Jonathan – Page 7 – Our Life in Sweden

September 22, 2011 / 5 Comments

Hello Africa

We finally arrived in Cape Town yesterday morning! The preceding 24 hours had held a crazy mix of questions:

Would our visas would be ready?
Could our flights be re-booked?
Did we have anyone to collect our passports in London between 11-12 on Tuesday?
Would the embassy allow someone to collect them for us?

Thanks to some incredible timing, a lot of prayer and our friend (and hero!) Jonathan, our passports (complete with 11 month visas) were in our hands 5 minutes before we had to check in!

(ps. notice (below) how the embassy are awaiting a ‘Swiss’ police report from the Swedish police!!)

***

I går morse, kl 10.00, lokal tid, landade vi i Kapstaden, Sydafrika. Några av er vet att vi hade strul med att få visumen i tid. Som tur var erbjöd sig vår vän, Jonathan, som bor i strax utanför London att åka till Sydafrikanska Ambassaden och hämta de rykande färskt färdiga visumen åt oss (samt pass!) och kom sen och mötte oss på flygplatsen. Vi utnämner härmed Jonathan till Veckans Hjälte 🙂 Läste precis på fotot nedan att min nationalitet är SWISS och inte SWEDISH? Ehh, va? Hur hände detta?

September 8, 2011 / 2 Comments

The day is drawing close

Our leaving date is fast approaching.
Our passports (with visas) should be back any day soon.
We have a few presentations to give.
Oprah, our trusty Ford Fiesta, is sold (though we still get to use her until the 18th)!

Today we say a sad farewell to my Mum and Dad, as they head off to the USA for a few weeks.

For those of you who are in Cardiff during the next week and a half, we have some dates for your diary:

WORLD PARTY! 16th Sept, 7PM @ Milgi
This is our official leaving do. Come dressed as someone from another country (besides your own). We’ll have mingling, music and a short Babysafe presentation More
Babysafe Charity Evening 14th Sept, 8PM @ A Shot In The Dark
Organised by the kind people of New Life Church, there will be some acoustic music, and some Q&A/interview time with us More
Babysafe Info Event 18th Sept, 2PM @ The Vineyard Venue
An event for people who want to support us with prayer and money to ask questions and learn a bit more about our work.

August 25, 2011 / 2 Comments

When do we leave?

Our flights are booked for the 20th September, so we’ll be arriving in Cape Town on the 21st.

Before that we have to get our visas sorted out, which means getting:

A doctors letter attesting to our general good health
A chest x-ray and radiological report (to prove we don’t have TB)
A Police Clearance Certificate
Passport photographs

I’m not entirely sure why we need to prove we’re TB free when South Africa has such a high incidence of TB, but maybe it has something to do with resistant strains.

Blackberry Update: Earlier this week, we made an appeal for any Blackberry phones that you might not want. We’ve had one donation so far (thankyou!), so we’re just asking for one more.

August 23, 2011 / 1 Comment

Another way you could help: Donate a Blackberry

When we wrote a few weeks ago we mentioned three ways you could help. Well, we’ve just found another one:

The team we will be working with all use Blackberry mobile phones, and their built-in BBM service, to message each other free-of-charge. This saves the organisation and its volunteers a lot of cash, as mobile credit is expensive in South Africa.

“How does this involve me?” I hear you ask…

I know that some of you, our dear website, Twitter and Facebook followers are gadget people, and that after upgrading to your latest iPhone or HTC, you may have an unused Blackberry phone just laying around somewhere that you’d be happy to donate to us.

If that’s you, please get in touch!

August 15, 2011 / 2 Comments

Maternal mortality quadruples in South Africa

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has just released a report outlining the grave state of healthcare for pregnant women in South Africa. Recent statistics show that four times as many mothers are dying while giving birth, or from birth-related causes, than did so just over 10 years ago.

HRW have been researching this issue in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa. Here’s what they report:

In the course of our research, women told Human Rights Watch that they were physically and verbally abused, including pinching, slapping and rough handling during labour. They also described treatment delays; nurses who ignored calls for help; and health facilities that failed to deal appropriately with pregnancy or childbirth-related problems. Women were also left unattended for long periods after delivery, discharged too soon or sent home without pain medication or antibiotics, sometimes after Caesarean births, and refused admission, even when they were clearly in labour.

Women also described widespread verbal abuse. They said that when they sought care for pregnancy, nurses taunted them about enjoying sex or berated them for getting pregnant knowing they were HIV-positive, or told them they did not deserve care because they were migrants. Others said that nurses ridiculed women when they said they were having labour pains or pleaded for assistance. Some also noted that hospital workers demanded bribes or gifts.

To learn more about this shocking report, visit Human Rights Watch

Our Life in Sweden

Jonathan & Sofia Morgan

Author: Jonathan (page 7 of 14)