What happened on the day of the SPONSORED WALK?

blue water

Who were the helpers?

They were the brilliant Hipsburn parent helpers and helpers from further afield.
They were children, friends, staff and teachers.
The headmistress stayed for the whole event.

 

What did the helpers do?

They helped to put up the tent, lay out the cones, tables and chairs.
They measured the water.
They made sign boards and flags.
They stood in the windy tent for hours.
They waited by the estuary(in the 4x4) for the water bearers.
Eunice had a crucial road watch job.

Thanks for:
Providing water containers and paddling pools.
Donating raffle prizes and cakes.
Donations.


Thoko could not be there because of work commitments. We missed her party spirit.


What did the kids do?
 

The kids turned up with all sorts of containers from bottles in barrows to empty kegs and chemical vats.

The kids were fascinated by how heavy the water was and how hard it would be to even get 20L a day, let alone the 158L per person we use on average here in the West.

The Hipsburn pupils were hot on the statistics about water usage. One chap even pointed out that it was mainly women and girls who collected water in most of the world - his job was to herd the cows - this was a quick witted response to his dad's attempts at encouraging him to go back a second time.

Many of the children did go down to the estuary several times and loved measuring the volumes when they got back to base.

People turned up throughout the day and we even had some unexpected but marvellously game South African folk who we had met just the week before.
The kids waved when the sea king flew low over the school.

 

Feedback:
Everyone agreed that it was fun, educational and that the grub was great!

'A real South African Braai'

The parental support was amazing.

Several people have already suggested making it an annual event- even some local residents who saw the cavalcade!

GOOD NEWS!

We have been offered a cookery class for two at the Intercontinental Hotel, London Park Lane, as a donation!
http://www.theorandall.com/

The highest bid by Friday, please!

please email: cerisutherland@googlemail.com



....and whilst the kids were carrying water in their own containers to and from Hipsburn school....
    somewhere near Manguzi, a woman and a child or even women and children were
                            doing the same, carrying water in their own containers...
 

and the Kosi bay mouth was as beautiful as ever.....
 

 

It was a brilliant and a successful day!

What happened?


The night before the sponsored walk:

Strimming and checking for any dog evidence on the path.
The large double (half) barrel for the BBQ was delivered at the school.
Some serious cake baking.
The flags were checked for strenth in case it was windy.
Printing of the extra sponsor - and registration forms.
Packing of the BBQ food, sauces, onions etc.

early evening strimming

flags, ready to go

On the day of the event:

 At 6 am we were awake. We were pleased because the weather forecast was looking good.
It was truely a beautiful day! Blue sky, warm and windy (perfect for the flags!).

At 06h30 we drove down to the school to drop off the tent and to position the flags(20 in total) to help the water bearers find the path.

At 08h00 the helpers arrived to drop off the cones, pitch the tent, lay out the tables, chairs for meals, set up the registration table and water measuring area . Raffle prizes were laid out and the helpers set up the drinks and cakes table. a Helper arrived with a measuring scale and there were other standard containers to measure the water with.

The headmistress arrived early and eagerly and she organised the kitchen,  the african music, the cutting of the buns, the baking of the bacon and also got on with the important task of sticking probes into sausages for health and safety monitering and documenting the sausage temperatures in an act of 'due diligence'.

More helpers arrived to make the fire, barbeque the meat, take money and make burgers and sausage rolls.
We had a young helper in the BBQ area and his mathematical skills helped him to collect the correct amount of money from customers.

By 10h00 the bacon was cooked and the smell of the bacon sandwiches was in the air. There was the sound of the first walkers appearing and also the distant sound of Brenda Fassie and Juluka ....

.... and we started to register the walkers:



meanwhile in Manguzi, South Africa:
 shops were trading....

a local cafe

and the Kosi bay mouth was probably looking like this...



the mouth at Kosi bay

 GOOD NEWS!

We have been offered a cookery class for two at the Intercontinental Hotel, London Park Lane, as a donation!
http://www.theorandall.com/

                                             The highest bid by Friday, please!

please email: cerisutherland@googlemail.com

Every drop counts:

                                                more about the sponsored walk day tomorrow....
                                                           and photographs to follow ....

only 1 day to go before the SPONSORED WALK!

Details :

WHEN ?                 Saturday 29 September 2012
WHERE ?               Hipsburn first School  Lesbury  Alnwick  Northumberland   NE66 3PX
WHAT TIME ?         10h00 -14h00

Please park in the cricket car park!

The signs have been made:



 The strimming has been done...



lovers walk

The field is ready for the tent ...
the cones have arrived...

the field tonight with the cones

and the walk has been advertised...

on the school window

ENJOY!!!!!!!

2 days before SPONSORED WALK

Message from Alan at JWKB:

'This is a picture of our new classroom block (Japanese Government
sponsored) with its two 5000 litre JOJO tanks.'



 

 

Thoko has been to the school and she has danced with water on her head.

 

 

Thoko



Good news:

 

There will be a paper auction of a 'cookery course for 2' at the Intercontinental Hotel, London.  We will be sending emails to all regarding this.

 

And :

 

The water butt  and water bottles have arrived.

The cones have been  collected.

The tent is in the hall and ready to be put up.

The helpers are lined up.

The school kitchen is available.We have had some top tips from the kitchen staff about health and safety.

Raffle prizes have arrived.

The flags are ready.

 

water butt

 

 

water bottles for kids

 

 

 

 

3 days before SPONSORED WALK

Message from South Africa:
(John Wesley Kosi Bay School-South Africa this morning)

'Supply of water in Manguzi is a big issue.'

·        ' Most homes, schools  and shops do not have piped water.

·         Our school had piped water 4 years back, but the infrastructure was old or inadequate and supply ceased.

·         The municipality actually owes us about R1000 as we had paid them after water supply had stopped.

·         It is evident that the government is working on water supply as we have seen pipes being laid and reservoirs built for the last 2 years.

·         Our school still have no piped water though.

·         Our buildings harvest rain water into 7 x 5000 litre plastic JOJO tanks.

·         During winter these JOJOs run dry.

·         We have drilled two boreholes on the property.

·         The first one dried up last year and we had to drill the second.

·         An electric pump extracts water, which is stored in an elevated JOJO tank.

·         On a hot day, the borehole JOJO is emptied by midday.

·         Borehole water is untreated.

·         Local residents fetch water daily using large drums filled at the river.

·         These drums are transported home on ‘bakkies’ (small trucks).

·         Some people in Manguzi earn their livelihood by transporting water around.'

Alan Stuart

ADMINISTRATOR

John Wesley School Kosi Bay

a bakkie (translated means bowl)

Some pictures of the school (JWKB):

Lessons are in classrooms which are small, noisy and thin - walled. However, there is spirit and the smiles last all day...

Sometimes lessons are outside under the tree...
The children will take a chair and head for the shade.

During playtime... there is a nice wooden play gym or just a heap of sand will do. It is here where the local gymnastics takes plays in the form of flips and somersaults. The older children teach the young ones.

4 days before SPONSORED WALK

The weather:

In Africa they walk to get water, whatever the weather.

The map:

Hi, I'd like to share a Google Maps link with you. Link: <https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=55.393493,-1.624603&daddr=&hl=en&geocode=&sll=55.392064,-1.61938&sspn=0.019061,0.051241&vpsrc=6&mra=mift&mrsp=0&sz=14&ie=UTF8&t=m&z=14>


We still need someone with a large vehicle to pick up some traffic cones in Alnwick.



















Good news:
We have received some donations and there are a few raffle prizes in the school reception. This is great news.
The tent is ready to be picked up on Thursday at a local farm. Apparently it takes 45 minutes to erect!
The meat will be delivered on Friday by a local butcher.

We could do with some more raffle prizes and cakes for the tea/coffee/cake stall(to be delivered to school on Friday).

Water:

This sponsored walk aims to raise awareness of the importance of water. The Grade 1 class of John Wesley Kosi Bay school in South Africa did a project on the environment. They looked at the food chain, the environmental pyramid and the important role water plays.

grade 1 class at the mouth

They took a trip to the incredible Kosi Bay mouth and talked about water, sea creatures, turtles and nature. The sea and estuary were particularly beautiful on that day.

environment project

Basically, if you remove the human can....nothing happens.
But, if you remove the water can from the pyramid(can be demonstrated by child volunteers), then the whole pyramid collapses!

5 days before the SPONSORED WALK

The walk details :

We are walking from Hipsburn First School in the direction of Alnmouth. Walkers will proceed past the football car park, and continue along the pedestrian walkway which is to the left of the main road. After you walk across the bridge over the river Aln, we will cross the main road and then follow Lovers Lane with the river on our right. We will walk to the children's play area in Alnmouth and then to the water's edge. Here the helpers will assist us with filling of the containers with sea water. We will then walk on the same path back to the school where our containers will be measured by other friendly helpers. The measuring area will be next to the registration tent(map to follow).




a signpost on the road side nearing Maputo 

The fairly large tent will need to be erected early on Saturday morning next to the school. Hopefully with the help of a few friends....I have a volunteer.

On Thursday I am going to strim the foot path and pedestrian walkway. I will also curse all the local dogs who have been walking along Lovers Lane!

6 days before the SPONSORED WALK

We are getting there!
We are in the home straight now with only 7 days to go before the walk.

I have given some more specific details to the BBQ helpers. A friend has kindly offered to drop off his half - barrel barbecue  on Saturday morning early at the school. I still need to get charcoal, kindling, paper and fire lighters before the weekend. This means a stroll into the forest to collect twigs, a visit to the petrol station for the last charcoal and fire lighters of the season(let's hope!) and removing the sections in the newspapers that no one reads, such as the careers section and home improvement supplement.


The flags are now *drying in the conservatory. It has been a DIY job and they are looking good. The glue is sticking, the cardboard is holding, the pegs are helping and the cloth is vibrant!  What a wonderful idea this has been !

flags for the walk

We have not heard from the drummers yet.


Good news: the RAF will be watching us as we walk along by the river mouth.
Unfortunately their events organiser has a very long e- mail and our request did not get there in time to manage the paperwork for a full Sea King visit , but...
the guys at the RAF will make sure the Sea King helicopter flies over the water bearers on the day! We have given them the exact location of the sponsored walk and so hopefully we can give them a wave as they whizz by!

Sea King

The friends of Hipsburn have sent out a letter to all parents asking for more help, donations, and cakes. We are very grateful for all the support so far.

Lionhart radio will be announcing the walk during the week coming.
So listen up.

Thanks to all.

7 days before the SPONSORED WALK

Where is the water butt?
Well, we have had some news from Northumbrian Water with more specific directions and a telephone number in order to find the water butt and the water bottles. We will get to the bottom of this.

Alnmouth estuary:
Is tidal.
Be careful.
We have an estuary water monitor as an extra safety net but water collectors are in charge of their own destiny.
We would advise you to:
Stay on the route , take charge of the safety of yourself and any minors in your care when near the beach.
Alnmouth beach and estuary can be quite wild with strong currents.
There will be sea water in a paddling pool by the water's edge to minimise smaller walkers getting too wet and avoid getting too close to the tidal waters of the estuary.

Raffle and paper auction:

Any donations for the raffle and paper auction can be brought in to Hipsburn school or we can be contacted at our e-mail addresses on this blog to arrange pick ups or alternative drop offs.




Cookery course



We have had some fantastic responses from people local and afar.
Buy your raffle tickets and place a bid at the registration table.


Food:

Donations with sell by dates are awaited

.....for the cake stall

And the BBQ grub

....... has been orderded from the butcher in Amble:  bacon, sausages, burgers , vegetarian kebabs.

The freezer is filled with buns to fill.

Lidl is apparently the place for sauces and relish.



The picture is taking shape, oh , for a bird's eye view on the day.

8 days before the SPONSORED WALK

The Alnmouth estuary was a gem in the sunshine: the sea was blue and white with yellow sand and a backdrop and foreground of emerald green countryside.

News of the walk has spread to Amble .

More sponsors have come forward and so, this is all looking good.

Flag making:

Staff at the wondercave hardware store at the marina end of the high street in Amble were on the case for providing the correct glue for the job: copydex.

The sail cloth is white and blue and lying in expectant strips on the kitchen table.

The flags will be visible along the walking path. They will mark the way along Lovers' walk . Look out for the flags on the day. Follow the flags!

Flag of South Africa

                                                                  

Photography :

A photographer will take pictures on the day for a record of the event.

If you or your family don’t want your photo taken , please inform the people at registration who will give you a reflective sticker , so the photographer knows not to take your picture.

Today Halford's provided us with the necessary.

flag of Northumberland

The two flags represent the location of the two schools that will benefit from the walk.

This is a walk for education and this was in our thoughts today as we celebrated the birthday of a wonderful South African lady who has defied her past and has learnt to drive , swim and understand the timetable of the 501 bus route from Longhoughton to Berwick during her three years in the UK.

Knowledge is power.

9 days before the SPONSORED WALK

Amateur dramatics:

A South African friend and our son (her associate) went to school to do a play about how to carry water on your head. They started at the house of a friend to get out of the Northumbrian rain after a an early drop off. They came armed with props; bright blue buckets.

I left them to it and received this feedback later in the day from the headmistress and the actors:

'Thoko was great, she can come again anytime'

'I was about to leave, when I heard the music begin and it was Brenda Fassie singing Vulindlela. I started to sing and to dance. I danced with the water on my head. The children danced'

Check out Brenda on youtube.

'I sang Shosholoza ' 

Shosholoza is a traditional Southern African song thought to have been sung by the migrant workers taking the trains ton the mines. It is sung at football matches and has even made it to the rugby pitches of South Africa.

Back to the play....

The story is of a little South African girl who has walked several miles after school, to collect water from the well. It is only the girls, and not the boys, who fetch the water. The boys herd the goats and the cows. But one little boy is neglecting his chores. Instead he has ambushed this girl and is trying to make her spill the water because he knows she will have to go all the way back to the well to fetch some more. The girl spills the water and falls to the ground weeping-it is such a heavy weight to carry but the family must have the water.

Returning to Hipsburn........The children  tried to carry water on their heads, but the containers kept slipping. Thoko told them and showed them that the back, neck and head must sit straight to balance the water , but it takes a lot of practice to learn how to do it easily.

Then it was time to go swimming but there was a party brewing with Brenda and Thoko singing and dancing. Should they stay or should they go.

Good news:
We have just heard that we may have drummers at midday on the day of the walk. Watch this space.

Bad news:
We cannot find the generously donated water butt and bottles from Northumbrian water. The sat nav lead to a dead end following the post code. Can anyone help?

Questions:
Have the children from Hipsburn school put their names on their chosen containers?
How many sponsors have you found?

And so;
The girl has danced and no water was spilt
The containers are back at home and there is the sound of distant drums

                                                                         Brenda Fassie

10 days before the SPONSORED WALK

Raising awareness:
1. Ceri spoke to the pupils of Hipsburn first school on Monday (Reception-Year 4). The aim of her talk was to focus on the importance of water.
The children were asked where our tap water came from. This concept was compared with the fact that water in Africa may need to be retrieved from a well or another water source. This then linked in with the fact that the water may need to be carried home and that there are containers for this. Ceri showed the kids that water could be heavy and that you need to choose your container carefully when you want to carry water over a distance. Small children should carry water in small containers! The children have been encouraged to find a container at home that would be suitable for them for the walk.

2. Northumbria Water has sent a DVD to the school which will help to explore the importance of water further with the children.

3. I fetched Thoko from Berwick upon Tweed today. She is talking to the children at the school tomorrow.
She will tell a story about her as child in the Transkei collecting water and how naughty little boys would try and make her  spill it.
Will Thokozile manage to walk with water on her head, or will it all just spill onto the clasroom floor?

What happened today:
1. Ceri went to North Shields today and a very kind man gave her some spinnaker cloth for free. We will attach the cloth to 8 foot bamboo sticks to make flags which will mark the way of the water walk down Lovers Lane.
2. Ceri heard that another local school has shown interest in the sponsored walk.

3. Ceri has spread the word in South Shields today.


We still need:
Someone to pick up a load of heavy cones from Alnwick next Thursday for  road safety on the day.


We have:
 15 helpers on the day - which is wonderful!
... for the road, for the tent, for the BBQ, for the raffle and for the registration.

so far, so good

11 days before the SPONSORED WALK

Hi All

When:    Saturday 29th September 2012
Where:   Registration will be at Hipsburn first school,  Hipsburn,  Northumberland
Time:      10h00 - 14h00

We will be walking from Hipsburn first school to Alnmouth estuary (and back)
Alnmouth Estuary

The story behind the sponsored walk:

'In December 2007 Riaan and I decided to return to his native South Africa to work in a rural hospital.

This was the most life-changing experience  any of us were to have-water featured heavily:  sea, lakes, swimming pools, rivers (and crocodiles and hippos) , showers and water filters.

We lived  and worked in the hospital compound of  Manguzi , South Africa for a year . This is a beautiful area of the world, with tropical coral reefs smattering the turquoise shallows of the thunderous Indian ocean and magnificent African beasts roaming in indigenous tracts of rare sand-forest parkland. The coast was over 100 miles of National park and protected from development and human intrusion. It was really incredible to live there.

With the remote wilderness and beauty came rural deprivation for it’s inhabitants. They lived peacefully but simply, with few of the creature comforts we take for granted in the UK or even in Johannesburg or Durban , 7 hours down the road !

Louis attended a local church school , John Wesley Kosi Bay School; this is a private school but the fees are set low so that it is inclusive in the community.

The average income was about 3000 Rand a month – approximately £300.

The school fees for JWKB were about 600 Rand a term.

The classes were slightly smaller than the local government schools but still over 30 to a class quite often. The government schools sometimes had 50 in a class.

Louis was welcomed with enthusiasm , camaraderie and a great deal of bemused looks –there were very few Caucasian children at the school and Louis was a bit of an oddity. He started each day singing and spent playtimes practising drumming on old tins or bottles and learning somersaults on the sandy humps that formed the favourite play in the school grounds. The rubbish tip was a great source of playthings and was quite near the sandy humps – the caretaker would burn the rubbish that accumulated in the day in the pit.

Louis’ classroom was an old portacabin that measured about 3 metres by 4 metres. He shared this with 29 other busy 5 year olds. There were four of these end to end and they were hot, noisy and cramped.

The walls got so hot that sticky tape or blue tack melted away and the pictures fell off. The walls were bare, thin and hard and could not  have nails or screws put into them. The best place to teach was outside under one of the big trees.

Just like at Hipsburn first school , the pupils at JWKB need more classroom space but they also need better quality classrooms- solid concrete classrooms with sturdy roofs to catch the rainwater.

Water

In addition to providing space, the classroom roofs at JWKB also provide water to fill Jo-Jo tanks.

These are big green tanks that collect rainwater off the roofs of the new concrete classrooms and is where the pupils at JWKB get their daily drinking water from- a luxury for many of them .

Louis would go to school with a blue metallic water container because I never quite believed the water from the Jo Jo tanks was not riddled with mosquito larvae- but the local kids seemed fine and gulped  from the Jo Jo taps.

One of the biggest daily challenges that faced everyone living in the area was having enough clean water. Few people had running water and they collected their water from local wells.

Water tends to fall – literally – into the arms of women. Many South African women and children in rural areas still spend one-third of their lives fetching water from streams and wells. They are also responsible for using it to cook meals, wash laundry and bathe children.

 In Africa and other parts of the world people walk for water if  it’s sunny or rainy , hot or cold.

 They walk on average  6 kilometres to collect water.

In the hospital compound we were very lucky to have water pumped to a tank from the Jozini dam, about 70 miles away.

We filtered  our drinking water as it was a bit muddy, but we felt privileged compared to most of our neighbours outside the compound.

On occasions, the electricity got cut off and the pump could not function leaving us with no water for up to a week. We were very lucky to live in an old house in the compound which had a bath tub. As soon as we heard there might be a problem we filled it up to the top. Water never seemed so precious! At these times we never flushed the toilet for a pee and were careful about how much water we used to get rid of the other. The toilet flush was one of the biggest water users.

For most of the other people in the area , collecting water was a daily challenge and when Riaan did outreach clinics to the most remote areas or we took a drive down to Durban we  would see queues of children and mostly women with large containers by the local wells.

These were tough people who usually had a smile on their faces despite about 25% of the local population having HIV. Many of the children suffered from malnutrition and at the hospital the children were given peanut butter to strengthen them.

We would like to raise some money to build more classrooms for the local Manguzi  children attending  JWKB school and for the log cabin fund at Hipsburn first school.

Riaan thought that it would be interesting and fun to see how much water we can all carry from Alnmouth beach to Hipsburn school and raise some money at the same time'.

12 days before the SPONSORED WALK

Monday September 17 th:

A few more jobs knocked off the list of things to do before the day:
Helpers identified for registration, tent, teas and coffees etc.....
Paddling pools offered
Legalities addressed
Food and hygiene issues covered
Road and water safety discussed

And later...
A school assembly about how much water we use , for what and where it comes from.
Some  jaunty African beats were played for the children to walk to.
A buzz of excitement rippled through the back row when the children heard there would be rewards for the most water carried from the estuary in the most inventive ways and with the most gusto!

Prizes
A water butt from Northumbrian water
Sweets
Northumbria water drinking bottles
Medals

Winning criteria on the 29th September
Effort
Inventiveness
Volume
Attitude

People
Headmistress 
Teachers
Assistants
School administrator
Head of the kitchen
Chair and members of Hipsburn friends
Council

..... are in the loop

Things

Traffic cones

Bamboo poles for flags

Blue sail cloth

Buns and sausages

Cakes

Raffle prizes

Hook the duck

Sheep lick tubs....

There s progress been made on all fronts today ....

Goodnight

13 days before the SPONSORED WALK

We are walking from the Hipsburn First School to Alnmouth estuary and back on the 29th of September 2012. The walk is a 2 mile round trip.

Women and child carrying water - Kosi bay

















The walk is in aid of:
John Wesley School, Kosi Bay, South Africa - for an additional classroom
Hipsburn First School, Northumberland - for an additional classroom
Both schools are in areas of outstanding beauty. They are both rural, by the coast and in need of at least one extra classroom. John Wesley Kosi Bay School will attach a much needed water butt to the new classroom, to provide drinking water for the pupils.

Grade 1 class JWKB

What to expect:
Registration from 10h00 onwards (at Hipsburn First School).
Parking is at the Alnmouth Cricket Club car park.
Please bring a sponsor form(see below) and your very own container!
Bacon butties will be for sale for those who arrive on a hungry stomach.
Coffee, tea and cakes.
BBQ from 12h00.
Finish at 14h00.

Raffle: Please bring extra money.
Prizes: Northumbrian Water have donated a water butt for the person who carries the most water.
            There will also be a box of sweets for the child who carries the most water.

Breaktime by the water butt JWKB

Feel free to add comments.
Any queries or donations: please email Riaan at riaanswanepoel@nhs.net

Sponsor forms for the walk
Please e-mail us if you need an easier format to print                                                                                            

Details of the water walk

WHEN ?                 Saturday 29 September 2012
WHERE ?               Hipsburn first School  Lesbury  Alnwick  Northumberland   NE66 3PX
WHAT TIME ?         10h00 -14h00

more details to follow ......