First of all, sorry for the complete lack of updates! Life here has completely laken over and so we hardly have 5 minutes to sit down and blog. I will try and cover the past couple of weeks now, so it will be slightly brief, but at least you will have an idea of what is happening.
Thursday 14th - Wednesday 20th March
This past week has been crazy for a few reasons... First of all we have had so much planning to do for various events that we are holding - english lessons, holiday clubs, stories of hope and encouragement, organising an exercise regime for members of staff, planning the pre-school and on top of that trying to fit in time to chill as a team and sleep!! Such a hectic time... To add to this on Monday (18th) Londy brought home a tiny, terrified, on deaths door 6 week old puppy... As Monday was our "day off" we spent it at the girl's house, planning the week and trying to nurse Poppy back to life. By the end of Wednesday we had a solid plan for holiday club (2nd-4th April), our first english lesson (26th March) and had worked out and planned what we were going to do with the pre-school. We also had time to see friends from Howick, which is such a blessing to us as we can relax, and rewind with them so that we are refreshed for the following day of work. Poppy is completely healthy now, and was taken to the vets on Wednesday (20th) morning to be dewormed, defleaed and to have her rabies jab, she is more than better and loves waking Clo and I up every morning at 6:30!!
Thursday 21st - Sunday 24th March
Thursday was our first South African Public Holiday (Human Rights Day) and because of that schools were closed on Thursday, and then everyone just had Friday off (TIA!). To make good use of the extra long weekend, friends of the team's from Howick invited us down to the coast to their beach house with them. This was the most perfectly timed break I think the team could have had! Having been in South Africa for 5 weeks by the Sunday, we were all compelely drained - loving ourselves - but so in need of some time off and some TLC. The Bank's beach house was in Shelley Beach, which is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Howick, south of Durban down the coast. The beach house was about a 30 second walk from the beach, and the weather was lovely. The time away not only gave us time to "recharge our batteries", but also to have some well needed team time, and time to just get to know everyone more.
Monday 25th March
Moday's are meant to be our days off, but due to the amount of work we have on at the moment, we are using them to do most of our planning for the week ahead. We headed to the library in the morning to finalise plans for english lessons and the pre-school. The morning was so well spent, and so we headed back to the house for lunch and used to the afternoon to relax and try to start planning our Ladies Nights. Monday evening we headed to Howick to visit some friends for dinner and chill out there for a little bit. The team have been invited up north to Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve over the Easter weekend with friends and so we managed to hear more about that and get a list together of what we needed and when we were leaving (4am on Friday!!).
Tuesday 26th March
Yesterday was spent focusing on the pre-school. In the morning we worked out how we were going to spend out time there. As the pre-school is for children aged 1-6, we can't do any work while the children are there. Like most schools and pre-schools in Mpops, they close before lunch (12:30ish) and then the children are fed before leaving. This means that we can't get into the pre-school to work until 1:30. We started yesterday by sanding down all of the walls. The walls are simply concrete with paint on top.. this means that they aren't flat at all, and have lots of bumps on them, so painting at a later stage would have been difficult if we had left them. Once the sanding was done, we sugar soaped down at the walls so that they were ready and clean for todays work!
Wednesday 27th March
Today was our first english lesson! It went really well, and the team worked so well together. We were unsure as to numbers, and level of english and so had planned compeletly blind - 14 people turned up, with a range of english levels. The lesson was a great success and they are all really excited for their next lessons - as are we! This afternoon we are heading back over to Grace Chaple pre-school to try and start the painting which is very exciting!!
I will try and keep you more updated in the following 2 months, but this is Africa so you may have to wait a little while! Happy Easter and have a lovely time this weekend! I hope that you are all well, and the snow isn't too bad....
Loads of love, hugs and kisses from a very sunny Africa!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Wednesday, 27 March 2013
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Saturday 9th March - Wednesday 13th March
Saturday
Saturday was a nice early start... We all headed to the Care Centre for the Ethembeni Jumble Sale. Arriving at 8, there were already queues of men, women and children outside, so excited to get in! Clo, Est and I were placed on the "tills", so unprepared what would happen next. The gates opened and the people outside ran in, grabbing as much clothing and bedding as they could, they next came to us and threw the items on our tables. We had to add up so fast! It was much harder then any mental maths test we'd ever done at school... After 2 long hours, we ran out of clothes, shoes, bags, bedding ect. Clo and I sat outside and added up the morning's takings. We raised R3514.40 (around 260 pounds - give and take the exchange rate). After the jumble sale, we went back to the girl's house and had a well deserved sit down, and ate lunch before driving up the highway to Hilton for another Andy & Jenny Flannagan concert. The team left early as we were going to The Barn's house for dinner. We had such a lovely, lovely evening with the family, everyone here is so welcoming! It was nice just to be able to sit in a kitchen and chat, and join in on family time... and we got to shower (showers are very taken for granted at home!).
Sunday
Sunday is a relatively relaxed, chilled out day. It gives us lots of time to recover from the week and prepare ourselves for the following. Esme and Ann had us for lunch and we had bangers and mash! Mash potato is seriously under rated! It was incredible and something Clo and I had been craving for ages after we horrifically mistook pap for mash... I love HCC, the services are always so good, and I love the people there are so nice and amazing, so great to us "POM's".
Monday
Monday was an interesting day... Living in Mpophomeni means if there is no transport for us, or we don't have anyone to walk us places, we can't leave the house... Londy gave us Monday off to collect thoughts from the conference and give us the chance to have some girl time. However, we forgot about the whole no transport, no leaving the house rule, and so were stuck there all day! It's hard to understand the concept that it is for our safety and sometimes you just need to leave, but you can't. After a few hours of feeling like caged animals we realised we just had to go sit in the yard, or walk around the edge, or just sleep.
Tuesday
The girls had such a great day today! We went to visit a preschool called Grace Chapel Educare Centre which is our first big project. The preschool looks after 180 children aged 1-6, and these children are taught by only 5 teachers. The building is small and dark, the walls are bare, cracked and concreted, and the children's school bags and jumpers lie on the floor of the corridor. We loved Grace Chapel, and we are so excited to work there and help them! We are going to fill in the walls, so they are crackless. The corridor is going to be painted by us, and will be covered in large, colourful murals of animals, safari scence and a large tree that will be made from the children's handprints. The toilets are bare and cracked - they will be transformed into a little underwater scence, with crabs, brightly coloured fish and other sea creatures. Wooden bars are going to be put along the walls of the corridors and the classrooms with hooks attached for the children's bags and jumpers.. This is all so exciting, but it will also cost money. Although Ethembeni can provide some money, they won't be able to cover the cost, so if you feel like you could help us to help these children and change the preschool please donate as little, or as much as you feel you want to! The link for our page is http://www.justgiving.com/transformsouthafrica every penny will go such a long way here!
After work, we went back over to the Barn's house and had our first proper South African brie! Was so yummy, and so nice to relax and chat with our friends.
Wednesday
Clo, Est and I worked from home this morning, planning the murals and working out what we would need. We are so excited to start the work in this school, and so the planning seems to be taking ages (when actually it's only been a few hours!). We are choosing the scenes and the animals, and trying to work out all the logisitics of how we will actually be able to paint with 180 little hands trying to help us! We have decided we will work in the afternoons, as the children leave after lunch!
Hope everyone is well, and the snow isn't too cold!!
Loads of love, hugs and kisses, Nicola. Xxx
Saturday was a nice early start... We all headed to the Care Centre for the Ethembeni Jumble Sale. Arriving at 8, there were already queues of men, women and children outside, so excited to get in! Clo, Est and I were placed on the "tills", so unprepared what would happen next. The gates opened and the people outside ran in, grabbing as much clothing and bedding as they could, they next came to us and threw the items on our tables. We had to add up so fast! It was much harder then any mental maths test we'd ever done at school... After 2 long hours, we ran out of clothes, shoes, bags, bedding ect. Clo and I sat outside and added up the morning's takings. We raised R3514.40 (around 260 pounds - give and take the exchange rate). After the jumble sale, we went back to the girl's house and had a well deserved sit down, and ate lunch before driving up the highway to Hilton for another Andy & Jenny Flannagan concert. The team left early as we were going to The Barn's house for dinner. We had such a lovely, lovely evening with the family, everyone here is so welcoming! It was nice just to be able to sit in a kitchen and chat, and join in on family time... and we got to shower (showers are very taken for granted at home!).
Sunday
Sunday is a relatively relaxed, chilled out day. It gives us lots of time to recover from the week and prepare ourselves for the following. Esme and Ann had us for lunch and we had bangers and mash! Mash potato is seriously under rated! It was incredible and something Clo and I had been craving for ages after we horrifically mistook pap for mash... I love HCC, the services are always so good, and I love the people there are so nice and amazing, so great to us "POM's".
Monday
Monday was an interesting day... Living in Mpophomeni means if there is no transport for us, or we don't have anyone to walk us places, we can't leave the house... Londy gave us Monday off to collect thoughts from the conference and give us the chance to have some girl time. However, we forgot about the whole no transport, no leaving the house rule, and so were stuck there all day! It's hard to understand the concept that it is for our safety and sometimes you just need to leave, but you can't. After a few hours of feeling like caged animals we realised we just had to go sit in the yard, or walk around the edge, or just sleep.
Tuesday
The girls had such a great day today! We went to visit a preschool called Grace Chapel Educare Centre which is our first big project. The preschool looks after 180 children aged 1-6, and these children are taught by only 5 teachers. The building is small and dark, the walls are bare, cracked and concreted, and the children's school bags and jumpers lie on the floor of the corridor. We loved Grace Chapel, and we are so excited to work there and help them! We are going to fill in the walls, so they are crackless. The corridor is going to be painted by us, and will be covered in large, colourful murals of animals, safari scence and a large tree that will be made from the children's handprints. The toilets are bare and cracked - they will be transformed into a little underwater scence, with crabs, brightly coloured fish and other sea creatures. Wooden bars are going to be put along the walls of the corridors and the classrooms with hooks attached for the children's bags and jumpers.. This is all so exciting, but it will also cost money. Although Ethembeni can provide some money, they won't be able to cover the cost, so if you feel like you could help us to help these children and change the preschool please donate as little, or as much as you feel you want to! The link for our page is http://www.justgiving.com/transformsouthafrica every penny will go such a long way here!
After work, we went back over to the Barn's house and had our first proper South African brie! Was so yummy, and so nice to relax and chat with our friends.
Wednesday
Clo, Est and I worked from home this morning, planning the murals and working out what we would need. We are so excited to start the work in this school, and so the planning seems to be taking ages (when actually it's only been a few hours!). We are choosing the scenes and the animals, and trying to work out all the logisitics of how we will actually be able to paint with 180 little hands trying to help us! We have decided we will work in the afternoons, as the children leave after lunch!
Hope everyone is well, and the snow isn't too cold!!
Loads of love, hugs and kisses, Nicola. Xxx
Friday, 8 March 2013
Friday 1st March - Friday 8th March
Sorry first of all for the complete lack of communication this past week... I have completely settled into African life now so it's far too hectic for blog writing haha - will definitely try and do a little better!
Friday 1st March
Friday morning started interesting... the previous week Clo and I had somehow managed to removed the handle from our bedroom door. This morning when we tried to get out of our room, the pin had moved and the door was complete stuck... and we were trapped! We ended up climbing out of the window, running round the side of the house to try and fix the door. Winnie was sat on the porch and look at us with complete bemusement at the fact that we had had to climb out of the bedroom window. We spent the day in HCC basement, chilling and skyping ect, I had a lovely chat with Mum and Grandma and Grandad. Late afternoon we headed over to Sarah's new cottage, borrowed her shower and chose some clothes to wear to the wedding. After having a nice British cup of tea at Sarah's, we headed back to HCC for junior and senior youth.
Saturday 2nd March
Today was wedding day! We headed up to the bride's house about 10am to start taking photos and filming and we didn't leave until 5:30pm! A very, very full on day of Zulu weddingness! The wedding procession down to the service was complete madness. The cars swerve across both lanes of the road, the horns blare the entire time and they keep their hazard warning lights flashing! In Zulu culture it is quite rare for people to get married due to the dowry situation, so when weddings occur they like everyone to know! The day was very long due to the fact that everything was in Zulu, they break into song and dance every 5 minutes and we had no idea what was going on! But it was a very interesting experience. We spent the night at Sarah's relaxing after the long day, and then headed back to Pops later on in the evening.
Sunday 3rd March
We started Sunday by heading to the Zulu church. The service was so, so good, Justice preached in English and the Zwe translated the whole sermon into Zulu, all the worship was in Zulu though, so we had no idea what they were about! After the service, we went to get Sarah and we went to Piggly Wigglys for the afternoon. We looked around loads of really cute, quirky little shops and had the most amazing lunch!! We came to the basement after Piggly Wigglys and had time to Skype which was really good, before heading to the HCC youth service. The weather has been so, so good these past few days!
Monday 4th March
We had today off to pack up our stuff as we were moving out and into our new houses after Durban. It was quite weird for Chloe and I to have to pack up and leave Dudu, Winnie and the kids! The team (minus Gidz) headed to Howich for lunch and had a Nando's. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking around the shops, relaxing and just enjoying each others company, the weather and the surroundings. Dylan was taking Eli, Gidoen, Chloe and I to his varsity's rugby match on Monday evening which was really good. It was so nice to just be out and socialise in a situation that we are much more use to at home! Chloe aced beer pong and won loads of crazy prizes. It was a good break from working, and was just really nice to be our with young people and watch the game! Clo and I had a great night, and were braze enough to experience South African beer!
Tuesday 5th - Thursday 7th March
We headed to the Durban Tuesday afternoon for the mission conference. All 6 of us, Sarah, Esme, Grant, Londy and Zwe went and it was such a good few days! The venue of the conference was amazing because we could just sit out on the grass and enjoy the view of the sea and the city. The weather was so good, so we managed to sun ourselves in our tea and lunch breaks which was lovely. The conference was good, and it was really interesting to see how mission works all across SA, but also how many communities need so much help! The worship was also really good at the conference, it was Andy and Jenny Flanagan, and one particular verse really hit me hard...
"We are blessed to bless a world in pieces, we are loved to love where love it not, we are changed to be the change you promised, we are freed to be your hands O God."
Chloe and I stayed with the most amazing host family. They were so lovely to us, and had a beautiful house. We really enjoyed homemade, Western food (missed it so much!) and just enjoyed being able to sit out by the pool at midnight, and not even be cold, and star gaze, Skype, email, realax in a family environment and have a movie night! Love a good Bridget Jones (even if it's the middle of summer!). Don gave us loads of advice for holidays and activities to do, which was so helpful. We headed down to the beach on Wednesday night which was incred! Love the beach, the sea was so warm obvs because it was the Indian Ocean - so beautiful. The journey back to Howick was interesting.... it was largest T&L storm I have ever seen in my life!! The lightening bolts were huge, and so beautiful! We have all moved into our new houses now, so all the girls are living together (still in the township) with Londy which is really nice to be able to spend some girlie time.
Friday 8th March
Today has been our chill day at HCC... We had to do our team food shopping this morning, and then came to Chinwags (our fave cafe/coffee shop) for lunch and we sat out and enjoyed the weather. Esther and I hae headed up to the basement so Est can Skype and I could write this. The rest of the team have gone down to relook at the kiff (SA slang for amazing) painting of 3 elephants that Chloe wants to buy. We are heading to a youth rally thing this evening after junior youth which could be interesting because we have no idea what to expect!!
Anyway, I hope that this seriously brief update has given you an idea of what I have been up to... And I hope it's not to cold over there...
Lots and lots of love!!!!!!! Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Friday 1st March
Friday morning started interesting... the previous week Clo and I had somehow managed to removed the handle from our bedroom door. This morning when we tried to get out of our room, the pin had moved and the door was complete stuck... and we were trapped! We ended up climbing out of the window, running round the side of the house to try and fix the door. Winnie was sat on the porch and look at us with complete bemusement at the fact that we had had to climb out of the bedroom window. We spent the day in HCC basement, chilling and skyping ect, I had a lovely chat with Mum and Grandma and Grandad. Late afternoon we headed over to Sarah's new cottage, borrowed her shower and chose some clothes to wear to the wedding. After having a nice British cup of tea at Sarah's, we headed back to HCC for junior and senior youth.
Saturday 2nd March
Today was wedding day! We headed up to the bride's house about 10am to start taking photos and filming and we didn't leave until 5:30pm! A very, very full on day of Zulu weddingness! The wedding procession down to the service was complete madness. The cars swerve across both lanes of the road, the horns blare the entire time and they keep their hazard warning lights flashing! In Zulu culture it is quite rare for people to get married due to the dowry situation, so when weddings occur they like everyone to know! The day was very long due to the fact that everything was in Zulu, they break into song and dance every 5 minutes and we had no idea what was going on! But it was a very interesting experience. We spent the night at Sarah's relaxing after the long day, and then headed back to Pops later on in the evening.
Sunday 3rd March
We started Sunday by heading to the Zulu church. The service was so, so good, Justice preached in English and the Zwe translated the whole sermon into Zulu, all the worship was in Zulu though, so we had no idea what they were about! After the service, we went to get Sarah and we went to Piggly Wigglys for the afternoon. We looked around loads of really cute, quirky little shops and had the most amazing lunch!! We came to the basement after Piggly Wigglys and had time to Skype which was really good, before heading to the HCC youth service. The weather has been so, so good these past few days!
Monday 4th March
We had today off to pack up our stuff as we were moving out and into our new houses after Durban. It was quite weird for Chloe and I to have to pack up and leave Dudu, Winnie and the kids! The team (minus Gidz) headed to Howich for lunch and had a Nando's. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking around the shops, relaxing and just enjoying each others company, the weather and the surroundings. Dylan was taking Eli, Gidoen, Chloe and I to his varsity's rugby match on Monday evening which was really good. It was so nice to just be out and socialise in a situation that we are much more use to at home! Chloe aced beer pong and won loads of crazy prizes. It was a good break from working, and was just really nice to be our with young people and watch the game! Clo and I had a great night, and were braze enough to experience South African beer!
Tuesday 5th - Thursday 7th March
We headed to the Durban Tuesday afternoon for the mission conference. All 6 of us, Sarah, Esme, Grant, Londy and Zwe went and it was such a good few days! The venue of the conference was amazing because we could just sit out on the grass and enjoy the view of the sea and the city. The weather was so good, so we managed to sun ourselves in our tea and lunch breaks which was lovely. The conference was good, and it was really interesting to see how mission works all across SA, but also how many communities need so much help! The worship was also really good at the conference, it was Andy and Jenny Flanagan, and one particular verse really hit me hard...
"We are blessed to bless a world in pieces, we are loved to love where love it not, we are changed to be the change you promised, we are freed to be your hands O God."
Chloe and I stayed with the most amazing host family. They were so lovely to us, and had a beautiful house. We really enjoyed homemade, Western food (missed it so much!) and just enjoyed being able to sit out by the pool at midnight, and not even be cold, and star gaze, Skype, email, realax in a family environment and have a movie night! Love a good Bridget Jones (even if it's the middle of summer!). Don gave us loads of advice for holidays and activities to do, which was so helpful. We headed down to the beach on Wednesday night which was incred! Love the beach, the sea was so warm obvs because it was the Indian Ocean - so beautiful. The journey back to Howick was interesting.... it was largest T&L storm I have ever seen in my life!! The lightening bolts were huge, and so beautiful! We have all moved into our new houses now, so all the girls are living together (still in the township) with Londy which is really nice to be able to spend some girlie time.
Friday 8th March
Today has been our chill day at HCC... We had to do our team food shopping this morning, and then came to Chinwags (our fave cafe/coffee shop) for lunch and we sat out and enjoyed the weather. Esther and I hae headed up to the basement so Est can Skype and I could write this. The rest of the team have gone down to relook at the kiff (SA slang for amazing) painting of 3 elephants that Chloe wants to buy. We are heading to a youth rally thing this evening after junior youth which could be interesting because we have no idea what to expect!!
Anyway, I hope that this seriously brief update has given you an idea of what I have been up to... And I hope it's not to cold over there...
Lots and lots of love!!!!!!! Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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