South Africa Trip - May 2008
AFRICA RETURN
Geneva Saint-Amour 05/18/08
This was one smelly crew!! They all did a great job taking that "last picture" considering how tired of traveling they were and still had a few hours to go to reach their own beds!
NOTE FROM SOUTH AFRICA: SEE YOU SOON!
Sidney Shepherd 05/15/08
From: Sidney Shepherd
Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2008 7:37 AM
Hello Again! This will be my last email! Tomorrow is our last day here and then we are on flights for the next 26+ hours. Today was a great down day for everyone. We went rock climbing and I have to say Silver stole the show! He was incredibly agile and just flew up the rocks. Everyone had fun and was brave to try harder and harder climbs. A few of the students did not go. They were under the weather and being nursed back to health by Nancy. Tim, Will, Tanner, River, and Annie fell within this group. But Nancy worked her magic, beef bullion, jello, ginger ale, and antibiotics! Hopefully all will be great by the time we reach home.
The trip has been everything we hoped for and more. Not one serious incident or complication. Everything has fallen into place and we all have pictures of cool animals, high school students from other schools, and lots of smiling faces. The kids have gotten along very well, and we even received a compliment at one of our stays at a backpacking hostel that they have never served teenagers so polite, quiet, and clean before. We are all welcome back any time! They are hard at work creating lesson plans and documentary films this evening. Initial prevue of a few minutes comes this evening. Thanks for all the hard work and support that has made this possible! Enjoy the last pic!
Please pass along to all interested parties! Totsiens! ('til we see again)
Sidney
MAY 05, 2008
Goeidag (Hello in Afrikaans) Everyone!
Here we are in Waterval Boven, South Africa! We are northeast of J'Burg and doing great. I wish I could share stories from every single student, but I cannot. I am on a time limit here.
Yesterday, with the help of Gustav, owner the hostel we are staying at, we hiked down to beautiful waterfalls, thus the name of the town and got some great pictures.
Then we headed into the township, where most the black South Africans live. This is the remnant of apartheid. While there we ate a delicious meal of chicken and pops and sauce.
Today we went back and did a service project with the students. We brought them art supplies for an art contest and led them in a workshop on cleaning their environment. Finally, all 115 of us went out and cleaned in the township. We gathered 35 bags of trash together.
This afternoon we are heading to play soccer. Between all this the students are working on their documentaries and lesson plans on South Africa. They are busy and tired, but having a great time. We leave Waterval Boven tomorrow and head to the Kruger National Park for wildlife and then onto Tzaneen to see some agriculture and the AIDS clinic. I will keep in touch as possible.
Prescott Sunup Rotary Donates $2000 to Northpoint Students for South Africa Trip
At their breakfast meeting on March 26th, the Prescott Sunup Rotary Club presented a check for $2,000 to students from Northpoint Expeditionary Learning Academy. The scholarship funds from the Sunup Rotary Foundation are to help the Northpoint students with their upcoming trip to South Africa. Students from Northpoint are working to raise over $40,000 to cover the expenses for a dozen students and their teachers to travel to South Africa on an academic and service school trip in May of this year.
The students will be studying the effects of apartheid, aspects of ecotourism, and the HIV/AIDS plight, along with providing service at schools and an orphanage. The group continues to look for sponsors and would love to share their documentary upon return. Please contact Northpoint Expeditionary Learning Academy at 717-3272 for more information.
In the photograph, Sunup Rotary President John Stewart presents the check to students Jordan Shepherd and Annalise Halldorson while Dave DenHartog of Expeditionary Learning Schools and Norm Samuelson, Youth Service Director for Sunup Rotary, look on.