2016/2017 winners reports
South Africa - Lucy Cheshire
Fri, 16 Jun 2017
Dear Neil,
Sorry it has taken so long to write to you, but I am really loving South Africa. Working with special needs children has proved to be an eye-opening and joyful experience that has been more incredible than I could have possibly hoped for. I am so grateful to the Bulkeley-Evans HMC scholarship fund for helping give me this opportunity.
I am extremely busy out here, we work from 7:00am to 5:00pm with a half hour break but being busy doesn't matter much as we are always having lots of fun and it is clear that we are making a difference in these kids lives, showing them lots of love and kindness and teaching them how to play and socialise with other people is a huge challenge but so rewarding when they take on board something that you have taught them. I have also had the privilege of watching a child with non-verbal autism learn to speak, he is learning slowly but surely and he is turning out to be a real comedian! I have had many dancing and singing parties with the kids, helped to organise a Christmas concert and had an amazing time all round. Thank you so much for aiding me in coming here I wouldn't want to be anywhere else on my gap year.
I have attached some pictures of my year and you can also look at my Facebook page, Lucy's year at Mitchell House for more details.
Yours Sincerely,
Lucy.
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My time in Albania! - Elizabeth Watts
10 Jun 2017
Dear Mr Mason
Thank you for your kind email! Sorry I have taken so long to reply.
Since my last email I spent more time in Albania. Here every night we spent time running a children/youth programme. During this time we played many games, invested time in each of the youth, getting to know and loving on each of them. We met some at their school break time and got to talk to some of their friends.
On weekends we helped at the local church running services, giving talks and leading worship.
We also spent time in the local Roma village, giving out ballon animals, face painting and talking to the locals. This was an amazing time as we began to make relationships with people they invited us into there work places, and as a place of hospitality gave us food and gifts.
In Bulgaria, the time consisted of visiting many Roma Villages, and serving at 4 different churches. We were involved many prayer meetings, spending time serving the host who lives long term there and also having the opportunity to help at Bulgaria Day celebration of Cyrillic language Parade. This was brilliant as the Bulgarian people were so passionate in celebrating there culture, that the atmosphere was incredible. Personally I got to assist in carrying some banners, handing out flyers and I toke part in a country wide prayer meeting with 400 others
As I said in my previous email we went to an orphanage, this was a special needs orphanage, so my time here was a highlight. The children's stories are horrible to hear as disabilities, as you may know, are seen as a shame to the family. So having I would say, the privilege to spend time with them was as joy giving to me as I hope it was to them. We gave them many gifts and snacks to enjoy, such an amazing time!
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Chile Update - Oli Reid
Thu, 20 Apr 2017
Dear Mr Mason,
I hope you are well! Sorry to have not updated you since last year it has been a very busy time with the South American summer holidays and then getting back into a new school year!
From December until the end of February is when Chile and the majority of Latin America take their Summer holidays. This gave me and my friends out here a great chance to travel. We headed down to Patagonia, the very tip of South America, before Christmas and then onto Peru and Bolivia after New Year, where we flew to Lima and then bused all the way back to Chile over two months. It was the most incredible three months and I feel so lucky to have seen and experienced so much in that short time.
Since March, we (Patrick, my project partner and I) have been back hard at work teaching English at the school, which has been great to return to, however a little complicated due to my boss becoming pregnant and therefore having to work with lots of different people over recent weeks. That said, it gives us more responsibility given we know the kids now. I have even been tasked with taking many more entire lessons on my own recently. There have been lots of events, including Easter celebrations and School sports day (where I enjoyed a nice run up and down the coast helping the children).
My Spanish has been coming on after having no choice but to learn it in a country which speaks little to no English! Although Chile has been named as the hardest place in the world to learn the language (due to their accent and slang), they say if you can speak it here, you can speak it anywhere!
I have really been getting into life here and with only just over three months left (3rd August!) it has suddenly hit that I don't have long remaining of this incredible experience! It is hard to believe how fast this year has gone. We are just going into the winter months in Chile which get get very very cold! It will be a big difference to the constant sun and heat I have had since arriving.
I want to thank you hugely again for awarding me the scholarship and making this year possible for me!
Kind regards,
Oli Reid
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South Africa Update - Oliver Rhodes
Wed, 29 Mar 2017
Dear Mr Mason,
As my time in Cape Town draws to a close (I fly out in 4 days!) I struggle to believe nearly 3 months have already past.
But they always say time flies when you're having fun. I have successfully ticked off all the things I wanted to do in this city and the surrounding area and yet that has only exposed me to the abundance of things I have as yet not explored.
On my final weekend before I left the school I went hiking with Ms Solomons (the music teacher) and 2 of the sports teachers in the Hottentots Holland National Park. We spent 3 days trekking through the fynbos (South Africa's uniquely dense, razor-sharp bush), staying in huts with mattresses, a stove and not much else. Braaing meat over a wood fire in the evenings offered a sort of wholesome satisfaction.
I have also, of course, climbed Table Mountain and intend to do so again on this, my final weekend. We have rounded the Cape Peninsula, bearing the winds at Cape Point and gazing at the magnificence of the view from Chapman's Peak; visited the city-centre, including Bo-Kaap, the Malay district whose coloured houses make for great photo opportunities! Urban South Africa can be maddening: you never feel safe walking on Long Street, the city's nightlife hub. Fights break out over pick pocketing and stolen petrol from gas stations; cars mash themselves together trying to squeeze through; men hang from balconies jeering. While the rural areas can be stunning, urban life is another world entirely.
My final day at the school was a party. The kids were in casual clothes and the teachers organised a tuck-shop and disco in the assembly hall. I had never seen them so ecstatic. I will really miss some of them, who showed real talent and whom I enjoyed teaching. I hope they continue with music when they go to high school.
I have since started at the journalism project, later than planned. As I only have two weeks, it's been hectic. I am working on an article about university tuition fees in South Africa - there were huge protests about these last year which resulted in riots, property damage and forced concessions by the state. My room mate is also working with a student at Varsity College in Cape Town, so I managed to interview him about his financial situation (he has a scholarship to attend, otherwise he's on his own.) The Higher Education department and national funding agency also happen to be in my office building, so I got in touch with them as well. Conducting interviews was nerve-wracking at first but I feel like I've collected real, unique material (my article will be published on www.capechameleon.co.za).
I've also visited Bonnytoun, a boys' detention centre, and Haven Night Shelter, a residence for the homeless, taking pictures and writing reports for the office and social media. The boys at Bonnytoun were just like any other - they enjoyed football, and wanted to know about Britain (and which team I supported). It was hard to imagine that some of them had committed serious crimes. And yet that is the reality - most of them grew up in coloured townships where there is very little moral guidance. One of them did ask me how they could get back into school once they were released, a heartwarming comment.
These days have flown by and I can't believe it's nearly over. But now I have a bit more time to reflect on my experiences before I must say farewell to the undoubtedly life-long friends I have met here. Sunday will be a very sad day. But I will sit on the plane back knowing I have grown a lot in many ways.
Regards,
Oliver Rhodes
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India - Jake Knox
Tue, 14 Mar 2017
Hi Neil,
On the 5th September 2016 our party of 4 from Ipswich started our journey to Kerala, India. The plan for the next 3 months was to teach english and communication skills at the local colleges, Stella Maris and Henry Baker. Henry Baker college is named after a famous missionary in South India who set up schools in poor and uneducated areas of Kerala. He came from England and lived in Kirby-le-Soken, in the house Alex Phillips, a teacher from school, now lives. Because of the huge impact Henry Baker had Alex now sends several pupils a year to Kerala to help teach english in local schools. I expected India to be a very poor country with not much education and with lots of people working in fields and living in slums. I was therefore very pleasantly surprised when we drove through the district to our new home to see lots of happy students running around and playing like normal children should. The town we were staying in was called Ramamangalam and the house was surrounded by very beautiful green countryside. It was strange to be in such a peaceful place but also concerning that we seemed literally in the middle of nowhere. When we arrived we met Shibu, our host, and he proudly showed us his home and the astonishing views. After dumping our bags he kindly took us on a walking tour around the town. Because of the large hills and areas of forest everywhere it was easy to imagine that it was a small town with only a few inhabitants and no shops. Luckily after a few windy roads we found the main town and the college. The college was only opened 2 years ago and is still in its very early days with building work and upgrades still going on.
The headmaster at Stella Maris was a kind man called Abraham Daniels. The day after we arrived was an important festival called Onam, which is similar to our harvest festival. It was perfect to give us time to get to know the teaching staff and also the students we would be teaching. We spent the day playing traditional Indian games and being lucky enough to get an insight into their culture through floral decorations and dance. We settled quite quickly into routine at the college with lessons in the morning with 1st years and in the afternoon with 3rd years. After school on most days we would walk into the town, where we had quickly become famous, and then sit and talk with Shibu over dinner about the differences between our two great countries. It was important to adjust in these first few weeks to how different India was. This ranged from simple things like currency and eating with your hands to more vital things like how to cross the hectic roads. A few weeks in we had our first opportunity to see the other boys again and we did this at a 6 hour church service. We attended to be polite and to see a different side of things but we did not really anticipate what it would be like to sit for 6 hours in a small church listening to lectures in a language we didn't know! The silver lining came at the end of the service when the opportunity arrived to go with the bishop and visit a local and ‘his mountain’. The views here were unbelievably astonishing and it was nice to sit with some locals while the sun went down.
Our first holiday came a few weeks in and Abraham had organised for us to take the bus ride to Thekkady, a local town, to visit some elephants. The bus ride was more like the India I had expected! There was incredible views but also sheer drops and some of the worst driving I’ve experienced. Couple this with the poor safety standards and I was both figuratively and literally on the edge of my seat. The elephant sanctuary was ran by locals and we spent the morning feeding and washing the elephants. On our way back to Ramamangalam we stayed at Alappuzha for a day at the beach. Like many tropical countries the beach was similar to that in magazines and really took our breath away. It was also, however, covered in rubbish and stray dogs. It was nice to return to Ramamangalam and some familiar faces and a delight to see the students were pleased to see us. Over the next week we spent lots of time with them both in the classroom and also in local fields playing sports. We had a few issues with some of our lesson plans because we didn't consider that for most of them they would never leave the state, so we had to cancel the lessons on holidays and plans for the future. It was however very humbling to discuss with them about their priorities and their future, which for most of them was focused around staying local and supporting their families. It made me realise that although we are ahead of them in many ways they are actually getting it right where it counts.
The students showed a real interest in learning and it was great that they were interested in trips at the weekend too. Sadly it got dark in the evenings really quickly and being rural India when it got dark it was pitch black so by 6pm we were confined to the house. Shibu was a great host and he kept us busy in the evenings helping around the house and entertaining some of his local friends. He loved shakespeare and could spend all night talking about what a genius he was and how proud we must be to be of the same nationality. He loved being able to talk to us and many nights we just chatted and taught each other card games. The students were kind enough to take us to some nearby waterfalls and even tried (in vain) to teach us Malyalam, their local language. One of the most eye opening trips was to the city of Madurai in another district. Madurai was cramped, hot and dirty and yet also held ancient temples. The contrast was startling: One minute we’d be walking past wild pigs at a stinking rubbish dump or wild cows laying in the middle of a busy junction and the next we’d be staring up at the temples in awe.
In our remaining weeks we spent a lot of time at the college where Shibu worked, St Peters, Kolenchery, and did some large question and answer sessions with students. It was great to see how proud Shibu was to give them such an experience and also how keen they were to interact with us. The moment that particularly stood out for me was when one student asked; “Is sexism still present in England? Here in Kerala, woman are still treated as inferior. Would this change if I lived in England?”. It really seemed like a different world. It was a nice coincidence to have my birthday when I was out there and it was great to have it celebrated differently, even if this did mean being hand-fed cake by each staff member! The experience will stay with me forever and I’ll forever be grateful to the trustees of the Bulkeley-Evans HMC Scholarship Fund for helping me to experience India and its friendly, kind people.
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My Volunteer Adventure - Tilly Lawson
Dear Neil Mason,
It's been over a week since I have arrived in my new home and it feels like I have been here for ages! The volunteer house is quite quiet but we are still all hanging out and having bonfires and games. The culture shock really hit me during the first few days and I struggled. I am the youngest volunteer here and also here for the longest amount of time. I missed the noise of home and being busy! So I tried to make sure that I would be as busy as I can during the week.
Last Thursday I went on an outreach day and myself and two Belgians girls. Each Thursday I am not on my placement because all the volunteers go and do some different service within the community. We did a house visit for a women who is HIV positive, living in a small room for her whole family. We washed all her clothes and made her a meal. We had to collect the water from the tap in the town and also from a well. All the clothes took ages to wash, especially the white ones! It was so sad to see and she couldn't believe we were doing that for her, she was so grateful. The whole town is so simple and basic with all the shop signs hand painted. This Thursday we went to a school to clear out a field full of weeds. All the children have their own huge knifes to cut the plants and they were all so good at it! A few of you may have already heard but I spotted a girl who was wearing a Walford Primary School jumper! It was unbelievable, she was one of the few people to wear a green killer with another schools logo on and out of all the primary schools in the world, this girl called Naomi had my school logo on!
On Friday I went to the nicer part of town to get Kenyan Shillings, I feel so rich because there are 130 shillings for every £1! I bought some food and water because I can't drink any of the tap water. I also have to cook for myself on Sunday because we have someone cook us breakfast and dinner everyday of the week.
On Saturday I got up at 5 to leave for a one-day Safari to go for a game drive around Lake Navasa. It was incredible! I had the whole tour car with just the two other Belgian girls and our driver. We were there at 7 to see so many zebras, buffaloes, antelopes, warthogs. We saw black and white rhinos, monkeys, birds- so many things! It was surreal, I have never done anything like it before! We just lifted the roof of the van and we just drove all around the lake for hours just spotting different animals.
Sunday I went to the Kibera slum, where over 2 million people live. It is one of the biggest slums in Africa. It truly was devastating and it was the biggest eye opener of my life. It didn't seem real, it was like the film slums dog millionaire, only just right in front of me. It really smelt and rubbish was everywhere. People there have to pay for the toilets and showers. We visited a woman who has lived there for 7 years, the room she lived in which was her whole house was smaller than my bathroom, it was tiny. She has to cook with coal and her whole family of 5 all sleep in this tiny room. It was so interesting to hear her story but at the same time it just made me sad because although we gave her lots of food, we were all so limited into what we could do. The government of Kenya has built cheap housing that is $5 a month to rent and these were built for the people living in the slums so they could afford it. However it is so corrupt here that everyone that lives there has a car and clearly none of them originally lived in the slum. Also 'Madfish' the name of one of my leaders had to stay in front of the group of us to pay the gangs to not come up to us or steal from us! I was almost stolen from the other day, when lots of Kenyans all were pushing into me as I tried to get onto the Matatu. The Matatu is the form of transport that they take, it is crazy! Proper rap music is blaring and there is no safety at all, we have to sit on other peoples laps and squash in.
People just keep shouting at me 'Musungu' which is Swahili for white person, everywhere you go you just stand out like a sore thumb and everyone tries to talk to you!
This week I started at the Dada's Orphanage which is a 20min walk from the volunteer house. I am currently with another volunteer but she leaves next week. They are in their last week of term so we are just revising with them. We literally walked in on Monday said hi and 5 minutes later they snapped a piece of chalk in half and handed us each text book! The children are so nice and really excited. I have taught lots of subjects to years 4,5,6 and 7. After their exams they have 2 months off for Christmas. The school has 200 pupils and 63 are orphans. So after they finish I will be with a much smaller bunch of kids. It is so humbling being here though, their school is just tin walls and there is no playground, they have no space to play and they sit in the classroom whilst they eat their lunch which is rice and beans every single day. They only have funding from volunteers and sponsors so it is very poor. Luckily, this Christmas they are building the school again so there will be proper walls and some electricity. However the actual orphanage is definitely something that I hope to make a difference on. They have just plain metal framed beds and some kids are sleep 3 on a single. There is no colour on the walls and to be honest it looks like a prison. It really made me upset because these children are so happy. They really have no idea and are stuck inside this tiny space day in and day out. They have a small field which they go to on weekends sometimes but there is no football posts and it has quite a lot of rubbish on. Even in the holidays they can't afford to take all the children out on days out. They also don't have P.E at all, no games kit or anything. This is why after this week, I have so much to think about and coming here I have seen how limited I am into what I can offer. However I have also realised that I need to try my best and do anything that I can to just make at least one child's life a little bit better.
I went to church today, one leader showed me where it was. It is only 20 mins on a Matatu. It was so nice to be there, it is English speaking but I am the only Musungu there! It was hard to think that people all over the world have the exact same service and lessons as I do in the Forest until now. There are lots of YSA and a few people have been very welcoming and it was just such a nice feeling. I really enjoyed it and I am so grateful to be able to attend church especially since this week was quite hard at times.
I am thinking of ideas for what I can do to help the children and I have also got involved in Swahili lessons 5 days a week so I am getting busier! I am missing home but I am definitely settling in more and I am learning more and more about the culture.
Kwaheri!
Tilly Lawson
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Greetings from Chile - Olli Reid
Dear Mr Mason,
Just wanted to give you a quick update on how I am getting on after over a month living in Chile. First of all I would just like to thank you again for awarding me the scholarship that contributed to my fundraising that got me here in the first place, earlier this year. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it! Without your help, I would not be living this amazing experience!
After setting off from Heathrow on Friday 26th August I arrived in Santiago, the capital of Chile on Saturday morning. We spent our first night in a hostel with the 7 other Chile volunteers before I set off with Patrick (my Project Trust partner) to Valparaiso on the coast of Chile. We are living with a lovely family, the Mum Eliana, Dad Manuel and youngest son Elian although the three other older sons are often visiting! What was quite a shock was finding out they spoke no English, especially given we spoke no Spanish. A month later and communication has got slightly easier!
Monday to Friday we work in the school as English teaching assistants (including some of our own classes), taking the whole school from ages 5-15. The children are lovely though, and despite not understanding the majority of what they say they are all very interested to know everything about me!
Valparaiso is an incredible place, completely different from anything I have ever know and despite being relatively poor it is very beautiful in a lot of places. They also love celebrations, September is their month of celebration for their Independence so it has been lots of fun!
I have attached a couple of photos of Valparaiso for you to see.
Many thanks again and I will keep you updated as much as I can!
Kind regards,
Oli Reid
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Kenya - Tilly Lawson
Dear Neil Mason,
Thank you for your reply, it is great to hear from you. I hope you are well.
My Placement
The school I am working in is called Dada's Community Centre. It has a school, orphanage, HIV clinic and some rooms where women come in and teach other women how to make baskets and clothes so that they can sell them at a market to make some money. There is so much going on in such a tiny space.
There are some tough stories I have heard this week and things I have seen. All the walls in the school are paper thin and made of tin, you can just hear all the classes going on all the time. There actually aren't even any doors or any colours on the walls. I am hoping I will be able to make lots of posters before their new school opens up, just to make the classrooms more colourful.
The kids don't drink anything throughout the day, I am not even sure why but in this heat it's unbelievable. It's already so hot and it is currently rainy season and the peak months of summer is from December-January.
The school books and pens are all in awful quality, in a class of 18 they have 2 text books and all of the children just crack on with no complaints.
Everyday all of the children have to clean the school, they have these little brushes, they have to chuck water in the toilet room and they have to clean the floors.
The students are rated in class, after they have there end of term exams the person with the highest marks get rated number 1 and the worst is last. It's not a really good system at all. Their school system here is very different to home because they are split into classes depending on smartness not age. So there are people in the same class who are 10 and 14.
One awful thing they still do here is punish the children physically. I saw them beat small children with a long ruler and they were really crying. We just had to walk out. Yesterday, I saw a teacher just grab a girls waist and squeeze it really hard, she was crying and she looked about 14. They punish them for even the little things, each class has a prefect and the prefect has to report if any of the children have spoken Swahili during break or lunchtime and if they have then they will be punished. I really hate it and it is something I just cannot get my head around, but speaking to another volunteer, her school does the exact same and there isn't much I can do to change it.
Their school uniform is shocking, they all only have one uniform but there are holes in every jumper and dress, some are so large that it just looks like hanging material.
I was able to go to the orphanage last Saturday and see the boarder children. I heard that one little girl called Betty, who is about 4 was just left on the doorstep of the orphanage and they have bought her in. Some other children are just bought here by crazy parents who are alcoholics or just can't look after them and the orphanage have also just looked after these children. When I ask them what they do on the weekends, they just say they dance and pray and they love it. They were telling me that in their weekly after school debates one of the topics was if being a day-schooler or a boarder was better. The boarders won because being a day schooler you aren't guaranteed any food especially if your mum is sick/not enough money. Whereas orphan children will always have rice and beans and food is always there. What a crazy world we live in!
Despite having literally nothing, these children are smiling all of the time and are so happy and welcoming. I always get so many questions, they always ask why I am white and how I am white. The hair on my arms fascinates them because they all literally have none! The girls just play with my hair all the time and they were so sad to hear that I cut it all off! They always ask if we can switch hair, it is because they all have their hair in these tight hair styles and they love soft hair! All of the kids absolutely love my phone and seeing pictures of my family. I will have no storage left soon because all they do is take selfies and videos. I have my absolute favourite class, class 5 who are 10-14. They are always asking when I am going to teach them and they are the first class where I know every single one of their names. At lunchtime they just really make me laugh, we were having arm wrestles the other day, they dance, they sing the Kenyan national anthem. I was taught how to make some origami too yesterday. When it is lunchtime it's always a fight to see which classroom I go in and they block me from leaving it's so funny! In the staff room one day, the teachers were all having a laugh and they just made every child that came in do a song or a dance as a group in order for their books to be marked. The older boys were so funny, just singing so loudly and really going for it.
The children are all so welcoming and lovely, everyday I am greeting with one thousand hugs and high-5's. I am always asked questions about home which they are fascinated by, lots of children ask if they can come back with me to the UK. All of them are so smart, their English is amazing and they all want to be either a doctor, a teacher or a pirate... Many of their dreams is to travel and I don't think I have actually met a Kenyan yet who has travelled further than Tanzania!
One day last week it was so hot, I was doing science with class 5 and we had finished our revision questions. They do not do P.E lessons, so I just went and asked the teacher if we could go and play outside. They agreed and let us go and play in a field across the road, they were so happy. For the next few days from then, I have been responsible for taking different classes outside and playing lot of games. They are so happy and excited because they haven't done it in such a long time! Although they do not even have one ball to play which shocked me.
If I wasn't there teaching then the class would be left with no teacher and they would just crack on with their own work or be left with exercises.
The Volunteer House
Last week a girl called Rachel left, she was a 25 year old Lorry driver from the UK. She had been here a week before I arrived and was really struggling and planning to book her flight home. However we were put together working at the school and it really helped her and we loads of fun. Sadly she left this week but now she is dying to come back and wants to come back this Christmas! It is sad because lots of volunteers leave after a month or so, just after they have really settled in and are forming good relationships. All the children are so happy to hear I am still there for Christmas and it makes me feel so happy!
Outreach-Service
For the last two weeks on Thursday we have been at Dada's Orphanage painting! I told my leader that is looked quite dull and the paint looked worn. So we painted a lot of the outside of the building blue and brown (their chosen colours). There was paint everywhere, I still have it all over my hands and feet! It was good fun though but hard work in the baking heat! I was speaking to a girl who lives in the other volunteer house and she is working at a women's refuge centre. She was telling me that they are looking after this 6 year old boy who was sold by his parents for money in Tanzania and bought to Kenya. Then people have blinded him because they knew they would get more money from him from begging. Hearing stories like these, knowing they are happening right here just breaks my heart.
Weekends
I have been going to the orphanage on Saturday for a couple of hours just to play with the children. We told them we were coming and they just sat outside the gates to see when we arrived! Since Rachel left last week, she had to give away all the donations she had collected. A local church offered to make her loads of knitted African animal hand puppets and teddy bears. There were loads, enough to give away one to each of the kids. Whilst they were being given out all the children just sat there in silence and were very grateful, even the older children. Then she bought balloons and games and the kids just loved playing with us and we're so excited it was a good day.
The other weekend I also ventured in Nairobi City! I was able to eat some proper home food and explore the Masai Market. The market is full of African souvenirs and clothes. Musungu's are harassed and shouted at though!
Sunday I went to church and I managed to get there by myself which I was happy about. Even walking alone in the street you can't be left alone, people just shout at you or talk to you. That evening the volunteers we have in the house (4 other girls) all made a huge three course meal. The fruit here is just unbelievable, you can just see avocados on trees and they are 10 shillings each with is 7p. I also got 10 passion fruit for 70p, I am loving it!
The highlight of my week:
As I mentioned earlier, Rachel left this week. So we decided we would do something special on her last day. On the Tuesday morning we went to the supermarket to buy balls and games for the kids. We bought a football, balls, tennis balls, skipping ropes, frisbee and a bat. When we bought the stuff to the school the teachers' faces were priceless. The were ecstatic and they argued whether the kids should miss lessons and go outside. The male teachers were shouting that they had just been given a football and they were not going to do lessons. Then they gathered the whole school together and some of the teachers ran to get their football kit on. The whole afternoon we just all played with the kids, it was one of the best moments of my life just seeing 200 people so excited at such a small thing that cost us less than £30 and it was the best feeling ever. One of the girls told me that her school had never done that before, they had never all gone out to the field to play games. It really was a good day and one I will not forget.
Kind regards,
Tilly X
