My name is Andy Bond and I am the Reception and Pre-School Teacher at Windermere School in the Lake District. It has now been a few weeks since I landed back from my first trip to South Africa and more importantly my first visit to Tiger Kloof.

On the 3rd of August, a great colleague of mine, a group of sixth form students from Windermere School and I travelled out to Vryburg to begin a very exciting project which I am immensely proud to have been a part of. The Thussanang Centre for Disabled Children is a marvellous and inspiring place in the small community of Huhudi, near Vryburg. I quickly realised how much this place meant to all that had visited previously. From the moment I arrived and stepped out of the minibus to a sea of smiles, hugs and friendly handshakes an overwhelming sense of pride and happiness came over me and I wanted to get cracking with our plans.

For the past 8 months, as a team, we have used our knowledge and skills to look at how we could make a difference to these fantastic children and the dedicated team of volunteers who work at the centre. We took on the huge task of planning, preparing, resourcing, delivering and evaluating a small scheme of work with activities and tasks which would allow the children to develop their own knowledge and skill-set at a level that that suits their current needs.

I had many emotional moments during our, what seemed to be, short stay in Vryburg. None so more than the moment when we shared with the staff and volunteers who are working at the centre our plans for the future. We proudly handed over of all the resources, planning and equipment we took out there with us knowing that we had only just started to make a difference to these children.

We will be returning to Thussanang in February and this involves raising money to provide training and support for those that work there and to become leaders of learning for the fabulous children that attend. This is where you come in.