Arrival and Planning in Munsieville

A warm welcome was beckoning from the Hamilton Guest House staff after an 11 hour flight for the UK and Spain team and 15 hours plus for our less fortunate US team.  

 After a few hours of recovery we took advantage at short notice invitation to a local gala dinner to support the Carigso community churches. The members of this community were extremely interested to hear the successes of the Thoughtful Path Project in Munsieville and we went along to share our story.

There was lots of singing and dancing with delicious local food. The whole team were swaying to the gospel beat and learning a few dance routines. The evening’s MC and Radio FM Rainbow announced to everyone that he was so impressed with everyone especially Veronica’s mastery of South African dancing!

There were a variety of speeches from local dignitaries with some valuable words of wisdom and strong and motivational messages relevant to the local community. One key message that stuck with us was ‘without gratitude there is no altitude’. This is a relevant reference to the EHS team in that we all need to be grateful for the simple things in life i order for us to grow and develop, particularly whilst here in Munsieville. A wonderful night was had by all and we met some wonderful and warm hearted people with lots of smiles all around. This was all happening against a back drop of torrential rain and a marquee that was slowly filing with water!

Daphne Van and Sarah Hatfield, the GSK Pulse volunteers have been particularly valuable in helping us to prepare the groundwork for our trip and brought us up to date on the progress made from last year’s visit. This really helped us to hit the ground running and make the best use of our time here. The key challenge for the team is that change can take longer here in South Africa than we are used to in GSK. The same rules apply in that we have to take this into consideration on this year's project i.e. T.I.A! (This is Africa). 

On the final evening of our first weekend, we were treated to a delightful children’s concert at one of the local churches in Randfontein. This local church has been a great supporter for Project Hope and it was great to be able to support one of their projects. Children of all ages gave a concert of recital, song and dance. A very different type of Nativity Play although lots of passion as ever. 

Jet lag over and planning well under way, we are set to head off to Munsieville for an 8am meeting with the local councillors and Project Hope staff.

Robert and Duncan