After months of anticipation and several trips to the South African High Commission with my volunteer visa, I arrived in Johannesburg to start a year’s voluntary work with Project HOPE UK. 

My first impression of Johannesburg is “what a cosmopolitan city it is”, the same as any large city in the world, even down to the main motorway from the airport being covered in road works just like the M1!  The area I am temporarily staying in reminds me of Orlando in Florida, wide roads, gated communities and lots of shopping malls! 

Initially I am staying with Terxia Chegwidden, chairperson at The Haven Centre, a key local partner which works with Project HOPE UK. The Haven Centre is the umbrella group of 12 community based organisations. I have been made so welcome by Terxia, her family and friends that it has made my transition from cold England to sunny South Africa very easy.

I am working with great people, the majority all local volunteers, who give up their time happily to make a difference to the poverty that sits side by side with the affluence that is South Africa.

I have been spending my first two weeks settling in, finding somewhere to live, sorting a phone, internet and car.  I have also been spending time meeting the 12 organisations that partner Project HOPE through The Haven Centre. These partners run many different and life-changing projects covering a whole spectrum, including hospices, mother and baby clinics, orphan houses, drug and alcohol abuse centres and pre schools. Also many of the partners provide training for caregivers, health educators, nursery school teachers and much, much more.

I was expecting to do a huge variety of things, but didn’t imagine in my first week that I’d be standing in the back of a massive container, unloading five and a half tonnes of donated goods that had just arrived through Durban docks from Project HOPE UK. I was amazed at the amount and variety that had been donated - crutches, blood pressure monitors, weighing scales, emergency blankets, tissues, latex gloves, dressings, peak flow meters to name just a few. 

Having met some of the organisations, I knew what a massive difference these items are going to make to the people of the West Rand. After unloading all of the boxes my next task was to pull an inventory together; I have never counted and double counted so many brown boxes in my life!

We are now distributing all of these essential items around the local partners. The reaction from the people who work at these organisations and the people who are benefiting has been so uplifting and positive, it has been a joy to be involved. Project Hope have been working hard over in the UK and I know there are many more tonnes of essential and life changing donations ready to come out to South Africa. I have a feeling that lots more unloading and inventories will be coming my way in the next few weeks and more importantly huge benefits to the disadvantaged people of the West Rand.