Gone but will never forget

07 Jun 2008 at 00:15

I have been home for a week now and the adjustment has been a bit more of a challenge than expected but we're getting there...

As anticipated, the last week+ at Bobbi Bear was incredibly busy for me. Not only did I have a number of documents to get together for the girls' case, I also had my final Tree and my farewell with the Bobbi Bear staff.

A quick update on the girls' case: court should be next week sometime. I know that even though myself, BB and the police officers pushed and pushed to keep the kids safe that there is a good chance that they may be returned to the hands of their abusers if social welfare has their way. As I was getting ready to leave I was very stressed that there seemed to be nothing more that we could do at Bobbi Bear to keep them safe. Days before I was to leave, I was thrilled to learn that a feisty children's advocate had agreed to take the girls' case (pro bono, cuz there's no money for lawyers!)!!!! Jackie and I went in to Durban on the...

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Going home, areas of need and plans for sustainability

18 May 2008 at 22:00

My days are numbered here now. Even after extending my stay I’m not sure that I’m ready to leave quite yet, I have A LOT of things that need to get done this week. But, I do realize that I need to get back to my life so that I can continue to pay my bills!

What became abundantly clear upon my arrival here a couple of months ago is the amount of need for everything. The obvious need is easy to see when the kids show up without shoes, clean clothes and most importantly, without parents. Operation Bobbi Bear itself relies on donations from the local community. There is a local grocery store that provides regular food donations as well as a variety store that donates any applicable items that can be included in our rape kits; however there is a desperate need for regular and consistent support. I'm including the list below for a number of reasons: 1) You never know whose reading this blog and what connections, commitment or amount of money they have 2) I would like to see...

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We made the newspaper!

26 Apr 2008 at 21:08

Brothel children stay in care
Carvin Goldstone
April 26 2008

"The battle for the custody of the two little girls aged two and four, who were rescued from a brothel at Mount Vernon in Hillary earlier this year, continued in the Children's Court on Friday, with the magistrate ruling that the children remain in the custody of foster parents until the matter returns to court on June 10.

The children were staying with their father and grandmother when police acted on information that the home they were living in was being used as a brothel.
Bellair police swooped on the home in February and arrested three women, including the children's grandmother. The women were released and fined R500 each.

The children were placed in the protection of children's protection organisation, Operation Bobbi Bear.

The children are now in the care of foster parents until the court decides if the children can be released back to another member of their family or if they...

Read more: We made the newspaper!

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The Past Week - Part 2

25 Apr 2008 at 22:42

So I've not updated the situation with the girls because it has been tenuous this week, and we've been working our asses off! Our court date last Friday was postponed until Monday. On Monday our team showed up at court with our hope and our bears - I must tell you, these children are lucky, they have people fighting for them including a ploice duo who have been committed to making sure these children are not placed in the same environment from whence they came. After many hours the magistrate decided that there was reason to investigate the alleged granny's sisters situation (as she's had a history of being connected with brothels). She remanded the case until Friday (today) giving us and the police only 3 days for the police to investigate and for us to do what we could on our end. Keep in mind that we still haven't been able to get paternity established...I'm still amazed that at this point we've not been able to determine who these children actually belong to, who their...

Read more: The Past Week - Part 2

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The Past Week - Part 1

25 Apr 2008 at 21:45

Our kids were back on Saturday and when my girl saw me she ran right over, oh, pure joy. Sdudla came up to me and showed me the baby's bottle, filthy with the nipple chewed off. Every day here reality slaps you in the face, we have soooo much in Canada, never would we see children walking around with no parents, no shoes, tattered clothes, no diapers or bottle for the baby let alone the two older siblings (11/12) taking care of the younger three. It's shocking.

A Bobbi Bear foster mum (Lovely Lorna)had an extra sippy cup so we ran over to her place to get it and then back to support group for our kids bath, we didn't have the bubbles this time (i have to remember for tomorrow!) but bathtime was still enjoyable. I had brought some of the clothes left over from the girls but we had no boys clothes, so the two boys were rockin' the pink last week. After bathtime Sdudla came up to me and told me that the kids were going to be walking 2-3 hours to go see their Gogo (grandma) and...

Read more: The Past Week - Part 1

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Load shedding and other news from South Africa

18 Apr 2008 at 10:52

So, this is my second attempt at writing this message as the power went out just as I was about to post yesterday! This phenomenon is called ‘load shedding’ and is basically rolling brown-outs; a schedule is posted to alert you as to when your area will have its power cut (usually for 2-3 hours at a time) throughout the week. Welcome to SA!

So, back up a week and a half to last Wednesday. Every Wednesday we have our Tree Clinic where women and children gather to sing, pray and to get counsel from the medical clinic for any ailments they or their children may have. This Wednesday was a special one because a local company called Beares was sponsoring their annual ‘birthday party’ at Tree. Not only had Beares delivered new furniture to Bobbi Bear for the drop-in, counseling room and beds for our place of safety, they also arrived at Tree with a tent and lots of balloons, food, drinks, desserts and goodie bags for the kids! There were well over 100 kids as schools...

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Small victory

07 Apr 2008 at 17:41

The week-end with the girls was a lot of fun! On Saturday, after watching Black Beauty over the previous couple of days, the girls were prepped for horse back riding on "Blossom"....who is, thankfully a girl horse (as I was told from the older sister). Thanks Deon for taking us! :) On Saturday, Uncle Allen (Jackie's husband), Sindi (Jackie's daughter), me and the girls went to Crocworld, which was great fun for all of us as we got to wander around and look at the monkeys, snakes, and best of all CROCS! There was a big daddy croc that ust have weighed close to 3 tonnes.

This morning was insane but I won't get into details as the case is still pending. Good news!! We got the kids placed with the foster parents that Bobbi Bear found which is amazing and lets me breathe a sigh of relief. The girls have had some contact with this couple (who are lovely) and so they were NOT placed with strangers. I was able to give them a full briefing on the girls,...

Read more: Small victory

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Bad news then good news...for now

05 Apr 2008 at 21:22

A lot has happened since my last post. I have continued on with the girls where my roomies, Eline and Karlien left off; one of the other dutch volunteers also moved in to help care for the girls.

We have been desperately trying to get Social Welfare to get 'involved' in this case. The girls were suppose to be in Bobbi Bear care for only 6-weeks, I believe it's closer to 10 weeks now. With Jackie going to Holland soon (and the foster/ crisis parent) as well as the need to place these girls in a family environment, we let Social Welfare know that we had to get moving. Note to how Social Welfare works here....um, it doesn't. You would be shocked an disgusted at the poor judgement and decisions made by SW here (e.g. sending a child back to her parent home for the weekend where the father is accused of sexually assualting the child for years).

Needless to say Social Welfare has done their best to stonewall. The Social worker on this case has just made her second visit to...

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Africa time actually goes quite quickly!

22 Mar 2008 at 09:25

This week us new volunteers finished our training as CSO's so we are all hoping to get to action and help out!

OIn Wednesdays we help at the Tree Clinic, this is a gathering of women and kids to pray, sing get medical care and donations of food and clothing. It's amazing to hear of how far these women walk with children tied to their backs with blankets (no strollers or 'made' slings here)to get to the Tree. Sweetie and Mabel run the Tree while us volunteers play with the kids, help to provide medical aid and in any other way we can.

This week my roomies had their farewell at the Tree with the two girls, it was very moving and special. They had to perform a Zulu dance with some ladies of the Tree and some of the kids too!

As for the girls, we have been trying to get them placed with a foster family before their two volunteer caregivers were to leave this weekend. Sadly, the Magistrate was suppose to show up yesterday to meet the kids and hopefully push through...

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First update

18 Mar 2008 at 15:53

Wow! Sorry it's taken so long to write....as you can imagine, there are many things going on here and I am no longer hooked up to the Internet I.V. (it's taken a while to adjust to that!)

Upon arrival I was placed in a cottage with 2 volunteers and 2 young children that had been resued from a brothel about 5 weeks before. When I met the children they were (surprisingly) very well behaved, I learned only later that these two had not only been found in a brothel that was full of used condoms, with no food as well as no birth certificates, medical documentation or any other documentation. Essentially, we really are not sure who these kids are, where they came from and who their parents are.

The two had apparently been so neglected that they had never seen a toothbrush before, were scared of water (obviously rarely bathed) and the older of the two spent much of her time scratching and biting; the younger, still in diapers had been so neglected that she is developmentally...

Read more: First update

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Name: Molly Deal

Volunteered at Bobbi Bear from 10 March 2008 to 19 April 2008.

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