Well, yesterday was my last day at CARE. Lots more has happened since my last post! But I need to collect my thoughts before I write more. I have been keeping a journal, although I have not been good about keeping up in any way, but what I am planning to do is post my journal entries, maybe one a week, and that will give people a good idea of what my time was like.
Just a brief update. My flight from Phalaborwa went well. My flight to London was awesome....so entertaining on many levels. South African Airways are great...I watched movies, listened to music, and had two seats to myself, so I actually got to sleep. By far the most entertaining part was that the guy seated two rows down got up and in the time that he was in the bathroom, this disheveled man slumped into his seat...and then would't get up! He wanted to seat for some reason...and kept swearing and was so rude. Pretty entertaining.
So I have a few more hours here, and then I'm on the plane home to Chicago. I am excited to see everyone and tell you about my trip!
Susan
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Wooo finally I can update!!!
Hey everyone! Finally, I have a chance to send all of you an update. There is no internet access, phone access, etc at the sanctuary. I am in town right now grocery shopping. I finished pretty quickly, so I have time to sit and write in an internet cafe. Pretty funny, in one day, I have bought 400 cigarettes, about a keg worth of alcohol, and tobacco...none of which is for me, haha. But that is not that exciting compared to what I have been doing!
Where do I start. I am in love with South Africa. Every day is an adventure, and by that I mean that each minute is precious. There are ups and downs and my time here is a rollercoaster. Basically, my "normal" days consist of waking up around 6 to baboons howling. I usually start my first shift by helping to bring baby baboons into hoks, which are the equivalents of children's playgrounds. I usually am assigned at least three to five hours in the hoks playing with the babies. Other shifts include preparing bottles, washing cages, and scrubbing buckets. Also, I open up a lot of trail mix packages that have been donated as food for the baboons.
There are three hoks that the volunteers work in. Nursery, smalls, and mediums. Nursery and smalls play during the day and are brought in to lab cages at night because the African nights and all the wildlife (I frequently hear lions and elephants!) are too dangerous for the babies. The mediums stay out all the time. Nursery obviously has the smallest kids, and let me tell you, the are adorable. I love all of them dearly, although some are more precious than others. My favorites include Heidi, who has one arm, always has a playface, and likes to bounce around my lap like a little chicken, Isabelle, a little butterball who giggles when I tickle her and is so cuddly, Dingaan, a little redheaded boy who loves to play and looks like a little calf to me, and Anton, a little boy without much hair but who is very sweet. Others include Jasper, who has only one good eye and is a bit of a troublemaker, more on him later, Maxie, who is yellow, Elfin, a tiny little girl, Molly, who has long hair. I love the nursery! Basically, I sit there, watch them play, make play faces at them, play with them, get jumped on, peed on, you name it. My hair gets pulled a ton, but they are better about it now and don't do it on purpose anymore.
Smalls is fun, too, but I don't know them as well. At first, they were pretty rough on me, especially one named Ling Ling, who loves to rip my hair out. I am not as close to the ones in smalls, but we are getting there.
Mediums don't get much attention because they are bigger, but I go in occasionally to give food and bottles. My time is running out so I need to finish up.
So some interesting things (as if my "normal" days aren't!)...
My first full day, I did a necropsy. My second day, I noticed a sick baboon. She died two days later and I did another necropsy. I have been lucky to assist in 6 castrations, a finger amputation, and administering medication. I would say that my time has been somewhat unconventional, but I am so thankful for it! This is as in depth as I can go right now because it is time to go. I won't get to write until I am in the London airport, but I will write then! Hope that everyone is doing well. Thanks to everyone who is following my blog and posting comments, I was very happy to see them today!
Susan
Where do I start. I am in love with South Africa. Every day is an adventure, and by that I mean that each minute is precious. There are ups and downs and my time here is a rollercoaster. Basically, my "normal" days consist of waking up around 6 to baboons howling. I usually start my first shift by helping to bring baby baboons into hoks, which are the equivalents of children's playgrounds. I usually am assigned at least three to five hours in the hoks playing with the babies. Other shifts include preparing bottles, washing cages, and scrubbing buckets. Also, I open up a lot of trail mix packages that have been donated as food for the baboons.
There are three hoks that the volunteers work in. Nursery, smalls, and mediums. Nursery and smalls play during the day and are brought in to lab cages at night because the African nights and all the wildlife (I frequently hear lions and elephants!) are too dangerous for the babies. The mediums stay out all the time. Nursery obviously has the smallest kids, and let me tell you, the are adorable. I love all of them dearly, although some are more precious than others. My favorites include Heidi, who has one arm, always has a playface, and likes to bounce around my lap like a little chicken, Isabelle, a little butterball who giggles when I tickle her and is so cuddly, Dingaan, a little redheaded boy who loves to play and looks like a little calf to me, and Anton, a little boy without much hair but who is very sweet. Others include Jasper, who has only one good eye and is a bit of a troublemaker, more on him later, Maxie, who is yellow, Elfin, a tiny little girl, Molly, who has long hair. I love the nursery! Basically, I sit there, watch them play, make play faces at them, play with them, get jumped on, peed on, you name it. My hair gets pulled a ton, but they are better about it now and don't do it on purpose anymore.
Smalls is fun, too, but I don't know them as well. At first, they were pretty rough on me, especially one named Ling Ling, who loves to rip my hair out. I am not as close to the ones in smalls, but we are getting there.
Mediums don't get much attention because they are bigger, but I go in occasionally to give food and bottles. My time is running out so I need to finish up.
So some interesting things (as if my "normal" days aren't!)...
My first full day, I did a necropsy. My second day, I noticed a sick baboon. She died two days later and I did another necropsy. I have been lucky to assist in 6 castrations, a finger amputation, and administering medication. I would say that my time has been somewhat unconventional, but I am so thankful for it! This is as in depth as I can go right now because it is time to go. I won't get to write until I am in the London airport, but I will write then! Hope that everyone is doing well. Thanks to everyone who is following my blog and posting comments, I was very happy to see them today!
Susan
Sunday, May 4, 2008
I made it!
My flight to Johannesburg was ok. The man sitting next to me was Irish and was pretty funny. There was this baby behind me that started crying around 1am and didn't really stop til around 3. So I didn't sleep much, but that's ok. I was lucky because there was this really nice guy from South Africa on the flight and he directed me through Customs and even helped me find my luggage. Unfortunately, one of my suitcases didn't arrive in Johannesburg. I waited for over an hour and a half at the baggage claim, but ended up leaving without knowing where my bag was because I needed to catch my flight to Phalaborwa. Luckily, we were able to find out where my bag was here. I went back to the airport and picked it up a few minutes ago. So despite a bit of problems, everything seems to have worked out fine on my way here!
So tonight, I stay here at this hotel. It is very colorful. Of course, my favorite part are the house dogs, all of whom are very friendly. Tomorrow, a staff member from C.A.R.E. picks me up and I start my work with the baboons!
So tonight, I stay here at this hotel. It is very colorful. Of course, my favorite part are the house dogs, all of whom are very friendly. Tomorrow, a staff member from C.A.R.E. picks me up and I start my work with the baboons!
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Well, I survived my first flight. Right now, I am sitting in the International terminal at Heathrow. It is pretty quiet, although there are a lot of people around. I am here until 8 pm tonight. Then, I fly to Johannesburg. For now, I am going to get some reading done. It is so strange to think that it is only 8 am my time...because here, it is 2 pm! That feels about right, too.
My next flight will be about 10 hours long...ouch! But it will be ok. I might get to write when I get to Phalaborwa.
My next flight will be about 10 hours long...ouch! But it will be ok. I might get to write when I get to Phalaborwa.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
The day before
I can't believe that tomorrow night I will be on a plane to London...then one to Johannesburg...then another to a town called Phalaborwa. For those of you who I haven't told a billion times about my exciting trip, I am going to South Africa to work with a species of baboon called a chacma baboon. Should be a good time. I have never worked with primates before, unless some of my classmates qualify, so I am expecting anything to happen.
Basically, I will be feeding, cleaning up after, playing with, and medicating 4oo of these guys. Some of them are injured because they were laboratory animals or they were trapped and got away. A lot of them are orphaned when their mothers are killed by leopards, trappers, or being hit by a car. So one of my more exciting tasks will be to care for little orphaned babies.
Well, off to do some more shopping. More later.
Basically, I will be feeding, cleaning up after, playing with, and medicating 4oo of these guys. Some of them are injured because they were laboratory animals or they were trapped and got away. A lot of them are orphaned when their mothers are killed by leopards, trappers, or being hit by a car. So one of my more exciting tasks will be to care for little orphaned babies.
Well, off to do some more shopping. More later.
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