Painting a Children’s ward at Maitland Cottage Hospital
What a day! Yes, Rovers from the Western Cape had assisted in completing some community service this year by painting one of the wards at Maitland Cottage Children’s Hospital. It was a long day but with motivation and team work we got the job done. Denja Otte, an international intern working at the Scout SA Headquarters had applied for an ECD grant to complete her community service project, and with the assistance from Table Bay Rovers and Constantiaberg Rovers we managed to refurbish the ward in one day. With the money Denja had received, she was able to purchase all the necessities needed for day.
Upon arrival, we all greeted each other and got the day going. Firstly, we had a brief discussion as to what is going to happen and what we where we will be painting. We started off by placing masking tape around the edges of the room from the window frames to the door frames and even the wood panels so that we do not damage anything. Making sure the frames were covered we then moved some of the beds out of the ward and placed sheets down on the floors as an extra protection layer. Then the hard work began. Starting at the back of the ward and making our way forward, we placed the first coat of paint on the walls. While the taller guys start on the top section the shorter guys painted at the bottom. We all worked our way from the back of the room to the front of the room completing the first coat and by then it was lunch time.
While half of the crew left to get the lunch, the other half of the crew continued painting and did a first coat on the ceiling as well and when lunch arrived we all had a break. Sitting in a circle laughing, talking and joking around is what rovers like to do and that’s what we did. After lunch it was back to work and on we went with the second coat. Again, we all started at the back of the ward making our way forward to the front and in no time we were finished with the walls having the ceiling left. We did the same with the ceiling and by the time we looked at our watches we were done. Having painting one ward with this many rovers was well worth it as we got this done in one day.
Once all the painting was done we started our clean up mission which felt forever. It was like we were going nowhere slowly, but the job had to be done. Since rovers like to be entertained, we decided to form a chain as we brought the equipment back into the room. What a joy it was and soon we were done.
We called in the head nurse that was on duty that day and the joy on her face to see what we have done was astounding. It’s always a great achievement to do good and that is what rovers do. Community service is the key and the reward is achievement. A big thank you to all the rovers that attended this event.
