First Week in Incredible Swaziland

COUNTRY: Africa Combo
PROGRAM: GapBreak
WRITTEN BY: Devna Luthra

Five days in Kruger was a great way to break the ice. Being away from wi–fi and electricity, with no time for makeup or hair straightening, and sitting in an open safari car on a 48 degree day meant we definitely bonded! Seeing the animals was a surreal experience. Giraffes, elephants, buffaloes, white rhinos, black rhinos, cheetahs, leopards, lions, impalas, chameleons, vultures, eagles, hyenas, wild dogs, and hippos kept us entertained and our cameras in high use. Volunteering jobs started in our second week. 

We split into two groups, one doing construction work and the other sports development for the local kids. The constructors replaced an old wire fence around a preschool, in time for the new school year. Though physically challenging, we finished the fence by the end of the week with all fingers still in tact. The sports group ran drills and activities for about 20 kids each day.

The highlight was definitely coaching swimming lessons and seeing their confidence in the water improve in just a short time. We've also been holding curriculum workshops to create classroom activities in preparation for working in the preschools. A particularly confronting moment of the trip so far was visiting the children's ward at a local hospital. It was overwhelming to see gorgeous young kids so ill, especially when comparing their basic facilities to ours back home. The parents and carers seemed surprised for to see us, and the kids were a bit wary. However, giving them small presents and something to smile about made the trip worth it.

We've also found some comforts from home. The supermarket down the road is stocked with milo and Weetbix, in addition to the local Swazi 'ligusha' and 'umbhidvo'. Of course, a few hiccups were bound to occur. All of us Aussies have the same black Haviannas thongs, and in a dorm of six people much confusion arises. More major ones (lost luggage, missed flights and sore throats) were taken in good humour with help from others in the group. 

 The All Out Africa staff has been the backbone of the trip. They have bent over backwards to make our stay comfortable, safe, worthwhile and fun. This was my first time staying in backpacker accommodation. Not once have I felt unsafe. It's secure and there are lots of people, always someone new to talk to! It's been an interesting two weeks. 

The question many of us are asking is how to make a lasting difference while we are here. Though putting up a wire fence or teaching soccer drills is not going to cure AIDS/enhance education attendance/solve gender inequality/fix broken families, the changes we make are subtle but steady; for the local community and us as individuals. After all, 'The way a mouse eats an elephant is one bite at a time.'

Southern Africa Amazement

COUNTRY: Africa Combo
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching
WRITTEN BY: Emma Catto

Our first week in Southern Africa was amazing!
Landing in Johannesburg on Sunday morning after an 11 hour flight, Victoria and I stayed at a cosy backpackers near the airport, meeting up with Jordan the next day and traveling to Swaziland, to Lidwala Lodge, where we will be spending a lot of time over the next month or so during our volunteering placement there.

Along the way we met up with a group of Canadian university students on a study abroad program, and we got to know them at Lidwala for a few days before heading north to Kruger National Park in South Africa for our safari.

Camping and game viewing in Kruger was an experience that I will never forget, and I know that it will be a highlight of this trip. Within 2 days of being driven around the park by our All Out Africa guide Bob, we had seen the "Big Five" (elephant, lion, buffalo, rhino and leopard), seeing a total of 3 leopards during our time there. Nights around a fire, waking up early to see the sun rise as we searched for animals, our sunset drive and early morning game walk were all complimented by the spectacular environment and landscapes we were constantly surrounded by, and all of the wild African animals that we were able to see!

5 Antips volunteers, 4 NCP's, 3 meals a day (not really), 2 kombi rides and one week in Mozambique!

COUNTRY: Southern Africa (Swaziland, Mozambique & South Africa)
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Care Work
WRITTEN BY: Elise, Laura, Rosie, Lydia and Josh

The past 3 weeks since the last blog post have been so jam-packed and busy that it's been hard to find time to write another one!

After returning from Kruger we dove straight into our NCP (Neighbourhood Care Point) projects across Swaziland, where we would be for 2 weeks. Every morning we catch kombi buses to our individual NCPs, which usually cost around 4 rand per trip (40c) and stay there for a few hours before heading back to our backpacker lodge, Lidwala.

Laura and Dutch volunteer Ingrid have been at Ezulwini NCP, Josh at Bethany NCP, and Lydia and Belgian volunteer Mimi at Ekuzukekeni NCP (where they have to take care of over 50 kids!).
Rosie and I were sent to Mlindazwe school, one of the smallest and most rural (even though it's about 20 minutes drive away) of the NCPs. It had been an amazing yet extremely challenging experience trying to teach the children when they hardly know any English. The teachers always worked very well to support us in controlling the kids and translating when we taught the children new subjects, like animals, shapes, colours, basic Maths etc. Our teacher at Mlindazwe just had a baby last week so sometimes she wasn't around to help us so it definitely proved to be a more difficult challenge! Every morning the children would pray before class and before breakfast, so all of the volunteers quickly learnt the "I am the winner" song that that kids were very enthusiastic to sing! Play time was always filled with screams of "Teacher, teacher push!"(on the swings) or "Teacher ngitsatse!" (which means pick me up) so it was obvious that the kids loved having us around to play, and most of the time we really enjoyed spending time playing games with the kids and hearing their adorable laughter.

It was hard sometimes for us to get into teacher mode, as the kids still saw us as playmates and treated us just the same as all the other children, most of the time quite aggressively, so we assume they experience a lot of violence/abuse at home. We also didn't quite realise how difficult it would be to communicate to them in English when they hardly know any. The Siswati words for 'stop', 'listen' and 'quiet' definitely came in handy!
We also have some sports volunteers working with All Out Africa that come to our NCPs once a week to play games with the kids. The first one that Rosie and I participated in we got to take some of the kids to swim teaching in the hot springs pool down the road. The children were absolutely terrified but it was so enjoyable to see them warming up to the water and playing with us.

Every afternoon after teaching we would be sent off to do other activities - i.e. Visiting the hospital and the orphanage. At Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital we would visit the children's ward and play with the sick/injured children. Most of them went crazy over the balloons but we found it quite hard to put a smile on their faces since they didn't understand much English. At Hope House orphanage we had a really great time with all the kids. Some of us started up a game of hokey pokey that just grew and grew until about half the orphans had joined in! Another time I brought some craft materials to make bracelets and and the kids went so crazy for them that it became really hard to manage! However there was a really amazing group dynamic there and we all really enjoyed ourselves the times we've been there so far.

The weekend between the 2 weeks of volunteering we were taken on the Malolotja Zip-lining tour, where we visited the second largest rock in the world, Sibebe (after Uluru - Aussie pride!) and we stayed overnight in the mountains. The following day we were taken on the zip-lining tour which we all agree was so much fun and an incredible experience, it was like flying through the valley.

After 2 weeks of volunteering at our NCPs, we were taken up to Tofo Bay, Mozambique with our Kruger guide, Wawa, for a week's holiday. The white sands and crystal clear water was the perfect setting for the majority of us girls to get our tan on. However local merchants found this a great opportunity to try and sell us bracelets, fabric and coconut bread, and whilst we were adamant that we didn't want any they would ask to buy our shirts or iPod's instead! Some loved to come touch our hair and even though we all said Josh was our boyfriend they disregarded this and were very confused as to why we couldn't have another. Whilst there we had the opportunity to go snorkeling, some of us lucky enough to swim with dolphins and over a small reef filled with fish. The day after we went kayaking to the small Island of Inhambane, where we were taken on a short tour and served lunch by the chief in his restaurant. The following day Josh, Laura, Dutch volunteer Ingrid and I went scuba diving, Josh had been before so for Laura and I it was extremely nerve-wracking to say the least! However it was an amazing experience, the struggle to remember how to breathe was 'drowned' out by the beauty of the reef and enjoying the proximity between ourselves and the underwater life. Unfortunately no manta rays or whale sharks but the fact that nothing went wrong made it very enjoyable in my opinion!

On Friday we drove the 13 hour journey back to Swaziland with the Mozambique volunteer group in tow as we all were heading off to the 3 day Bushfire Festival in Swaziland which started that night. Thousands of people travel across Africa to come to the annual festival - we met multiple people in Mozambique who we ran into whilst there! The festival was incredibly rich in music, dance and art, and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

An unforgettable Kruger Park safari

COUNTRY: Southern Africa (Swaziland, Mozambique & South Africa)
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Care Work
WRITTEN BY: Elise, Laura, Rosie, Lydia and Josh

Yes, we're all still alive, in case you haven't heard from any of us in the last week we've been away. We've been having such an amazing time that it sometimes gets hard to update others on what's happening!

Lidwala Lodge in the Ezulwini Valley, Swaziland will be our home away from home for the next few weeks/months. Lydia arrived on Sunday and Josh, Laura, Rosie and I arrived on Monday. We immediately settled into our room and were greeted with orientations for the rest of Monday and Tuesday, where we learnt about Swazi culture and Kruger National Park. That afternoon we were taken on a guides tour with the other volunteers (which consisted of 2 British girls, a Dutch girl, a Belgian girl and a Norwegian guy).

We had read that skirts were essential for the girls, and as none of us brought any full length ones we had resorted to tying bed sheets around our waists, until our guide told us that we would look like fools and it really wasn't necessary. We think about that time with fond memories! Our guide told us all about Swazi politics and the royal family, and he took us to the museum and the last king's memorial gardens. We were then taken on a walking tour of Lobamba, a small village with plenty of small children running up to take our hands and test our strength by hauling themselves up on our arms. Some also sang songs for us which was extremely cute. Our guide told us that everytime white people came to Lobamba they would say "Here come the 'how are you's!". We met a painter/musician called Lucky who was dedicate to teaching children about the arts, he was really inspiring to meet.

After we left Lobamba our guide cooked us a traditional dinner, and even though we were prepared to eat with our hands it was more difficult that it sounded! The meat he cooked was absolutely delicious, we all agreed it was one of the best meals we had ever eaten (mothers - take note!).


Wednesday morning we left for Kruger National Park with our guides Bob and Wawa. Within of 5 mins of entering the park we were greeted with the sight of a cheetah and 2 cubs - an especially rare sight to see, especially on our first day! It took 2 hours to reach our campsite, Lower Sabie, after entering. That really shows how big Kruger Park is, in comparison to Swaziland!

Most days we left early morning, around 6am, for a drive through the park while the animals were just waking, and we would stop for breakfasts and lunch then head back to the camp and have a drink at the cafe down by the river before dinnertime. Every time we stopped to see an animal we rushed to take photos, so by the end everyone was sick of it and ready to move on. We saw plenty of animals - elephants, hippos, crocodiles, rhinos, impalas (sometimes while mating - that was interesting to watch!), leopards, baboons, antelopes, wildebeest, zebras, giraffes, warthogs (or as we liked to call them - Pumbaa's, unfortunately no Timon's), lions, wild dogs, hyaena's, buffaloes, wild cats, many many types of birds and many more I can't remember right now! One night we went for a sunset drive, and just as the sun was going down we stopped a pride of lion mothers and cubs feeding on a dead hippo. We literally were stopped for 40 mins taking photos, even though it was dark! About 10 mins later we spotted the male lion walking past, who diligently stopped and sat down next to the truck for photos.

On Saturday and Sunday mornings, the group split in half to go on a morning walk where we had to get up at 5.15am! It was an experience though, much better than sitting in a vehicle all day long. I walked on Sunday morning with Rosie, Lydia and one of the British girls Alice, and we saw warthogs, wildebeest and zebras.

We left on Sunday, and we all know it was an absolutely amazing and unforgettable experience. Bob and Wawa were excellent guides who could spot animals as dots in the distance, but definitely knew how to have a good laugh when we were all being silly.

Tomorrow (Monday morning) we start our volunteer placements at various schools and projects. Rosie and I are going to Mlindazwe NCP, Josh is going to Bethany NCP, Laura and Ingrid (the Dutch girl) are going to Ezulwini NCP, and Lydia and Mimi (the Belgian girl) are at Ekuzukekeni NCP.

We'll be at our NCP's for 2 weeks, and after that we'll head off to Mozambique.

So for now this is about all we have to say, we'll try keep in contact and update you with what's happening along the way!