yesterday we had an amazing afternoon when we took 50 of our most regular children on a special outing as a prize for their attendance at our sports based life skills and bible clubs.
we had hoped to take the children to the beach at gordon's bay but with high winds forecast we thought that rather than being sand blasted for 2 hours we would try to come up with another plan.
early in the morning i made a phone call to a guy who runs an outward bound style camp in the wonderful apple orchards around grabouw, and without hesitation he invited us to bring the children to the dam where they could swim and learn how to kayak.
what rikus, who runs company 'true north team building and adventures' didn't tell me was that he was already running a camp for some of the children who attend the applewood and Beaumont schools in elgin and somerset west....these children are mainly those from the richer end of our community who are on a week long summer camp.
the large majority of the children we work with in our communities are unable to swim and they were quite excited about going to the beach to chill but when they took a look at the dam they were very scared and didn't even want to get onto the kayaks!
however rikus got his team of 8 - 14 year olds to partner with 5 of our children and share the skills that they had learnt only the day before, it was so amazing to see the children working together, having fun and sharing their skills. ALL of our children managed to overcome their fear and enjoyed time on and in the water.
to me it showed what can be done when we all work together, the children that we work with are amongst the poorest children in south africa but if those who 'have' share the skills and opportunities with those less fortunate we can make a difference, and by working together these children made new friends and had a great time as well.
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