Jungle Gym: Tick!

The jungle gym has finally been built!! Thanks to the generosity of our many friends (and family)

we have finally: built a jungle gym, donated to a pre-primary bursary fund, bought children's toilet seats for a creche and we still have a little seed money over for the next project. A big thank you to everyone who contributed! Pictures and proper thanks to follow in a few days.

Proposed Jungle Gym Site

It's been a while since we've written about our plans for the jungle gym. We've been back in South African since November and just been spending time catching up with friends and fanily and finding our feet again in sunny South Africa. We've both been quite busy in the first few weeks of the year making arrangements for our Masters studies but now that things are almost on track we can focus on our project once again.

In December we went to visit our proposed jungle gym site. The 'Creche' or Pre-school which we are planning to build a jungle gym for is called 'Jehova Ngihlenge Creche' which is Zulu. It means 'Lord Help Us Creche'. It is run by an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Sithole, who are putting their hard-earned pension money and time as retired people into running the pre-school.

Unfortunately we haven't yet been able to meet with them due to academic commitments on our part, but we hope to do so by the middle of March to discuss with them details on what they expect from the jungle gym. We are open to suggestions from them, and may even downscale our jungle gym plan and use some of our money towards other more pressing needs they may have. We're hoping to have plans ready to build the jungle gym during the easter vacation. (i.e. around mid- to late-April)

The pictures below show the site. Mr. Sithole has recently acquired an additional plot of land behind the main building of the creche which is where he would like to design an outdoor play area for the children, and our proposed jungle gym could form an integral part of that.

We'll keep this blog updated as much as possible, so our supporters can keep track of the project.

"Let's build a Jungle Gym": About our project

We have been teaching English in Korea for the last two years (2008-2010). While here, we decided to start a small fund-raising project. The aim of our project is to collect enough money to build a jungle gym at a disadvantaged kindergarten in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

This will be part of the work done by "Kindi Projects" the community outreach and development programme of the Deutsche Schule Hermannsburg, lead by Stella Cockburn (Jessica's Mom).

The images below give some details on the general work done by "Kindi Projects".

We hope to raise at least R4000 which will cover the building costs. We would like to build the jungle gym ourselves, but will need to raise a bit of extra money (another R2000) to cover transport costs and to employ someone to help us with the heavy labour.

The 2nd Braai: June 26th 2010

We held our second "braai for a good cause" on June 26th 2010, in Sangju. It was quite a bit easier to organise since we'd done it all once before. We decided to laugh off the lamb chops for this one and just have boerewors rolls and chicken. Of course with the usual 'acoutrements': salad, garlic bread, marhsmallows.

At this braai we also had a raffle to supplement our fundraising efforts: Julian's parents kindly donated some delicious South African treats (chocolates, rusks, etc.) Funny thing happened though: Julian won 2nd prize :) And a BIG thanks to Mark for generously buying sooo many tickets!

The weather was ...again...pretty lousy but this time at least we were under a friendlier kind of shelter than the bridge :) This was also a bit of a combo party as the 2010 FIFA World cup was in full swing and Korea played Argentina later that night.

Money raised: Won 253 820

Who was involved: Sangjuites and other friends from Korea. Thanks!

Special thanks to: Whee (the master braaier, of course!), Giovanni, Scott, Sarah, Melissa. Minho & friends, Mark and everyone else who helped.Thanks to Julian's parents, Kay and Gordon Barker, for donating the sweets and treats for the raffle. And thanks to Margaret for her kind donation!

Pancakes! June 5th 2010

On June 5th, 2010 we sold pancakes at my high school's festival. Mr. Kang, my co-teacher at Wooseok Girls' High School and some of the students from his homeroom class to help us make and sell the pancakes.

The students had never had 'South African Style' pancakes - served with cinnamon-sugar and lemon, with an option of strawberry jam - , so there was much excitement and enthusiasm about the pancakes. The lure of 'helping poor children in Africa' also helped of course, as we sold the pancakes at a pretty high price compared to the usual 'street snacks the students buy.

Money raised: Won 51 900

Who was involved: Mr Kang and his homeroom students (Class 1-6).

Special thanks to: Mr. Kang and his students and all who bought our pancakes.

The 1st Braai: March 20th 2010

We had our first fundraiser-braai for our Jungle Gym Project on March the 20th in Sangju. It was held on the same day as the farewell party for friends of ours leaving Sangju, Kelsey and Marg.

We had a great turnout (around 35 people), but the weather was pretty awful and we had to hold our braai under a bridge - homeless people style!

But the braai was a pretty cool party-starter, and the next part of the party at"Club Shampoo" was memorable to say the least.

Money Raised: Won 158 340

Who was involved: Sangjuites and other friends from Korea. Thanks!

Special Thanks: Whee, Sanggap, Scott and Sarah, Marize, Njabulo for all their help.

Some pics of the event:

This means 'no cooking'...um, we didn't know.

Some Sangju faces!

Group pic of all who attended the braai

Whee the master braaier!

(pic from a previous braai)