A while ago we received two cash donations. The first was from Ashlawn School to be spent at Ntabayengwe. The second was from a mystery source to be spent on something for either the school or the hospital. After much discussion Mary agreed that I could use all the money to fund a school trip.
For some time I had been keen on taking Grade 7 (the class I teach and also the oldest year group in the school) on an excursion to the beach. Most have never been, despite living only 60 kilometres away.
So began an investigation into the logistics. First I approached the nearby Sodwana Bay Nature Reserve to ask for free entrance into their park. Firing off a number of emails to locals I got lucky. Back came a reply from the resident conservation officer, promising me not only free entrance but also guided activities. Guhle Kakooloo (excellent). Step 1 complete.
Next, I began the process of gaining approval from the Principal, teachers and local educational chieftains. Having fabricated minutes for fictitious meetings and completed a thorough risk analysis, I submitted my paperwork for inspection. Verbal assent was granted on condition that nothing should go wrong. Step 2 complete.
Onto informing Grade 7. Cue joyous scenes and huge excitement as I distributed letters to be taken home and signed. All 24 letters were returned with signatures from home within a couple of days. Step 3 complete.
Finally, I sought out the most reasonable local taxi/minivan operator. Wary of striking an overly good deal and landing up with cow drawn carts, I may have overpaid. Nonetheless, with a week to go before B(each)-day, all was in place. For the next five days I rang the taxi company to remind them of my booking and the importance of arriving at our school by 0630 (60 minutes before actual departure time to give full allowance for ‘Ingwavuma time’).
As Friday drew close, I was not without reservations about Ntabayengwe’s first school trip. Would our taxis arrive, and at what time? How roadworthy would they be? Would the children enjoy/be able to follow the educational activities set up for the morning? Most importantly, could we get 24 children with no swimming experience, in and out of the Indian Ocean unharmed.
My concerns were slightly allayed by my success in persuading my wife to accompany me on the trip. Now I had a doctor and Baie D’Urfe Pool’s winner of the 1997 Life Guard of the Year Award (still seemingly my wife’s proudest moment).
The Thursday before the day of the trip, the Principal was in gloomy mood and using the language of his favourite Shakespearean doom mongers. My attempts to remind him that everyday life (especially for our local children) contains huge numbers of risks, only seemed to unnerve him more.
Arriving at the school at 0650 on Friday, I was greeted by a wondrous sight. Two taxis and 22 children. The two missing students were to be picked up from a bridge two miles up the road. Some of the children had managed to find other clothes to wear for the trip; about half could only wear school uniform. All looked deliriously happy.
I had identified two big risks for our excursion. The first was getting safely to and from our destination. Thankfully both of our taxis were very (by Ingwavuma standards) new and had seat belts. A complete novelty to the children (they rarely use transport of any kind and would never have been strapped in) Mary and I made sure all were fastened.
So, with trepidation, I gave the signal to the drivers to start the journey. Immediately, the music system was turned up to the max. And, despite being on a relatively smooth section of Ingwavuma road, after two minutes the vehicle was lurching up and down. Slightly puzzled, I turned round to see all of the children dancing wildly. Still within their seat belts they were jiving left, right, up and down. Faces were beaming. My attempts to tone down their bouncing failed completely and thus we hopped our way to the beach.
We had a brilliant morning with our educational supervisor picking up very weird organisms from the Sodwana rock pools (see our pictures of some of nature’s less attractive participants). By late morning, having eaten, our guide moved onto a talk about turtles. These come and nest on the beaches. Again, pictures are attached.
And then, the moment the kids had been waiting for – swim time. Setting up a 10x10 metre corridor with me at the front and Mary at the back we advanced into the sea. Again, the pictures tell the story. None were hurt, no lives were lost – though plenty of items of ‘swimming costume’ (pants and bra) regularly disappeared as the waves crashed. Fortunately, Zulus aren’t body shy.
And so, having safely negotiated the SA roads for a second time, we arrived back at the school. All happy and exhausted and very keen to go again next week.
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