Today we started off by driving to Sinethemba Home for Vulnerable Children. We were greeted by many joyful faces full of energy ready for a fun day out. After about twenty minutes at the home, we separated into our own two vehicles to drive to the movies and arcade. To begin we split into two groups- one would watch a movie, the other play games.

The first group consisted of mainly older children from Sinethemba and had two of the year 12’s from Alexander Road High School, whom we met on Friday. The movie the first group watched was Dumbo. It was said to be very cliché but an enjoyable movie suitable for the age group.

Whilst the first group was watching Dumbo the second group, which included the younger children and the rest of the group went to the arcade. To begin with we went bowling. This was lots of fun but extremely chaotic, due to the number of young children running around. Afterwards there were many tired faces which soon enlightened when they were able to play the arcade games.

Afterwards we headed back to Sinethemba for a braai, an African barbeque. It was a new learning experience and we were guided by the students from Alex Road High School, and was a huge success, which tasted delicious. Whilst lunch was being prepared, we used the time to bond with the children. Many played netball, soccer and some were happy playing around in the space available.

Whist we were there many had a tour of the house that the boys lived in. It was very compact and each had small locker in which they kept their few belongings. The sleeping arrangements consisted of bunkbeds. The youngest had a room of four whilst the other two rooms consisted of six beds each. There was very limited space and the closets were in poor condition.

Afterwards, we spent some more time with the kids until it was time to leave. It was quite emotional for some who had formed some great bonds with particular kids. No one wanted to leave and the hugs and kisses from every child made it even harder. After we had pulled out of the drive we had to take a U-turn back past the home. As we drove past the children all ran up to the gate waving and screaming goodbye.

For dinner we had a master-chef challenge. We had half an hour to shop for ingredients in our accommodation groups with a budget then an hour to make the food and plate it up. The boys made a curry, one of the girls groups made nachos with smores and the other group made pizza with brownies. It was an intense competition taken extremely seriously by everyone, but enjoyed thoroughly.

Today was an eye-opening day which provided us with an insight to what these children have to live through every day.

Charlotte and Ellie

Day 6 – JBAY!!!

We started off today by watching Alexander Road High School participate in their weekly hockey, rugby and netball games against the other local schools. For many people it was their first time watching a rugby game, a highly competitive and renowned sport in South Africa.

We watched the games for about an hour before we headed off to Jefferey’s Bay, a popular costal town about an hour’s drive away. Here we were allowed to explore the nearby stores, where many people spent a little too much money shopping! We were allowed to choose our own lunch from the local healthy café, where many people had fresh juices and salsa lunches.

After lunch, we took a stroll down to Jeffery Bay beach, a scenic location filled with family lunches and wild children who backflipped off walls. Some people decided to go surfing; hiring boards from the local surf shops. Others decided to take a splash in the water, which was undoubtedly freezing cold. It’s safe to say most people only lasted a matter of minutes. For a lot of people chilling in the sand was the best option, we relaxed by listening to the waves crashing and watching fellow surfers.

Two hours later we headed off back home, but not before taking a short pit-stop to Sardinia Beach. We climbed up to the top of the sand dunes to watch the sunset… which we never actually saw as it was incredibly overcast towards the end of the day. The sand dunes are a popular spot for special occasions, specifically proposals and wedding photos. It was Darcie’s birthday today, so we decided to sing her ‘happy birthday’ on top of one of the sand dunes, the same spot where Mr. Kelly proposed to his wife.

On the way back we enjoyed an enthusiastic sing-along to a various array of music, such classics include Evie Let Your Hair Hang Down, Fat-Bottomed Girls, Party Rockers and Who Let the Dogs Out, beautifully accompanied by the boy’s scarily accurate chihuahua impersonations. We stopped off at a beach restaurant for dinner, where we were served monster-sized burgers and salads. Darcie was given a special birthday brownie and ice-cream, and one final birthday song.

Today was a very fun and relaxing beach day, a perfect lead towards the incredibly busy days ahead of us.

Maya and Sophie

Today we had the pleasure of partaking in a tour around Alexander Road High, led by Declan and Kyle; two of the year twelves at Alex. We were shown around their arts department, ICT department, Afrikaans class, DNT class, the library and the cafeteria. Finally, we went out to the rugby field to play a bit of touch and join them in their game preparation methods. We joined hands and formed a circle in which we performed a battle cry that is traditionally completed before every match. The sense of camaraderie and pride that radiated from all the students at Alex was extremely refreshing, and joining in on game prep was relatively emotive.

Following on from our tour, we hopped on the bus back to the cabins and enjoyed some leisure time in which we mingled with the other students. This time for revitalisation was greatly appreciated by everyone as we’ve been moving at a relatively fast pace throughout the trip. We had lunch and then set off on a bus tour of Port Elizabeth where we learned about the Nelson Mandela University, some of the buildings and the townships.

Our bus journey ended at Hearts Football Club where we played five-aside football with some of the boys belonging to the club. We had an abundance of fun with some high-spirited match-play and developed a stronger bond with those in our team. Half-way through the night we enjoyed a traditional braai barbecue and then proceeded to play two more football matches. Ella’s team and my team ended up versing in the final with the score being 5-3 my way. Everyone joined in at the end from a boys vs girls match and although the pitch was crowded, we had a fantastic time.

Today was extremely enjoyable with lots of bond-strengthening and exciting activities, we would do it again in a heartbeat.

By Evie & Ella

Today, we sadly parted with Cape Town, which was upsetting since we had all made such a connection with not only District Six but our enthusiastic and knowledgable bus drivers, Songlize and Nelson. But we happily started our next step of the journey in Port Elizabeth, where it is already exceeding our expectations.

Our journey started with a spontaneous decision to drop off stationery at one of Langas’ many primary schools due to a devastating arson attack done to one of the classrooms. We then went straight to the airport, with a relatively fast check in with our MANY bags. For many of us it came as a surprise leaving Cape Town so soon, as already time had flown by so fast. After we boarded the plane we all saw our last sights of the eye opening city.

We arrived in Port Elizabeth for a speedy start meeting our bus driver John, then off to our first safari. For many of us this was a first seeing a lot of the beautiful well known wild life of South Africa. The experience which we had felt very surreal as this was only what many of us see in movies. As much as it was amazing experience all of us were definitely feeling the cold being as we were in an open jeep.

After a long but exciting day we arrived at the Pine Lodge were we settled into our rooms, then headed off to Pick-n-pay (Grocery shop) where each house had to come up with a meal to make for everyone in that group to cook and eat. All of our meals were a success and we all enjoyed making them as it was a great way for everyone to get to know each other a little more and bond.

We are all very tired from our long adventure filled day and are sure that we are all going to have a very nice sleep!

By Asha and Emma B

** Apologies for this going up late.  We had a late finish to dinner and then an early morning to catch the flight to PE.  Yesterday was an amazing day but I will let the girls tell the story below. (Mr Thomas)

Today we were granted the opportunity to visit and interact with people in the Langa township.  We started the day with a visit to Mokone Primary school where we split into two groups and played netball and soccer with the kids. After the games, the children sang for us and invited us to join in the fun. We then had a look around their school and spent some time with them in a classroom environment, they loved interacting with us and showing us their work as much as we loved being with them. Though we loved the atmosphere, it was heartbreaking to see one of the classrooms had recently been burned down and vandalised by outsiders, making it an unusable, unsafe place to learn. Because of this, we have decided to supply the school with stationary to replace what was destroyed in the fire.

The Langa township is one of the oldest townships in Cape Town and was founded during the district six evictions. We had the privilege of walking through the township and seeing how the people of Langa lived in these unfortunate circumstances. As we wandered through the streets we were confronted by some of the living conditions of the poorer regions such as the tiny hostel rooms that only consisted of one room where three families lived. The families that were living in these seemed to be happy with what they had and thats all that mattered. We also visited a daycare centre and were bombarded with hugs and kisses of the kids who attended (ages 3-5) and it was hard to say goodbye. When it came to lunch we ate at a local Langa butchery which served up a feast including; chicken wings, pork, sausages and other traditional south African cuisine, which everyone agreed was delicious.

After a quick pit stop at the guest house we went to play soccer with Cape Town United Football Club. Whilst were were looking at their home ground, we also had the chance to have a scratch match with a team from the under 12’s boys. We formed two teams mixed with St Stephens and Cape Town United, and luckily we did because they would’ve destroyed us! Our bus driver Nelson joined the game and showed off his amazing skills whilst managing to hit both Emma’s in the head. That game is defiantly one to remember as everyone was giving it a go and having a blast.

Finally dinner came around and once again we experience the culture and atmosphere of a traditional restaurant named Lelapa. The food was amazing and we had entertainment by some of the local musicians which everyone enjoyed. We were also joined with a few of the players both senior and junior, and learned a bit about how they live and their backgrounds. They also taught a few of us some Xhosa language such as, Ndiyakuthanda which means I love you.

We all agreed that this was the best day on the tour so far and hoping for many more days like this to come in the next week and half.

Alexa & Jaime.

Lelapa Dancing video

Day two was an opportunity to take in and appreciate the sights of southern Cape Town. We started the day off with a delicious breakfast which consisted of eggs, ‘macon’ and chips. We left District Six guest house at 8:30am and headed South to explore Cape Town.

Our first stop was at Hout Bay, where we caught a charter boat out to Seal Island. We saw a number of seals resting in their natural habitat. One seal had been domesticated by a local and could be seen enjoying some hand fed fish!

We then drove from Hout Bay to Simon’s Town. One thing we noticed was the different living conditions in Cape Town – from the luxurious houses on the coast, to the shanty housing just across the road. In Simon’s Town, we witnessed hundreds of penguins located at the penguin sanctuary. The sanctuary allowed us to walk on the boardwalk and view the penguins.

We then began the long drive to the southern most point of South Africa, the Cape Of Good Hope. We trekked up the mountain to a lighthouse, seeing a number of cheeky baboons. One even stole some food from the store and ran off with it! From there, we began the decent down the mountain and hiked alongside the cliffside to the Cape Of Good Hope. It was extremely windy which encouraged us to think about the difficulties early settlers might have faced.

After taking in the sights, we drove two hours to get back to Cape Town and had the challenge of spending only 50 rand ($5), on anything we wanted for dinner. This allowed us to understand and be aware of the struggles many families encounter on a daily basis. We learned that the average adult earns 3500 rand($350) a week, which made us appreciate how lucky we are, being able to buy things without having to worry our next meal.

Overall, today was an opportunity to be a true tourist, taking in all the amazing sights. 

By Darcie and Emma Cooke

After roughly 14 hours of flying, 18 fatigued faces stepped off the plane, arriving to our destination Cape Town. Luka (birthday boy) was lucky enough to meet the pilots in the cockpit at the end of the flight. We were welcomed by our joyful drivers who took us to District 6 while informing of the history of the area. We were taken to District 6 museum to learn more about the history of the area, then to Waterfront shopping centre to have a look around which everyone enjoyed. After a journey on a gondola up Table Mountain the view from the top was definitely the highlight of the day. We finished the day off by having our first tour dinner down at Waterfront shopping centre – by this stage everyone was shattered and ready for bed which concluded the first day in CapeTown.

IMG_1570-2evc8w5

by Alfie and Connor

Then it’s our time to do something!

It’s getting very exciting.

Some last minute things to think of:

• Have you arranged to be at the airport for 8.30pm?
• Have you purchased a power adapter?
• Have you weighed your bags?  Try to travel light!
• Think of what you will need with you on the plane and have this packed in your carry on bag
  • Book
  • Pillow
  • Jumper

** Make sure that you bring your passport!

Enjoy your last day at school today – be sure to let every one know of what we will be doing for the next two weeks.

See your teachers tomorrow to collect your tour clothing.  Check when you are able to wear it at school this week.  Just be sure to wash it all before we board on Sunday night!