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Hi everyone,
I've paid my deposit so I'm definitely going! My collection has taken off thanks to brill friends. I can't say thank you enough to Lesley for her fantastic donation, to Gaz and to all the 'Shetland Islanders' for theirs. Thank you, as well, to Shirley for organising and running the 'Pampered Chef' night which raised money for HSGA as well as Agape.
I can start to think seriously about how I want to spend the money. I had a lovely letter from Agape and they've already got some suggestions. I'm going to arrange a curry night in Meltham so I'll keep you informed about the date.
Love, Kate x

Hi everyone! Just when you thought it was safe to spend money on yourself......Kate wants it again! I just couldn't stop thinking about how the children said that the volunteers never return. I feel that if I go again I will know what to expect and whether I can make a real difference. It will be harder in some ways- understandably harder to raise money when people have already been generous, and harder to generate that same sense of venturing into the unknown. But.....I am determined and Agape has written a lovely letter to me saying how excited the children are about my return. I asked Pamela, the manageress, what the children need and she said that they would love to have somewhere to hang their clothes, particularly their school uniforms. So...maybe Ikea would like to donate some collapsible wardrobes!! I would really like to arrange some basic staff training at Agape regarding health and hygiene, nutrition etc. Not easy but I will discuss the idea with Pamela.

Hi folks. Yes..I'm back in England. It felt very strange going on holiday after Agape. At first I felt overwhelmed by how clean everything was and the lack of bugs. Then there was all the food. It should have felt wonderful but all I could think about was the children. Every time I saw a black child I was instantly back at Agape and wondering how they all were. I kept expecting children to rush up to me and fling their arms round me but of course they didn't. It took me a while to adjust. It was totally brilliant meeting up with my four friends from home for the holiday. I think they were embarrassed by my OTT welcome at the airport! We went to Aliwal Shoal, Mozambique, Hluhluwe Game Reserve, Sodwana Bay and finally Cape Town. It was a super holiday and I hope I didn't bore them to death with my stories of Agape. I'm already planning fund-raising for the school and hope to do some talks at Primary schools round here.

Oh dear, I don't know if I can write this. As well as the fact that I have forgotten my glasses, I've got such a big lump in my throat that I know tears are very close. The plans for the school extension are looking positive. So far they have a quote for about 11,000 pounds but they will get more quotes. All of us volunteers are going to have to do some serious fund-raising back at home. Maybe I could do some talks at schools or something. I've also bought some new mattreses, had some old ones recovered and got a load of spoons. They never have enough spoons and it's awful having to wait for a spoon while the others are eating. We also had 14 teenage girls over to our house for a sleep-over last night. We bought pizzas for them and they swam in the pool (which is actually reasonably clean at the moment). On Friday it was the turn of the creche children to swim but it was raining and quite cool (another thunder storm) and the pool is not heated.

Firstly, yes, Ellen, you are right, I should not have said 'worm-infested'. It certainly does not indicate that I feel badly about her, I probably cuddle and kiss her more than most of the others. She demands a lot of attention-and always gets it! It was wrong to word it that way I was just referring back to previous comments. When I offer piggie-backs, she is first in the queue and laughs a lot. It is good to see her happy even though her health and background are not good.
WE have been beset by plagues in our volunteer house. On MOnday it was flies. Suddenly the house was full of flies, truly full of them - you've never seen so many. Yuck. I sucked hundereds into the vacuum!! Then on tuesday, the flies had gone and the house was full of ants. We cannot find a reason.We've cleaned everywhere. Today seems ok so far, fingers crossed.

Three of the Dutch girls have gone to Cape Town so Lin and I had an adventurous weekend. On Saturday, early in the morning, we went to Shangweni Market. It was a fascinating mixture of food, clothes and crafts all very much for the locals, not tourists. The fruit was superb. Then we went on a walk that turned into a marathon hike. We walked for nearly 6hours!!!!! And all that in 35degrees. We explored the Krantzkloof Gorge and waterfalls. Reaching the biggest waterfall involved much scrambling over rocks, sliding on bottoms, wading across rivers, getting covered in spiders' webs and well and truly bitten by mozzies. But it was well worth it. the waterfall was spectacular. Yesterday we went to a place called PheZulu which definitely is for tourists but it was good. They have a working Zulu village, do dances, demonstrate cooking and explain their traditions. They also have some very big crocodiles (one was 105 yrs old) and snakes.

Sorry folks I've forgotten my glasses again so this will be full of mistakes. Just wanted to tell you about taking 20 2-4yr olds to the Animal Farmyard. Many of them have never been away from Agape before and even just the bus ride was excitement+++++. It was a really good place with plenty of goats, pigs, ducks, geese, sheep, cows and ponies. They watched a cow being milked and were given cup-fulls of warm milk staright from the cow!(Don't think THAT would be allowed in England!!)So good for the kids to have some fresh milk even if it wasn't homogenised pasteurised sterilised TB tested or anything else. They had pony rides and I thought they were going to die of excitement. Autistic Wandile (I know, he's 8 but he exists with the creche) loved it and "I Forgot" couldn't get over it. When he got back to Agape he kept chanting in Zulu that he had ridden a REAL horse, not a toy one. Today we took the 2 and 3 yr olds swimming.

I've managed to get the pics onto a stick so can put a few on. From left to right - that's nNana's first bubble-induced smile (she's in the paler dress), that's "Big Hair" in the middle, and worm-infested Upihwe on the right. Takes ages to download each pic so that's all I can do for now. xxxx

I thought the other was a big storm but last night was monumental. Floor (one of the Dutch volunteers) and I had said that we enjoyed the storms but this time we both ended up screaming and running for cover. The house shook, the thunder was deafening but we survived. I had a brill day with my friends from home on Sunday. We were really busy with the children yesterday and in the afternoon we put on a BBQ for the Agape staff. They loved it and ate industrial quantities of food!!! The children were hovering for all possible left-overs - human vacuums, picking up every scrap off the dusty floor. Today we were recovering from the storm.The torrential rain has left everything wet and muddy so the children were kept inside. One child coughed up a twelve inch roundworm and then another one. Gross!! Then another child had terrible diarrhoea. Nobody takes much notice, it's all part of 'normal' life. Thirty children packed into a small room making a lot of noise.

Hi folks. The perfect storm was not so perfect - the temperature is back to 38degrees. It's so humid :o(   Had a great day with the kids today. I'me so pleased cos my little treasure, nNana, smiled for the first time. I bought a tub of bubbles. They were all SO excited and nNana smiled and stretched her hand out. And later, I sang 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' with them, nNana sat totally passively, but when I finished she went through all the actions! She even swallowed some of her dinner today. Hooray!! She's about 2yrs old but so solemn and lifeless. My friend "I forgot" - Thembinqhosie, is really coming out of his shell and Lunghelo, (which means 'your choice') has started to copy English words. The older children are putting on a show of all their dancing and singing on Thursday. They are brill, so talented. Just wait till you see the VISA, world cup ad on TV and hear the singing in the background. Superb. Right I'll just put a few pics on.

Hi folks. This is a quickie as I'm going to meet up with some friends from home!! The weather got hotter and hotter and last night we had a 5hour thunder storm. It was magnificent, almost scary it was so loud. So..today is much better, nice and warm but fresher. I've been fretting over saying that the mother of the baby was callous. She may have been heartbroken or too ill to look after the child. Rape is so common here that there lots of unwanted babies. I had no right to say it was callous. Orphanages like Agape have many children who have been abandoned and I'm sure there are tragic stories behind them all.

Hi folks. It is SO hot. Nearly 40 degrees and we're wilting. However, time for an update and I'm going to try to add a pic or two. The footie match at the Stadium was AWESOME. It's where the World Cup Final will be and it's absolutely mind-blowing. They've been allowing local teams to play there to test the surface etc. It was brilliant and the kids were so excited. I went to the manger at half-time and told him about Agape and them singing for the sponsor's advert. I said how they love footie but have no decent football. Afetr much pleading he gave them a match ball. The boys were beside themselves with joy. Yesterday was "volunteers' day" and we meet up with volunteers from the other Be-More projects. It was a really interesting day from an orphanage within a township to a shelter for street kids. There was also "the Tree Clinic". Can you picture the most beautiful tree ever with a gnarled twirling trunk and huge spreading branches?

Hello again.Been so busy I haven't had chance to write but here we go.The weather continues to be stifling hot and obviously we've no such thing as air conditioning or even fans.We have the windows wide open at night so I'm covered in bug bites (not a pretty sight!)ON Saturday we had a day off and went to Durban. We were shown the townships and shelters. The "herb" market consists of stalls with smelly dead animals for weird purposes. On Sunday we watched Yookie (our house mate) taeching the kids to do contemporary dance. They also sang some of the songs from the We Are Together film. They were so good I cried.In the evening we took 25 children swimming. Health and Safety NOT a priority!! I shudder sometimes at the danger. Like when the boys decided to climb to the top of a huge tree overhanging the pool to look for berries.

Hi folks

Hi. I'm here at last. There was some sort of mix-up and no-one picked me up at the airport. Potential panic, but fortnately there was a couple tere with children ans they were from a different Children's Home. They were able to contact Agape. I stayed with this couple for the night. 22 children, several dogs, cats and parrots and lots of love all in one small house. I went to their pre-school with the children in the morning and played, read The Gruffalo and sang with them. Then, on to Agape. It's quite a long way up nto the Valley of a Thousand Hills. The rain had been falling ever since I arrived in SA. Last night the older children were practising singing. They are doing a recording for the Sponsors of the World Cup football. It's all being filmed. Their singing was absolute magic - I recognised several of the children from the We Are Together film. They are 7 years older now.