COUNTRY: Southern Africa (Swaziland, Mozambique & South Africa)
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Care Work
WRITTEN BY: Monique Bedwell & Rebecca Young
Our first day of placement was finally here! Before we all headed off to our respective NCP's, (Neighbourhood Care Points) we were told that for the past three weeks the kids had been on school holidays and that the first official day of school wasn't actually until tomorrow, but off we went with high hopes! As expected when most of us showed up the kids weren't there! The afternoon was a bit more exciting with a visit to the children's ward at the Nazarene hospital in Manzini. We only bought a few balloons and some bubbles for the kids and some fruit for the parents but that was all we needed. It was amazing to see what a difference we could make for those kids stuck in hospital. Some of them were only there over night for a bad cough but others had been there for months suffering from terrible burns.
Upon returning to Lidwala after a fantastic afternoon at the hospital we were informed about the volunteers cooking dinners and cleaning dishes! Everyone's first reaction was to check who was on clean up. Harry and Mon were first up to cook which provided some entertainment when when Harry walked to the herbs and spices asking "where are the bell peppers?" not realising Mon had been chopping them for the past 20 minutes. Yes, capsicums and bell peppers are the same thing!
We were all fairly tired after all our travels and disappointed about not being able to teach. Soon after dinner most of us were off to bed for a good nights sleep. The next day again full of high hopes to meet our children at our NCP's we headed out accompanied by the 'old group' of volunteers. Today was more of a success with everyone coming back at lunch time with exciting stories about the children at their NCP. Most of us spent the afternoon actually preparing lessons for the following day. To say we were excited for the next day was an understatement.
Within a few days we had realised how much hard work the children were and that we would not be able to cope with a full day of teaching. Most of this was due to the language barrier making it difficult to communicate.
On Wednesday the group decided to treat ourselves to a night out at the movies. It was cheap Wednesday's so instead of costing R36 it was ONLY R16 (equivalent of around $2AUD).
That Friday we all attended the 'House Party.' This pretty much involved being taken to a bowling club to drink and hang out with our group and the remaining members of the 'old group' of volunteers- Hannah, Annabelle, EJ and Bjorn. When we got there non of us really understood how we were going to have a good time as it was a lawn bowls club. However, once we had a few drinks and some food, fun conversations, piggy back races, balancing competitions and dancing soon followed. Fe and Fezi had a chilli chicken eat off which Fe surprisingly won, despite Fezi's bragging!
A few of the group-Rebecca, Matt, Kirsten, Aimee and Mon- headed out the next day to go Zip Lining. At 1pm they had packed the car and headed off with Wawa. Along the way they had a few stop offs before arriving at Malolotja nature reserve. The first stop was the worlds second largest erect rock in world after our very own Uluru :) YEAH THE AUSSIES!!! It's called Sibebe. The next stop was a very large made made dam when the dam was in view Mon made the comment "Oh Damn!" Everyone laughed until they realised she wasn't making a pun and said it in complete seriousness which just made it even funnier.
After spending a good 10 minutes yelling into the dam and hearing our echoes we headed off to the Malolotja Nature Reserve where we would be staying. We didn't stay there long as Wawa wanted to take us to watch the sunset. Due to the amount of fires in the area there was a large amount of haze which made it difficult to see the vast acres of mountain range in the distance. The sunset was beautiful but took a very long time to set, in soon time we were ready to head back to our huts. We has an outside BBQ and all headed to bed early.
The next morning we were all up at 7.50am and very excited to head off. While sitting down for breakfast Matt ever so calmly informed us "omg there is a scorpion", the rest of reacted appropriately and freaked out! Kirstin caught the scorpion with a glass and took it outside to have a better look. A guide walked passed and casually poured the scorpion onto his hand. our morning lesson was "big pincers, small tail will only leave an agitated big sting. Small pincers, big tail...BIG PROBLEM."
After that we headed to the main office where we were debriefed and suited up for Zip lining. The drive down to the gorge was bumpy and fun for the most part. The first couple slides were small and then we got straight into it. The remarkable views and feelings of adrenaline hit everyone and we all loved it! To say we wished we could have done it again would be an understatement.
Once we got back it was lunch and then we were on the road again. Our next stop was the Ngwenya Mines; these are the world's oldest mines. We were able to also walk up to the last caves which had not been destroyed. Again we were on the road again to the glass factory, as well as the chocolate factory and various other little shops.
Then we were off home, but not quite! We drove past Lidwala and headed straight to the candle factory. Everyone who had stayed home that weekend were there as well. The markets as well as the candle factory had an abundance of goodies that we all fell in love with. Non of us expected to see such colourful and beautiful hand crafted candles.
While those who didn't go zip lining stayed home they still had a great weekend of their own. As the 'old group' was leaving after this weekend and heading home, the remainder of the volunteers stayed behind and had farewell with casual drinks and a fire pit at the Lidwala lodge. Most of the group spent the night sleeping out under the stars after being suggested by Fe.
Our second week of work had commenced with sad goodbyes to Annabelle, Hannah, EJ, Barbara and Bjorn. By this time we had all settled into our routine of catching Combie's (a mini van that functions like a bus but can be hailed anywhere as though it was a taxi) and teaching. The biggest highlight of the week was the monthly football (soccer) game of volunteers vs All Out Africa team. On this particular day it was 37 degrees and we were all feeling the heat! But that didn't stop us. We were driven to Malendela's where we prepared for our game. Harry's tactic was for us all to get a sugar hit and bought lollies. This was initially successful as we were able to put the first goal of the game away! Feeling the adrenaline few team member Madi and Alice were continuously encouraging the team that "WE HAVE THIS!! DON'T GIVE UP, WE CAN WIN, RUN FASTER!!!" Our biggest surprises was Matt with his outstanding height and ability to gain all the headers and Tash our little pocket rocket! Everyone did their best to try keep us ahead of the game. Unfortunately we all had a sugar crash and began to feel the heat. The game concluded with a depressing score of 9-1. Unfortunately Tarun and Louisa couldn't be there for the game as Louisa had taken Tarun to the doctors due to an ongoing illness that hadn't been improving.
The end of the week was concluded with the entire group heading back out to Malendela's for a dinner out as a whole group. Not only were we able to enjoy each others company but everyone who spent over R50 on food enabled one Swazi child from our NCPs to get a free dinner at Malendela's. We all had a throughly enjoyable night and plan on going back soon.
Saturday was packing day as we were heading of to the lovely Mozambique for a week of beach, sun, and relaxation. We were also looking forward to catching up with the Mozambique Antipodeans volunteers whom we had met at the June training camp and had flown over to Africa with.
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