Back in mid-2004 we were both in London, a few years into our first jobs (teaching and management consultancy) and in our own flat. Terrified at the prospect of 20 days annual leave for the rest of our lives we decided that we deserved seven months off to travel. We knew that neither of us would be able to travel aimlessly for the whole time and both wanted to spend at least some of the time helping others. Emma found WWISA on the internet and we exchanged a number of emails with Mac and Rocky. WWISA was attractive because it was very flexible on the duration of work, offered a wide range of projects we could get involved with, and was within our budget. We established broadly that we would be helping with local environmental education and at the school, but knew that the details would only emerge after we arrived.

We finally got here in February 2005. There were a number of surprises on arrival. Firstly the comfort in which we were staying – our own double room, a beautiful garden and view of the mountains, tasty dinners cooked by Mac and even a full time cleaner. Secondly the diversity of experiences and nationalities of the volunteers – from Carolin, a gap year student from Germany to Pete, a 50ish gardener / nature expert from Ireland with a huge number of stories to tell. Rocky, Mac and all the volunteers were very welcoming and supportive as we settled in and got going on our projects. Thirdly how incredibly safe it felt. The danger of travelling in South Africa is over-exaggerated anyway, but it is particularly safe out here, especially as the local community knows what work we are doing. The only reason we lock the doors is to keep the baboons out!

The first project we were involved in was environmental education, working in the national park in nearby Nature’s Valley. The main focus of our work was creating two educational trail booklets for use with children. This involved plenty of reading and walking to familiarise ourselves with the local flora and fauna, and then the inevitable bits of computer work. We also took out groups of kids on our trails and on a trail designed by a previous WWISA volunteer. This was probably my favourite part of the work – the looks on the faces of local kids who had never had the chance to visit the forest before. Julie and Martine from the Nature’s Valley Trust were very supportive throughout.

As this project began to scale down after a couple of months we started looking around for additional work. A ‘safe house’ for abused and neglected children had started up its own school and was looking for assistant teachers. After a few calls between Mac and the person running the safe house it was set up – WWISA has good links with all the local charities and the flexibility of volunteers means that we can address needs as and when they arise. We were teaching a group of only eleven, but the range of ages (4-16) and behavioural problems of some of the kids made it pretty hard work at times. This was more than made up for by the great feeling of making progress with them, and by their positive attitudes and loving natures.

As well as these two main projects we got involved in a number of others – setting up an environmental club at the township school, helping out running the library there, writing funding requests for overseas donors and even cooking at an AIDS awareness braai for 350 people.

Outside the work we had plenty of time to get out and have some fun. In the evenings there were plenty of legendary Rocky Road parties and extensive sampling of the nightlife in Plett. The locals are very welcoming of us foreigners – after a couple of months you can walk into any bar in town and find people you know. In the day times Rob did the Otter trail, sky-dived and bungee-jumped; Emma spent a lot of time on the beach, shopping and hiking; and we took weekend trips to Knysna, Prince Albert and Cape Town. We also played in petanque competitions, learned plenty of Afrikaans slang and got into Super 12 rugby.

Now we are about to leave we can reflect on what we have taken away from this experience. In some respects it has not been as we expected. Kurland (like almost any former township) is not a traditional community, and there is little evidence of people’s African traditions. There is also a limit on who much you can achieve in four months. However, these are totally outweighed by the positives – making friends with some great people, providing impetus and motivation to keep moving projects forward, and seeing the improvement of the kids at the safe house. WWISA is a great concept because it shows local disadvantaged people what can be achieved with little or no money, but plenty of enthusiasm, perseverance and ingenuity.

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