The day has finally come for the Lionsraw Project to officially start! It's taken 4 years of hard work to come to this point. As often as I can, I'll be writing some of the things I've been up to with the project as well as highlights from the whole event.
Yesterday 60 or so guys flew in to Jo'burg and got a coach down to Durban. They arrived in time to join in the fun at the first World Cup match to take place in the city and many had managed to get tickets to the game. The atmosphere was electric in the city and on the beachfront last night and even more so in the stadium. Germany's triumph over Australia didn't please that many England fans, but they enjoyed the experience nonetheless it seems. I can't comment as I arrived in the Lionsraw Hotel to discover it sold Starbucks coffee so I made the most of the evening restoring my decaf cappuccino deficiency and marvelling at the arrival of one of my favourite coffees to this province!
Today the guys were out to work early and another 60 or so arrived on the next flight, so now there are about 120 team out here for the projects. First thing this morning I took 2 of the guys who'd been staying with me down to Sethani soccer camp, which is the furthest away from us, about 30 minutes down some hairpin bends into the valley, right by beautiful Inanda Dam. It is a breathtaking view all the way down there and a real sense of being right deep in the valley. The team down there looked a little nervous but all seemed keen to get stuck in and reported back this evening that they'd had a great day with the kids from all around coming to play soccer.
After this I was assigned to look after Geoff, who is overseeing all the building projects. The rest of today I've been chauffeuring him around the 4 build projects and taking photos, with a trip to Build It in between to stock up on a few more tools. Morale at each build project is high, despite the buses taking a long time to find the projects this morning. It's difficult giving directions when it's a choice of 2 unmarked tracks in front of you! Anyway, they all got to where they should be in the end. I've lost track of how many times I drove the mountain bends on Old Main Road today though...
Finally this evening we all gathered in the hotel in Durban to watch the Italy - Paraguay match and I got a chance to wear my Italia t-shirt that I bought years ago for such an occasion. It was a great opportunity to meet new people and catch up with old friends and there was a great atmosphere there. After the match, there was a little 'upfront sitting on a couch discussing football and life' time which was amusing and rounded off a great first day nicely.
