Were back now, had a awesome time, from the mudbaths at thangami to the safari drives and seeing white lions, it was a awesome experience. And yes, i did dress up in pink for the pink team at the ferrum swimming gala! I cant wait to go back Thanks to Mr and Mrs Howarth and Miss Johnson for the amazing life changing trip. 

We arrived at Babanango Lodge and the students were shown their tents. The staff were then taken to luxurious colonial bungalows with their own pool and a fantastic view. As Nico brought us our luggage, Mrs Howarth explained that she felt awful, them in tents and us in luxury surroundings, he replied "this is Africa"!

We went to the Hill of execution, visited the local Zulu village and then we had a swim in the river. After dinner the students played stalk the lantern and went for a bush walk.

On Tuesday morning, 5 volunteers cooked breakfast for the staff on the camp fire. The students really enjoyed cooking their own breakfast although there were a couple of accusations about stolen sausages! We then departed for a tour of Isandlwan battlefield and Rorke's drift. In the evening we were treated to a superb combination of music, dance and dinner at Ferrum's culture evening.

Today we are going to Moreson Range to spend time with the lions, go on a game drive and go swimming. In the evening we will attend the farewell function and depart for Cape Town at 0630 hours on Thursday.

The staff went to Drakensberg for the weekend, the highest mountain range in South Africa. On the way down, we stopped to see the famous KwaZulu weavers and had lunch. We stayed in beautiful thatched chalets in the Halanathi resort. The views from our chalet were breathtaking and it was difficult to take yourself away from these views. We went for a hike on Saturday morning to the Cascades. This is a series of waterfalls that begins at the famous Tugela Falls, the worlds second highest waterfall. In the afternoon Mr Howarth went tubing on the river whilst others relaxed in the sun and had a siesta. We were treated to a spectacular thunderstorm on Saturday evening which continued long into the night.

Many of the students went to Durban for the weekend and some went camping at Nico's farm, swimming in the dam. George did not go to Mozambique due to a Malaria outbreak! Today we are going to Babanango Valley where we will visit the Hill of execution and a modern day Zulu village. We will stay overnight in a lodge and on Tuesday we will visit Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift. In the evening the adults will attend the Culture evening at Ferrum and enjoy celebrating the achievements of the students.

We went to the Funfarm yesterday and we had a great time with the animals. The boys were involved in feeding goats, ponies and sheep and Edward even managed to feed the unfriendly Llama! The boys had a camel ride and then went on the water assault course, where we were beat by the Ferrum girls!

The final event of the day was the zip wire! Mr Howarth was very keen to have a go at this. The Game keeper warned the boys about the need to bend their legs if they slipped off into the water too soon! Mr Howarth slipped of the wire as soon as he left the platform and managed to dive head first into the mud at the bottom of the Dam. There was a moment of silence as we all realised that he may be injured..... but then he raised his head out of the water, and it was completely covered in mud! The dog swam over to him, and possibly in shock, he wiped his face on the dog and then went back under the water. He then emerged from the water to raucous laughter from everyone around the dam, including the local newspaper reporter! The boys were keen for him to do it again so that we could record it for the web! This time, the Game keeper coached him on how to do it and he successfully glided into the water!

In the evening, the boys attended the Valentines Ball at Ferrum. This is a prestigous event where the girls arrange their dates months in advance. The Ferrum girls arranged dates for the Wellacre boys and they turned up looking fantastic! Each table is hosted by a student who is responsible for the food, drink and decorations! The hall looked amazing and everyone was up dancing from the very first song! There was a fantastic atmosphere and the dancing continued throughout the night whilst the teachers enjoyed a Braai (BBQ) in the school grounds.

This morning the boys are in school and then most of them are going away with their host families for the weekend. Many are going to Durban or camping at Nico's farm. George is going to Mozambique for the weekend!

The adults are off to the Drakensberg region of KwaZulu-Natal for a weekend hiking in the mountains and enjoying the beautiful scenary.

Great to read about your experiences in SA.It brings back very special memories that i really treasure.Enyoy the remainder of your stay i know that our friends at Ferrum will give you all an experience of a lifetime

Mr Howell

Yesterday we had a very moving  tour around Magadeni and oSisweni Townships which are 13 miles from the town. A township is where the underpriveleged people are housed in very poor conditions. The tour started with a visit to the Carnegie Art Museum in Newcastle to view a Zulu exhibition. After the local newspapers took photos of their Manchester celebrities, we were then greeted by the S.A police force who were to escort us during our 5 hour tour.

We began the tour at the local shopping area where vendors of sweets, souvenirs and medicines were happy to sell their goods to us. We then made our way to the local bed and breakfast which was also a Shabean (pub), and then onto a traditional Zulu hamlet. We were treated to traditional Zulu dancing by the local children and we got to go into the Zulu round houses and meet the local Sangoma, a natural healer who is highly respected in the community. The Sangoma is said to communicate with their ancestors to bring messages to those around them and heal the ill. We were also treated to local bread plant which was delicous and then onwards to visit a township creche and finally back to Ferrum.

At 1600 hours we attended the Ferrum Swimming Gala at the Newcastle Swimming Pool. This was a superb event in a wonderful outside location and Jack took part in some of the swimming races. Jordan was dressed up by the girls in a pink outfit! There were two teams, pink and purple and the competition was very serious. A HGV with pink ribbons had been driven onto the grounds for the pink team to dance on the top of! At one point, it was like being in the middle of Grease the movie, as police cars with flashing lights were driven in, to loud music played over the P.A system carrying the cheerleaders to support the purple team. Mr & Mrs Howarth and I were on the officials team and spent the afternoon timing the races. The accuracy is of a very high level as they take the swimming very seriously in this region, each team had 3 stop watches and 2 electronic sensors! At 2030 hours the gala finished and we made our way home to bed, exhausted after a very long day, with a few additional mosquito bites to keep us company!

We went to Siyalungelwa school yesterday and it was quite an experience. The students carry their chairs from each lesson due to the shortage of chairs. We visited the Science classroom that Ferrum and Wellacre are responsible for improving and it was wonderful to see the impact that all the fundraising has had. The room had changed from a damp and dirty environment that was not very conducive to learning, to a clean and bright environment. We also visited the reading room that Mr & Mrs Greenhalgh have refurbished and the computer room that both schools have contributed too.

We visited the lessons and some of the students were very entrepreneurial selling mints for the equivalent of one pence. The teacher informed us that they would use the money to buy bread for their family.

We had a presentation where we handed over the sponsored kits and a classroom projector to the school and their was a lot of excitement. We had 15 football kits to give to the school and so 15 players from the school stood in a line and our boys presented the kit to them. At one point, I noticed the line kept growing!

We then had a football match, Wellacre Afritwins  versus Siyalungelwa football team. The temperature was in the mid thirties and the pitch was unusually large! Jack had quite a few acrobatic moments, looking like a true professional, Ben and Reuben were doing a lot of running and Aaron was superb in goal! It was a close game, but eventually we started to wilt! We then watched the Ferrum girls play netball, it was a serious match! Many of the Siyalungelwa girls were much older than the Ferrum girls as they can attend school until they are 21 years old. This was certainly a factor when it came to size! The whole school were stood watching the match, and the Zulu cheers were very uplifting!

At the end of the day we watched the students leave school, there was a stream of learners in yellow shirts walking home for as far as the eye could see. Many of them walk over 11 miles just to get to school.

The next project is to renovate the school hall. The thatched roof has worn away and so assemblies are often in the sun or the rain depending on the time of year. The Zulu parents will teach the staff and students at Ferrum how to thatch as part of the project. It is estimated that it will cost around five hundred pounds. The deputy asked the Wellacre Afritwins if they thought that it was a project that they could help with, Jon answered with a very enthusiastically 'yes', much to the delight of the school!

In the evening the boys attended a folk dancing session. As you can imagine, they were not very keen at the start but the lady in charge was adamant that we would all take part and so we did. It was great fun watching the boys dance with the ladies in traditional folk costumes, laughing with each other as they tried to get the steps right. Mr Howarth was busy taking pictures that he could use as blackmail in the future!

Today we are going to visit Madadeni Township and then we are attending the Swimming Gala, a major event on the school calendar.  

Apologies for the delay with the blog! The technical issues are now sorted!

We landed in Durban, due to a 'neighbourhood thunderstorm' and once this had passed we took off again and arrived at our final destination, 5 hours late!

We had been up nearly 24 hours at this point and so we quickly made our way to bed!

The following morning we went to the Montecasino to watch a fascinating bird show and then set off on the long road to Newcastle! The boys think it must be the longest road in Africa! Apparently it is not, but it probably felt like that to them as they were excited about meeting their twins!

Once we arrived in Newcastle, we received an extremely warm and emotional welcome!

The next day we attended the Annual Athletics day.

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