World Cup Holiday Feeding 4

On 22nd June, Neil from Lionsraw arranged to bring a busload of Lionsraw guys up to help out with feeding the kids. There were 4 building projects for Lionsraw and a lot of the guys on that wanted to do something direct with children and as it was a day off for them, it was fairly easy to sort out.

I got down to the school about half an hour before the bus and explained to the excited group of expectant kids, making the most of a mix of Zulu, English and gesticulations, that a bus (steering wheel impression) full of white people was on its way to help them. The girl translating for me described them as 'abantu hlophe' which literally means 'people who are coloured white', which I found amusing as the word for white people is 'abelungu'. They were quickly shouting 'abelungu' however as the guys walked up the track to meet the kids about 20 minutes later and the kids certainly gave the guys a friendly welcome to their school playground.

I set up a production line for a few of the guys to cut polony, make sandwiches and make up some juice. In the meantime, others gathered with small groups of kids, or played with a football or frisbee. There was a good atmosphere as volunteers and children engaged in conversations about life.

There were about 48 kids turned up and about 40 volunteers, which was also funny to see. The children weren't in the slightest bit phased by so many adults though. The kids lined up politely and moved along the line collecting sandwiches, crisps, fruit and juice and were very grateful for it all. They sat down on the other side of the playground and scoffed the sandwiches and extra polony. When they'd all had one, I told Michael, one of the volunteers, to take the tray of extra sandwiches over to give them more. As he approached the children, they lept up and ran towards him to try and grab the food, such was their hunger. We managed to get them sitting in some sort of order and a few guys helped the rather startled Michael give out the remaining sandwiches.

There were also some children's books for the kids to take home, which the kids loved. I then gathered them together to get a group photo and one girl said she'd like to sing a thank you song for everyone. She came out to the front of the group and started a beautiful song. However, she must have looked up and seen the row of white people with cameras pointed at her and she got a few lines in and started crying. I think any remaining hearts that hadn't been touched by these children probably melted at that point. After a few hugs and encouraging words, she was fine again and has been a delightful girl to catch up with at every session since.

It was a great time together with the children and the volunteers, but it was soon over and the group moved on to their next appointment, playing football in the valley against Russell's boys. What a great experience though for a 'day off''. Thanks to everyone who came along and I hope you'll remember these kids for a long time to come!

World Cup Holiday Feeding 3

On Friday 18th June, some of the Lionsraw team helped me out with feeding the kids. Norma and Ian wanted to buy some fruit and some stationery for the children so I took them off the day before to Pavilion to purchase apples, bananas, oranges and pens, pencils and rulers.

There were lots of children waiting for us when we got there and the Inchanga Team building the toilets were on hand to help. Debbie and Alexandra Flint came along to help and so did John Rochester who had all been working on another build project. We'd bought polony and bread to make sandwiches and also gave them crisps. Dan and his dad John Hughes, 2 of the guys from the Inchanga toilet build, had brought many bags of haribo and these were well appreciated by the children too! The children sat patiently while the food was prepared and lined up beautifully to receive their sandwiches and other food. I also gave them a bag of rice and a bag of sugar beans to take home.

A group of older boys had been playing on the soccer field next door and they mooched over to see what was going on. We managed to feed them as well with sandwiches which was appreciated. The boys sat patiently while we gave food to the others first, and they moved on afterwards without any trouble. Most of them are in Grade 9 and so would attend the High School down the road rather than Inchanga, but the number of orphans in this area is so high that I didn't mind giving them something.

After food, Norma and Ian gave the younger kids a pencil, pen and ruler each and for 7 lucky children there was an England top to wear too! At the sight of these, the older boys did look very hopeful and try to press forward, however I'd already worked out who would benefit from those tops the most and so the older boys didn't get a look in! The younger ones were extremely happy to receive the clothes and I've seen them being worn on several days since (although given England's poor performance this weekend, I wonder if they'll still wear them as much!!)

A big thank you to Norma and Ian for the fruit, stationery and tops and to everyone else for helping out!

Lionsraw - the continuing saga..

I hadn't realised that I'd only written about Day 1 of Lionsraw Project and then nothing more. SO much has happened during these past few weeks that it will take me a few days to process it. As I write, half of the team are back in the UK and the other half are packing to leave tomorrow morning early, having been subjected to the sorry state of English soccer this afternoon!

There are so many stories that I will put up over the next few days/weeks, but I need to recuperate on my sleep first as I've been travelling back and forth to Durban every day and coming home fairly late to sleep up here in the mountains and then getting up to photograph builders, buildings, kids and soccer balls each morning. I've really enjoyed the experience but am looking forward to eating at home and getting a few early nights in and back to some semblance of a normal routine here.

So check back here over the next few days for more tales of passion and belief...

Lionsraw Day 1

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.

South Africa vs Mexico - pics

My internet is so temperamental at the moment when it comes to uploading photos so sometimes the pictures might appear after the write-up. Here are a couple from the first match!

The World Cup Opening - a moment in history

To mark the moment in history when the first World Cup was played on African soil, we went down to Makaphutu Children's Village to share the afternoon with the children and staff there. It was a great day, with good braai food and a multitude of noisy vuvuzelas.

My vuvuzela was nabbed by an eleven-year-old boy the moment I got out of my car, but that was ok as I'd prepared for that and had written my name in it just in case it wandered! We watched the opening ceremony on big screen in the little church there and it was very moving to see the different dancers and performers celebrating the culmination of many years' work.

The RSA-Mexico opening match itself brought so much excitement. Everyone was gripped with the action and when it got to half-time and the score was still nil-nil, there was visible concern on the faces of the guys watching. One of the guys who works there came out at half-time and said 'this is difficult, I must pray!' His prayers were obviously answered shortly after when Tshabalala scored the first goal on African soil for Bafana Bafana and the crowd went wild! The guy from before came running into the room with 2 saucepans that he was banging together with all his might.

Excitement and joy turned to brief disappointment when Mexico equalised, but there was happiness all around when the match ended as a draw, and the added bonus of France - Uruguay being also a draw made things even better, so the mood over here is still hopeful that Bafana Bafana will go far in this tournament. For us, it's the start of a month-long football celebration and it's been a great beginning, we are looking forward to everything that's going to happen over the next 4 weeks. Ayoba!

World Cup Holiday Feeding 2

The baseball caps were popular and so was the food parcel.

This morning was my first attempt at taking food for my kids at school and in the valley. Also my first attempt at doing it alone as everyone else is busy with Lionsraw project.

I'd arranged to meet the majority of my 40 kids at school at 10am, but I was reminded of the fact that most kids don't have watches when I got a call about 9.15am saying my kids were waiting for me. Thankfully they waited until I got there. I was met by a few of my eager kids, with a few of their neighbours too, all children from the school but not on my programme. Good news for them, then, when half of my kids didn't show and I could give out their food parcels to these children who patiently waited around. I don't like to send hungry kids away empty-handed and every child got today a bag of maize meal, a box of soya mince, a tin of pilchards and some little juice powder. You are supposed to put it into a bottle of water and shake and drink, but most of the kids seemed to prefer to eat it like sweets.

Keith, from Lionsraw, had also given me lots of baseball caps to give out to the children and quite by chance I took them this morning, not realising that they were the perfect colours of Bafana Bafana, who opened the World Cup this afternoon. The kids were more than excited to get these!

Thanks Keith for making the children's day!

After waiting around for any extra kids to turn up, I headed down the Ehlanzeni in the valley to give 5 of my children the same food parcel. These kids live a long way down a big steep hill and 3 of them were waiting to meet me. They too were excited to see what I had for them and I also gave them a lift up the valley back to nearer their homes so that was a highlight for them!

All in all, it was a good morning and a great start to the feeding programme. I'm looking forward to checking in with the kids throughout this holiday and really making a difference in their lives. Thank you to those who have donated to make this possible, if you'd like to contribute, get in touch!