Bloemfontein, South Africa

As I think most of you are aware, 19 students along with 5 adults visited “House of Hope”, Bloemfontein, South Africa at the end of July. However, before we could begin the long journey, there was a lot of fundraising to be done. This included The Auction of Promises, a Barn Dance, the “House of Hope” Concert, many cake sales, much car washing and mufti days as well as our own personal fundraising. Thank you to all of you who were involved and supported our trip, altogether we managed to raise a grand total of almost £15,000.

After months of preparation, the day of the trip was finally upon us. Travelling to our destination of Bloemfontein took a very long time and included a lot of waiting around at Heathrow. We were all very relieved when our luggage and our extra bags full of donated clothes were allowed through.

We arrived at the B&B in Bloemfontein over 24 hours after we began our journey. Although we were all rather tired we made our first eagerly anticipated visit to the orphanage. As soon as we arrived we received a very warm welcome. Some of the children ran to greet us off the coach and they had made two posters welcoming us and thanking God for our safe journey. We were introduced to all the children there and then given a tour of the orphanage, when we began thinking of the changes we could make to im-prove their living conditions. After our brief “hello” emotions were running high no doubt because of the culture shock combined with absolute exhaustion and we wel-comed a hot meal and our beds!

Over the next few days we painted three of the girls’ bedrooms with flowers, trees, a sun, clouds and a rainbow. The creche was decorated with numbers and the alphabet and a large wall separating the main room of the orphanage from the boys’ bedrooms was brightened up with a large sun and silhouettes of a few of the children. Once the rooms had been painted, some of them were car-peted with free second hand carpet and floor tiles we had managed to lay our hands on. We also ordered brand new bunk beds for each of the children and when several of them arrived whilst we were still there, most of the older boys quickly got to work helping us to assemble them. Whilst we were waiting for paint to arrive or had nothing else to do we would play with the children in the creche.

One afternoon some of us took soup, bread and donated clothes to a part of the township we had previously visited. Many people came to see us and were so thankful for the food we brought. Although it was very shocking for us and many tears were shed we were all very grateful to be given such an eye opening experience that we would never forget.

At the weekend we took the children to the zoo which was a lot of fun and allowed us to strengthen our friendships with them. On Sunday morning we all attended the Church service which was at “House of Hope” and led by Pastor Victor (also the leader of the orphanage), The worship was lively and personally I thought it was wonderful to share this moving service with people that were so passionate about God and thankful for what they have. After-wards we shared a meal with the congregation and took the children to an art gallery and to “Naval Hill” overlooking most of Bloemfontein.

Even though we had only been at the orphanage for a week, we had all had a great time getting to know the children, singing songs and playing games with them. When we had to leave there were many tears as we had made some great friends and seen the difference we could make to their lives and them to ours.

After saying our goodbyes we travelled onto Cape Town to do some sightseeing and relax after both a physically and emotionally draining week. On the first day we went on a ferry to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was held prisoner for many years. We had a tour around the island and a talk by one of the ex-political prisoners who showed us Nelson Mandela’s cell. We also had a coach tour around the Cape Peninsula, visiting Seal Island and Cape Point (the most south-western point of Africa). The views were breathtaking.

Without doubt we all had a wonderful time and learnt a lot from our experiences. We learned that race, nationality, culture, language and socio-economic background do not need to be barriers between people. We have learned that we can make a difference to the lives of others. Many of us are hoping to go back next year to see the changes they have made since we left and continue to support them.

Penny Heath and Carly Rice