EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED...CHILD AND YOUTH CARE IN SOUTH AFRICA

Be prepared. Be prepared for the adventures of the day. Adventures there are. Some less foreseeable than others. Fear not. Expect the unexpected

It was not the first  time that the "bee-man"had been called. For some reason bees seemed to be attracted to the Children's Home property. The bee-man specialised in removing swarms of bees.

Pule was allergic to bee-stings. We knew it. He knew it. He had to carry an anti-histamine tablet - everyday -  on instruction.

 That day, again, a swarm attached itself to a tree about 40 metres across from th main building. Pule and I stood, backs against the main building to watch as Bee-man, in his protective gear, smoked out the bees.

It was a twang, a jerk, a dash faster than I could ever have imagined. Pule set off with a full-scaled sprint to the tree. He pushed his hand and arm into the swarm...death by bee-sting loomed large. Can't count how many bee-stings he sustained. No tablet...no tablets. "Don't know, ...lost".

 So came the rush to the Emergency Room at the hospital.

His explanation - "I wanted the honey." My thinking, "attempted suicide by bee-sting.

Pule was immediately taken into the Emergency Room, leaving me sitting in the waiting room. Within about 10 minutes a  staff member came in with Sakhiso another of the facility's boys. He had cut his hand on a broken glass tumbler. It needed stitches. "Can you stay and bring him back with Pule when you are finished?"  
"Sure."
There we sat.
An ambulance pulled up and a man off loaded into a wheelchair. He insisted that he shake hands with each sitting, waiting person. "Goodbye. Goodbye. Good luck" to each of us. He was then wheeled straight into the Emergency Room.

We were eventually called. I said I'd be with Sakhiso when he had stitches. It was allowed.
There sat Pule more or less recovered and at the back a stretcher with the covered corpse of the 'goodbye guy'. A label attached to his big toe. "He didn't make it" said the doctor and left the room to go fetch something.

Immediately, Pule and Sakhiso were on their feet and at the covered body of the dead 'good-bye guy'. The label was read. His name said out loud. Still holding the label, "He had a heart attack" Then, "Look at his feet. Look how white they are!"

It arose when the child and youth care workers first sat and ate at the tables with the young people. A large group of young people refused to eat as a form of protest. The protest was that the government gave money to the facility to provide for each child ( per-capita funding).The child and youth care workers they said, were stealing their food. The staff must pay for their own meals.

It was all very carefully planned and she agreed. When she gave birth, the baby was to be made available for adoption. Papers were signed. Having given birth and three days later, she went back to visit at the hospital.         .
It was a telephone call. Baby crying in the background. 'I've taken the baby. I'm at my boyfriends place. I'm keeping the baby. What must I do now? What do I need?"

What did I say? Expect the unexpected.

Knock at the big wooden Victorian front door. I open it. There stood a woman with a a baby in her arms. "There", she said, pushing the baby into my arms. "Take it, It's yours", and walked away.

Hmm, today's adventure   

It frequently starts with a telephone call.
"Is that St Goodenough?. Do you have a "Irene" there. Please come and collect her at the Johannesburg International Airport. She is with our security. She somehow managed to get onto the tarmac.We found her sitting in the engine housing of an Air Canada Jet plane.
 The next unexpected. Irene's explanation. She had to get to Canada. She had to warn Celine Dion. She had overheard  satanists saying that they had put out a reward to anyone who killed her.

Expect the unexpected