do Mondays etc etc.."

Good to see your visit to the hospital.. Iv done this myself twice.. We did a collection to buy gifts for all the kids.. Lovely to see.. Steve

elasticwaistbandlady said...

Yep. Our church pushes for the members to join in with service projects and so does our faith based homeschool group. Helping others softens your own heart, reprioritizes what you think is important, humbles you, and gives much needed perspective.

I only own flat heeled shoes. And even then I stumble and trip pretty frequently. A stilletto would ensure an instant death trap for someone like me. :)

Rox said...

Hey :-)
Flip those heels are insane!!!
Saturday morning sounded great!! :-) it is so funny how we take things for granted, we mope about the small things yet there are people out there with nothing and still seem to smile! I used to attend a group from church called seeds and we went to the government hospital here and some of the sites were horrific!! I have such a huge desire to help kids with nothing, my heart goes out to them!! :-)

Ya i am a huge rugby fan too and oh my word i had no voice left either! Yay bring on the boks!
:-)

aubreyannie said...

what a great thing for you to go to that hospital! it does make you grateful for what you have, but so nice to give service to those who need it.

and ouchie on the heels--9 inch or 4.5 inches. i can only wear heels for so long before my feet are screaming at me.

aurora said...

What a neat thing to go the hospital. We sure are blessed, and it is really apparent when we visit with those who are truly struggling.
Love the heels! And respect and admiring you for wearing them. :)

aurora said...

oops, "admire you" -- not 'admiring you!' freaky. :-)

Klin said...

Gotta be more woman than me to wear those heels. Ouch.

Love the hospital visit story. It is really why I do what I do. One life touched makes it all worth it.

Nancy Face said...

I'd fall on my face if I tried to wear those heels! :0

Nancy Face said...

This post is wonderful and the pictures are so sweet. I'm glad you took the opportunity to share your time and your happy smile with the children. :)

Chellie said...

I love it Chell! You are so awesome and giving. The pictures are very touching and you are so beautiful.

Megan said...

i couldn't agree more about mondays... thought somedays i feel like EVERYDAY is monday!

i'm happy you posted a picture of those HIGH heels. lol

good for you for volunteering. it's nice to get outside ourselves and think about someone and something else.

angiedunn said...

i'd join that monday campaign....sign me up!

you are an amazing girl, ya know that? great post...oh! and i'm happy to hear they weren't really 9 inches...but those do look like doozies, dude.

Jayci said...

what an awesome experience of service!! you are inspirational, and so sweet. And those heels look like they are killers!

Busy Bee Lauren said...

I am glad to see that the heels were 9 inches! I would have been scared for you haha!

You are so inspiring! What cute kids!! I want to hug them :)

Anonymous said...

I just nominated you for an award thingy! http://wafflesandblethers.blogspot.com/2008/11/proud-bookworm.html
xx

Randi said...

Yay Chell! I love doing things like that, but don't get out NEARLY enough to to them!
Thanks for the great reminder that perspective can change you.

Hannahkin said...

CHELL! you have another South African reader! happy... and jealous :) now i am not special and stuff :P

hi, Rox! :)

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