Mr Goodall and his boys off to a home visit

On a walk about town

Sunday best

Working hard on the edges

Sam in action

Men at work

Washing up

No time to play

Team work

In the market.

It was wonderful to see our students venture into the hubbub of the market in Kitwe. The sights and smells, the sounds and the sheer joy of being somewhere so different was great. Our students dealt with the unfamiliar notion of bartering in a way that would have any parent or teacher swell with pride. They conducted themselves superbly and even formed into groups to 'bulk buy' to get better deals! Clever stuff! Obviously I cannot possibly tell you what they bought because that would spoil the surprise wouldn't it?
On a personal note I am so impressed with the students' attitude in general that I can hardly put it into words. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am not easily impressed...but I am with this group of young people.
Mr Goodall

Lots of DEET, DOOM, little kids and more Nando's sauce!

With our optimistic bedroom team name of 'Max is going to get malaria' chosen, we went about fumigating our room with DEET and the heavy duty DOOM to sooth our minds of catching malaria.

Unpacking was a chore, but surprisingly  organised (don't worry mum, the clothes are still folded!)

It was very good to get a real meal into us, but what was even better was Cocker's story of the day. A new tradition that will always make us chuckle.

After a refreshing sleep and ye good old fry up we set off to Greater Joy. Before we could even get off the bus, Mr Goodall had already done his ice breaking activity, the same one he did to us in Year 6 on my induction, and were the kids fascinated by it!

Instantly we were swamped by students, but this was nothing compared to later when Patrick was leading a group of 50 kids armed with party blowers!

Starting off with teaching a group of grade 5s was different and then very interesting when Mr Cocker put me out our comfort zone by making me teach maths. Their level of maths was very good, which was good to see.

During break I believe we set a new world record for the biggest Hokey Cokey known to man. Nearly all the students in the school took part, in what was such an amazing sight.

Doing parachute activities with the little grade 2s was very different and the language barrier was harder to break. But the children enjoyed it, especially when the football went flying off and a dozen kids chased it.

Lunch time had a knackering start when Elise started off what would be 15 minutes of intense piggy backing by 4 of us! But it was worth it  to see the kids happy faces after.

To make the day even better our accommodation had Nando's sauce...happy Fraser!

Our first day at the school was very interesting and it was just amazing how the children loved you and clinged onto you and wouldn't leave.

Kicking back in Kitwe

We awoke this morning have gained a good nights sleep, a positive attitude and a will to live. A lavish breakfast was served at 7:15 sharp (much to Jodie and Ms. Bentley's surprise) and departed for the school at  8:15. One arrival at around 8:30 we were greeted by a sea of friendly and exited faces who possessed a cute tactility that we experienced throughout the day as children hung for our arms and clutched our hands.

The first session I took part in at Greater Joy was an arts and crafts lesson led by Ms. Wright which involved helping to educate students about shapes and creating mice from cut out shapes. The session went well with the children enjoying themselves. At this point we were not aware of the monster we had created by introducing glitter to the students of Greater Joy. I, from this point moved into a sports session with Mr. Goodall which involved stumps (a game involving lots of spinning and dizziness) followed by a highly competitive game of rounders to top it off. It was the lunch that followed that I noticed that almost every child's face was covered in glitter they had managed to pocket from the arts and crafts. After lunch I helped teach maths with Mr. Cocker before moving out onto the field with some of the remaining children to play a huge game of duck duck goose.

All in all my first full day in Zambia was an unbridled success and I am looking forward to the rest of the trip.

Jack

Glitter, glitter and more glitter!!

Having slept through 3 alarms (Jess's, Paige's and mine), we all eventually awoke at 7am and dashed around to be ready in time for breakfast. A lavish breakfast was served at 7:15am sharp, much to everyone's surprise what with the 'African' time and all. We then left for Greater Joy School at 8am. Most of us were prepared to see a school that was in a terrible state, with very shy kids, however to see it completely ready to be painted by us and kids who just swarmed around all of us as soon as we got off the bus, was very shocking! Mr Goodall broke all the tension straight away by engaging them in a little game, Pat then took initiative and got all the kids running after him. The tension between us and them lasted all of 2 seconds!

Jack, Pat, Jess and I were in Miss Wright's arts & crafts group, so had the advantage to realise straight away how much they loved all the resources that Sarah had brought along with her (30+Kg  :O). It was when the second group came in that Sarah started to think again about bringing the glitter out! We had kids plastering themselves with glitter, simply as it was something they had not yet come across. The glitter just took control of all Arts & Crafts sessions from then on. I wonder what the parents must have thought to see their kids come home with glitter all over them. 

Larry's first blog

DEET.

Hi everyone everythings all good here, the weather is beautiful; 27 degrees is a welcome gift when you have just been on a crowded plane for 11 hours.

 The flight in general was not to bad, i managed to get 3 about three hours sleep. The BA breakfast gave me some serious abdominal agony right before the 7 hour bus ride which was not to good but with tender loving medication and some great chips at the half way stop i was cured. 

The town house beds were a welcome sight when we arrived and a good 9 hour sleep followed. 

Today no one hesitated to get involved with the kids and it was a brilliant experience that i will never forget. The best parts of the day was about 200 kids chasing us around the grounds and doing all the activities we take for granted - with all the kids. Dont worry we took plenty of photos so you will get to see what i mean 

All in all it was a really good day that i wont ever forget

 

Decorating tomorrow!

Glittergate!!

Glittergate!

I shouldn't of said that...

Little Zzz's since the killer journey to Zambia. Things I discovered/highlights on my journey here and our stay: Jack eats slow, really slow. Laurence falls asleep in strange positions. Mr. Cocker really does have a dark side. Fraser has the strangest yet funniest laugh I've ever heard. Don't ever say "I've gotta' blow this up on the plane" when referring to a pillow in airport security. And much more. The first day at the school was nothing short of amazing, I now know what being a celebrity is like. My favourite moments: Patrick leading the whole school in an onwards charge around the building, The children going bat-*bleep*-crazy over glitter and googily eyes. Me getting bundled to the ground by 20+ children simple because they just love us so much. Finally getting the gossip from teachers has been nothing short of hilarious. On top of all that its only day 2. 

-Max F

Anarchy in Africa!

Great start to the trip today with our first visit to the school. Scenes resembling Obama leaving the White House occurred as we approached the children. Swarms of excited children charged towards us and before we knew it we had two on each limb! The students are great and we had lots of fun playing football, rounders and the occasional "everyone chase Sam" as Sam stood, completely baffled, as 200 screaming children started running towards him. I'll never forget his face.

Highlight of the day: seeing the surprise and pure fascination on the faces of the children when presented with glue and glitter. It makes you realise how much we have.

Challenge: Not being able to give presents to individual students was hard, especially when they asked for something to remember us by.

I have learnt that Fraser is more excited by Nando's sauce than anything and even Nando's sauce can't tempt Jack to eat a whole portion of food.

We're all alive anyway and I'll leave you with the quote of the day from Max "I could have Mr. Cocker next to my bed to send me to sleep"

Jess

A great first day!

So proud of the pupils today! Won't steal their thunder as they will blog later but very proud of them all!!

Travelling, Termites and Torment

Those three words pretty much sum up the first day. 24 Hours of non stop travelling is taking its toll on us now, giving Mr Cocker plenty of chances to take photos of us sleeping and then to torment us with them! Let the games begin!

The flight was bearable, however with only 3 hours sleep I was not happy...until breakfast was served at 4am!

The minibus ride is not that of a comfortable one, but we are all just intrigued by the different environments we are travelling through as it is such an eye opening experience. Plus I have never seen such bug termite mounds! 

Our midway stop could not have been more welcomed though! The chance to stretch and eat was jumped upon, and oh were the chips amazing! To add the cherry on top they had Nando's sauce!!!

The last part of the journey has been less comfortable: sweltering sun, bumpy roads and sheer tiredness are eating away at me...but no bugs yet :)

Can't wait to see what the rest of the trip bares.

Fraser

We have arrived!

We are all safely at the guest house. Time for a showered and a rest before dinner.

The students will upload their posts later this evening.

Heathrow

And we are off!

The journey begins as we head for the M25. Lots of trusting and emotional parents left behind at the school. Remember no news is good news.

Hey, 9 days to go!  Much to do but the excitment is mounting for Team Zambia!

The start of the journey

There are only three and a half weeks before students and staff from Roding Valley High School travel to Kitwe in Zambia to visit the Greater Joy School as part of our 'Beyond Roding Valley' project with charity Beyond Ourselves.  We will be working with the charity in the school both in educational activities and working on improving the school building.

The students have been working hard fund raising for our visit which has been a huge achievement considering they are revising for and sitting their GCSE exams as I type.

This blog will allow you to track our progress over the coming weeks and see how our journey progresses.

Find out more about Beyond Ourselves