Unclean classrooms, lots of singing and a trip to Durban...

An update on my blog is much needed, so here goes...

Swaziland is my home. It’s weird to say that, but after almost 7 weeks here it really is the truth. I’ve settled in nicely to my Big Bend life. My weeks are busy, challenging and stressful while also being quiet and relaxing (well, at the weekends anyway!). Let’s not forget about the word fun as well! I love it here and seem to be having fun every single day, although sometimes is doesn’t feel like it at the time!

Recent weekends have been spent at the game reserve, chilling by the dam (one eye always open for crocs!) and having a braiie (bbq)! Sun shining and peace and tranquillity. Can’t ask for much more (especially when you live in a hostel...).  We’ve met a guy who owns jet-ski’s so we’ll be heading out onto the dam on one of those soon. The dam has a hippo in it, obviously just to add to the thrill of the experience (and let’s not forget about the crocodiles)! Mhlonsiga Game Reserve does seem to be becoming one of my favourite places. It’s literally 10 minutes up the road and you can go walking there. Most weekday evenings we go walking there and on more occasions that not we see the most beautiful giraffes! I can’t even begin to describe how it feels to be so close to them when you’re on foot and not it a car. Absolutely amazing! Even spotting giraffes (we’ve named one “monty”) is becoming quite normal now!

Hostel continues to drive me crazy at times but I can’t say I don’t love it. I’ve got to know some of the girls really well now, making it feel much more like home, as though they are my sisters. I now get up on the bell (5am in case you had forgotten) and go for a jog around the school field. Sets me up nicely for the day...although a nap in the afternoon after teaching is often required. The auntie’s in the kitchen continue to crack my up daily. The funniest women I have ever met, especially Mama Rose! Every morning I am greeted with “Hannah, Hannah, Hannah! How are you?” and then she’ll say something that makes me laugh. She knows my favourite food is fishfingers, which makes for some delicious fishfinger sandwiches at lunchtime! The thing I love most about her is the fact that she has twins and named them “Debbie” and “Deborah”...funny, funny times! It’s lovely to know I have a “family” as such at hostel now.

Moriah Center continues to be great fun. Our days there are nowhere near as hard or stressful as at Injabulo, which means I can take time to relax a little more while teaching! The Lions are now singing “Roll over, roll over” amazingly well (and in a Scottish accent may I add). You know how it goes....”there were 10 in the bed...” I needn’t sing anymore. We’re going to sing it at their graduation which will be a great laugh. We’ve made up actions that go along with it and at snack time we have the whole school singing it. I have far too much fun teaching there...I need to remember I am the teacher, but then that’s why I love it!

Last week involved not teaching at Injabulo in protest, as the classrooms hadn’t been cleaned in over 2 weeks. As much as I hate not being able to teach the kid’s (it isn’t their fault), it’s the only way in which we can make the community realise we are serious and that the classrooms need to be cleaned! Ahhhh, such a struggle there but then I can’t help but love teaching there. Everyone likes a good challenge! A community meeting has been arranged and the situation will (hopefully) soon be resolved!

We’ve just returned from a long weekend away in Durban! This was my first experience of travelling within Africa and it was a great one! The weekend mainly involved shopping, relaxing on the beach, eating amazing food (at last!), a trip to Ushaka Marine World and wondering down a street where we were told to turn back or most likely to be mugged! Always got to have a good story to tell! We met some really interesting people at the backpackers, going out for dinner with them and a crazy night out in Durban! I’ve no idea how it got to 4:30am so quick!?! The kombi ride home was much smoother than expected. A 2 hour wait on the kombi for it to fill up before it even left, a marriage proposal that I sadly turned down and a 5 hour journey back to Big Bend! Successful weekend all round and it was lovely to get a break from Big Bend. The city life is definitely not for me though. Too many people, too many cars, too many tall buildings and what are these things they call traffic lights? Not seen those in a while....

So all is well in Swaziland! The temperature continues to rise as summer draws closer and closer, so bracing myself for that one! Don’t think I go a day without being told that it will get extremely warm and I won’t be able to cope. You know it’s bad when even the locals are complaining!

For now I shall leave you all with this blog and post another one at some point, although I can’t make any promises as to when. Much love, Hannah xx

Sawubona!

I've now been in Swaziland for 3 weeks and 3 days and absolutely loving it! It is a beautiful country, full of wonderfully friendly people and a fascinating culture.
The journey to get here was long and tiring, consisting of 3 planes, a four hour stop over and an hour car ride! But eventually we made it to Big Bend, Swaziland, my new home for a year! The drive from the airport, near Manzini, to Big Bend was amazing. It took us right through the heart of Swaziland, introducing us to many of the wonderful features this country has to offer. We drove through valleys, with rolling hills surrounding us on either side. We drove past homesteads, where you could see traditional houses and people going about their daily lives. We drove past goats and cattle wondering along or at the side of the road. The dry looking landscape was breathtaking and so African looking! I don't know how to describe it, but everything I saw was how I invisioned Africa to be but at the same time not. There is something very unique about Swaziland that it makes different to other African countries but it is a country of Africa all the same.

For the first few days we stayed with our hosts, to allow us to settle into our new surroundings. On our third day we were taken to Hlane National Park, which  is a Big Game Reserve just north of Big Bend. The sun was shining, a lovely 36 degrees celcius, and we went a 4x4 drive around the park. We had only just entered the reserve when we came across two rhino by the side of the track. This was my first real experience of seeing such enormous creatures in the wild and it is one I shall never forget. Here I was, in Africa, on my first ever safari! The day failed to dissapoint. We saw rhino, impala, wilderbeast, hippo, crocodiles, zebra, warthog, a giraffe and its baby (which is apparently a rare sight!) and an elephant, which we got so close to I could have alomst touched it when it walked by my window!

On the Sunday after out arrival we moved into the hostel, which was to be our home for the next year. My room is quite small, with only a bed, a desk and two small cupboards. I've decroated it with pictures of friends and family, some posters and a scotland flag to make it feel a but more personal. The girls at the hostel are extremely loud and it is a rare occasion when we get some peace and quiet! At first, the hostel took some getting use to, as it's like being on school camp every single day, but I'm now starting to get into a routine of things within the hostel and it is all quite normal now. Each morning the bell goes off at 5am to wake the girls up for school. This means each morning is a very early start! While I don't have to get up till 6am, it is hard to get back to sleep, as the bell continues to ring regularly and the girls make an awful lot of noise considering the time of day! I'm already fed up of the food they serve at hostel. Every meals involves meat. Every meals involves stodgey rice or pap. Every meals involves gravy. I will definitely not be able to cope with this for a year.

The projects are challenging but rewarding. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings (8-12) we work at the Moriah Centre, which is a mission pre-school just up the road. The school is run by a lady, Di Hampson, and is funded by a collection of international churches. Around 30 children attend, and all are from under-privalleged backgrounds. I teach the Lions class (5-7 year olds) and most of them will (hopefully) be going to primary school next year. These children are an abolsute delight to teach! They are well behaved (as well as can be expected of a 5 year old anyway!) and are extremely eager to learn. The Moriah Center is well established and well run. The lesson plans for the classes cover everything, preparing the children as best they can for primary school and the future. The building itself is very basic, and nothing campared to the standards back in the UK. There are 3 classrooms (Lepoards, Cheetahs and Lions), a small hall where the children do P.E and sing and a small communial area when they will eat their food. Each day the children will get half a peanut butter sandwich at snack time and at the end of the day will be given some lunch to take home (as the majority of these kids won't be fed at home because of poverty).

The second pre-school that we go to is called Injabulo. We run this practically by ourselves and it is already proving to be one of the most challenging things ever! All there is is a building with only two classrooms, no running water and no electicity. There are not other teachers here, or anybody who looks after the building and so the whole running of the pre-school lyes on our shoulders! The kids at Injabulo are brilliant, although have no discipline! There are many improvements to be made here but that is all part of our challenge this year. We are struggling to find a permanent translator who will come with us to help the children to understand what we teach them which is proving a problem as it means it is near impossible to do anything with the children, as they just don't understand! When we first arrived, the classrooms weren't being cleaned (which mothers within the community are meant to do) but we have since sorted this problem out. Each day, someone will come and cook mealie or pap on a fire under a tree, which the children can then each at snack time. Injabulo is situated in a very rural area. To get there requires a 20 minute drive along a dirt track road and over a croc infested river. It is a very beautiful drive though, and not one everyone gets to take to work! On our way to the school we pick up some of the children who have a long walk to get there. I love this project, even though it leaves me frustrated at the lack of organisation or effort put in by the community. Some days are stressful and a complete struggle but others are amazing and great fun! I'm detremined to try my best though and to over come the many, many challenges that arise as it is a pleasure to teach such fantastic children, and this really is their only hope of ever making it to primary school!

Soup Kitchen is emotionally very challenging, and gives me a few reality checks every time I go. On a Tuesday and Friday afternoon, Robyn and I, will make a stew type meal out of leftovers from the hostel and a local restuarant. We then take this stew, along with a container of water to a village north of Big Bend, where many orphaned children live. There is a small hut there where we serve out some of the stew and bread to around 50 children, who all line up with their plastic containers. The children really are desparate for the food we bring. The two times we come a week are the two times these children will eat a week. We often stay behind after serving out the good to play games with the kids which is great fun! It breaks my heart though, to know that many of them only live with their siblings and are extremely malnourished! It is a hard project, and it is painful to see some of these children in the condition they are, but it is one I love and am determined to do my best in!

So that is pretty much life in Swaziland, not to forget the swimming lessons we take on a Tuesday and Thursday, and soccer practice on a Monday and Wednesday. Life here is amazing and I am thoroughly enjoying my time so far!

Thanks for reading and I'll update again soon!

Packed and ready to go!

Packed my rucksack today. After 4 attempts...very stressful! I don't think people can really understand how hard it is to pack a year into a 65 litre rucksack and keep it under 20kg. Definitely was a challenge but after many discussions of strategic tactical approaches my mum and I managed!

As for the leaving party, it was a great success. I exceeded my target of 20 guests (phew!) and had a brilliant night! Thank you to everyone that came along and made it memorable. A special thanks has to go out to everyone that helped prepare food and set up tents in the backgarden for people to sleep in. And a huge huge huge thank you to my mum who somehow managed to organise it all! Pictures of the party to come at a later date...

So it's now Sunday evening, and my mum and I head down to London on Tuesday before I fly off on WEDNESDAY!!! That leaves me a total of two nights to sleep in my own bed, one day to spend in Scotland and two days before I head out to Swaziland!

I really can't think of anything else to say now, except that I have a horrible, nervous feeling in my stomach! It's like butterflies at Christmas, which must mean I'm excited!!!! Definitely exctied but also, as to be expected, nervouse and apprehensive!

I think that'll do for now. Speak to you all in Swaziland! xx

4 weeks today!

Okay, so it's 4 weeks today until I leave (not long at all!!!), so I feel this is a good time to update you lovely people (and myself) on how preparations are going.

Currently, I just have a "to take to Swaziland" pile in my room, and it is in no sort of order whatsoever. I have managed to purchase a rucksack, a radio, a penknife, some clothes and a large collection of suntan lotion (can thank my mother for that one). Absolutely in love with my penknife! A Swiss Army Knife Champ to be exact, and yes, it is the biggest one with the most gadgets!

Tomorrow (Thursday 11th August) has been dedicated for raiding the shops of Edinburgh in search of some skirts for teaching and a suitable teaching shoes!
And then it's off to Go Outdoors, trailing a long list of essentials that must be bought! These include:

• headtorch
• waterbottle
• mosquito net
• waterproof
• first aid supplies
• water purifier
• fleece
• waterproof

Then I'm pretty much done and the only challenge left facing me will be trying to fit all this (^^^) and much, much more into a 65 litre rucksack and keep it under 20kg! (impossible I hear you say! We shall see...)

In other news, my room is a complete tip as I attempt to clear it out. I have so far clearned out 8 drawers, using up a total of 8 bin bags (!!!) and still have my dreaded cupboard to do! Clothes and shoes are being packed away safely for my return (although my sister keeps trying to take things) and I have a nice wee box of "things I would like to keep".

My leaving party has been organised (largely thanks to my mother) and I am pleased to announce that I do have more than 20 people attending. Success!

So really, if you have managed to continue reading this till the end, you have just had an insight into the hectic life of someone who is leaving the country for Africa in less than a month and can only pack 20kg worth of things! The more I think about it, it occurs to me I have posted this more for the benefit of me, and my brain which is struggling to keep everything in order, than anyone else! I do apologise!

Anyway, I shall post again before my departure, updating you on how my shopping trip went and whether I managed to successfully pack! (if you actually care that is...)

Until next time, Hannah x

How I got to be here...

Way back in June last year (2010) a representitive from Project Trust came and gave a talk at my school, telling us all about the charity and what they do. I remember being intrigued by what they talked about, and took all the booklets that they gave out, but thought of it as something I would really like to do, never something I actually could do. Nonetheless, I went home that night and raved on about it to my parents, and it seemed the more I talked about it the more it became a real possibility! After talking to my parents and atteneding another information evening, I was on the computer applying for a place on one of the selection courses...it looked like I really was going for it!

Selection...

I attended a selection course in the last week of August, so on the Sunday headed up to Oban where I would be catching the ferry over to Coll. It was all very exciting, but nerving at the same time, as I had no idea what to expect during the week! After spending a night at the Youth Hostel in Oban, I had to catch the ferry that would take me to Coll at 7:30am! On the boat I met lots of other people who were attending selection, and who were all feeling excited but scared just like me.
Once we arrived on Coll, it was a full on week of doing lots and lots of different tasks! We had to walk up a hill, write an essay, dig up lazy beds, give a 10 minute presentation...the list is endless. We also sat through lots of talks, where Project Trust staff told us all about the different projects and what we could do.
While on Coll we all stayed with different host families who were great at telling us all about the island and helping us with our preparation for our talks. I stayed with a couple who were very active within the Coll community and had even set up their own archery club (so of course I grabbed the opportunity to have a go at it!).

All of us at the top of the hill during selection

During that week I met some amazing people, who were all just as eager as me to do something beneficial with their lives! Selection was a very tiring week, but one that I will never forget!

And so...

A couple of days after returning back to civilisation I received my letter from Project Trust telling me whether I had been selected to volunteer with them or not. Opening that letter took a lot of effort and I've never been so nervous in all my life...but thankfully it was the new I wanted to hear. I had been selected! I was going to be heading off to Swaziland in southern Africa!

Fundraising...

Now all that stood between me and my year in Swaziland was the massive challenge of fundraising £4950, which would cover the cost of things such as flights, accomodation and insurance. To begin with this seemed like a very daunting task for me, as I only had a year to do it, but as I gradually began to organised events and receive donations, I realised that my target was more than reachable!
I did a wide variety of things to try raise money, such as cake sales, running a craft fair, bag packing, a quiz night, a race night and a sponsored cycle from Glasgow to Edinburgh!
It was all very hard work and required an immense amount of time and orgnisation, but was really enjoyable and rewarding in the end.
I reached my total target in May 2011 after the sponsored cycle, and now that all the fundraising is over, I have to say, I miss it!

 Quiz Night...these are great fun!

Training...

In July 2011 I then had to head back up the the Isle of Coll to attend a week of training, where I would meet my partner who I would be spending my year with and recieve all the information I needed on where I was going, what I would be doing and how to keep safe!

Again, I had to travel up the Oban on the Sunday before catching the ferry to Coll on the Monday. I was very excited (and also very nervous) to meet my partner, as they were the person I would be living withe for a year! Luckily, I met my partner on the train up to Oban, so my wait to find out who she was wasn't as long as others! We got on really well, and it was then, as we talked about where we would be going and what we would be doing, that it all got a bit more real!

When we arrived in Oban almost everyone who was attending training was already there. We all went out to dinner together that night (taking up the entire restaurant) and chatted about all things Project Trust! Then it was off to bed and up early to get ther ferry to Coll!

The Isle of Coll

During selection I had come to love the Isle of Coll, and so was sooooooooooo excited to be returing again! The minute we stepped onto the island we were driven straight to the centre where Project Trust were based and so training began...

Each day we sat through endless talks on safety and health and culture shock and homesickness, and it did some to get a little boring, but we all knew it was vital to take all the information in! Because my project is heavily based on teaching, I also had lessons on everything that I would need to know in order to cope as a teacher! This also meant that during the week I had to prepare and give a 10 minute and then a 20 minute lesson! I really enjoyed planning out my lessons and presenting them! My 10 minute lesson was based on simple adding and then my 20 minute lesson was based on spelling (nothing too challenging seen as I'm only going to be teaching 3-5 year olds when I'm out there!).

Training Group Photo

On our last night we were treated to formal, three course meal which was amazing and then a ceilidh to finish off with! It was a brilliant night and a good laugh, and it was really nice to be able to spend it with all the people I had come to be really good friends with during the week! Then on the Friday it was time to say goodbye to the Isle of Coll and goodbye to the staff at Project Trust as we were waved off the island with our heads packed with all the information we needed for going away!

Only 6 weeks to go....

So, I head off on the 7th of September 2011 with a lovely 24 hours worth fo travelling to look foward to before I actually make it to Big Bend, Swaziland. I still have so much to do, such as clean out my room, organise a leaving party of some sort and, of course, PACK! I best go browse the internet for a suitable rucksack now...

About Project Trust...

Project Trust is an educational charity that sends 17-19 year olds overseas for a whole year to do a variety of different types of volunteering in countries in Asia, South America and Africa. Volunteers are placed into projects in communities where their skills would benefit the local people. Projects vary from being a teacher in the local schools, to social care, to being an outwards bound instructor.

Those who are interested in going overseas with the charity have to apply for a Selection Course, where applicants go up to the Isle of Coll on the north-west coast of Scotland for a week and take part in a variety of tasks so as the Project Trust team can assess their sutiability to the projects they have available.

After the Selection Course, those who are successful in being selected to become a Project Trust volunteer must fundraise just under £5000 which covers their cost of going overseas.

Volunteers then head back up the the Isle of Coll to attend a Training Course, where they are told all about what it is they are going to be doing and are given all the relevant information to ensure they are kept safe during their year away.

And then all there is left to do is pack and head off to wherever it is they have been selected to go!