Abingdon South Africa Partnership
31 July - 24 August 2010
Now in its second year, this summer's South African Partnership trip returned safely after three and half highly successful weeks hosted by the Shayandima School of Tomorrow and our partner charity, Build the Nations, in Venda, Limpopo Province.
The seven sixth formers (Iain Galpin, David Grant, Jonathan Ient, John Mulvey, Joshua Ridley, Matthew Roberts and Nicholas Williams) accompanied by Mr Loughe and Mr Forth thoroughly enjoyed their experiences in Shayandima, where their time was divided between assisting in school classrooms and working on building projects on the base and on various outreach projects in the local community - all funded with the £2000 the boys had raised throughout the year for the charity. The boys were also able to distribute the clothes, sports equipment and school supplies that they had collected throughout the year to three local schools and the wider community. In addition to their work in South Africa, the group spent five days in rural Mozambique, where amongst other things they built a coordination and development playground at a school and helped bring water back to the village by mending the well that had left the villagers without water for four weeks. They also assisted in feeding local orphans and distributed vital food supplies to local families.
The group's hard work was rewarded by spending time in a number of reserves and game parks, including Nwanedi Nature Reserve, Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, Kruger National Park and Pilanesberg Game Reserve, whilst also fitting in a visit to a lion reserve, a climb up the biggest baobab tree in the world and many other places of interest and outstanding natural beauty.
This trip, unique to Abingdon School, offers the boys a once in a lifetime opportunity to combine fundraising and charitable works with manual skills training and work experience with the reward of seeing firsthand how their efforts can make a difference to others - whilst enjoying the more adventurous side of what Africa has to offer. Information about next summer's trip will be available early in the Michaelmas term.
For further information on the work of Build The Nations, including gap year or child sponsorship opportunities, please visit http://buildthenations.org or contact Mr Loughe.
"The trip was everything I hoped it would be. A great mix of really fulfilling work, enlightening experiences when helping out in school and time to relax in the national parks. I particularly enjoyed finding out more about local culture and sampling delicacies including termites and beetles! What will stay longest with me, however, was the joy on the faces of the local people in Mozambique as we distributed food to them. It was a wonderful feeling knowing that the hard work we put in to achieving fund-raising targets was really paying off and that the money we raised was bringing happiness directly to people in need. The entire trip was a challenging, eye-opening and thoroughly rewarding experience."
Nicholas Williams
"I now value all that I have even more after the trip, especially after Mozambique, and I'm motivated to make the most of all that I have. I've learned so much about South Africa, even though I had been there before, and it has changed the way that I see it. I'll make sure to look for snakes if I ever have to move bricks again! The mix of work and relaxing was perfect. I really enjoyed the game parks on the weekends, especially the Kruger, and seeing those leopards is something I'll never forget."
David Grant
"Simply the best three and a half weeks of my life. I enjoyed every moment and recommend it thoroughly to anyone who likes helping others, getting to know new people, having a fantastic time, learning about wildlife, teaching children, working hard in a team, learning a new culture, meeting challenges you never knew you could face and working in a community. The only bad thing about the trip is that it has to end. The trip gave me so many great experiences that I will never forget: it sees the real Africa, everything you do gives you experience, everything you do challenges you as a team, but best of all everything is fun, because it's not so much about you, it's about other people. "
Matthew Roberts
