EIL Intercultural Learning

Danielle Rosenberg Polak and Qiqa Mcilong ration out fruit to the children at an awareness talk in Freedom Farm township.

As our final week here in South Africa looms, special moments and memories have already formed. After spending time with the NGO, we then moved on the HIV and AIDS Clinic, where we are volunteering now. This is a day hospital with a special ARV unit (the medication taken when you are HIV+ and your CD4 count is less than 250). The unit is divided into sections where there are doctors, counsellors, nutritionists and personal advocates. All of them are there to help and support clients who have contracted HIV.

Just about three weeks here and wow, what a whirlwind it has been. We arrived in Cape Town to be greeted by a member of SASTS and were orientated at a volunteer house for one night. The big thing about South Africans is their sense of time, everyone is very laid back along with being super friendly. We then were transported to our host family where we were greeted by a big family of a grandma, grandpa, their daughter and her husband and their three young children.

I haven’t been very good for posting blogs. Lynda’s are so informative and interesting I sit back and let her do all the work!  I have learned so much from her over the past few months and I am so grateful to EIL for being paired with such a passionate and knowledgeable travel partner.