The South Africa project began 2 years ago, when to celebrate their 25th anniversary, Emmanuel College set about raising £25,000 to build a school in Tembisa Township, South Africa in partnership with Love Trust - the charity that also operates Nokuphila School in South Africa. This target was smashed after raising a grand total of £43,000. This has allowed us to extend the plans to build a community hall in the middle of the school which will act as a community center for not just children but mothers, fathers and many more.

Now in 2017, the final stages of planning are closing and building work is on track to begin in the summer of this year. Therefore Emmanuel College is sending a team of 6 students, plus 2 members of staff, on a mission visit where they will carry out 10 days of voluntary work. The hope is that this visit will not only make a difference to lives in the Tembisa township but will also be a life changing experience for the team.

There will be 2 main aims to the voluntary work. Firstly, the team intend to help with the preparation of the shipping containers which will be used as classrooms in the school. Secondly they will be helping out in the Nokuphila School in classes, games lessons and assemblies.

The cost of the trip is £1,800 per person, this includes the costs of flights, accommodation and catering during the visit. The majority of this money is being raised through fundraising activities such as the Coast to Coast cycle ride.

During May bank holiday weekend (29/04 -1/05), I will be attempting to cycle from the west coast of the UK at Whitehaven to the east coast at Tynemouth. This is a difficult challenge, and I hope that by completing it I will raise a good sum of money to go towards the visit.

Thank you for your donation and Josh looks forward to sharing his experiences and stories with us all when he returns.