How to Save a Life

I GET TO DO BST! Whoo hoo! BST is Basic Safety Training and is something that usually gets done when long term Africa Mercy crew go to On Boarding in Texas. However, due to some scheduling issues, many people in my On Boarding group did not get to participate. Lucky me... a training was arranged for several people here in South Africa and I get to join in. We started last Monday with Personal Safety and Social Responsibility then moved to Personal Survival Techniques where we got to do a practical in a swimming pool! Yes, a swimming pool! Dreams do come true. The pool was incredibly cold (no exaggeration) but after 45 minutes I could feel my extremities again and I didn't want to get out. We had to flip a life raft, jump in from a height with a lifejacket on, stay afloat without a lifejacket and tow another person. It was quite fun, except for the part where one person freaked out and pushed someone under the water to keep himself afloat. I'm not sure if he just wasn't a strong swimmer, or he was just so very cold that he panicked, but it really showed how easily people can change when their state of mind changes to survival mode. Anyway, everyone was fine in the end, but it was a bit scary for the guy who got pushed under. Then we started firefighting on Wednesday and had to do a search and rescue exercise in the dark with full SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus) gear. I was so worried about it because there was this big ladder that you had to descend and I was convinced that I was going the plummet to my death. Clearly my fear was unfounded because I am still alive. Then on Friday we went to a sugar cane field and got to use the fire hoses and fire extinguishers on real fires (well the flames were real but they were contained). They had a shipping container and we had to enter the space and put out the fire and them back out. It was a little anti-climactic but still a great experience. Funny thing about the sugar cane field: right next to where we were doing our practical was a coffin manufacturing company (just in case anything went wrong).

The best part of this whole week is that I got hurt. Well, that isn't the good part, it is the way that I got hurt that is just ridiculous. I didn't injury myself doing any of the activities but rather, just walking across the street. Perhaps I need to started wearing my PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) everywhere I go. 

Next week we have security awareness and first aid and we are done! 

South Africa is full of beautiful landscapes, wonderful people, and great opportunities. That being said,  when you live in a country (albeit temporarily) that has food options galore, it is pretty exciting. South Africans have these things called rusks. They are akin to a biscotti and they just warm my dunking loving heart! Sure, you would break your teeth if you tried to eat them dry, but that is what makes them great! It's the simple things.