Jennifer, one of the volunteers, plays with a crèche child during their recess. The kids are blessed with an extensive play structure including ladders, bridges, swings and much more. It was similar to an obstacle course used at camps or by the military but kiddie sized and more fun.
Topsy logo and website address on one of thevehicles in Topsy's fleet. They use their trucks, buses and vans for a variety of activities including transporting crèche kids, bringing patients to see the social workers, nurse and doctor to receive ARVS (anti-retroviral drugs), business trips and much more.
These crèche cuties couldn't resist the camera and really wanted to inch closer and closer and I and so I had to motion for them to stand back on the suspension bridge and smile for the pic.
This is one of the many halls in Topsy's Rufford House which is one of the buildings left over by an old coal mine that was in Grootvlei, the town where Topsy's sanctuary is located. At the sanctuary there are 36 children who live at the sanctuary which I referred to in my last blog as an orphanage. While some of the children are orphans and many have lost one or both of their parents to HIV, not all are orphans but are there for a variety of reasons.
One of the income generating projects that Topsy sponsors and manages is with 30 women from the surrounding area that are taught how to make various bracelets, key rings, hair pins and more out of beads. I will show more pictures of this in my next blog but just wanted to give you a visual to see one of the ways in which Topsy trains skills to locals in need and fundraises for the plethora of activities that it is doing.
Last night it almost felt like a going away party for me after spending less than 36 hours at Topsy but the fun wasn't really for me in fact it was a birthday celebration for a few of the children. Each month they wait until the final child is celebrating his or her birthday to celebrate the birthdays of all the children. I am hoping to go back to Topsy at another point during my stay here as 1 1/2 days was not nearly enough and while I did a lot in this short amount of time there is much more I would like to do such as joining the field staff as they visit patients living with HIV/AIDS, work in Topsy sponsored community gardens and more.
Like always I keep any photos of me until the end and this one is special and this little girl whose name I know but will choose to exclude due to privacy became one of my best friends at Topsy in my short stay. Her younger sister is a real cutie too and she is the little one on the bridge above with the light blue soccer jersey and shorts and her older sister works at Topsy. There were a number of siblings staying at the sanctuary which must be good to support each other. I wasn't asked by Topsy not to share names or take photographs but I think that it is important to protect the rights of the staff and the children even though most of them will never even see this blog, etc.
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