Orientation Week- Johannesburg

So...I've been in South Africa for just over a week and already so much has happened!

I left Heathrow with four other volunteers on Friday morning and after a very long flight stopping in Abu Dhabi, we arrived in the city of Johannesburg at about 5am on Saturday morning. The first flight was very uncomfortable and cramped but the second was better however I barely slept the whole time so after 3 hours sleep before I left home it took me a couple of days to return to normal.

When we were landing in Joburg the first thing I saw was lots of colourful lights for miles which looked really pretty. We got through customs easily and then looked for the guy from the hostel who was picking us up. The heat hit us even though it was so early and I was in jeans and a hoodie! The journey to the Backpackers Ritz where we were staying was magical because the sun had just come up and the sky looked beautiful. We were surprised to see people already up and on their way to work and also people jogging. I felt like I didn't want to go to sleep because the whole world seemed to be waking up at this time. We got to the Ritz and were shown to our dorms as we wanted to get some sleep before our day started at about 9am. Emily and I, being the only girls at the time went into our dorm but quickly turned around because we scared ourselves as we didnt expect other people to be in the room for some reason and they were all so still...it was really freaky! Where it was so light it was so hard trying to sleep on my top bunk when I could see over the city and hear these really loud birds outside and I was just feeling a little bit over tired to even sleep. It was all a bit surreal! However, I did manage to sleep for a couple of hours.

We stayed in Jo’burg until Tuesday morning. I wont bore everyone with what we did everyday but when we had talks on culture, history and travel and just general meetings with Matt, our country manager, we went to a church hall just down the road from the hostel. In total there was eight of us- seven from England and one guy from New Zealand. My favourite part of the orientation was when we went to Soweto- the famous township which is just outside Jo’burg which I expected to be still full of tin huts and poor conditions. However, I was surprised to see that even outside of the wealthy parts, the majority of the houses have been rebuilt over the years and the conditions are much better for the millions of people who live there. I particularly enjoyed learning about the June 1976 student riots in Soweto where black students protested against the government law that they must speak Afrikaans in their schools which they were not prepared to do because they had their own languages to learn in already and the system started to become too much. In these riots some of the students died as the white police fired at the crowds and the museum was really interesting. It occurred to me how little I know of the history of this country and how I wish they had taught it in England at school because it's such an important piece of history. Going to the apartheid museum afterwards reinforced this as we learnt about the life of Nelson Mandela. It was a huge shock to find out that he survived the prison on Robbin Island for twenty seven years and still came out of it with his original beliefs about the apartheid system. The weather stayed beautiful throughout our time in Jo'burg with short storms in the afternoon which cleared the air and one of my highlights of the orientation was sitting on my top bunk with another volunteer, Sophie, watching an electric storm over the city which we kept trying to capture on camera and failing because it was so quick! There were a couple of people we met in the hostel who were lovely including a South African lady who gave us lots of good advice about the country and a couple of Dutch girls who had been studying here for sixth months and told us that it is not long enough to explore the country! On the last evening we had a braii- the south african barbeque- outside with everyone looking over the city which was really fun and we were all excited to be finally starting the journey to our placements.....

35 days

So...the weeks are going really fast and my big adventure is just around the corner! I'm feeling really excited now but also nervous and unprepared at times! I got my South African visa last week which made it seem so real and met up with Katie (fellow lattitude volunteer) and her family for lunch which was lovely.

I'm now going to be staying in the country for seven months, the last three weeks after my placement will hopefully be spent with my friend in Cape Town which will be amazing as I haven't seen her in 5 years! There's so many things I want to do whilst I'm out there- climb table mountain; go on safari (elephants are most important!); go to the Drakensburg mountains, travel down the east coast; go to swaziland...the list goes on!

The plan for teaching at Nansindlela was originally to be in the junior school where we would assist with classes and take those when a teacher was absent, I believe, but this has now changed... One of the teachers has left and they don't have a replacement for him yet and so he asked if we would take over his role in the high school....but there was a slight problem- it would be teaching the equivalent of A level maths and science! I didn't do either of those subjects and it would have been impossible for me, however, Katie and I still wanted to help so now we are teaching the younger grades and their teachers are going to take the older ones. So, I will be teaching grade 8 english, and grade 9 english and maths! That covers just over 20 hours a week- a full time teaching position. It's a huge challenge but I can't wait! It makes me feel that we really will be contributing something to the school and it will be so worthwhile :) Better start learning my maths again!

What I'm looking forward to...

• A new country and culture: one of the reasons I wanted to do this in the beginning was the opportunity to immerse myself in the culture of somewhere so different to where I live. England is just so boring sometimes and I can't wait to go into a colourful country and meet so many new people!



• Travelling: we are going to have so much opportunity to travel at weekends and school holidays and it's going to be amazing to just explore somewhere new!



• Wildlife: I think I mentioned elephants earlier.... There is an elephant park really near where we are staying too :D



• Teaching: I've had a little experience of this before and loved it- so although the full time position is a little daunting I know it's going to be a lot of fun! Also, I'm going to learn so much myself about the job and it's going to be great work experience if I decide I want to become a teacher after uni.



• Orientation week: We are spending 3 or 4 days in Joburg with all the volunteers from the UK, New Zealand and Canada and are going to Soweto and the apartheid museum which I'm really looking forward to. We are also doing a teaching course there.

Current concerns/worries...

• The flight!: I'm not the biggest fan of flying and we have a 7 hour flight to Abu Dhabi and then another 8 and a half hours to Johannesburg- it's going to be a long journey!



• Malaria tablets: I'm in the process of sorting out my prescription but apparently the ones I am going to take make you feel sick all the time and I am terrified of being sick. There are other brands but they all have horrible side effects so I can't really win :(



• The lack of electricity and no running water: we are staying in a house with some other teachers and it has no running water and limited electricity. I know this will make me appreciate what I have at home but I love my showers in the morning and will really miss them!



• Being homesick: I don't usually get homesick but I've never been away from home for more than a week! 6 months living in a completely different culture and adapting to a whole new way of life will take some getting used to and obviously I'm going to miss my family and friends.



• The language barrier: I don't speak Zulu. I think that kind of sums it up!



• Sunburn- lets face it, I'm quite pale and it will be quite sunny...

I wasn't sure what to write in this post but hopefully it's given a nice overview of how I'm feeling about it all. What seemed like 'just an idea' about eighteen months ago is suddenly happening! I'm looking forward to my friends coming home from uni for Christmas and seeing all my family before I go, this time is going to just fly past. Big thank you's to a few people who have supported me throughout :) xxx

10 weeks to go!

My trip to South Africa is not so far away anymore! The weeks seem to be going really fast and I can't wait to go! I have saved up all the money now which is a huge step because it was a lot to raise and I never thought I would do it with three months still left to go. On Friday I went to a pre-departure meeting in Reading and met the other volunteers and had a great day :) I found out the school I am going to which is called Nansindlela school and also the girl I am going to be with so it all seems very real now! Nansindlela is in the Kwa-Zulu Natal province of South Africa and the area is very rural and I think teaching at the school is going to be quite a challenge, which I'm looking forward to! Thanks to everyone who has helped me get this far, I really appreciate it!

Five months to go...

Update: flights have been booked; travel insurance paid for; CRB form sent off; 2 out of 3 injections done; new passport on its way and I have got a new full time job starting in less than 3 weeks! still lots more to do but I am getting there! :)

"Believe you can and you're half way there"

A year after I first started saving and fund raising for this trip I have managed to raise £1500, which is around half my total that I need to go to South Africa! I am hoping to raise the other half by writing to trusts, hopefully doing a sponsored swim and mostly through working full time. I am currently trying to find a job where I can work in the week so fingers crossed that I will find something soon (i have applied to so many places!!) Only 6 months until I leave!

18th Birthday :)

Just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who gave me money for my 18th Birthday! It is all going towards my South Africa fund and I am so lucky to have over £600 to put towards my savings for this trip!! It has really helped me out and I am nearly half way to my total, so thanks so much! I had a great birthday surrounded by family and friends, who I will miss lots when I am in South Africa this time next year :D

Update on fundraising...

Havn't posted anything in a while, but I am trying to keep fundraising in between other things :) Did another car boot sale a while back and had so many clothes to sell (big thank you to Lucy and Amy for donating their unwanted clothes) and am going to do lots more soon!

Car boot sale and setting up our stall at the May Day

I had a stall at the Bransgore May Day yesterday where I sold cakes (as usual thank you mum!) and had a game with Lollies where people paid to try and pick out lollies that had coloured ends to win them. Thank you to Mel who came and helped me all day, I really appreciate it! We didn't sell all the cakes and lollies so I sold them today at school. Thank you to everyone who helped me sell them including Lucy, Amy, Annie, Stocks, Heidi, Claire and others and everyone who bought them!! Made around £80 from the two days, so pleased with that.

I can't believe that this time next year I will be in South Africa, it doesn't even seem real. I know that these next 9 months will fly by though and soon I will be sat on that plane thinking.."oh no what have I done!"...only joking, I'm excited! ;) Big thank you to Linden who has been really supportive these past few months, and to the other's who are also going to South Africa (and Malawi for Dave ;)) next year!! xxxx

Valentine's Day Cake Sale!

Today (Valentine's Day) I held a cake sale at school :) Last night Mum and I made about a hundred cakes and heart shaped biscuits. The majority of the cakes had love hearts on and in about 12 minutes they had all gone! I expected to make £30, but made £35 all together, so I was really pleased with that!!

Thank you to everyone who helped me including Heidi, Amy, Lucy, Jenny, Caroline and any one who came and supported me! I really appreciate your help :) My fundraising is going well so far, I have raised over £1000 towards the total cost of my gap year so thanks for everyone who has supported me so far!

Craft, Cakes and Clothes.

A big thank you to my family! Firstly to my Auntie Euna in Brighton who had a Clothes Swap with her friends last week and is donating the proceeds to my gap year. Sounds like you all had a lovely time and thank you for your generosity!



Secondly, to my Auntie Dawn and her friend with who I went to a Christmas fair and we sold cakes (thank you mum!) and my auntie's hand made craft. People were really interested in what I was raising money for and some were very generous :D I really enjoyed the evening and I am pleased with how my fundraising is going so far :)

Cake Sale...

This weekend was all about cakes! On Saturday I went to work, which is at a cake shop whilst my mum slaved away in the kitchen at home making around 200 cakes to sell the next day. My Dad co-organises a Bus rally in Swanage where lots of people who like old buses and the general public and so on can have a look around and go on the trips etc- not something I'm particularly interested in myself, but it provided me with a great opportunity for fundraising! Anyway, so we went along in the morning and the weather was horrendous- really wet and windy and we were trying to set up this cake sale outside and it was awful because everything was blowing everywhere and getting ridiculously wet! Then a very kind man offered if we would like to sell the cakes from the bus where they were also selling programmes for the day- so we said yes please! Once in the dry and putting all the cakes still in their tins, in the luggage bit of the bus, we started to sell them. Possibly one of the strangest things I've ever done for fundraising money so far but it worked really well! We had messages put out on the loudspeaker all day and a huge thanks to Dave who promoted the cake sale extremely well. In the afternoon I was able to go outside for an hour or so and sell the cakes as the sun finally came out! Lots of thank you's to those who came and bought cakes and who took such an interest in what I was raising money for. It just shows you how many caring and positive people there are out there!

After a whole day of selling cakes we still had some left so I decided that I would try to sell the rest at school on Monday break. Within twenty minutes everything was gone, a huge thank you to everyone that came and supported me- I really appreciate it! Over the two days I made a total of £72.50 which was really pleasing! A BIG thanks to my Mum who made all the cakes, I couldn't have done it without you :)