Gilligan Family Volunteering at Baphumelele
11-20 March 2008
Father and son team, Phil and Nick, spent 10 days in Cape Town to volunteer at
Baphumelele Children’s Home. After some initial exploration of Cape Town to overcome
the jetlag (including a hike up Table Mountain), they got stuck into the maintenance
work that was in store for them. Their main project was cleaning, painting and
sorting two of the classrooms in the Baphumelele Creche. Phil and Nick, together
with Mike and Mzura, spent long days hard at work but the end product was two
transformed classrooms that are more conducive to learning. In addition, they
ordered new carpets so the children can now sit and sleep in comfort.
In between all the hard work, they had time to explore
the beauty of Cape Town. Some highlights were:
- Discovering some of the good South African wines
- Spending 2 nights with Mama Noks in Tambo Village
- Getting an education in how to eat meat in the townships
- Almost getting blown away at Cape Point, seeing the
African Penguins at Boulders Beach before getting stuck
in insane traffic on a Sunday evening!
- Going on safari and seeing the Big 5 (well, 4 of
the 5)
2 Way Travel loved having the Gilligans here and look
forward to their return trip next year!!
Botswana & Zambia March
2008
In the Easter mid-term break we took our record number
of international students on an overland trip to Botswana
and Zambia. This time we did things a bit differently
so as to keep the trip small while still being able to
cater for a large group of students – we took 2 groups
on 2 consecutive days! This new structure worked really
well and will definitely be used in the future.
Here are some of what students had to say about the
trip:
‘All I can say is that I had an amazing time on this
trip. I got to travel to so many different countries & experience
new cultures. I have never been camping before this trip.
I thought that I was going to be completely out of my
element but that was not the case at all. Victoria Falls
is the most amazing thing that I have ever seen in my
life!’
‘An awesome trip! I had so much fun, saw so many cool
things and met a ton of really cool people. Daytona Beach
has nothing on Botswana and Zambia!’
‘Trip of a lifetime, made my time in Africa worthwhile.
Leaders were extremely helpful and informational. 2 Way’s
goal was to make sure I had an amazing, positive and
life changing experience! Mike & Heather were extremely
helpful in the office and Kristi & Sam were heros
on the road!’
‘Mike was so incredibly helpful and accommodating in
the process of booking the trip. 2 Way went above and
beyond anything you could expect of a travel company.
On the trip, I always felt completely at ease in the
hands of my very capable leaders. All in all, the best
thing I could have done with my “spring” break.’
‘The trip really made me appreciate the country, the
land, and the people of Africa. I loved driving around,
looking out the window and soaking in the places we were
at. It was a great escape from the urban, Western feel
of Cape Town. Also, if you don’t love nature at the end
of this trip, you’re an idiot.’
‘This was the greatest trip I have ever taken. I have
rarely gotten closer to a group of people than I did
on this trip. Thank you for making the trip I have always
wanted to take to Victoria Falls the trip of a lifetime!!’
‘The experience in the Okavango Delta is moving on every
level – the beauty of the scenery and the people is spiritual
and healing.’
‘2 Way definitely put my vacation time to good use.
I have so many amazing memories from this trip and I
can’t wait to slow my friends and family pictures, again
and again and again!’
‘The people, the places, the food & fun – this trip
couldn’t get better. Best spring break / vacation so
far!!!’
Villanova University’s Volunteer
Trip to Baphumelele
31 December 2007 - 11 January 2008
2 Way Travel once again hosted a group of 20 students
from Villanova University in Philadelphia, USA. The group
came to Cape Town for 2 and a half weeks and spent the
majority of their time volunteering at Baphumelele. On
our first day at Baphumelele (New Year’s Eve!), we had
a rich and informative orientation workshop with the
assistance of Pheliso, Nomthetho, Vuyelwa, Ethilina & Nosipho
who spoke about their experiences of different issues,
such as growing up in Apartheid, HIV/AIDS and poverty
– aspects of daily life in Khayelitsha and South Africa.
The carers in turn also got to ask the Americans some
questions about life in the States. It was a truly meaningful
experience for everyone involved!
After a scrumptious lunch cooked by Nokhaya, the group
got started on giving Clemens House a bit of a facelift.
Throughout their stay, the group divided their time between
working with the kids and painting and fixing up Clemens
House. The big boy’s rooms and bathrooms downstairs are
now a funky lime green, while some of the other rooms
got a refreshing coat of yellow. We has some fun manoeuvring
to get to the upper reaches of the big room but this
resourceful group of volunteers found creative ways to
get into all the corners. Apart from painting, we even
got to contend with some nasty plumbing problems due
to blocked drainpipes but fortunately we were able to
get someone in to fix that before too many children were
affected by the spills.
The holiday programme started in earnest on the 2nd
of January after the group had conquered Table Mountain
on the 1st. The theme of the holiday programme was ‘Traditional
Xhosa Games and Activities’. We started with the younger
children (6-9 year olds) and we set some rules for our
time together and what an excellent job the children
did with these!
We worked in two groups each taking turns at the different
activities. The first morning saw the green group getting
their hands dirty and making clays pots, while the yellow
group was taught some traditional Xhosa dances by Nomthetho
before the Americans added some fun new dances and games
as well. The following day saw the groups learning some
Xhosa dramas, while Lebo and Ethilina worked some magic
in the kitchen as they taught us all how to make umkupa
(steam bread) and ijinja beer (ginger beer) – it was
so good that the Villanova group went home that evening
and made their own steam bread!!
On Friday the 4th of January, we took this same group of
children to Monkey Town in Somerset West. After having
a quick snack, which included some good monkey food of
peanuts and raisins, the children got to run off some energy
in the playground before we went on a tour of the sanctuary.
The three day old piglets were a big attraction but the
presence of their mother ensured that the children didn’t
get too close! Many monkey faces were pull as we got to
learn the differences between monkeys and baboons, humans
and chimpanzees, and many more interesting facts. After
our tour, we all enjoyed a scrumptious lunch and some more
time in the playground. It was then time to head back to
the bus for the drive home where most of the children (big
and small) fell fast asleep!
Saturday saw us starting with the older children (10-21
year olds). After setting some rules, the different groups
moved between making musical instruments (jembe’s, rainmakers
and tambourines) and drama.
The volunteers then had 2 days off where they spent a
night in Tambo Village, ate at the famous Mzoli’s Restaurant
in Gugulethu & visited Robben Island. When we returned
on Tuesday we came with a big bus to take all the kids
(6-21 year olds) to Strandfontein Beach where we played
some traditional games like puca and uzichanele as well
as a number of other fun games that the Villanova students
taught the children. Unfortunately it was incredibly
windy, which made it difficult to coordinate the games
but it stopped no-one. We even got a chance to go swim
in the tidal pool before lunch! When we got back to Baphumelele,
the children had a bit of a break before joining us in
the creche for Charlotte’s Web on the big screen – a
brilliant way to end a fun day.
Wednesday saw the older children continuing with the
different activities. They too got to make steam bread
and ginger beer, while Xolani did an amazing job of teaching
everyone some traditional Xhosa dances. Thursday was
another outing day, this time to the Scratch Patch in
Simonstown followed by a swim at Fish Hoek beach. Everyone
had loads of fun discovering a range of beautiful gemstones
and trying to work out the names of their discoveries.
Our final day was filled with a mixture of feelings
as each group spent time practicing their different dances
and songs that they were to perform at the farewell concert.
2 Way Travel had arranged for Nokhaya to cook us all
(children, carers and volunteers) a special lunch which
we all got to enjoy in the Clemens House dining room.
The concert was probably the highlight of our time there
and the perfect way to end a meaningful and fun-filled
two weeks. We even had Mama Rosie join us and she even
shed a few tears at some of the incredible performances
of her children!
Thank you to everyone who made these 2 weeks so successful,
we couldn’t have done it without all the carers as well
as Katie and Mama Rosie. 2 Way Travel looks forward to
returning with many more groups of volunteers in the
future!
