Today was our last full day and we all woke up early to make breakfast, quite a momentous occasion for Tsholo who had been the sleeping-in-queen up until today. We had a nice hearty breakfast to fuel us with energy for our day at the centres. Right after breakfast we headed to the centres and began work on our various projects.
At Butswana the girls made a weather chart and learnt some interesting new Sepedi vocabulary. At Mankgonyne the group made posters, visited the leaders' homes and learnt the Mango Groove. Over at Worster, the team worked tireously to finish their various painting jobs, the end product; a BEAUTIFUL map of Africa, a height chart and the alphabet.
All three groups ate and helped serve both breakfast and lunch at the centres. The second priority at all the centres was to work on our talents for the show tonight.
Early this evening all the leaders from the various centrs came to the mission for a braai and talent show that proved to be a most enjoyable evening for all. Cake and many laughs were shared. We then said a very heartfelt goodbye to all our new friends who we had made in the course of the past week. we hope to stay in contact with all the leaders through epistolary writing. Now off to bed for our last night in a room which is now a beach, all thats missing is the water.
Night
Bella, Emma, Tsholo
x
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Saturday, August 10, 2013
DAY 4: The infinitly better (best) blog post.
6:00 eyes open, inundated in darkness, we rised to prepare an early breakfast.
6:45 we enter the kitchen and make the breakfast
7:00 we departed from the Mission and make our way for the mountain
8:00-9:00 The drizzly weather mimics our excitement, meek and unimpressed. We definitely felt the dread in our veins.
9:00 the hike begins
9:04 torture strikes our bodies
9:05 Dying
9:06 Resurrected
11:00 After our ordeal we finally arrived at Betty's homestead on a peak of the mountain.The interesting characters we met, made the walk worthwhile. The elderly couple who resided in this traditional 80 year old village welcomed us heartily. The two of them were loving towards one another which was pleasant to see. We were treated to sweet and tiny baby potatoes(which resembled small droppings but tasted delicious).
12:00-12:30 (A great amount of interaction)
12:32 we begun our attempt to depart
13:45 we departed
14:30 sweaty, stinky, and very tired girls, ascended the bus
15:00 lunch
16:30 The Worcester girls left to paint Africa and the alphabet and a height chart within the centre. All the while the other girls repainted aspects of the Mission
19:00 dinner
19:30-20:40 writing this blog, killing ourselves with laughter at this infinitly better (best) blog post this is!
Just now: Bed...hopefully
Night
xx
Hannah Human
Nompilo Sibisi
Rumbi Shitto
(the best team ever!)
6:45 we enter the kitchen and make the breakfast
7:00 we departed from the Mission and make our way for the mountain
8:00-9:00 The drizzly weather mimics our excitement, meek and unimpressed. We definitely felt the dread in our veins.
9:00 the hike begins
9:04 torture strikes our bodies
9:05 Dying
9:06 Resurrected
11:00 After our ordeal we finally arrived at Betty's homestead on a peak of the mountain.The interesting characters we met, made the walk worthwhile. The elderly couple who resided in this traditional 80 year old village welcomed us heartily. The two of them were loving towards one another which was pleasant to see. We were treated to sweet and tiny baby potatoes(which resembled small droppings but tasted delicious).
12:00-12:30 (A great amount of interaction)
12:32 we begun our attempt to depart
13:45 we departed
14:30 sweaty, stinky, and very tired girls, ascended the bus
15:00 lunch
16:30 The Worcester girls left to paint Africa and the alphabet and a height chart within the centre. All the while the other girls repainted aspects of the Mission
19:00 dinner
19:30-20:40 writing this blog, killing ourselves with laughter at this infinitly better (best) blog post this is!
Just now: Bed...hopefully
Night
xx
Hannah Human
Nompilo Sibisi
Rumbi Shitto
(the best team ever!)
Friday, August 9, 2013
Day 3: The BEST Blog ever!
We started our day off by making the best breakfast ever consisting of sausages, eggs, perfectly browned toast and many other delicious goods. We then made our way to Butswana for the Women's day March. We decorated ourselves with permanent markers that are proving difficult to wash off. We walked from Butswana to Turkey with the leaders holding the banners we made. It was long journey but a worthwhile one for a worthwhile cause.
Basadi Tlang maatla. We then had a talk about women's rights which was enriching. After the talk we played games and sang songs with the kids. Duck duck goose has never been so fun!
We then all hopped on the bus and headed to the Bakery. We were treated with freshly baked cakes and bread. We were shown how they make the bread and we then demolished a few loaves after.
We then seperated to our respective camps and began our work.
At Butswana we ate the food they prepared for us. We then started on our weather chart together with the leaders. We managed to paint an entire white square and then it was time to go home. We ran to the bus in the pouring rain and headed home.
At Worcester, we traced the world map, at the old center, to perfection, only to realize it could not be transfered onto the new wall. The ever determined Worcester group made a new, but equally brilliant plan. We decided to draw a map of Africa instead. The ridiculously artistic Hannah Human managed to draw an accurate, to scale, image of Africa, FREE HAND! #betterthanallofus What started as a drizzle, ended as a huge torrential downpour, that National Geographic would be proud to report. This caused us to be stuck inside the shelter for longer than we had hoped. We were all huddled in a small circle on the floor, and a magical being pulled out an iPod and Shox. We jammed in our little cirlce. Innocent Isi attracted the not-so innocent Innocent. With music and dancing the time passed quickly.
At Mankgonyane they started to garden and despite many laughs they managd to plant lots of seeds.
We returned home for dinner and went to bed.
(That's not us :/ )
Love you lots xx
Day 3 blogger peeps. Rabia Abba Omar, Isi Umunna, Nina Lang
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Day two - Hard work and play
08 August 2013
Officially the first full day of Phedisang!
We all had a really exciting day as we met our leaders, and all the children.
The day began by waking up to the ring of cellphone alarms and the ruffling of sleeping bags. The sunrise was beautiful. We then prepred a scrumptious breakfast of eggs and sausages, with Miss Sibisi.
After sorting through the multiple donations, we stacked the bus and went to our first centre, Turkey. There we unpacked the trailer and went to visit the near by school: Sekololo Primary. We visited four classrooms consisting of Grade 6 to 7 learners and there we sang two traditional songs and talked about Roedean. It was an enriching experience to interact with the children.
After a long morning, we split up into our groups and went our designated centres.
At Worcester, we had a slight difficulty with the projecter and the transparancy, but we came up with an inovative plan and tomorrow we will be starting with the world map. We also painted the banner for the Women's Day March tomorrow, played with the children, helped dish out the food and fetched water from the near by river.
At Makonyane, we had to wait for the leaders to arrive as they were walking from their respective schools to the centre. While we were waiting we played games with the children such as catchers and language games. They really enjoyed teaching us what our facial features were in siPedi. When the leaders arrived we greeted them and got started on our Women's day banner. It was a lot of fun to interact with our leaders despite the language barrier. Our leaders also taught us the Mango Groove dance. We then served Lunch to all the children and packed up.
The Butswana centre was filled with enthusiastic children that greated us with warm arms. Our group played fun games with the children, which involved us to dance and sing. We were a bit nervous but we eventually let go of our insecurities and enjoyed the time. We then began to work on our Women's Day banner with our kind-hearted leaders. Our day ended off with us learning new and difficult dances to Zahara and Mango Groove.
After a long and hot day in the sun, we came back to base camp and drank a refreshing glass of juice. Tsholo learnt to ride a bike!We then had a yoga session with Wendy, which was really relaxing. After supper we wrote this blog and ate chocolate. :)
All in all, a very groovy day!
Goodnight readers
Group 2 - Alexandra Plakas, Nomfundo Kwini and Nicola Stipinovich
Officially the first full day of Phedisang!
We all had a really exciting day as we met our leaders, and all the children.
The day began by waking up to the ring of cellphone alarms and the ruffling of sleeping bags. The sunrise was beautiful. We then prepred a scrumptious breakfast of eggs and sausages, with Miss Sibisi.
After sorting through the multiple donations, we stacked the bus and went to our first centre, Turkey. There we unpacked the trailer and went to visit the near by school: Sekololo Primary. We visited four classrooms consisting of Grade 6 to 7 learners and there we sang two traditional songs and talked about Roedean. It was an enriching experience to interact with the children.
After a long morning, we split up into our groups and went our designated centres.
At Worcester, we had a slight difficulty with the projecter and the transparancy, but we came up with an inovative plan and tomorrow we will be starting with the world map. We also painted the banner for the Women's Day March tomorrow, played with the children, helped dish out the food and fetched water from the near by river.
At Makonyane, we had to wait for the leaders to arrive as they were walking from their respective schools to the centre. While we were waiting we played games with the children such as catchers and language games. They really enjoyed teaching us what our facial features were in siPedi. When the leaders arrived we greeted them and got started on our Women's day banner. It was a lot of fun to interact with our leaders despite the language barrier. Our leaders also taught us the Mango Groove dance. We then served Lunch to all the children and packed up.
The Butswana centre was filled with enthusiastic children that greated us with warm arms. Our group played fun games with the children, which involved us to dance and sing. We were a bit nervous but we eventually let go of our insecurities and enjoyed the time. We then began to work on our Women's Day banner with our kind-hearted leaders. Our day ended off with us learning new and difficult dances to Zahara and Mango Groove.
After a long and hot day in the sun, we came back to base camp and drank a refreshing glass of juice. Tsholo learnt to ride a bike!We then had a yoga session with Wendy, which was really relaxing. After supper we wrote this blog and ate chocolate. :)
All in all, a very groovy day!
Goodnight readers
Group 2 - Alexandra Plakas, Nomfundo Kwini and Nicola Stipinovich
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
7th July 2013-Arrival
Today the Roedan team arrived at the Phedisang London mission at about 16:00. We got settled into our room,had a quick tour of the area and then got to meet Charity, who explained what we would be doing in the next 5 days, as well as teaching us a few basic SiPedi words and phrases. We then helped prepare dinner, which was Lamb stew. Over dinner, the girls bonded and taught each other songs. After the delicious dinner, we had a short reflection of what our expectations and concerns are for this project, and how we plan to face and accomplish them. All the girls are very excited to experience a new culture, interact with the children, and make a noticable difference in the community.
-Group 1: Lenka van Wyngaardt,Alex De Nooy & Shelby Labuschagne.
-Group 1: Lenka van Wyngaardt,Alex De Nooy & Shelby Labuschagne.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Saying Goodbye...
"The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected." – Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook
The Phedisang group of 2012 can testify to that! Following the previous night's festivities and tearful goodbyes we all woke up with the very real realisation that this was the last day of our life changing experience.
Looking around the breakfast table, it dawned on us that these friendships were soulful connections. We all agreed that these friendships with our leaders at Phedisang will always remain in our hearts, and be one of the fondest memories.
On behalf of the 2012 Roedean team we would like to thank Mrs Hulley for putting together such a successful and enriching experience.
Ms Sibisi, Our cook, and often 'mother-hen' and her daughter Zano,
Issack, Our very skilful driver and Charity Monyela our Phedisang correspondent
“Phedisang is number one,
No matter what can people say
OUR Phedisang is number one!”
To Our Friends:
"May the sun shine, all day long,
everything go right, and nothing wrong.
May those you love bring love back to you,
and may all the wishes you wish come true!"
– Irish Blessing
Zahraa Kazee, Shazia Patel & Catherine Gordon-Grant
The Phedisang group of 2012 can testify to that! Following the previous night's festivities and tearful goodbyes we all woke up with the very real realisation that this was the last day of our life changing experience.
Looking around the breakfast table, it dawned on us that these friendships were soulful connections. We all agreed that these friendships with our leaders at Phedisang will always remain in our hearts, and be one of the fondest memories.
On behalf of the 2012 Roedean team we would like to thank Mrs Hulley for putting together such a successful and enriching experience.
Ms Sibisi, Our cook, and often 'mother-hen' and her daughter Zano,
Issack, Our very skilful driver and Charity Monyela our Phedisang correspondent
No matter what can people say
OUR Phedisang is number one!”
To Our Friends:
"May the sun shine, all day long,
everything go right, and nothing wrong.
May those you love bring love back to you,
and may all the wishes you wish come true!"
– Irish Blessing
Zahraa Kazee, Shazia Patel & Catherine Gordon-Grant
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Day three at Phedišang
After a well deserved rest, we woke up early to help prepare breakfast for the rest of the group. At 8:30 we then left to continue the work at our respective centres. The Woester group joined the group heading to Turkey. There they conducted a computer training workshop for the staff at Phedišang, this was incredibly successful! Whilst this was in progress the Turkey group finished off painting their world map. The Butswana group started off with painting the 2 blackboards and moved on to the alphabet, numbers and shapes. Before the Woester group headed back to the London mission they visited the local sangoma, this was a fascinating experience. The scorching heat made the day very long, however the enthusiastic children made the day productive and worthwhile! We are really looking forward to the rest of the week!
Jolyne, Naadhirah and Rebecca
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