Saturday 10/5/2014

Wednesday evening all of the boys did the steak challenge which meant that they had to finish an entire 1kg of steak. Funny enough Bianca (the only girl who did the challenge) finished about an hour before anyone else did!

Thursday we realized that we were running out of time so everyone was working as fast as they could. I spent the day painting the walls with Danni, Joe and Stav. I even got to use the paint gun which was really fun. In the evening we had a huge meal where we tried to finish off all of our food.

Friday was probably one of my favourite days. We all decided to go to site an hour early so that we had a better chance of finishing the building. We were all assigned little jobs to finish off the scheme. Mine was to sweep all of the floors and get rid of the excess mortar and dust. At lunch time some of the village elderly and other important people came to site and had a tour of the building. There were some wonderful and emotional speeches and the teachers cooked us a delicious traditional South African meal. They told us about what a huge impact this school has had and will have on their community. It is not only a place for the children to learn but will also give the people of their village a place to gather, which they didn’t have before. They said that the building would be used throughout many generations and that not only the children would benefit but they have also started to interview new teachers to come in and work. After lunch we all (children, elderly, teachers, tutors and us) put our handprint on the half wall that we built (my idea). It was a way of having everyone contribute to the building. After that we needed to get back to work and sure enough, 3 hours later we were done! The feeling was amazing and of course we were all in tears. Sophie (the headmistress) and the teachers were all so thankful. Just to think that 5 years ago this was just an empty field with nothing on it. The children who were lucky enough to be able to go to a creche had to pile up in a tiny room. Now us, the final group finishing off kimotso crèche after 5 years are leaving. In the evening after having taken about a billion pictures, the village children came running onto site and we handed out the gifts that we got them. They went absolutely crazy for them! Dave started the music in the coach and we all danced together and had the time of our lives. Driving away from site for the last time was so emotional.

Later that evening we all met up for dinner in the restaurant and everyone had too much to drink! We spent the night laughing and reminiscing on all of the great times we had.

Now I’m sitting on the bus on the way to the airport in Johannesburg.

Thank you South Africa, I’ll miss you so much.

Wednesday 7/5/2014

Yesterday Stav and I spent the day preparing to build a bottle wall. First we had to square out a space for them to sit in, then collect all the right bottles and take the labels off. We also had to fill in a few holes in some other walls with blocks. The rendering of the walls looks so amazing and it’s crazy to think that there are sandbags and blocks inside them. We are nearing the end of our trip and really want to get to finish the building so everyone is working so hard to try and get it done before the time is up.

Today we started painting some of the walls a beautiful terracotta colour. Stav and I started building the bottle wall and it didn’t quite look the way we wanted it to. After lunch the tutors took us for a walk round the village and all of the children from the village walked with us. They held our hands and I carried a little girl while walking through some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen. Its crazy to look at the houses that these people live in and it just makes you so grateful for what you have. I gave one of the girls my pear that I had left over from lunch and she was so amazingly happy with it… crazy. After the walk we all got back to work and I started putting up some of the wall caps, which would hold up the mosquito nets. After that I helped with the painting of the exterior walls. Tonight we're all going to eat at the hotel restaurant. The boys are all going to do the steak challenge (eat 1 kg of steak) we’ll see who succeeds.

Monday 5/5/2014

On Friday we finished after a long weeks worth of work. We had done so much in just 5 days and no one really wanted to leave for the weekend. We finished all of the blockwork, all the purlins and started cladding the straw bales. In the afternoon the tutors decided to take us to a beautiful waterfall 20mins away. Stav, Danni, B and I decided to put our feet in the water and of course, I tripped and fell in.

On Saturday we visited Kruger National Park. We had to leave at 4:30am so that we could spend as much time as possible in the park. We saw so many different animals (zebras, elephants, monkeys, giraffes, different types of birds, hippos, rhinos, warthogs and many more). The park was absolutely beautiful. It felt so untouched by humanity and all you could hear were the sounds of the animals and the wind. The park itself is as big as Switzerland and goes on as far as the eye can see. Our guide was so interesting and I asked him so many questions. The best part of the day was probably when we had stopped for a break and a monkey jumped into the bus and stole a banana skin. The driver (Dave) chased him out but 5 mins later the monkey was back in the bus and stole Dave’s crisps. Everyone was just laughing so much. The day went by so fast and we were all so sad to leave, I definitely want to go back and hopefully get to see some cats.

Sunday we relaxed. We all just sat by the pool together and recovered from our long week. Afterwards we all ordered pizzas together and chilled in Joe’s room.

Monday was a busy day. First Eve and I put up some cross bracing between trusses, then we painted the window sills different shades of blue and after that we started making window frames. In the evening we all went to a different restaurant called spur about a 10 min walk away from our hotel. The food wasn’t great but the evening was lovely.

Thursday 1/5/2014

On Wednesday we finished the wall that stav, Joe and I designed. The
feeling when we laid the last block was amazing, just to think that the day
before that wall was just a drawing on a piece of paper and today its real.
After finishing we were so excited that we started dancing with the teachers
and the children to African music. They showed us all of their dance moves and
it was so much fun. I also learned how to render a wall, which is really not as
easy as it looks! You have to throw the render at the wall really hard. Half of
it ended up on my face but the workers made it look so easy. After the long day
of work we all had a nice dinner together in the restaurant. Today was also
exciting because we finished the second wall that Joe and I designed yesterday.
All of the chickenwire and the purlins were put up today. We also had to build
frames for the straw bale walls and cover them with a membrane to absorb
moisture because otherwise they’ll rot. We had to leave site early because
today is election day and John said that people get very violent today and we
should leave before it gets dark. We also made a huge detour in order to avoid the
villages. The detour actually took us high up on hills so that we could see the
most amazing sunset I’d ever seen. The sun was orange and the sky red between
the mountains, it looked like a scene out of the lion king. Now we are all just
relaxing in our room after a big  dinner
together.

Monday 28/4/2014

Today was our first day on site. Arriving there was so weird, we had been working working with this site for so long and only knew it from pictures. The site was so much smaller and different than I had imagined. The existing buildings made by students from the previous years were so much more beautiful than on the pictures. Phase 1 had started the construction of our design. They did such a good job! Straight away we all got assigned jobs and started working on the construction. Some people built a block wall, others started on roof purlins. I got assigned the job to design the 2 remaining walls which we had to be changed. The weather was beautiful and the views from site were breathtaking. All of the children from the village gathered around the site and watched us work all day! They kept trying to talk to us and call us over "hey you! Come here! I want to be your friend!". They were all so adorable. We were told not to give them our name too early on in the building process because all they would do is shout it all day long. They asked for my name and I told them to give me one. Apparently the name Valapi suits me very well. Stav became Erato and joe became Wendy! After a long days work the sun started to go down which meant that we had to go home. The hotel is about an hour away from site and on the way home we get to see some of the most beautiful views I've ever seen. In the evening we all went for drinks in the hotel restaurant.