Usually Margaret chooses students from sixth forms in London to go on these trips, but this year she kindly allowed the Alresford Rotary club to choose 3 year 11 pupils from Perins to go along as well. After filling in an application letter and attending an interview run by two Rotarians I, along with two of my friends, Joanna Turner and Dan Bliss, was lucky enough to be picked. However, we then had to set about the task of each raising £600 towards the cost of the trip. The remaining money was paid by Alresford Rotary. I did this by working at the Courtyard Tea Rooms in Alresford and by holding cake sales and raffles along with Jo and Dan.

I was quite anxious before going on the trip, as I was unsure about what to expect and nervous about spending three weeks with a group of people I didn’t know. However, as soon as we arrived at the airport everyone began chatting and it was clear that we were all going to have a really good three weeks together.

When we arrived in South Africa we immediately began our journey to the Imfolozi Game Reserve; situated in the East of South Africa, in the heart of Zululand. Imfolozi is world renowned for its white rhino conservation, but is an area where you can expect to see all of South Africa’s big 5: Lion, African Elephant, Cape Buffalo, Leopard and Black Rhino. We were extremely lucky, as whilst on guided walks and game drives through the bush, we were able to see zebra, giraffe, rhino, hyena, buffalo, lots of impala and lions! On one game drive we even had a lioness walk besides us. As she crossed the road in front of us we realised that she had two cubs following behind her. They then continued to walk parallel to the track and then crossed in front of us again, giving us lots of photo opportunities!

At the beginning of our second week we began work at Inchanga primary school, located in a township in the Valley Of The Thousand Hills on the outskirts of Durban. It was here where we would be spending most of our time over the next two weeks, teaching the children English, Maths, Art and P.E and decorating their classrooms. When we arrived we were split into two groups of ten. On the first day group A decorated and group B taught, we then alternated each day. Although the decorating was very hard work, as we had to sandpaper the walls, Polyfilla them, sand paper them again, then paint them and sandpaper, wash and then varnish the bricks, it was in fact the teaching that was the most demanding.

The pupils were varied in their English ability, but mostly their English was very limited. Although some were extremely good, which was useful as you could use them to explain the exercise to the rest of the class. Jo and I were grouped together and we were assigned to teaching English. The first lesson we taught was a bit of a struggle, as it was mostly written work, which the pupils found difficult. So, we adapted our next lessons to be more interactive and they seemed to work a lot better. For example for our lesson about body parts I drew some pictures of body parts, and then in the lesson we handed out a body part to each student. Next we called out the body parts one at a time and the person with that body part would come up and stick it on the board in the correct place. By the end of the exercise we would have a completed body stuck on the board. In our lessons we also sand songs, such as, ‘If your happy and you know it’ and ‘Heads shoulders knees and toes’, read stories and played games, like Simon Says and Shipwrecked.

Although it was hard work, you felt a real sense of achievement when a child understood what you meant and were then able to participate in the lesson. In all, by the end of the two weeks we spent at Inchanga, we managed to decorate seven classrooms including painting the pictures, diagrams and text that the teachers had requested to be painted on the walls. We also painted the alphabet and cartoon animals onto the walls in the crèche.

My trip to South Africa was an unforgettable experience and I have so many amazing memories and new friends to last me a lifetime. Margaret is now busy organising next summer’s trip to South Africa and of course is busy fundraising.

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