Submerged into Africa…
After 32 hours of planes trains and automobiles our group of weary travellers finally landed in SA.
Anxieties were running high as we came off the N7 main highway along a dirt track through trees to a little wattle and daub shack where these beautiful faces poked out through the trees.
Chris the founder of The CoCos Foundation had taken us to the first house the foundation ever built and introduced us to the family they built for, the wattle and daub shack was sat in the middle of an area that the family, with the help of the foundation, had subsequently built up over time.
We could see the first breeze block house the foundation had built 5 years ago, within the house was 2 bunk beds and their school uniforms pride of place hanging up. The Foundation had given them a little bit of hope and positivity by giving them the security of a house, then in time they had built themselves a loo, a kitchen and a wonderful vegetable patch that Alan Titchmarsh would be proud of.
So the manual labour for the Creations Team starts soon, and we will be against the clock to build 1 house, finish off one of the other houses, plant a vegetable area the size of a football pitch whilst submerging ourselves into the amazing rural area in the Kwazulu Natal region of SA.
The biggest learning so far for me is the simplest things in life are the most rewarding, living under the roof of around 25 other people, children and adults from all walks of life, eating dinner at the same time from the same pot and being grateful for the sense of family, community and communication. The home is run by a surgeon and his wife who have been in SA for 33 years, they also run a childrens home and look after the community around them.
We have just hosted a bbq and party for around 50 children from the home for orphans. We are all a little exhausted and very emotional. More on that soon….
sweet dreams, Creations In Africa Team
Emma, Treve, Gary, Holly, Sophie, Claire and Elliot 🙂
