Malealea Link

We have just left Heathrow and now on our way back to Yorkshire, we'll be calling parents at a service station when we get nearer with a more accurate time :-)

"This is a message for Jake Urmston. Hi Jake not sure if you Will see you this or not but just wanted to say well done to all of you on the 2009 exhibition. You've all worked really hard and achieved much but I hope that you've also enjoyed the experience. We look forward to seeing you soon. Have a safe journey. Love Mum Dad and Margaret."

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Today was our full day in Pilanesberg national park near Johannesberg. We had a very early start at 5am with tea and biscuits before we bordered the safari trucks to visit the reserve! It was amazing, we saw lots of animals including lions, elephants, hippos and rhinos! We then came back for lunch then visited an elephant interaction where we actually got chance to stroke and feed an elephant! We had lunch there and then came back through the reserve to camp. We finished off the afternoon with a huge swimming session in the pool at the camping site. It has been a really fantastic day that I won't forget! In the evening we had time to think about what we had achieved on the expedition. We had a laugh with some certificates that we all received. We are off to bed early as tomorrow is am early start as we have tents to put away and bags to pack before we set off back to the UK! See u all soon!

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Well this is our last view as we leave Malealea, smiles and tears all
around!

Sent from my iPhone

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Today has been our last full day in Lesotho! Over the last 2 days we
have stopped work and experienced some of the culture in Malealea.
Yesterday we went to Church in the morning to experience what it is
like in a Lesotho church. It was really amazing the church was packed.
We had practiced some songs before we went to church. We sang and
listened to the local people sing as well.
In the afternoon we had the option of either a guided tour of the
village, a trip to a local stream to paddle our feet or to stay in
camp and help tidy and get ready for leaving. I stayed behind and
helped cook team to prepare some vegetables for tea. It's been an
amazing experience so far. Today was really special for the
expedition. We went to Maseru and actually met the king of Lesotho. Mr
Dunn spoke about what has happened over the last 9 years with City and
Royston School and The Malealea Development Trust. We took some of the
local community with us to meet the King. They were all dressed in
traditional clothes and looked really good. We then had food and had
photos taken with the King. He said he was very impressed with our
work and looked forward to hearing more about the expedition. We then
came back to camp and started the long packing session. We have to be
up at 5am to leave for Pilanesberg. I am really excited about tomorrow
because we get to see wild animals on the game reserve. Tonight we
went out of camp to look at the stars here, they are amazing, we could
see Saturn and the Milky Way.
I have really enjoyed this expedition. Even though it has been really
hard work, I have seen lots of think that people back home won't have
seen, I'm looking forwards to telling everyone about our adventures
when we get back.

Apologies for the delay uploading to the blog we have had comunication
problems on Malealea with the blog.

Sunday

Today we arrived in Malealea. We were all very excited to see this
place that we had been talking about for so long. We started at the
gates of paradise, a place where you can see the whole of the Malealea
Valley. It's a really beautiful place and very peaceful. Lots of
people waves to us as we came into the valley and were all very
pleased to see us! We managed to put our tents up before it got dark
at about 6.30pm. Tomorrow we get to start the work. I am excited to be
here :-)

Monday

Today has to have been the most difficult work day of the trip so far.
I was in the group who went to work with the local people. It tested
my physical strength quite a lot as I was in charge of pick axing. I
actually enjoyed today even though it was hard work. I was shocked to
see that fairly old people were doing hard labour work, even the cheif
of Tsyinyane who had to be around 70! People welcomed us with cheer as
thought they were really happy to see us there. Some people seemed to
be home sick, especially me, but with the extra free time and our self
proudness raised after a hard day's work the camp seems more light
hearted and can't wait until tomorrow!l
Elise (miss you at home) x

Today I was woken up by birds makng annoying noises. I woke up and had
nutella on toast, I had 9 slices!! We then walked to tsinyane and we
helped to sort out drainage in the donga (erosion scar). We then
helped to improve the quality of the road. At the end of the day I
felt very proud!

Tuesday

Today we went down to Tsinyane and I helped build up the road with
Andy by digging up dirt and putting it on the road. It really tired me
out and that was before we walked to the high school. We watched a
cultural festival and a drama in Sesotho which we didn't understand
but Mr Jowett said it was like Eastenders! When we got back I was
really tired but had a good day.

Today we split u to our groups. Half the group went to Tsinyane to
build up protection in a donga from old tyres. The other half went to
Malealea school to help dig holes for toilets. We also planted trees.
At another school we cpncreted a classroom floor. Overall it has been
a very tiring but fullfilling day!

Wednesday

Today was another work day. We got up early to work on the two main
places, the school and Tsinyane. We worked in two half days today as
we were very tired from yesterday. In the morning we were either
helping to repair dongas, repair the road or wok in the garden
removing silt from the dam silt trap or creating beds that the local
people could grow crops in! Some people were also planting trees that
would help soil erosion. I am now starting to realize how happy people
are here even though they don't have much. Most of the houses don't
have running water or electricity. We are really lucky to have so many
things. There are so many people who are coming to help in the dam. I
am really enjoying it working here. Hopefully
tomorrow we are going to play a volleyball match at the high school as
they ate breaking up for Easter tomorrow. It's raining at the moment
and I'm luckily on my tent so it's ok. See you all soon x x

We are hoping to be able to update on a daily basis but of not don't
worry it's because our signal isn't very strong!

"Hi Jake, hope you get this message and that you had a great Easter. Enjoyed the blogs(?) but there's not been very any whilst you've been in Milay(?) LA(?). So hope that you've got all the work done and that you've had a great time. See you soon. Love Carol Stuart and Margaret."

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