King Edward VI: what an amazing week!

You are probably waiting in anticipation to read more about the incredible week that our visitors from KES had on Goedgedacht farm. The good news is that you don’t need to wait any longer…here it is! The rest of the week was rather dull for the visitors because the weather was tipical Western Cape winter and all they could do was hide from it…..JUST KIDDING!!! Those of you who have been to Goedgedacht probably went WHAT!!! NOT POSSIBLE!!! – you are right. There is always something to do for everyone on Goedgedacht farm whether it is cold, raining or 45 degrees celcius. 

 

Our visitors were divided into two groups for most of the week. In the mornings one group assisted the teachers in our baby unit and pre-school with various activities such as story telling, singing,

“our children all excited to hear the story of the gingerbread man”

 drawing pictures, playing, etc.  The whole group performed a play called Noah to the little ones which they enjoyed very much. I am sure that they will never forget this play because as it was performed to them the rain was

“little ones watching the play called Noah”

absolutely pouring outside the pre-school building – what perfect timing that was! 

 The second group assisted our Path out of Poverty staff members with the renovation of our 9th safe house for orphans and vulnerable on farms in the Riebeeksrivier Valley. They worked very

    

setting up a safe house for children on farms

hard to clean the inside and outside of the house as well as clearing the area around it so that a vegetable garden can be set up next to it. 

The afternoons were spent in the after school support programme that aims to provide educational support to primary and high school children living on farms. The KES students brought with them paint brushes and paint, a parachute, T-shirts and fabric dye, stationery and beads to make friendship braceletts. Our children, staff and the students from KES enjoyed making friendship braceletts for each other, learning various educational games while using the parachute and getting T-shirts dyed as well their faces painted. It was hard not to get involved in the exciting buzz in the afternoons.

 

     

    

“the afternoon programmes”  

The visit was not yet over. Those of you who have been to Goedgedacht farm before will agree with me when I say that after talking to Peter Templeton, our Co-ordinator’s, for a few minutes you walk away feeling very inspired and obligated to do everything in your power to protect the future which is OUR CHILDREN AND THE EARTH. The group from KES felt like this after an hour long tour with Peter showing them some of our climate change initiatives such as wonderbags, the biodigester and our climate change path. Below are some pictures to give you a glimpse of this experience.

         

This brings us to the end of a very exciting week with the visitors from King Edward VI School in Southampton, UK. A special thank you to Helen Ellerby who have made this visit possible for the second year in a row. We have enjoyed your visit with Caz and the 16 very talented students and can’t wait for your next visit. Thank you for reading our blog and please send us your comments. Till next time…good bye.