Our trip is coming to an end.  We are sad to leave this amazing continent.  As a team, we have been through many experiences that have impacted our lives.  From day one of the LASA journey, we couldn’t believe this trip was actually happening and we want to again express our gratefulness to our school and sponsor, Opportunities for Learning Public Charter School. 

Immediately after taking our first step off of the plane in Durban, we quickly realized how different the atmosphere is here in South Africa. When we reached Bottlebrush we were shocked to see how people can live in such impoverished conditions. We realized how grateful we are and we were reminded to appreciate the little things we have back home. Once we were more aware of the conditions of the community in which we were working, everyone was motivated to get to work immediately.

We were all struck by the optimism of the children. Whether they were at school or in the Bottlebrush community, the children were always singing and laughing.  Being able to witness their performances gave us the inspiration to do more renovations than we had initially planned. After three days of intense work, we completed the renovation of the daycare as the sun was setting. We had filled in the holes and repainted the crumbling walls in a bright gold color. We resurfaced the teacher’s rusty furniture and painted it a brilliant green color. We hung bright Chinese paper lanterns from the rafters. We also installed a chalkboard on an entire wall to give the kids a surface to draw on and we painted a mural on another wall to brighten the room. We left the teachers with new educational toys to share with their students. We mopped the floors, scrubbed the tables and chairs, and threw out garbage. Tomorrow we will return to the site to visit the daycare and see the children inside their “new” school for the first time.

We also visited the Brooklyn Heights Primary School for three days of our trip. This school serves many of the children from the Bottlebrush Community. We were only planning on being there to teach a lesson on “How to Define and Achieve your Goals”, however we were also called in to substitute when some of the staff members were on strike. We found out the morning that our lesson was scheduled that we would have to be with the students for the day. Luckily, Ms. Collette led a dance workshop that entertained and taught the kids in the courtyard of the school. We were her back-up dancers and helped get the kids involved in the session. While at the school we were struck by how strict and orderly the expectations of the students were in the classroom, which starkly contrasted with the chaotic and unstructured reality the children seem to live in at the Bottlebrush settlement.

We were also called on to present at the Queensburgh High School in the neighborhood where we stayed. At Queensburgh we presented a motivational power point aimed at trying to get the students to see the big picture and how every day can affect their future. When we finished our presentation we weren’t quite sure if the students were reacting positively out of respect, but then many of the students came up to us to ask questions. It made us realize that our message resonated with them. All students benefit from being encouraged to follow their dreams.

While we spent many days doing service work in the different communities, we were also able to enjoy the beauty of South Africa. We visited different wildlife reserves and were able to see animals we thought we would only see in a zoo: lions, giraffes, zebras, elephants, rhinos, crocodiles, springbok, vultures, hippos, wildebeests, warthogs, and water buffalos.  While getting around we were able to experience the local commerce and culture. We noticed that all the curio shops had a strong artisan feel. Additionally, one of the memories LASA considered truly amazing was taking a refreshing dip in the Indian Ocean.

                Participating in this service project has been such an honor for every single one of us. It has been a life-changing experience and traveling has opened our eyes to appreciate the more meaningful aspects of life. We are all committed to living more purposeful lives with a deeper sense of gratitude for the opportunities we have. Thank you to everyone who made this trip possible.

On Saturday, the team began the day a little later, on account of arriving home late from Friday’s long, adventurous day. Everyone had yet another delicious breakfast, followed by dancing the “Wobble.” Shortly after, we all loaded up into the van and headed out to the Victoria Street Market.

Once at the market, the team split into groups in order to do some shopping. The Victoria St. Market was full of clothing and traditional cultural South African souvenirs. There was a massive variety of items and everyone got huge deals by bargaining with the shop clerks. After buying all that we could get our hands on, we made our way to get lunch.

We had an amazing lunch at Nandos, a restaurant serving a variety of chicken. Nandos was at the Pavillion Mall, located in Downtown Durban. On account of taking unauthorized pictures at the mall, the team was asked to leave. From here, we paid a visit to the Natal Lion Reserve.

Although the Reserve was small, it contained a pride of lions. We became extremely close to the lions and captured breath-taking photos! While capturing picture-perfect moments, the team was able to witness the lions sharing their love and affection with one another. After a great while of lion watching, we made our way to South Beach. Although it was not ideal beach weather, the team took a dip in the clear-watered ocean. We ended the beach visit with a hot cup of coffee on the pier. From swimming to taking pictures, everyone had a blast!

We ended the day with a flawless BBQ- compliments of our host family. Chicken, lamb-chops, pork, and steak were on the menu along with green, tomato, and potato salads on the side. Overall, today was very exciting and fun-filled.

Yesterday the team began the day bright and early for our planned safari. The drive to the safari was two and a half hours. We drove by beautiful scenery and also passed by some fires and run down schools. Once we reached our destination, Hluhluwe Umfozoli Park, we made a quick restroom and lunch stop. There was a neat monument in tribute to the men and women who died in defense of nature conservation in Kwazulu-Natal. The monument contained the cardinal doctrines of the main religions of the world.

As we began to drive into the park the first thing we saw was a springbok. The springbok is an animal that has elegant horns and white on it's side with a black stripe. As we kept driving we also spotted some peaceful zebras eating grass in the fields. As we kept driving we ran into an elephant in the middle of the road! Luckily the elephant was not aggressive! We got very lucky along our way and spotted various different kinds of animals among which were water buffaloes, reedboks, rhinos, wart hogs, and giraffes. As we exited the Hluhluwe iMfolozi Park we saw a group orangutan walking around near the entry/exit gate. One orangutan had a baby on it's back. The entire trip was exciting and it was amazing to see the wildlife roaming freely in their natural environments.

Once we left the safari park we had to drive another long hour to get to St. Lucia where we had reservations to take a boat ride in the estuary. To get to the small town of St. Lucia we had to drive over a bridge which is the only entry way into the town. The population there is only six hundred people! Once we arrived we boarded the boat right away. The captain of the boat was a female as was the rest of her crew. She took pride in letting all of the passengers know that we were in good hands with an all female crew. The captain was very informative and explained a great deal about the animals and their habitats as well as some of the history of St. Lucia. On our boat ride we were able to see pods of hippos in the water. The hippos were huge and appeared very lazy as they sunbathed and napped. We also were able to see the Kingfisher Eagle, crocodiles, and some brids specific to the region.

While enjoying the peaceful cruise on the beautiful estuary, one of our chaperones was enjoying a nice, cold can of Diet Coke. With the excitement of spotting a crocodile hanging out with the hippos, Greg leaped up to get a photo and accidentally knocked his empty coke can into the estuary. Greg was full of shame and guilt because he littered in the pristine environment.

Our last stop before arriving home was a visit to Richards Bay to walk along the beach and up the pier. It was beautiful to do this at night time and amazing to see the sky filled with stars. It resembled an ocean with floating candles and it was the icing on the cake of our fun filled day. We got home around midnight which might be our latest return time so far. In it's entirety the day was very long and all the LASA team members got home very tired, yet excited about the day's adventures.

On Thursday,  breakfast was scheduled to start earlier at 7:00 a.m. (local time) so that we could be at Queensburgh High School by 8:00 a.m.  We were still having breakfast at 7:45; therefore we were running ten minutes late.  We called in to notify the school that we would be a little late. When we arrived at Queensburgh we were greeted by the deputy principal Mr. K .

 LASA was introduced by Pastor Dennis John. Mrs Collette then introduced all of the LASA team members. We then began our power point that was prepared by the staff of LASA. Abel and Lucia, two of the LASA team members, presented two skits about negative and positive peer pressure. Collette and Molly then continued with the presentation that covered: education, peer pressure, the importance of goal setting, and visualizing your future success in order to make your dreams a reality.  Our team member Mishael, who is originally from South Africa, then addressed the students about his life story, the obstacles he overcame and how the choices he made led to his current status (2 months away from being a high school graduate) and the importance of fighting past challenges, and staying in school in order to reach your goals.

We then were able to speak and get personal with the students. They asked us questions about our school and why we came to Durban, South Africa. We took pictures with many of the students and made lots of memories. We truly hope to maintain those connections.

Once we finished up at Queensburhg, we left to the hardware store to get the last few items needed to complete the renovations at the Bottlebrush daycare center. Today was to be our final day of renovation. At the daycare we all went straight to work on our assignments and finishing touches.  During that time the older children were coming back from school.  As usual they were very playful and excited as we worked.  We had to ask them to stay away because there was wet paint all over and they were getting messy.   Multiple times we had to clean them off. They wanted to see what was happening and why we were in their space.  At one point in the evening, it appeared that the children began to practice protesting outside the daycare center. We were amazed to see they were play protesting at such a young age. It could be because the day before these young children witnessed their parents protesting for unfair housing issues; they’re prepaying for electricity and not receiving services, another reason the living condition are so overwhelming to observe.  With the amazement of all the activity around us, we were rushing to finish before sundown because there is no electricity at the daycare.  We really had to pull together and stay on task. As night was falling, there was still painting to complete, decorations to be hung and the overall cleaning up and disposing of all the materials we used over the past few days.

The great news is we were able to complete the renovations. Our hope is that the new look will bring a smile to the children and the staff at the daycare.  We would like this to be the first phase of LASA’s contribution to renovating portions of the Bottlebrush. There is so much left to be done…

LASA had a very busy day today! It all began with the norm; eggs and bacon for breakfast. Students followed up with their duty of washing the dishes and cleaning up. Once that had been completed, the team received news that teachers were out sick. A possible teacher strike was occurring and 5 Brooklyn Heights teachers hadn't shown up for work. Our schedule for the day was to return to the school in order to follow up with the "Dream" activity. On account of the great amount of absent teachers, LASA was called in to take over each classroom.

Before heading over to Brooklyn Heights Primary School, we were joined by a group of youth with a mission (Y.W.A.M) students. With a total of seventeen group members, we divided into seven different groups covering all seven classrooms, grades 2 through 7. The second grade students behaved well with minor incidents. They had workbooks that had been provided by the school but obtained no stationary tools used for writing. The fourth grade students were out of control and lacked discipline. They were constantly talking and fighting in class. On top of that, they contained absolutely no stationary. Therefore, it was challenging for them to even work. On the other hand, the seventh grade class was well behaved, well mannered, cooperative, and for the most part contained the necessary materials needed for learning.

At 11:45 (local time), LASA had prepped and planned out a dance session with the students as a farewell gift to the students of Brooklyn Heights Primary School. Collete got on stage and taught all the participating students, as well as the two teams, some dance moves and provided music. Everyone danced for about an hour and a half. At the end, the students were invited to the stage to teach us some moves. Unfortunately, the sound system shut down and wasn't turning back on. Because of this, the students walked off the stage booing. They really wanted to dance for us. All we could do was pack up and head out for lunch. Once we finished up our meals, everyone headed over to the Daycare in Bottlebrush in order to continue the renovation.

When we arrived at the daycare, meals were being handed out to the Bottlebrush children. The meals were being distributed by the Y.W.A.M. students. Once they finished, the rejoined us and helped out with painting, and patching holes in the daycare. With a combination of hard work and playing with the children, time flew fast. Around 4:30 (local time) the Y.W.A.M. parted, heading back to the Dignity Center in which they are staying. Shortly after, we met Grace who is in charge of the center. The Dignity Center educates pregnant teens in sex education, which includes providing services for pregnant and parenting teens and HIV/AIDS awareness. LASA was given the opportunity to interview Grace. She imparted valuable information about the social challenges that young girls face in dealing with the wide acceptance of teen pregnancy throughout Durban. Hearing the information was startling and disheartening.

Ending around 5 (local time), the team packed up and headed back to the GNC. After washing up, everyone enjoyed a well prepared dinner and desert. We finished the day off with a warm cup of tea and reflections.

Bright and early the LASA team started the day as usual with a hardy breakfast.  Afterwards, we prepped a lesson plan for the students we had met at Brooklyn Heights. Our lesson included goal setting, peer pressure, and hygiene. 

Once we were set, we decided to go to Durban China City, an indoor swap meet to buy toys, games, and decorations for the renovation of the daycare center.  After we purchased all the supplies, we went to Brooklyn Heights to present our lesson plans to the classes we met yesterday.

Once we arrived at the school, the group divided into two groups of three. Each group went into two separate seventh grade classrooms with students from ages 12-14. We started off with an “ice breaker”  where we asked the students questions about their likes and interests. Once all were a little more comfortable and adjusted, we began talking about setting goals and the steps to accomplishing those goals. First our group members shared personal experiences and we spoke on situations where peer pressure could have affected our current status. We explained both negative and positive forms of peer pressure and talked about the outcomes of giving into peer pressure. After stating the importance of making the right decisions in life, we brought up hygiene as both a short-term and long-term goal. Some of the LASA members took part in skits for the kids and tried teaching them some dance moves. By the end of our stay both classrooms had children dancing and singing.

We ate lunch at Brooklyn Heights, courtesy of the staff. While finishing up we received the news that fair housing protests were being held at the hall where the daycare center is located in Bottlebrush. Due to this event the director of the daycare center was concerned for our safety, so we will return tomorrow to finish the work we began yesterday. We used our free time to begin planning for tomorrows lessons for the Brooklyn Heights School.

Based on everything that happened during our day, we felt accomplished that we were able to encourage the students to pursue their dreams, but at the same time disappointed that we weren’t able to work on the renovation of the daycare center.

Today started with a few of the group members going for an early jog around the neighborhood. Once they returned from their jog, everyone was ready for the day. We had a debrief session with Pastor Dennis John during breakfast. During the debrief, Pastor Dennis John went over important information about the history of Bottlebrush, relevant political issues in South Africa, and what to expect when arriving at the site.  

Our first stop at Bottlebrush was at the daycare center where we met sixteen children ranging from ages 4-7. Upon arriving we received shy responses from the children, but after a few minutes of interaction we felt the warm-hearted smiles from the kids. At the daycare we looked around and noticed the limitations of the facility in comparison to well-equipped kindergarten classrooms in the U.S. We knew we were going to renovate the facility, but after getting a true picture of the deteriorating conditions we decided to make this project our priority for the first two days. We want to help create a happier environment for learning.   

The next stop for the group was visiting Brooklyn Heights Primary School. We met with the deputy principal, Mr. K. Govender. He then debriefed us about the school. We learned that there are 792 students in grades R (readiness) to 7^th grade. From grades 3 to 7 there is an average of forty to forty five students in a classroom. There are only two computers in the school, which are only in staff offices. We took a small tour of the school. The bathrooms have barred gates with a few humble stalls. The school has an overview of shacks in the Bottlebrush settlement. After the tour, we split into two groups and visited seventh grade classrooms and introduced ourselves to the students.

After finishing up at Brooklyn Heights, we left to purchase painting supplies.

Back at the daycare we prepared the facility to begin our process of renovation. While preparing the walls for painting, the children of Bottlebrush hung out with playful curiosity and sang beautiful songs. We continued our painting and towards the end of our day a bunch of us went out to jump rope with the kids.   

Overall, the day was an eye opener for the entire group. We went into the day thinking we were going to save the world by spending a few days at the daycare but quickly realized the project is much greater!  We are providing a small piece of comfort with the improvements to the facility and we must continue to work to develop a long-term plan to support the settlement.


Looking forward to tomorrow…

We started off day three here in Durban, South Africa with a delicious breakfast.  Shortly after, the team quickly helped setup for the church service that was going to be held at the Good News Centre.  The service was optional for the team, but some of the members decided to support the church by attending. They introduced the group and explained to the congregation that we were from Opportunities for Learning Public Charter Schools and that we were visiting for our a service-learning project.

Once the service came to an end, everyone congregated with family and members of the church; we played and got to meet with some of the children from the Bottlebrush community. We found out that it was one of the children’s birthday; Sandile, turned 13 today so we presented her with a gift as well.

 Later on in the day, the team explored The Gateway Mall spending time converting U.S. dollars to Rand so we could have a little fun time, snacking, go-kart racing, and rock-wall climbing, etc., before getting to work tomorrow. After a few hours of fun, the squad gathered up and headed on over to Pastor Dennis’ longtime friends house where they had prepared a grand meal. We ate some Italian spaghetti, Indian butter chicken curry, rice, salad, and garlic bread.

After consuming all that delicious food, the team mingled with the family getting to hear and watch their children sing and dance for us upon returning to the Good News Centre.

All in all it was a calm day for us to recuperate from jet leg and prep us for the long days ahead.  

The day of our departure began really early in Encino, CA. We met up as a group at 4:30 a.m. We said our good-byes and left for LAX.

Our flight to Dubai was 16 hours long! Our group entertained ourselves by playing games, watching movies, and listening to music. When we arrived in Dubai we checked into our hotel which was complimentary because we flew with Emirates.

Then we took a Sun Tour of Dubai where we a saw couple of mosques and the award-winning seven-star Burj Al Arab hotel. We also stopped by the beach of the Arabian or Persian Gulf and we stepped into the water for a bit. The water was warm and the weather was very hot and humid. Then we drove through an underwater tunnel to get to the five-star hotel complex Atlantis. It was interesting to learn that the reason the tunnel had been built underwater was so that the palm tree shape of the man-made Palm Islands would be preserved. We also experienced a lovely fountain show at the Dubai Mall near the Burj Khalifa.

 Next we visited the famous Gold Souk, or market, located in the older part of Dubai. The souk was a series of gold shops and alley ways with vendors of different goods. Many of the vendors had on traditional clothing and were very persistent.  The boys had a neat experience dressing up in traditional Emirates clothing.

 Last but not least we went back to the Dubai Mall to tour the observation deck of the Burj Khalifa, which is the tallest building in the world. We went up to the observation deck in the fastest elevator in the world which reaches the 124^th floor in 60 seconds. The view from the top was incredible!

Today we flew 8 hours to Durban, S. Africa. We received a warm welcome from the Good News Center. We had a great dinner together and now we are unwinding and getting ready to begin our service project work. And just as I finished this post a friendly gecko crawled on my hand.