Worthing Cissbury Division

Worthing Cissbury consists 5 Districts:

 

Izzie Peters a Young Leader with 3rd Findon Brownies was selected to go to   South Africa last summer.  Here is her report on what she did and where she went.

South Africa

I’m writing this article to share with you the wonders that I found on my international opportunity to South Africa.

On the LaSERIO selection weekend, we were divided up into 3 groups and sent into different rooms. I sat there waiting with 13 other people, who were little more than complete strangers; but when the door opened and our 4 leaders walked in – telling us we were going to South Africa, and the excitement took over.

For the next 9 months we all kept in contact and met up several times, and on July 26th 2008 we flew out together from Heathrow Airport, to start our 3 week adventure.  

The main focus of our trip was a service project in an AIDS orphanage called God’s Golden Acre, just outside Durban.  However, as we had flown into Johannesburg we spent 4 days being your average tourists.  

We were picked up from the airport by our drivers for the next few days – Themba and Siabonga; they took us to our home for the 4 days - South Africa Guiding HQ.

Whilst in Johannesburg we visited the apartheid museum, a township called Katlehong where we met up with some guides, went on a hot air balloon ride and then to a lion park.  On our last day we visited a cultural village called Lesedi.

The apartheid museum and Katlehong were incredibly eye opening; the troubled background of the country was laid out before us. The township brought what we had seen the previous day at the apartheid museum to life. The difference between the rich and the poor was unbelievable. At the township however, I found that the sense of community was incredibly strong- this really came through while we were with the Guides. 

On our 3rd morning, we got up at 5.30! As the sun came up we were stood watching 2 huge hot air balloons inflating; the ride itself was amazing, the scenery was beautiful and the wildlife was fantastic. We landed down and had a big buffet brunch. In the afternoon we headed out to the lion park, here were a few firsts for me – stroking and lion cub and feeding a giraffe!

On our last day in Johannesburg, we went to Lesedi – a cultural village, in which we were shown the different traditions of some of the major South African tribes, showing us everything from their huts to their food preparation. We were then treated to traditional dances and food, this was fantastic, the dancing was mystifying.

Over the next few days we travelled down to Durban, stopping off in a game reserve, in which we got right up close to rhinos on a safari walk! We did a few walks and drives, and  enjoyed our time in paradise.

At the start of the 2nd week, we went to God’s Golden Acre.  We were all astonished by the facilities the orphanage had – but having read the book, we were aware it hadn’t come easily. During our time there, our main objectives were to go into schools during the day, and stay in the orphanage in the evenings – doing activities to help the children, to help them build life skills. The kids were truly inspirational, we all realised very quickly we are ‘cotton wool kids’.

At the beginning of the week, we were split into two groups and had planned the activities for each of the schools we were visiting. The preschool had activities based around the theme of fishes; and the primary school had more complex activities. Whilst we were there, we were also doing activities with the children in the orphanage. We were promoting life skills and teambuilding activities, and we often saw huge changes in the children just within one session. My favourite moment of this week, was when we were doing an activity at the primary school; all the children had had a sheet of paper stuck to their backs, and told to write something nice on everyone’s back. One of the little girls had had – “I love your smile” written on her back! It was such a beautiful thing to say, knowing what these kids had been through. We also ran sports day at the preschool on the Friday – we had to do it from scratch, due to mislead communication, but we managed!

For the weekend we went out to Durban for a break, and enjoyed our time with some more guides and at a water park.

When we got back to GGA, we had 2 days in the schools and 2 doing other things. I have two favourite moments from these last 3 days in the schools. One of the days in the school we decided to do one big scavenger hunt. At first the children didn’t really understand it, but suddenly as if a lightbulb went off – they got it; and their enthusiasm rocketed, they were working together and getting such enjoyment out of it. My other favourite moment from these 2 days, was with Mandla – He was a little boy from the orphanage, and whilst we were with the preschool children, we had been making fish mobiles. I was working with Mandla, and we spent 5 minutes making the mobile, and half an hour running round and round the hut try to make his fish fly.

In our last few days in South Africa, we did activities which benefitted the wider community. On the Wednesday, we went out and painted a local hut – there was a horrific story behind the hut, and the lady who was moving in, was dieing of TB. On our last day we made 300 food parcels up! It took a while, and quite a bit of organising, but we mastered it! It was shocking doing this task though, the orphanage knew these parcels couldn’t last the families for the whole month; however most of the families receiving it would have to live it on, as they couldn’t afford anything else. In each package there was:

That was a scary thought – having to live on that.

On our last day, we rounded off the trip with a group goodbye – saying thank you, and sharing our favourite bits. 

Thankyou LaSERIO, Sussex West Girlguiding, Worthing College and everyone that helped me, and especially my mum – for all your help and support. This has been the most amazing experience of my life.  I would recommend it to everyone.

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Last updated: 20/10/2008