Frederike Quaak

Lots has happened! Just one case now

Wed, 05 Mar 08 15:07:16 +0100

It's been a while since I posted something on this weblog, sorry for that!

The baby I wrote about last time is in our care now. She's doing really good. Smiling a lot! It's also fine that her older sister can see her now. You can see she really enjoys seeing her baby sister.

For the past few days we had to take care of a few more kids:
Last saturday a 3/4 years old boy was abandoned by his father and left at a bar. When we were there te fetch him, he was hysterical. He was screeming, kicking, beating. Was really sad to see. We had a hard time approaching him. Because it seemed that he was under the influence of some drugs or alcohol (his dad was an alcoholic himself) we wanted to take him to the hospital for blood tests.
The ride to the horpital was crazy! We was screeming and kicking the whole time. Halfway to the hospital he started to pull my hair... On the highway we almost hit some drunken guy, it was just unbelievable!
The hospital was even more crazy... Spent almost three hours there, seen four different departments and none of the departments wanted to help us.
In the end we went home and took the boy with... Had a bit of a hard time, but after a night sleep he was doing a bit better.
On Monday we took him to the hospital. The result of his blood tests are still outstanding. During the examination the doctor found out that he had been abused as well. According to the doctor he had recently been sodomized... Because his he tested negative on an HIV test, he's on ARVs now. It's very hard to give him the medication, he gets so angry when you try to give it to him. He has to take the medication for 28 days, to prevent him from a possible HIV infection.
Today we brought him to a lady who is experienced in working with difficult kids. It was sad to leave him, we have seen so many changes in the short period we took care of him. But it's good he's somewhere, where he's been loved and taken good care of!

Have to go now, next time some more cases and my birtday on the beach!

School presentation

Mon, 11 Feb 08 14:11:32 +0100

On Friday a 4 months old baby was brought to the drop-in centre. The baby looked not very well. We cleaned her and left her to sleep for a while at the drop-in centre. The girl is Sindi's sister. Sindi a little girl who is staying at Mother of Peace. Her mother just passed away and she has been sexually abused herself. She now stays at Mother of Peace and her baby sister is staying with her aunt.

The Saturday support group was a little more busy than last time. The kids are so sweet. When you see them you cannot imagine what they may have gone through. Will upload some pictures of them later.

After the support group we went to Durban for the weekend. On Sunday we went on a city walking tour, which was very nice. Amongst other things we saw the Victoria Street Market, where they sell a lot of spices, the traditional healers market, the mosque and a lot of other things. In the afternoon we went to the beach. It was very windy, but very nice. We tried to swim, but the current was too strong!

This morning we went to a school for a presentation on Bobbi Bear. It was grade R, which means that the kids are 5 years old. Mildred gave the presentation, it was all in Zulu so I didn't understand anything ;) But the kids were very quiet when she was talking. It is so funny to see that they are very eager to answer a question! In a while Mildred will go back and talk to them again. In this way she wants to earn trust and she hopes kids who have been abused will speak up to her. This one of the ways in which Bobbi Bear tries to get hold of cases of sexual abuse.

time is flying

Fri, 08 Feb 08 09:24:21 +0100

Two weeks have already passed... This week we had training on HIV/aids and the Bobbi Bear. It was very interesting and even though I already knew a lot about it, I still leared a lot! It is always good to hear what happens and what the CSO's have to deal with. I also followed one of the CSO training days. Erica (the police captain) told us about the child protection unit, how the police functions, what kind of forensic evidence collection kits they use etc etc. It was a really interesting talk!

Last weekend Erica took me to Thanika. Last time when I was here Bobbi Bear had just resued the little girl. Her mother was an alcoholic an drug addict. At the point of rescue the girl looked really bad and was sick all the time. But now she looks really good! It was really nice to see her again, although she was a bit scared of me.... ;)

From sunday evening till tuesday evening we had no electricity... Sunday evening there was a thunder storm, the lights went of a few times, but after three times it stayed dark. We had to use a headlight to go to the toilet... I just heard that the electricity company had just forgotten to switch the electricity on at the place where we are staying after they had fixed the problem.
Last night we went to a club in Durban. When it started to rain very heavily, it started to 'rain' on some places in the club as well... It was really funny! Today unfortunately it is still raining.

Yesterday we had our second tree clinic. I helped Hannah with treating people at the tree. Sometimes you see things you cannot imagine. One man had stepped into a piece of glass and had a very deep cut in his foot, but was still walking bare footed!

First days

Thu, 31 Jan 08 13:02:00 +0100

The first few days have already gone by! It is really good to see that much has changed since the last time I was here! Beside the premises at Mother of Peace (a childrens place of safety), Bobbi Bear rents a house, where they have offices and a counceling room as well.

It was really nice to see everyone here again! People here are so enthousiastic! They really make you feel at home. At the moment I'm staying at a cottage at Mother of Peace together with 3 other volunteers.

On the second day we were here we went to court to oppose bail. The accused is suspected of sexual assault on two boys. Being at a court case is an interesting experience. Some people they have to call people from outside, some of the accused are just not there. You are just sitting between people who are accused of (attempted) murder, victims, family of victims. Today we had to go back for judgement on the case. Lukely he has to stay in custody until his case appears. So that was our first succes!

Frederike

Only a few days to go!

Mon, 21 Jan 08 11:07:29 +0100

Thank you for visiting my weblog! In a week I'll be in South Africa again. For the past two years I've been doing volunteer work in South Africa. Just as last time I'll be going to Bobbi Bear. This organisation helps sexually abused children in the Durban area. Besides this they are also very active in HIV/AIDS education and prevention.
In the coming 5 weeks i'll try to post stories (and pictures) on this weblog every now an then. If you're interested in this project you can subscribe to my mailinglist (on the right) and you'll receive an email every time I post a message!

A little more on myself: I'm a 25 years old Dutch girl. I graduated from university in 2006 (Life Science and Technology, Delft University of Technology) and for one of my internships I went to South Africa to do volunteer work at a high school in Kayamandi township (Stellenbosch) and in The Dream Centre (also one of Be More's projects). Currently, I'm working at the Netherlands Forensic Institute. In August 2006 I went to Bobbi Bear and really enjoyed working there. In a week I'll be there again and hope to see a lot of changes!

Frederike