Another month in sunny South Africa

our favorite private bay.....

Once again sorry for the amount of time that has elapsed since we last posted on this blog, we are sure that some of you will have been keeping up to date with what we've been doing over the last few weeks via our other social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and now even Strava but for those of you who haven't then we hope that this latest post will provide you will a brief overview of both our work and also down times here in South Africa.

Our work with Emerging Leaders has certainly kept us busy, not only running the Leadership for Life training sessions but also setting up future opportunities for the Emerging Leaders team. It is always a joy to behold the very countenance of those attending the programme come to life as we lead them through the principles that have been so cleverly designed to build upon each other leading people from hopelessness to hope, realising that they all have amazing amazing potential and that if they 'can change their thinking, they can change their lives'. The transformation that takes place over the four modules is quite incredible and we are honored to be able to share this with some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

Maz in the pool overlooking citrusdal
there are some perks to the job...!

We have spent time in a new town, Citrusdal, which sits amongst some beautiful mountains about two hours drive north of Cape Town and is surprisingly well known for the production of citrus fruits. This engagement is with a new exporter who have sent around 50 people from four different farms to attend the programme, each made up of managers, supervisors and also some of the lower skilled staff. It has been great to see the team learning together, putting into practice some of the leadership mindsets and giving feedback stories of how they have applied their new mindsets during their own lives and the lives of those around them.

the wonderful houses in their new house

Our good friends Rob and Emily, along with their two delightful children, Rosie and Issac, have been hosting us at their home in Sir Lowrys Pass, we have known Rob and Em for quite sometime, having attended the same church with them in Aylesbury before they came out to join us as volunteers at the Village of Hope. Emily enjoys running so I (Tim) have been out with her a couple of times and the estate they live on has enabled both of us to run under the watchful gaze of the gigantic hottentots mountains which surround the area.

From that base we have been able to run more leadership sessions in Grabouw with the management team at Dennegeur farm and also the Grade 11 and 12 students at the High School in Villiersdorp, these 16-18 year olds were hand picked to attend the programme and we have had good fun with them as they came to the conclusion that they wanted to lead a project for the benefit of their school. It seems that absenteeism is a huge issue however a root cause was around smoking on the school premise, these young people identified this and are now looking to run an awareness campaign to help their fellow students know not only the dangers of smoking but also the negative affect it has on their learning and attendance in class.   

us before the Lighthouse 10k

We have also had the opportunity to work with three further different groups from the huge township known locally as Khayelitsha which is made up of many smaller areas with their own names and issues. The groups included a weekend event for community leaders, another weekend event for 25 school children and their two teachers, both hosted by our good friends at African Leadership near Gordon's Bay plus a morning session in Khayelitsha again with young community leaders. It has been great to be able to offer our awesome programme to these people and we are certain that new stories of hope will arise as they put their leadership mindsets into action, understanding that a leader exists for the benefit of others!

Being in Cape Town in the summer has enabled us to venture out to enjoy the countryside, we have made trips to various new vineyards to taste their delicious wines and also take part in quite a number of races, both on the road and up into the mountains on trail runs. We both completed the Lighthouse 10k which took place on a Wednesday evening, starting at 7pm just as the sun was going down with Table Mountain providing a stunning backdrop to the run along the promenaded. The trail runs we completed were exciting too, one in the grounds of the Oak Valley wine estate, and another in the picturesque town of Greyton which lays around one hour east of Grabouw. We have both enjoyed these opportunities and are getting quite fit and what with our mainly vegan/veggie diet are losing some much needed weight.

During the last month we were asked to return to South Africa for a further six weeks, which we will do from the beginning of May until the middle of June, returning to England for Easter where we will be catching up with family and friends and also taking a short two week break to Malta to see our friends Matt and Kat. We are excited about our return to South Africa and will be building upon the work we have already undertaken both within the M&S supply chain but with newer opportunities with Tesco as well as a number of NGO's who were are keen to work with. One such organisation is the Connect Network where our friend and ex-Village of Hoper, Mel, has been working, we have run two modules with them and their staff and networkers which has gone very well so far.

Speaking of Mel we spent a wonderful night with her, Babs, who is still working at the Village of Hope, and Mel's friend Laura, we all took part in the Beaumont Wines 'Port Foot Stomp' where we not only got to tread the 2018 vintage grapes but also had a stunning meal and couple of glasses of their 2002 Pinotage which went down a little too well.

training with the young people from Khayelitsha

So just before we sign off from this short update we would also confirm the news that we will be travelling to Zimbabwe and with the opportunity to venture into Zambia too in July and August, this is exciting news but will mean that we will miss much, if not all, of the English summer holidays, however we are certain that our wonderful family and especially our grandchildren will understand but want them to know that we really do appreciate the backing and encouragement they provide us to undertake what we know is a calling to uplift some of the poorest people on the planet.