Last couple of weeks!

Yaga yo!
I just want to begin by saying SORRY for not being consistent with this blog! Gosh, bloggers, vlogers I respect your hustle! This is not easy! 

As the school year is drawing to an end, school is becoming less busy.

Therefore, our team decided to organise “Inchanga’s got talent!” Showcasing the great talent here in Inchanga! Auditions were ever so fun! Total blessing to be able to watch them perform! If you follow me on snapchat then you were fortunate enough to catch snippets of the great talent here! 

   
   
Our following team day, the team visited the White House Community Care Centre, home to the disabled and the elderly. We introduced ourselves to those living there and enjoyed chatting and sharing stories together. It was touching to hear their experiences. We also assisted in cleaning, washing up and putting out fresh bedding for the centre’s chickens.

   
   

This weekend, we met up with the other four teams at Glenridge church in Durban. Ryan Matthews (Pastor at glenridge) spoke on water baptism! I think in the 10 years or so I’ve been a Christian it had to be the best way I’ve heard water baptism taught!  Shout out to my girl Alex who spontenously decided to get baptised! Woooop!

  
 After a powerful and challenging service we hit Suncoast! Contrary to the name, the weather wasn’t in our favour unfortunately, but it didn’t affect our time together! It was a wonderful day of fellowship, chatting and laughter!

   

    
  
 

Can’t believe we are back in London in 14 days! 8 working days left in school! Yikes! 

✌🏼️

7th Week in!

This week has probably been my BEST yet! 

My team mates led a career workshop with grade 7. They informed the kids of the importance of working hard, striving to achieve their future aspirations and the different routes and options they can take to get there. Unemployment is a very serious problem in Inchanga and we pray that our workshop will encourage the children to reach their full potential in pursuing a career true to their gifting and abilities. My other team mates, Alice and Katie led lessons on Drug Abuse with the Grade 6s and 7s. They taught the pupils that they are unique and valued by God and educated them on the damage drugs can do to their bodies. We hope they will make informed and wise decisions, say no to drugs and withstand peer pressure in the future.
   
 

   
 
Last week in GRS the pupils were taught the HIV ABC’s (Abstain, Be faithful, Condomise) that can help stop the spread of HIV. The kids (and us!) had lots of fun playing limbo and simultaneously learning about the risks of having older sexual partners.

   
 
This week we also organised a soccer friendly football match with Kwathintwa school which a school for the deaf. I was shocked to know that our team was the FIRST to ever put this together and in the history of the schools it had NEVER been done! 

 

      
 
  

It was such a great SUCCESS! If soccer wasn’t enough we also had the girls playing a netball friendly! 

   
   
It was so nice seeing everyone socialising!
   
    
    
    

Both friendlies were a success! Football was 3-0 to Kwathintwa and Netball was 9-5 to Inchanga! Woooop!  

Following on from that on Friday we had cafe chat with an overwhelming amount of people turning up wanting to practice their English! Great fun! 

Saturday we finally managed to visit a craft market (Victoria St Market) If you are ever in Durban, make sure you visit! Then ended the day with a visit to North beach! 

   
    
  
Sunday was our last time at City Hill Church! I sure am going to  miss those brownies!

  
  
That’s all for now folks! 

✌🏼️

Inchanga Primary School.

  

Good evening, afternoon or morning! 

This post is going to be a little different from the rest. In fact it’s an overdue post lol!

I’ve realised that I haven’t actually given you the history behind the school I am based at. This blog post will be ALL about INCHANGA primary school!

So take a seat, grab your hot cuppa and enjoy!

(Hopefully by the end of this post you will have a deeper insight of this great school.)

Inchanga primary school was established in 1922 by a priest of a local Roman Catholic Church. It is the OLDEST school in the community. It initially was a school teaching up to grade 10 but in 1979 it stopped providing tuition for secondary school.

The current principal of Inchanga primary is Mr. B. G. Shau. (This guy is the most amazing selfless man I know here! Totally has devoted his for this kids!) The school has over 1200 pupils, 300 of which are orphans living with HIV. Many of the children here at Inchanga rely on the school for food – as many cannot afford basic meal. The school kitchen is ran by dedicated volunteers from the community.

At Inchanga primary school there is also a school garden which was planted to help give support and income to the orphans once they have finished school. The gardening programme is funded by Hillcress Rotart club and is the first of its kind! The orphaned kids are taught agricultural skills and learn how to look after the vegetables for themselves. At the moment, the government provides food for the pupils but in the future the school aims to buy their vegetables from the children to help them to support themselves after school.
The school has partner school called the Steven Davidson Primary school, which was built by a charity called Lions raw. The lions raw volunteers came over on 2009 with the World Cup. Before the partner school was built, the school suffered every year with road accident deaths due to children walking very long distances to get to school. Lion Raw raised money and built the second school closer to where these children lived and it provided education for the grade R to the grade 1. This resulted to the number of deaths cutting drastically! (we thank God!)

During the World Cup, the school was shut for a month. Many children went hungry as they dependon school for a good meal. Lions raw came to provide food for the children. 

Inchanga Primary school welcomes help from a number of other organisations. One of which is food for life, who come from the local Hindu temple and provide food for the children once every month. There is also another organisation that provide food parcels and home visits for some of the child-headed families in Inchanga and for the children that sleep rough. 

This school has truly opened my eyes to how others are living and the importance of having JOY in your heart no matter the circumstances.

  

THANK YOU INCHANGA FOR MAKING MY HEART FULL! ❤️ 

Week 6!

Helllooooo!

Six weeks in and you’re still reading. THANK YOU!

So the last week of October was a pretty busy one for us. Busy yet satisfying!

Monday,  half of the team begun the process of cleaning the girls toilets. What a JOB it was!  But hey, I guess being HIS hands and feet isn’t all about the pleasant jobs lol!

 

On Wednesday we had the awesome pleasure of being joined by the librarians from the local ‘Inchanga Library’ – teaching the grade 7 the importance of being a member of the library.

It was so great to see how engaged the kids were! In Inchanga, there isn’t much for young kids to do but to have a space where they can learn about other cultures and expand their vocabulary via books and Internet access isn’t something they take lightly!

For a couple of days on our journey to school, we realised that there was broken glass all  over the floor. Thursday morning, we decided that we would clear it away – I couldn’t believe that someone approched me and asked me why I was cleaning the road as “I have nice hair, I shouldn’t be doing it!” LOL!

  

Friday we visited pre-school kids next door to Inchanga!

Adorable bunch they were!  

Painting of the children’s toilets also begun!

 
Café chat also begun! The whole vision behind this is for people to have a place they can practice their english and have general conversation. It was a great success!

Sunday we visited a children’s home (Orphanage) which begun in 2010.

  

This home is home to 14 orphaned children. Theresa Gwala (retired nurse and mother of 3 adult sons) who runs Sbusiswe (which means we are blessed) opened her home to these children whose stories is all about tragedy and loss.

Despite their odds these children are happy and ever so well behaved!

During our visit they taught us a few games and showed us around their home.

 

To support this amazing home we will be planting seeds of different types of food – so that everything they grow they will benefit from.

Until next time 

Peaaaaaace xo

A MONTH in! Can you believe it?!

Good evening! Good afternoon! Good morning! 

How are youuuuu doing?!

(sorry about the delay in posting in the blog! Initially I had no motivation to write and then when I did, I had issues with internet lol! But as they say better late than never right?! Lol)

Can you believe I’ve officially been in South Africa for just over a month now?! Time flies!

So this week we begun our grassroot program which is a programme that aims to educate, inspire and raise awareness of HIV/AIDS through fun, interactive activities such as soccer drills and team challenges. It’s a 12 week programme that we will be running with grade 5 to 7. We will be teaching NINE GRS lessons each week!
On Tuesday, we did our litter pick up! It was hot! (38 degrees if I must add!) Hard work but the team spirit got us through! 

  
   
I must say this week has been a VERY challenging week for me. Trying to remember that God’s ultimate goal for our lives on earth is not comfort but character development. Eish. It’s not easy. 

Don’t let these challenges overwhelm you, just stay strong, be obedient and stay quiet! Mediate on the word in your head instead.

That has been my goal. I have to say THANK YOU to Mrs.Omatayo who totally helped me put things into perspective! 

Team day

Saturday, we went to kloof nature reserve. We were told we would see zebra’s and few other animals lol lets just say dreams were sold! 😂

Instead, we enjoyed the beauty of the valleys and the lovely waterfalls. Rounded it off with a beautiful braai done by our lovely SA lads! (Thanks Thami & Tumi!)

   

    

The team.

  

Braai

 

Next weekend is MID-TERM weekend! I’m looking forward to being reunited with everyone! This will also mean, I only have 5 weeks left in SOUTH AFRICA! Yikes!

Continue keeping me in your prayers! Greatly appreciate it! ❤️

Week 3 yo!

I’ll be your heart to the ones I meet,
I’ll show love to the least of these, I would have never known if you didn’t first love me. I’ve learned to love when I’m your hands and feet ♥

New week, new day. Monday morning and I am woken up by the sounds of dogs barking and cockerels doing what they do best at 3am. Tossing and turning to find sleep, I decided to listen to music. Casey J – “Your Heart” comes on and after the not so great week I had last week, this song totally gave me another perspective as to why I am here. 

Fresh new mindset, I prepare myself for HOLIDAY CLUB! Our theme for holiday club was ‘around the world’ – giving the kids insight to other cultures as we realised after few weeks of being here, that many of them didn’t know much about the world outside Inchanga. 

The team arrived at Inchanga primary school met by some eager students ready for packed 3 days. We were told we would have around 60 kids in attendance, infortunately we only ended up having 20 odd in attendance. The team decided not to let that affect us but rather focus on the one on ones we could potentially have with them.  I was teaching the spelling class with my roomie Lihle (Charity).
   

Grade 6 preparing for their test!

 

We had grade 5 to grade 7. Each lesson was 45mins long. I begun by doing a spelling test to see what level they were at, a lot of them in fact needed great support. Other lessons taught by my other team members were: reading, crafts, music, games and sports as well as writing.

Following on from Monday, Tuesday weather was not great at all. This meant that there was a possibility in the number of children attending holiday club decreasing but GOD! 

We gathered as a team and prayed that God will do what only He knows to do and go against the norm. Assembly time came, low and behold numbers of kids had increased despite the poor weather! Isn’t God awesome?! By now we had a good 32 kids. The day continued on as usual, focusing on another country. By the last day, Wednesday we had about 36 kids! We handed them certificates for attending holiday club, they were all excited to receive them but also sad that they couldn’t come into school for the rest of the week.  

Group games before the end of the day!

Thursday was meant to be our team meeting day to begin planning for several other things we are due to start on return from school holiday but due to the local elections happening EVERYTHING had to be changed. We received a text in the early hours of the morning saying: 

   

You can imagine the frustration we were feeling! Completely out of our control. A day of doing nothing, this was not what I had signed up for.

I didn’t realise the seriousness of what was happening in my community until I saw it on the local news that very evening. People had gathered to protest, tyres were set on fire and tree branches blocking the roads.

Can we just thank God that we were all safe from all of that. But as you read above in the message, litter day had to be postponed to the coming Tuesday.

Friday we ended up meeting up briefly at the local library as a team to confirm few stuff.

The long awaiting day I had been waiting for ALL week finally arrived! Saturday! Team day! This meant, USHAKA MARINE DAY! 

I don’t know whether I was more excited about going to a water park/sea world/beach or being reunited with the other teams! (Lol I’m thinking the latter!) 

We arrived at around 11:30am. I quickly rushed off to the entrance to meet the other team waiting for us. In no time, we had paid for our entry tickets for both parks and gone to change into our costumes.

I (alongside few other girls) managed to conquer all the thrill seeking slides which were a lot of FUN! I got to also watch the Dolphin show which was superb! 

I long for the day I actually get to swim with dolphins!  

Dolphin show at Ushaka Marine

 

For those of you that know me, know that I am a thrill-seeker! After all life is made for living!

A group of us decided to pay extra money (roughly £8-£10) to go shark  cage diving! Initially, I was thinking “yikes! Tania, this has got to be wildest thing to do!” But I gathered the courage and made my way!

 

Moments before the dive.

After all the preparation and signing out life away – the moment had come!  

Before getting into the cage!

 

inside the cage! yikes!

 
It was a fun experience! Sharks casually swimming beside us and park visitors waving at us whilst we were underwater, such a cool moment!  

Selfies at Ushaka // Great memories.

 
Overall Saturday was a GREAT day! So good to catch up with my lovely ladies and I cannot wait to be reunited in two weeks at midterm review!

Egz // Tania

 

Dancers at Ushaka // Taken by Ego

 
 

Lauren // Tan // Zoe // Egz

 

On Sunday we had the opportunity to go to ‘City Hill’ church again! A guest speaker by the name of Wayne Neuper gave the word. Titled “Holy spirit, Friend + God.” 

 

Brownie + Hot Choco before church begun! // Delicious!

  

Conversations with Wayne + Renee Neuper // City Hill

 
Overall, this week was a better week. I would be lying if I told you I didn’t miss home. But one thing is for sure, this trip has wrecked me for PEOPLE all over again.

Whatever way I can help people on their journey, I’m available.
We are all human, all have stuff we are working through, facing. We all have a story. Everyday I’m reminded that one moment with Jesus. His presence can change EVERYTHING! 

Having met with the other teams this past weekend and shared our thoughts + experiences. One thing is for sure, nothing has gone the way we expected it to go. Worried for what we are meant to learn on this journey or even give, I am  reminded of Romans 8:28.

That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. – Rom 8:28

Whatever these next 8 weeks hold, I’m open. I will endeavour to NOT count the days but make the days count!

Here’s to life with Jesus, more than I can ever imagine and being part of the greatest story ever being told. 

I’m open.

I’m ready.

I’ll leave you with this:

Anything that annoys you is teaching you patience. Anything that angers you is teaching you forgiveness. Anything you hate is teaching you unconditional love. Anything you fear is teaching you courage to overcome your fear. Anything you can’t control is teaching you how to let go. – #LifeRemindersInSA 

♥

Week 2

Howdy!

Wedding was GREAT! Food was EVEN better! I really am glad I managed to attend a South African wedding 🙂   

  

“Leave all expectations at the door.”

This week has been a hard week.  Let’s discuss the weather for a moment. In the history of my 25 years on planet earth, I’ve never experienced thunder, lightning and rain like I did at the beginning of the week! I thought JESUS was coming back! No exaggeration! I literally hid under my covers and pillow the WHOLE night! If that wasn’t bad enough all the emotions you could possibly go through as a team we ended up experiencing just THIS week alone. Allow me to be honest on this journey – Frustration and discouragement has hit me real, Its only the 2nd working week but I’ve really wanted to go back home. (Phone calls back home haven’t helped lol) 

I’m such a people-person, so to have to deal with tension within the team or dealing with chaos (in terms of things to do) and no order has made me want to run to the easiest option and quit altogether. BUT God has a sense of humour. Lol. I was reminded of Psalms 16:9 – which then reminded me that ALL expectations should be left at door.

“When we are always waiting for what is NEXT, we miss what is NOW”

“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” 

– ‭‭Prov‬ ‭16:9‬ ‭

This week I had the opportunity to facilitate (alongside my team) a ‘Sex Education’ workshop for grade 6. (Ha! Ryall I know you would be proud LOL! 😝).  It was such a great opportunity and also good to know that these young kids were aware of the importance of respecting one another!

  

We managed to also finish our flyers for #InchangaLitterDay – which I’m looking forward to! It’s going to be an experience but I look forward to meeting the community. Litter is a MAJOR issue over here. Looking for a way to teach the community the importance of keeping your neighbourhood clean isn’t as easy as I thought it would be especially with no signs of bins ANYWHERE.

  
 
 

This weekend, I woke up really missing my home church, Liberty Christian Fellowship  – but thanks to technology I got tune in online via periscope and be part of praise and worship! My heart was totally FULL! I also finally managed to go to Pavillion Shopping Mall with the girls and Andy  which was GREAT! Most importantly I got to stock up on my snacks lol!

 

Besides that, kids have officially broken off for 1 week holiday! So for 3 days we will be holding Holiday club at school. We’ve got so much planned – but I’ll update you next on how it went!!

Today officially marks 2 months until I return home. I must say, it feels like I’ve been here forever. My friend Ego said something which I really couldn’t have said any better – so I thought  would share with you: 

What have I learnt so far on this trip? To drop all expectation. There have been some highs, and some extreme lows but not everything has to be so deep! It’s impossible to change a whole community in only a couple of months; perhaps I’m here just to help a few kids with their reading and make a difference an hour a day. Perhaps the change I so desperately want to experience will come when I get back to London, and it will be internal. Who knows? I remain open to it all..

– Ego Ella May

Yup. That’s pretty much it. Oh yeah, something I’ve noticed is how passionate and strong willed I can be – above that I’m reminded that it’s not everyday I must voice my opinion/thoughts. There is beauty in knowing when to keep silent. 

Other than that I promise to keep an open mind guys! 

On this road to excellence.  

Unfortunately in life there is NO shortcut to excellence – so again I say, I must/will embrace and enjoy this journey. 

I’m looking forward to weeks + better days ahead. 

Your love and check-ins are greatly appreciated! Please do keep me in your prayers!

Loving you all

❤️

Week 1

Dreams take faith.

Don’t just set small goals; dream big, audacious dreams!

Sawubona! Unjani? (Hello! How are you?) 

Ngiyaphila! (I am fine!) I’m here! Ive made in in South Africa! Ive been in Durban for just over a week now – I can definitely say it’s taking  some getting used to! 

We arrived Sunday 6th September at around 6pm after 14 hours of travelling! Yup, you’ve guessed right TIRED was not the word!

We were greeted at the airport by the in-country manager and quickly led to our coach which was taking us to what would be our home and training ground for the next 5 days!

We arrived at Vuleka Trust training centre in valley of thousand hills (KwaZulu-Natal province).

The name does not lie, literally surrounded by thousand hills. The view here was absolutely breathtaking! The pictures do not do the scenery any justice!

  

Monday morning, we woke up at 6am to have breakfast for 7:15am to begin training at 8am and finish at 8pm. Yes. Long information filled week it was! 

By Thursday emotions were high amongst the UK volunteers and this could only be due to a number of things:

• tiredness from travel
• No wifi/communication with loved ones/outer world.
• Anxiety about meeting host families 

But the most beautiful thing about it all was how much of a support network we were for one another! 

After 5 days of praying, singing, crying, laughing and playing lots of games together – that dreaded moment came where we all had to split up and make our way to our host family homes! Gosh, it was emotional! (shout to my little sisters Lauren, Zoe.R and Ego! Love + miss you ladies!)   

So we begun our journey to our host family home. I had so many mixed emotions! We arrive outside the gates, the door opens and that moment I’ve been waiting for is finally here- my host mum with her baby boy greeting my in country volunteer partner and myself with a great big smile! For the first time in a long time, I was quiet and shy! 

Our host mum was ever so pleasant and she did her best to make me feel at home but at that moment I realised I had A LOT to adjust to! 

1. No hot/warm running water! So yup! Bathing was going to be bucket baths which consists of lots of splashing water! Lol!
2. HANDWASHING! Gosh, I was not looking forward to do that!
3. Their 8pm was equivalent to MIDNIGHT.
4. This one, allow me to pause on this one! MEALS. Firstly, 3:30pm evening meal?! Sigh. Secondly, I mean coming from an African background – I should be already used to this but South Africans get an award for this. EVERY meal so carbohydrate heavy like WHY?! Lol. That’s breakfast, lunch and DINNER! 

FASTFORWARD >>>>

Sunday we went to church with our host family – which was something I was really excited about simply because South Africans REALLY do know how to sing! Like harmonies and everything! 

We arrived at the local community church, greeted by several members of the church. Guided to the front. Little did we know that during the service they would call us up, make us greet everyone on the mic, tell them our names and how much we love God?! (most awkward moment lol!)

The whole service was in ZULU so us English folk did not understand one word but it was ever so nice to be amongst people who love God! It just so happens that this particular service was led by Sunday school kids! (Little did I know I would be teaching them at school, but we shall discuss that later!) My heart was completely full when I saw kids as young as 6 leading us in this amazing service! 

Service was vibrant, LOUD and exciting! I was very glad that I was able to be part of it all! 

 This young boy, Jeremiah gave the word (preached) and alongside him is my room buddy Lihle.

THE Team.

Out of all the volunteer groups, my group is the BIGGEST! Our team name is  “#TeamUmndeni or Umndeni 3:18” which simply means Family (and then 1 John 3:18) There’s is 13 of us in total – (3 guys and 10 ladies) you can imagine how noisy it can get! Not just that but 13 different individuals coming together and learning how to work with each other is a task in itself – something we are working towards learning to do very well (pray for us! Lol) 
Monday. I was ever so excited for this day – I couldn’t sleep the night before! We arrived at Inchanga primary school for 7am. Ready to be given the download for what would unfold over the next 8 or so weeks! At 7:45am the young children had assembly outside. Let me just talk about how AMAZING the greeting was! So right after we all introduced ourselves the kids went on to sing to us “Shine, shine, you shine like Gold!”

Gosh. My heart melted! These kids are EVERYTHING!

Anyways, we were told what would be needed from us over the coming weeks. All I can say is a lot needs to be done with little time on our hands! Litter is a BIG issue here! 

I am delighted to be overseeing or putting together the HIV/AIDS workshop as well as the sexual reproduction workshop for the grade 5,6 and 7! Big issues over here in S.A! These kids are ever so bright so I can’t wait to pick their brains!

Slightly off topic

Before I go, the previous team started off a hashtag that must live on. Any memorable event that couldn’t happen anywhere else must be said followed by the hashtag! I’ve only been here technically 10 days and I’ve already got one! So here it goes: 

Police officers dropped a dead chicken outside their car window – kids run to it and begun playing “who can throw it the furthest.” 

#OnlyInInchanga

Yuck. I Know! 

In conclusion, I just want to say a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who has been checking up on me! Your love really does go a long way and means A LOT! 

I really am excited for this Journey I’m embarking on. I didn’t realise how “brave” it was until now. Lol, honestly all the glory goes to God!

Special shout to: Mother, Louise, Fernandes, Ryall, Mummy G, Twesigye + Hlambelos! These humans are eveything! ❤️

Look out for my next post! Why, you ask?! Well, I’m excited because I’ve got an amazing weekend ahead! I get to attend my FIRST ever South African wedding! Pictures shall posted in the next blog!

Until next time! 

xox
  These kids really made me reflect on life. They may have little and want the material that western folk have but I believe that they are richer. Why? Because they have one thing thing we all need – JOY! So infectious. My heart is FULL.

Sometimes you have to be willing to experience discomfort in order to grow and move to a new level of maturity. Be willing to step out of your comfort zone…. That’s where growth takes place! Be willing to shift to a higher gear.