Do we ever take our school, homes and general way of life in the UK for granted? We live in the West Midlands which has a strong multicultural vibe throughout all our cities. In July 2013, 38 students and 8 members of staff went to experience contemporary life in South Africa whilst also understanding the preceding history that has shaped the South Africa we see today.
The trip built upon experiences that the Arthur Terry School has previously run and strengthened links with Rondevlei School and forged new links with another local primary school, Ruigtevlei School. The underlining element to this trip was to be hosted by Outward Bound South Africa (www.outwardbound.co.za) and to be guided through an experience with three clear elements; a personal development project, a community project and a chance to witness Africa's ecological side, by going on game drives as well as visiting African Penguins and Whale spotting off the cape coast at Hermanus Beach. Although this page is only a snapshot of the experiences the staff and students had on the 14 day excursion, I do hope that you can get a taste of the experience and look to help us to continue to support the communities of Sedgefield in South Africa.
The experience started a few weeks prior to setting foot on the plane in Heathrow when we visited Dyffryn as a group on our pre-expedition training weekend. The purpose of the weekend was to give students an insight into living in conditions that aren't as comfortable as they may be used to. Students also got in to the habit of talking and interacting with each other, across all year groups whilst also attempting a long walk in preparation for the Beach Walk in South Africa.
.PNG)
The excitement was also built by the visit of the Lions of Zululand who visited classes throughout the day, performed during lunch for the whole school and also ran an evening concert for friends and family of the students going to South Africa and the wider School community. It was clear to see that music and rhythm flowed through the Lions and that their music and dances portrayed stories of their previous experiences.
July 17th soon rolled around and all staff and students congregated at Arthur Terry and left for Heathrow at lunchtime and jet setted off on the first leg of the 24 hour journey to the Outward Bound centre at Willow Point in Sedgefield in the Western Cape of South Africa. The map below is very basic but does give you a sense of location for our trip.
We arrived at Willow Point which was going to be our base for the next 10 days, found our sleeping rooms and met our instructors and began team building activities right away which included designing "war chants" for our activity groups.
War Chant One! War Chants Two and Three! War Chant Four!
The following days consisted of a range of team building games and activities, pictures and videos can be found on www.twitter.com/arthurterrysa . The biggest challenge for most was the 8mile beach walk to the municipal camp site. Students and staff had to carry exactly what they needed for the whole trip, including food, clothes and tents. The walk was very eventful and we managed to see a flock of flamingoes that were having a break from their migration flight, we rescued a penguin and even traversed a rockface to get to the campsite before the tide came in and the lights went dark.
We woke up at the Muni campsite buzzing for our first day with the children at Rondevlei school. We all had to get to the school in a different way. One group had to row a whaler whilst others went via kayaks and canoes. We arrived at the school and was immediately greeted by 40 excited children who grabbed our hands and started to play. It was amazing to see the students from Arthur Terry and Rondevlei interacting with each other on such a personal level. Hundreds of photos and videos were taken and every single student made a connection that day. After the students left we began our maintenance aspect of the visit and began repainting and fixing the playground. After a strenuous couple of hours we made our way to a local steak house and had a great evening of singing and guitar playing before returning back to the Chapel at Rondevlei where we were sleeping for the night.
Maintenance Projects
We had barely opened our eyes in the morning and we were greeted by the students of Rondevlei who had come into school extra early because they were so excited to spend more time with the Arthur Terry students. The day was spent supporting lessons and also playing games and swapping songs. The highlight for me on the second day was seeing the mural being painted throughout the day. The mural below was not directly inspired by the poem "Roots and Wings" as such, but certainly the words are so apt to the work that is being done at Rondevelei and what we are supporting as The Arthur Terry School.
.JPG) |
| The mural was designed by Laura and Liam and encompasses a tree made up of a strong base and the branches of Arthur Terry and Rondevlei. Hand prints of staff and students from both schools make up the leaves of the tree. |
Roots and Wings
If I had two wishes, I know what they would be
I'd wish for Roots to cling to, and Wings to set me free;
Roots of inner values, like rings within a tree,
and Wings of independence to seek my destiny.
Roots to hold forever to keep me safe and strong,
To let me know you love me, when I've done something wrong;
To show me by example, and helps me learn to choose,
To take those actions every day to win instead of lose.
Just be there when I need you, to tell me it's all right,
To face my fear of falling when I test my wings in flight ;
Don't make my life too easy, it's better if I try,
And fail and get back up myself, so I can learn to fly.
If I had two wishes, and two were all I had,
And they could just be granted, by my Mom and Dad;
I wouldn't ask for money or any store-bought things.
The greatest gifts I'd ask for are simply Roots and Wings.
By Denis Waitley
The final day at Rondevlei was emotional and many tears flowed whilst we said goodbye to our new friends as they disappeared into the locality. We had two days at a new school for all of us called Ruigtevlei School before running a whole days of activities for students from both schools at Outward Bound in Willow Point. Ruigtevlei School was similar to Rondevlei in many ways and again there are many videos from the day via vine which can be accessed via our twitter account @arthurterrysa
The few pictures here give a quick flavour of the day but there was a range of activities. Students played traditional sports day games such as egg and spoon, piggy back and wheelbarrow races!
There was also a stall where students designed and ate their own biscuits, apple bobbed and made friendship bracelets. It really was a nice day and the students faces absolutely lit up when they were given their goody bags full of the gifts that Arthur Terry staff and students brought with them.
The day was fantastic but also emotionally draining for all students that put so much effort into the day. We all had a relaxing braic (bbq) and a campfire before preparing for the next few days of immersing ourselves in contemporary South African culture by visiting the Farmers Market of Sedgefield.
The next element of the trip involved appreciating the animals and ecology of Knysna elephant park and the Plettenburg Bay Game drive when we were lucky enough to see lions, zebras, springboks, hippos, cheetahs, giraffes, rhinos and many more!
We had one final night in our Willow Point accommodation before packing up our things and heading off on our long trip to Cape Town via Hermanus Bay where we did some whale spotting and Betty's Bay where we met some African Penguins.
We arrived into Cape Town and went off to for another great steak meal and observed Table Mountain disappearing into the sunset.
We woke up early and made our way across the freezing cold, 8km, shark infested, very choppy Atlantic Ocean to Robben Island. It was very emotional walking in and out of these non-descript cells that housed some of the brightest Black brains in South Africa who were being held as political prisoners. The story of Robben Island is fascinating and well worth reading a bit about, it wasn't always just a prison but actually housed people suffering from Leoprosy and isolated them from others. The picture to the right is on Mandela's cell, not a place you would want to spend 18 years. We were shown around by a former prisoner and he told us stories of his time in prison and how everyone tried to sneak some time with Mandela as they all knew he was going to be the beacon of future South Africa.
Dwarfing everything we did in Cape Town was the magnificent Table Mountain, a really natural wonder of the world. We went on an open top bus throughout the city of Cape Town and managed to travel high up into the mountains to catch the breath taking views of the whole city.
There really was too much to go into great detail here about the trip, but you must look our for future articles, speak to the students that went and keep an eye out for future fundraising events and even the next trip in a few years time so we can continue to support the excellent work being done in South Africa and sharing this experience with the next cohorts of Arthur Terry Students.
A massive thank you must go to Outward Bound South Africa who made the trip to special for us all, we will be back.
Mr. Simmons
The few pictures here give a quick flavour of the day but there was a range of activities. Students played traditional sports day games such as egg and spoon, piggy back and wheelbarrow races!
There was also a stall where students designed and ate their own biscuits, apple bobbed and made friendship bracelets. It really was a nice day and the students faces absolutely lit up when they were given their goody bags full of the gifts that Arthur Terry staff and students brought with them.
The day was fantastic but also emotionally draining for all students that put so much effort into the day. We all had a relaxing braic (bbq) and a campfire before preparing for the next few days of immersing ourselves in contemporary South African culture by visiting the Farmers Market of Sedgefield.
The next element of the trip involved appreciating the animals and ecology of Knysna elephant park and the Plettenburg Bay Game drive when we were lucky enough to see lions, zebras, springboks, hippos, cheetahs, giraffes, rhinos and many more!
We had one final night in our Willow Point accommodation before packing up our things and heading off on our long trip to Cape Town via Hermanus Bay where we did some whale spotting and Betty's Bay where we met some African Penguins.
We arrived into Cape Town and went off to for another great steak meal and observed Table Mountain disappearing into the sunset.
We woke up early and made our way across the freezing cold, 8km, shark infested, very choppy Atlantic Ocean to Robben Island. It was very emotional walking in and out of these non-descript cells that housed some of the brightest Black brains in South Africa who were being held as political prisoners. The story of Robben Island is fascinating and well worth reading a bit about, it wasn't always just a prison but actually housed people suffering from Leoprosy and isolated them from others. The picture to the right is on Mandela's cell, not a place you would want to spend 18 years. We were shown around by a former prisoner and he told us stories of his time in prison and how everyone tried to sneak some time with Mandela as they all knew he was going to be the beacon of future South Africa.
Dwarfing everything we did in Cape Town was the magnificent Table Mountain, a really natural wonder of the world. We went on an open top bus throughout the city of Cape Town and managed to travel high up into the mountains to catch the breath taking views of the whole city.
There really was too much to go into great detail here about the trip, but you must look our for future articles, speak to the students that went and keep an eye out for future fundraising events and even the next trip in a few years time so we can continue to support the excellent work being done in South Africa and sharing this experience with the next cohorts of Arthur Terry Students.
A massive thank you must go to Outward Bound South Africa who made the trip to special for us all, we will be back.
Mr. Simmons
No comments:
Post a Comment