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

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.

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

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

Day Two at Phedišang

Today we woke up to a welcomed slight drizzle after a hot and bothered night. After an early breakfast, we packed our equipment and supplies onto the bus to make our way to our prospective centers. After the introductions, we settled and started planning our projects for the rest of the week.  Painting is a large part of this Phedišang program and all the groups got started on this today. But we couldn’t wait to play with the kids and share our games from home. We were amazed by their exuberance and excitement and it’s definitely rubbed off on us. Catherine even got peed on, so much for a warm welcome! J

After a hearty lunch of samp, beans, and beans and beetroot salads, we finally got to meet the leaders we would be working with for the rest of the week. We were nervous as they were our age and things could turn out to be awkward , but this was not the case at all. With the leader’s help, we found progress much more speedy and pleasant.

After one more round of games, we finally made our way back to the mission. Sitting on the yoga mats with a beautiful mountain range behind us, we discussed our highs and lows of the day. Despite the problems we may have faced, we realized we were in a very special place and we fully intend to make the best of it.

Khanyi, Lindi, Jemma

Day One: Bugs galore

As a troupe of girls got ready to head out to Phedisang, we compared the amount of bags to the very limited space in the trailers. This was nothing short of mission impossible.
After the prospect of Harrie's Pancakes, our group managed to overlook the body heat, no legroom and the unmistakable laugh of Khanyi.
The beautiful scenery of the mountains made this long bus ride worth it and made us look forward to what is to come.
With this amazing group of people, we are sure to succeed.
Bethaniqua and Didikins

WELCOME TEAM 2012!

Trying out the blog with Meshack's unbelievable patience...boxes and more boxes arriving in my office...almost ca'nt move in my office! Excitement is building in the girls as they get their resources together.
Looking forward to another valuable project and journey ahead of us with an awesome team of Roedean treasures!