To Africa, to England and to Africa again

Tim training at the school in Khayelitsha

Well there we go again another couple of months have past since the last update and we not sure where all that time has gone. Since we last posted we have spent a further six weeks in South Africa, around three weeks back in England and today we are packing our well travelled suitcases for another trip to Africa, this time to two new nations, Zimbabwe and Zambia where we will be sharing the Emerging Leaders - Leadership for Life programme but more of that later.

So where to start? After a very successful trip to South Africa earlier on in the year Emerging Leaders South Africa (ELSA) asked us to return for another six weeks to further extend the opportunities that we had been opening up within both the farm, community and school networks. 

It was great to get back and reconnect with all these opportunities and to hear of the stories that are now being written by the people who we shared the programme with earlier in the year. 

One new opportunity that we developed was with a group of school teachers in the huge township, Khayelitsha, (South Africa's largest township), where they provide primary education to over 1,900 children and with only 40 teachers, who deliver the curriculum in English to Xhosa speaking children (a South African government directive) this means that classes are close to 50 with no classroom support.

It was wonderful to be able to share the leadership programme with these teachers, who obviously work in not only a challenging work environment but also a very poor and needy area. They were very engaged with our fun but powerful way of training and we are confident that they now understand that leadership starts with a change of mindset and that that starts with each one of us. 

We are looking to engage with other schools, via both the teachers, parents and the children using our connections with our friends at African Leadership who already do some amazing work in Khayelitsha to open that up into 2019 and beyond.

Lives aren't without incident in South Africa and that's true for us too, this was highlighted as we were running the programme in the afternoon with the teachers after their long school day. There were a number of times were we felt a little uncomfortable, on one journey we were greeted by hundreds of people on the road, the police presence was high with a water cannon vehicle 'keeping the peace' on what turned out to be a 'land claim'. This was a tense situation and one that kept us on our toes. 

The students living their lives on their front foot!

What followed didn't really help, after arriving at the school we were aware that there was something amis as the teachers were tense and wanted to go home quickly. It turned out that they worried about a local gang of thugs who had targeted teachers from four surrounding schools at 'home time' only the day before. These thugs took the opportunity to break through the school security to rob teachers of their cell phones, school laptops and other high tech equipment as they were leaving after a days work.

Unfortunately this is a sad state of affairs that is seen day in day out in this township where crime and disease are rife within the two million people who call that place home.

Maz at the start of one of her mountain races

We also had chance to return to run a follow up session (cafe) with the students at a school in Villiersdorp, unfortunately they were in the middle of their exams but we did gather 12 of them together to hear about how they are applying the leadership principles to their own lives and to those around them. Another Non Government Organisation (NGO) is creating a 'Youth Hub' and we do hope that some of those we have been training will become key members of that project which is designed to engage young people into becoming the leaders that their communities need.

Our day to day living looked a little different during this trip as we were able to rent some accommodation which meant that we didn't need to call upon some of our amazing friends who have hosted us in our recent trips. It was nice to have our 'own' space, although we did miss seeing our friends as much this time.

It had been our intention to undertake some longer trail runs which had become part of our last trip, but unfortunately I (Tim) had an issue with my right calf and couldn't race or even run some of the routes we had planned. Maz didn't have such issues and was able to take advantage of our location and had some lovely runs along the beach as well as competing in two races, both high up in the mountains above Stellenbosch, a town made famous by its wines. (Well done Maz!).

Full steam ahead

On our last weekend we were able to fulfil one of our dreams and ride the newly inaugurated steam train route from Cape Town, up and over the Sir Lowry's Pass, to Grabouw, a town that we spent near on seven years living in. It was a fantastic journey where we passed through some incredible scenery, including seeing our friend Emily in her home and also the staff and children at the Village of Hope who were waving from the gates of our old home and project, which was such a special moment.

Training at the train the trainer

One of the highlights of the trip was to be able to organise and host a week long 'Train the Trainer' where we were joined by Steve Miles and his wife Clare. Steve is the Emerging Leaders Head of Training and as we spent this week together with around 20 local people, some we knew and who were already known to ELSA and others from Khayelitsha and African Leadership, we trained them up in the content, delivery and flow of the Leadership for Life programme and we are happy to have extended our team who are now 'fully fledged' trainers of the programme. 

These people will now help us to extend the reach of the programme as we seek to call out that amazing potential which exists within each and every person in South Africa.

Towards the end of our time we spent an afternoon along the coast overlooking False Bay where we not only enjoyed the late summer sun but also the Humpback whales, dolphins and seals which performed just below where we were sitting.

An afternoon chilling overlooking False Bay

We returned to England leaving the ELSA team in South Africa in a much more positive place than when we arrived, this left us with a huge sense of achievement and as part of our support to the team there I, Tim, have taken up a one day a week position to help cement and develop the opportunities there with a plan to return later in 2018.

Crazy golf family day

Since returning to England we have been enjoying some amazing summer sunny weather and have been able to spend some time with our family and friends, highlights of which include a family day which was organised by my sister, Vicki, at a 'crazy golf' course in London. Not only was it good to catch up with all those who attended, including our middle son Josh, who we had to pull away from watching England play in the World Cup, but also to see our youngest son, Arron, who had flown over from Malta with his girlfriend to join us.

Clifton suspension bridge

Whilst time has flown and we are now packing for our next trip which starts next Tuesday, we have also enjoyed being in our newish caravan which is parked on the drive of our son's house in Bristol, this has meant that we have been able to spend time with him, his wife and our lovely grandchildren. It has also given us the opportunity to explore the countryside and footpaths around Shirehampton including a lovely day walk over the Avonmouth Bridge (M5 Motorway) along the banks of the Avon river and under Brunel's world famous suspension bridge at Clifton. 

Selfie

As we mentioned in the intro we fly to Bulawayo, via Johannesburg, next Tuesday, were we will be spending a week with a pastor contact, sharing the Leadership for Life programme with his connections in what is Zimbabwe's second city, before travelling overland to Mutare where we will meet up with our friends, Martin and Jackie, who have been working in that town on the eastern border with Mozambique, for the last few years. We do hope that they will gather a few groups of people together and we can inspire them to start living lives of purpose and passion.

Costa Del Aylesbury with Mum and Dad

We do hope that you will be able to follow that trip via Facebook or Instagram, and we might be able to provide an update on that four week trip, before we fly to Zambia where we will be working with some friends from the United States who have set up a project just north of Lusaka.