Bafana Bafana!

Team photo at Montecasino.

Friday 16^th:

Another great day at Ikemeleng! We spent a calmer morning preparing for an afternoon of arts and craft and for the assembly at Alex High that we would be giving on Monday. We are still amazed at how loving and enthusiastic the children are, and how genuinely happy they are to see us.

We spent the evening at Monte Casino (don’t worry mums, we weren’t actually gambling) which is a hugely realistic indoor Italian themed village, with lots of restaurants and shops. We spent a lot of our time enjoying Steers burgers and chips (with Katie’s favorite seasoning). We also managed to “stumble” across the shop ‘Sweets From Heaven’ and by chance bought a few supplies.

Saturday 17^th:

Waking up at 5:55 would usually be an unpleasant experience, however since we were ready for ran action packed day at the Nelson Mandela tribute concert in the FNB stadium, we woke up full of excitement (even if we were abit tired). 

The Redland Barmy Army!

The first football match was the South African master VS the Italian legends. There weren’t many people in the stadium at this point but we still enjoyed blowing our vuvuzelas, and getting behind the local team. Sadly the South African team lost, though everyone was still hyped up for the games to come. The next match was again football and was Bafana Bafana VS barkina faso. The atomosphere was incredible and we loved painting our faces (which were shown on the screen many times) with the South African flag. The final score was 2-0 to Bafana Bafana. We loved seeing how happy Khe Khe and Jono were (volunteers at Ikemeleng who we invited along with us). The match we had all been waiting for was the Springboks Vs Argentina. For this game, the 94,000 seater stadium was almost full, so the noise and support for the Springboks was incredible. The Springboks won with a score of 73-11! We ended the day with a concert of traditional South African music. The day was so great but tiring and we were fast asleep, in bed by 10pm. 

The Springbok kicker converting one of many kicks!

Sunday 18^th:

Today a lie-in was much appreciated as were the pancakes that we woke up to, made freshly by Zac. Our day was restful and involved many games of volleyball and jungle speed with some of Davina’s friends who came over for a Braii (Thanks Marcus!). We ended the day with a movie: Batman - The Dark Knight Rises, and we had another early night in preparation for the assembly tomorrow.

Monday 19^th:

We were again up bright and early, at 6:00 am, for our assembly at Alex high school. We were greeted by a warm welcome of singing from the 1,000 voices, which even started to calm our nerves of being up in front of so many people. The assembly was about perseverance and goals and included a lot of audience participation. The rest of the day we spent at home preparing for the week ahead, and catching up on some much needed sleep.

Thanks for reading the blog, and for the many prayers that have been spoken, they are much appreciated. We would really love prayers for energy and for a great last week in Alex, so that we can spread God’s love as much as we can.

Emily and Katie.

The Girls' getting in the spirit.