Gaming Zone and final farewell

Today was our last day out in the Newington community. After packing and bundling up our mattresses, linens and kitchenware (which will be donated to the local community), we said our goodbyes and headed back to Johannesburg.


We first visited the Hector Pieterson Museum in Soweto, the largest township in Johannesburg. Hector Pieterson was one the first students to be killed (at age 13) during the 1976 Student Uprising in Soweto, a student protest considered pivotal to the struggle against apartheid. The museum is located just two blocks from where he was killed. Our group quietly took in the exhibits, many of us reflecting on the contrast between South Africa under apartheid and the week we'd just spent in Newington, where we'd witnessed a democratic election open to all and people from many backgrounds working side by side to improve the community.

Our next stop was Gaming Zone, a small business in Soweto supported by the Branson School of Entrepreneurship. It's a video arcade franchise housed in repurposed shipping containers--a brilliant concept that offers a safe, fun place for kids to spend time afterschool.

The Branson School, founded with the support of Virgin Unite and CIDA University, provides training, mentoring and seed funding to young entrepreneurs, helping them launch successful businesses which will in turn create jobs and help boost South Africa's economy.

Gaming Zone co-founders Musa Maphongwane and Amos Mtsolongo arranged a video game tournament, pitting our group against their best players. It didn't take long to see who possessed the superior gaming skills (hint: not us).






Despite our wounded egos, it was quite the party scene, with a DJ attracting the whole neighbourhood to come and hang out.

Leonie and Mark interview our hosts:

Before we knew it, it was time to head to the airport and back to our homes and families. But first, one last report from our intrepid Jeremy Elder:

A massive thank you to everyone at Ulusaba for hosting us & showing us such a great time, and to Lindsay Hanekom of Pride 'n Purpose who enabled us to have the maximum possible impact during our week in Newington.

Many thanks also to Gaming Zone for throwing us such a memorable party!

We're also very grateful to Tom Oldham and Hope Newling who volunteered their time to take all the beautiful photos featured on this blog.

And last, but certainly not least, our sincere thanks to everyone who has generously donated to support the new eco-creche in Newington. Along with Ulusaba guests and staff, we managed to raise more than £13K which will make a lasting difference to the lives of many children in the community.

That's all for now! If you would like more information on how you can get involved, please visit http://www.virginunite.com/ and http://www.ulusaba.virgin.com/ . Until next year!

Day 4: Time for a party

Today we returned to the creche for our last day of work there, getting as much ready as possible before the community celebration. There was a lot to do!


The soil for our veggie patch was looking amazing thanks to the muscle power and dedication of the team.


Local partner Food and Trees for Africa led a tree and veggie patch planting workshop thanks to a generous donation from Ashurst law firm in London.
This South African social enterprise is focused on sustainable water and soil use and management, with a strong focus on environmental and global warming education. It was a brilliant session led by Daniel, the organisation's senior project manager, who was a real man of the earth. Local families came along to help us plant. They received training on organic permaculture gardening as well as some seedlings to take home to their own gardens.

Dayna finds out more:

The jungle gym, which we'd worked so hard on, was also nearly complete:

Before we knew it, the community celebration was underway. Children from several local primary and secondary schools came to entertain us with traditional dancing and singing. But today was also a special day for Helen's son Samuel. He's turning six today and some of the local kids sent their birthday wishes:

It was an amazing celebration, with toys and balloons as well as some soccer jerseys which went down a storm. The big hit of the day was the jungle gym--even the Induna's grandson took an intrepid turn down the slide.

Though our work here is done, the project continues, with the eco-build scheduled for completion over the next few weeks, during which the finishing touches will be applied. We can't wait to see some photos of the first class to take advantage of this safe and fun new space.

Off to apply some aftersun and enjoy our last night at Ulusaba before (sadly) heading home tomorrow.

Day 3: all hands on deck

It was another busy day. We were up bright and early to get as much finished on the creche as possible before tomorrow's big opening celebration.

But first, this being Election Day,the South Africans among us had the opportunity to vote at the local voting station. The whole group came along to cheer on Lulu and Joni as they cast their ballots. The Induna also came along, donning a tie for the occasion. Have a listen to Lulu and Joni post-vote:



It was then back to the creche to get moving on the veggie patch, jungle gym, and our favourite, the ever present sandbags. We worked side by side with many local neighbours who generously pitched in to help. Even the Induna could be seen helping out.

Work continued on the veggie patch--today we were mixing in manure from the friendly neighbourhood cowpen (we figured they wouldn't miss it). Here Leonie, Dayna and Helen explain how to choose the best of the bunch:

We've got 6,000 seedlings on the way, as Toby and Edith explain:

Meanwhile, things were taking shape at the jungle gym. A group of rangers from Ulusaba came along for a large part of the day to assist.

Late in the afternoon, we realised that we were about to fill our very last sandbag, so we took a moment to mark the occasion:



We were all feeling pretty good about our progress on the creche, and all the new friends we had made in Newington. With a gift of fresh corn from a neighbour, we headed out for the day. As we cleaned up the site, we had a lesson from Eunice, one of the ladies working on the build, on how to carry water on our heads. Despite our best efforts, only a few of us managed to pull it off.

At day's end we were treated to an amazing game drive by some of the rangers at Ulusaba as a thank you for our work over the past few days. It was a first for many of us, spotting lion, elephant, rhino and hippos among other beautiful animals. Thank you, Ulusaba!

Off to bed and looking forward to another inspiring day tomorrow.

Day Two: the beat goes on

Day two began with a visit to the Bhubezi Community Healthcare Centre, a rural clinic established with support from Virgin Unite, Pride 'n Purpose and others. The clinic provides much needed primary healthcare and HIV/AIDS treatment in this area, which has high HIV infection rates and little access to medical treatment. It was inspiring to hear from some of the doctors and outreach workers, who are so passionate about their work despite the enormity of their task. The visit also helped us gain a better understanding of the challenges facing Newington and the surrounding communities who are working to reduce the rate of infections and ensure those living with the virus can receive the treatment and support they need.

Following our visit to the clinic we had the opportunity to visit the nearby Sizabantu bakery, a micro-enterprise that has received a start up loan and business planning advice from Pride 'n Purpose. The all women run bakery provides bread to local orphans and their delicious bread is also sold in local stores. It seems demand spiked the day of our visit, as we could not help buying up about a dozen loaves straight out of the oven!

It was then back to the creche where more sand was delivered for the sand bags and work began on the veggie patch and jungle gym.

The earth was rock hard, so we really had to put our backs into prepping the soil for the 6,000 seedlings that will be planted later this week. We certainly gained a new found respect for the local Newington farmers, who grow all of their food this way.

Assembling the jungle gym presented some special challenges, as the directions consisted of a photo of what the finished product should look like. Undaunted, Mark our former Army man and Heather, discovery previously untapped drilling talents, were on the case along with various others of our group.

Loads of neighbours joined in the work, including an industrious and ever increasing group of little boys with a boundless energy for transporting sand bags.

The Induna, who has donated the land for the creche and whose little grandson will be a pupil, stopped by with a gift of sugar cane for us to enjoy.

We worked furiously for the rest of the afternoon, with some of our group succumbing to exhaustion induced silliness:

By sunset the creche was in fine form, with several more walls in place.

We returned to Ulusaba for a pasta supper before collapsing into bed. Though we were all thoroughly exhausted, we felt great about our day's work, and warmly welcomed into the Newington community. More tomorrow!

Monday: Sandbagging 101

Up bright and early this morning and very excited for our first day in the Newington community. But first, some of our group spotted a giraffe family en route.

Newington Village is a small rural community of about 3,000 residents situated adjacent to the Sabi Sands reserve which is where Ulusaba is based.

The residents requested assistance from Pride ‘n Purpose to construct the creche and the local Induna (an elected elder leader) has kindly donated a parcel of his farm.

What a friendly smile!

It was all hands on deck as we realised there was much more to be done than we could have imagined. The crèche is being constructed using locally sourced, sustainable materials with the assistance of local labour.

Have a listen as Jeremy, Heather, Lulu, Helen and Mark describe a bit about the process of filling sand bags and then layering them like bricks to construct the crèche walls.

Later in the day, we were greeted warmly by the local Induna who not only gave us the land but a lovely pumpkin and some fresh lemons from his garden to have with our dinner. And there was no shortage of smiling little ones!

After a hard day’s work we had one more stop—a football match with the local club, Dumphries Arsenal FC. Mark explains:

The Ulusaba Invitational 11 consisted of the sportier amongst us joined by some Ulusaba staff ringers. A crowd soon formed to cheer on the players and help shoo the chickens, goats and multiple herds of cows off the pitch. By half time it was clear that the Dumphries team were a force to be reckoned with, having hardly broken a sweat in their sparkly new uniforms kindly donated by the Toronto Football Club courtesy of our fearless goalie Jeremy.

We think the score stood at 2-1 by match’s end but we cannot be 100% certain as by that time we were chatting away with the crowd who had spilled out of the nearby shabeen (aka pub) to join the fun.

A quick dinner tonight and we are off to bed exhausted but feeling very uplifted and ready for another great day tomorrow.

And lastbut not least a massive thank you to Tom Oldham and Hope Newling, our volunteer documetarians who have allowed us to share the fun with you all.

Good night!