Update # 2: ELEPHANTS!

Dear Bridge Southern Africa Family and friends,

Greetings from Windsor Mountain!
We have a new update from our Bridge Southern Africa Team! Here you go…

Monday July 14th-Today we drove to Eshowe. The drive was a quick 3 hours and we were all sad to head out from Durban. Eshowe had a nice hostel and we treated ourselves to a curry meal at the hostel and watched a local group song & dance performance. After, we went for a hike on the canopy boardwalk and did a few guided reflection activities- the hike was capped off by some swinging from vines and we all had great night of sleep before our big day of driving tomorrow.

Tuesday July 15th-Today was a big day of driving as we made our way into Swaziland. It was the first border crossing experience for many of our students and all went smoothly. We arrived into Mbane at around 8 pm and had a leftover dinner to use up some of our remaining ingredients. It was fun to be back into the cooler weather we had grown accustomed to in Joburg. We got an early nights rest as we are headed to SOS in the AM.

Wednesday July 16th-Our students were once again thrown into the "deep end" today as they were handed the reins to their very own classroom at the SOS children's village. Our students became the teachers for classes ranging from 1st- 7th graders today and did a phenomenal job of classroom management and creating lessons on the fly. It was really fun to be a fly on the wall and watch as our students shared their knowledge and educational philosophies with students from different walks of life. For lunch we hiked up a mountain near our school and had a great picnic on the top as the clouds rolled by overhead.

For dinner we (the leaders) created our own "Windsor Mountain Cafe" (meaning we cooked for, and served the students). We prepared a stir-fry and bread and cheese plate for our group- they loved being waited on and having time to catch up and enjoy each other's company for a few hours without having to prepare the food or do the dishes- they have done such a great job that we owed it to them! It was a nice time for them to connect with some of the students they might not have had a chance to chat extensively with.

Thursday July 17th-
Today it was amazing to watch our students teach with their very own lesson plans, games, and activities. It was great to see what a little prep will do. The afternoon found us playing a massive game of soccer and ultimate Frisbee with kids from throughout the village. Tonight we had a great beef stroganoff and played a few friendly card games while the leaders continued their heated chess rivalries!

Friday July 18th- An emotional day
Our last day at SOS was without question an emotional time for all, as every one of our students had to tear themselves away from the children that they had become connected with. Classes were finished and our students commented on how great it felt to see that kids had actually learnt what they had taught them from one day to the next. After leaving more toothbrushes and a stack of vegetable seedlings for their community garden we headed out the gates back to the legends back packers to get ready for our safari adventure on Saturday.

Saturday July 19th – Nothing but adventure
As it was a relatively relaxed day students had the option of sleeping in or awaking with the sun and heading up the hill that towered over our accommodation. While the majority slept, James and 4 students headed up to see if they could reach the top. Unfortunately they ran out of time and got distracted by a group of monkey’s that were following them, and so headed back down to get ready for the Hlane game park in east Swaziland.

Upon arrival, the group was greeted by Rhinoceros and Hippopotamuses lounging in a nearby lake, after a long lunch and short siesta we headed off in encaged guided four wheel drives, into the lion’s den. Now if you were asked what was more dangerous a lion or an elephant you would most likely say a lion right. Not this time. Our encounter with a pride of lion’s was beautiful. We drove within 5 meters and snapped happily away with our cameras while the young cub played joyfully with its parents, quite beautiful. Now the elephant on the other hand decided that two four wheel drive jeeps needed a little chasing, we were assured by our guides that it was in fact a “mock” charge but all the same I don’t think any of us realized the speed of an elephant as we fled one elephant only to drive into the advance of the other, that quickly turned around creating a convoy of two jeeps driving down a dirt road in between two fully grown bull elephants. Rather exhilarating, humorous and all around high point at the nights evening debrief.

So tomorrow we head to Nhlangano to stay with a good friend of Windsor Mountain and her community.

Student Notes:

Sonia- Sonia finds a way to share her loving personality with all the children we've met. She has the ability to sleep through just about everything which has served to keep her well rested. She has a very positive influence on the community around her.

Wil- Wil has always put forth a positive attitude, ready to help at any moment. He has thrown himself head first into his position as "love and care ninja", putting a smile on everyone's face throughout the day.

Gracey- Her bubbly personality and ongoing energy brings a lot to the group. Her creative ideas such as the introduction of the card game "Mao" and our first ever toga night dinner continue to boos the moral of the group.

Raul- Raul's quirky sense of humor keeps the group laughing at all times. He has always been great with the children and has shown his high energy when we have opportunities to climb the beautiful Swaziland mountains all around us.

Julia- Julia shows a great flexibility through her willingness to try new foods and activities. Her headiness for adventure inspires the rest of the group daily.

Bryn- Bryn has been particularly successful when teaching her 6th grade class. Her friendly and accepting personality influences not only the group but also the children she works with.

Nicole- Is constantly In good spirits and her consistent sense of self projects good values upon the group and children. Her artistic talents are always helpful and appreciated in the group activities.

Alex- Ridiculously helpful at all times, Alex makes at least 1 new great friend every site we visit. He did a wonderful job teaching his 5th grade class adjectives and continues to amaze us with his constant caring attitude towards everyone in the group. He is always the 1st to volunteer for any task and keeps the group together with his constant positive energy.

Liz- gets along with everyone and sets a laid back mood for our program. She handled 54 3rd graders all by herself with some serious skill as she refined her lesson plans each of our 3 days at the SOS children's village.

Becca- is awesome at giving individual attention to the children that we have worked with. She really enjoyed teaching fractions and time to a giant 4th grade class and was very successful at sharing her knowledge with the young students.

Andrew- Andrew provides a great deal of funny and insightful conversations for our group. He was actively involved in all facets of our time with SOS and is developing a mean ultimate Frisbee and soccer game as we interact with the kids.

Lina- keeps us entertained and unified. She is a born leader and full of life. She also took it upon herself to speak to the high school students at SOS about the importance of education and talk about her life in the United States.

Jamie- Jamie has great metaphors for life and she had many wonderful games and teaching techniques which seriously helped everyone in our group become better educators. She has completely fallen in love with Africa and her class of 53 3rd graders.

Holly - Is there anything Holly can't do? She continues to amaze us with her talents and her modesty. She had a great time teaching math and spelling to a huge class of 1st graders. She was the only person in our group to master the six foot unicycle while working with Clowns Without Borders.

Emma - is constantly entertaining the group with her musical talents. Her relaxing influence on the group creates a great atmosphere. She is always ready to try a new activity and was wonderful working with the students at SOS. She also really enjoyed our time at the game park in Hlane.

This is all for now. You can expect a student call on Wednesday, July 30th, and an official email update on Tuesday, July 29th.