I found my way to Africa. And I found more.

Greetings all, hope you're well!

It has now been nearly 3 weeks since I have left South Africa and Bambelela and to be honest, not an hour has gone by where I haven't thought about the farm or the people on the farm or about something funny that happened. Obviously I couldn't sit in my room and cry over the fact that I'm not there any more, I had to get on with things here! I've moved back to my house in college and finished my first week back. I already have college work to do and have also been out several times to celebrate various occasions, which only reminded me how expensive the bloody alcohol is here!

Baby Dolla, Rest In Peace.. xX

  Of course life at Bambelela has carried on too. Boesman, the monkey I accompanied to the vets the Saturday before I left sadly passed away. It turns out the problem wasn't in his oesophagus but in the left ventricle of his heart which then led to problems in his lungs. I know Silke and her team did the best that they could though, these things happen. Dolphina (a monkey in the Handicap cage) gave birth to baby Dolla but sadly she passed away too despite Adele's, Silke's, Belinda's and Chantelle's best efforts. Worth, also in the handicap cage, gave birth as well. Here's hoping her little baby stays strong and healthy!

  Belinda had her 21st party and I'm sickened I wasn't there to celebrate with her. Seeing new photos constantly being uploaded of events and happenings at the farm makes me feel so sad that I'm not there to experience things first hand, but I'm extremely grateful for the time I did spend there.

  As for the whole experience as a volunteer, well, I don't know where to begin really. I really had no idea of what to expect before the trip. I thought the food would be horrible and everything made of mushrooms and goats cheese i.e. two things I hate but people constantly presume I like because I'm vegetarian. There were no testimonials on the volunteer website about the sanctuary so I wasn't even sure if there would be volunteers there!

 . . .I honestly couldn't have been more wrong. I ate two big meals every day for a whole

This is how surprised Mango was at my expectations!

month. It has been years since I ate that well! And there was never a mushroom on my plate or goat's cheese in sight. Thank you BEN! There were also loads of other volunteers there. I arrived with 3 volunteers and greeted 5 other volunteers that were already there. They all left eventually but more new people came every week or every second week. So there was always life in the volunteer house! Not to mention the permanent staff and interns and guests you meet and spend a lot of time with too.

  As for the actual work Bambelela do to for vervet monkeys and all wildlife that crosses their path, it truly is inspirational. I never felt it was a job to the people that worked there, but something they were genuinely passionate about. It didn't matter what time of the night or morning it was, if something was amiss or an animal was unwell, Silke and her team will be up doing their best to resolve the problem or take care of whatever animal needed looking after. It isn't a glamorous job the workers or volunteers do, where they get to cuddle and play with animals all the time. It can involve sleepless nights when you have to look after a sick or orphaned baby, you'll inevitably get bitten, peed and pooped on and are always on-call in case something goes wrong and your assistance is needed. But as Sue put it, we, the people, have the choice to work on the farm, if we don't like it, we can leave. The animals being looked after at the farm don't have that choice. They have  to be there mainly because of people mistreating them and this is where they are nursed back to health and rehabilitated back into the wild where they belong. Here they're given a chance to live the life that was taken away from them.

  That's what keeps you going on days where you feel like the work is too much. Silke herself uses the monkey Mr. Bones as a source of inspiration everyday. He is a monkey that spent most of his long life in a laboratory during which every single bone in his body was broken just to see how they heal themselves. He now wanders free among the wild troops around the farm. Even though his health is now declining with his age, it's because of Bambelela you can say he lived the last few years of his life in the wild as a very happy monkey.

  Now, I really need to thank every single person I met for making my experience as wonderful as it was. To all the volunteers I met; Bianca (missed you talking in your sleep after you left!), Andy & Jo (I only had 2 or 3 days with you guys but Andy's stories where told regularly up until I left, so sickened I didn't get to hear them in person!), Emily (you'll be happy to know me and Mango got on great by the end of my four weeks there ^_^ You were my one and only wine drinking buddy ;] ), Benedikt, Leona & Adrian (Thank you for waitng on me in the airport :P And bringing weird german card games and being full of life and energy every day! Vielen Dank), Bonnie & Matthew, (I will most likely take you up on your offer to visit and stay with you in Seattle!), Deborah & Lauren (Thanks for being brilliantly awful at playing 30 Seconds, and for the fancy shampoos), Katie (I'll be here forever talking about you, thanks for the card games and singing with me and laughing with -and at- me, for getting lana-del-ray's song stuck in my head, for being super smart and helping me do dishes when I was by myself and for being awesome and for helping me survive Pinkfaces, thank you ^_^), Terre & Jackie (thank you guys for having amazing attitudes and positive spirits and for helping me in Handicap and for bringing the Snake Venom Extractor Kit! I'll also have to take up your offer to visit when I go to New York, and thank you for the endless supply of food and goodies you left behind, especially the cheese ;] ), Marley (thank you for bringing some testosterone to the volunteer house, RJ was desperately in need for  a guy to hang out with :P) and last but not least, Caitlin, thank you for being a great help in Handicap and letting me Skype from your kindle and keeping me updated with the happenings at Bambelela after I left!

Left to Right: Deborah, Janina, RJ, Lauren, Katie, Ben, Me, Belinda, Adele, Silke & Matthew

  So that's all the volunteers, so sorry if I left anybody out but I don't think I did! As for the interns there; Minette, thank you for moving into the volunteer house so I wasn't all on my own! And for protecting me from Heleenatjie and the monkeys anytime they attacked me, for sharing your college experiences and stories and giving me a great laugh! I hope your departure from the farm after I left went ok and you get to experience more college life. :) Janina, thank you for teaching me how to take care of the monkeys in Handicap and being patient with me when I kept asking their names! It's a pity you were so sick for my last 2 weeks there, I just hope you get better soon!

  Big thank you to all the permanent staff that are a huge help in maintaining the farm; Mina, Catherine, Ann, Alfie, Oufa (Thanks for saving my camera from Obaru!), Jonas, Andries, David, Bobby and JB (aka linny!). To the people I met along the way like the scouts, The Rovers, (I'm sorry I didn't know that song on guitar when you arrived but I learned it afterwards, tell them Neville! :P) and Zanderi (thank you for one of the best nights out I've ever had!). 

Left to Right: Sue, Ann, Mina, Terre, Jacquie, Oufa, Caitlin & Me

  Ben, my brother from another mother, thank you so much for keeping me so well fed and for putting up with my awkward vegetarianism. Don't forget you have to visit Ireland, it's in your blood! Chantelle and Belinda, thank you girls for our night in town! And for being good fun around the bonfire and teaching me how to make those bread things that I only ended up burning anyway. Miss you guys! Thank you Adele for also not giving up on me when I kept everyone waiting at the airport. And for helping me out when I was by myself in Handicap and being genuinely great with all the monkeys in there. RJ, I don't know what I would have done if you weren't there. Thank you for reasurring us we won't get eaten by leopards or attacked by baboons when we all slept outside, thank you for lending me your guitar many times and for trusting me in tuning it (eventually :P), thanks for showing us your amazing dive XD ahahahahahaha!! And thank you for all the movies and good laughs we had, here's to many more, I shall see you soon. :)

  Sue, thank you soooooo much for all your help and guidance and whipping us into shape. Thank you for the trips into town and stocking up on wine just for me. Thank you for introducing me to Amarula (I now have a new way of making hot chocolate!), and for all the bonfire nights, they're brilliant, keep them up. :) And of course Silke, thank you for Bambelela. For being so passionate about the monkeys and for allowing volunteers like myself to work on the farm with no previous experience but giving us the experience of a lifetime in return. And thank you for that cake you made that I haven't a clue how to spell. It was lovely! Vielen, vielen dank.

  This is hardly enough to express how thankful I am towards all of you but I just had to mention everybody. Sincerely, thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

  However, I haven't forgotten those who are the reason I got to Bamebelela in the first place, without whom, this whole blog of memories wouldn't exist. All you lovely people that helped me raise money by baking, donating raffle prizes, selling raffle tickets, sponsoring me, coming to my music gigs, playing at the gigs, giving me advice, donating clothes for me to wear and for reading and sharing my blog and all the other things you did. You know who you are and I know who you are.

  This time last year I was sitting in the canteen in college, getting my first few small donations of coppers from my classmates and putting it all into a Tomato Passata jar. Now I've been to Africa, I found my way there with all your help. And that, I will never forget.

  So that's it from me until my next big adventure, I was thinking maybe helping pandas in China, or turtles in Mexico, or sharks in Cape Town or maybe even tigers in India?

Until then, thank you so much for reading, slán go fóil,

Lots and lots and lots of love,

Ceara (:

<3 Peace out . . . xXx