 | | J29 Gospel Choir |
During half term, February 2005, the Bishop Challoner Catholic School Gospel Choir - J29, from Kings Heath, Birmingham went on a tour of South Africa. The Ephesians Worship Team, a Gospel Choir from a township just outside of East London in South Africa, worked with our pupils two years ago when they visited the UK in 2003, this was our return visit. The South African team helped Katie Harris, a music teacher at Bishop Challoner, establish an amazing Gospel Choir and after months of fund raising our 20 strong choir set off to South Africa to work with the Ephesians team in local schools and churches. The aim of the trip was to give students from the middle of Birmingham an experience of a life time: our expectations were more than fulfilled. A warm welcome  | | Cintsa Beach - South Africa |
We landed in Johannesburg on February 12th and we were met at East London Airport members of the Ephesians Worship Team. It became apparent that we weren’t the only ones who had been preparing for and anticipating this moment for two long years. We piled into tourist minibuses and were driven out of the industrial city of East London toward the tranquil rural surrounding of the village of Cintsa, to Shaftli Manor, our temporary home for the first week of our stay. We overlooked Cintsa Beach with its miles of golden sand and deep blue ocean. Banana trees grew in the grounds attracting wild monkeys into the garden and the only sounds at night were the crickets and the ocean. We fell into our beds utterly exhausted. Visiting schools The next few days were jam packed with mind-blowing experiences. All the schools we visited had a profound affect on all of us; the students we met were so amazingly polite and friendly.  | | South African school children |
In each school our Gospel Choir performed in front of thousands of students singing in English, Zulu and Afrikaans, they were outstanding, and despite being overwhelmed by the situation they sang amazingly well. Many of these students live in Buffalo Flats, an area mostly made up of informal settlements in East London. In these settlements South Africans live in terrible conditions struggling with problems such poverty, insufficient health care, drugs and HIV. Extreme poverty We drove through one such area with our hosts, as they believed that we could only really begin to understand such a place by seeing it for ourselves.  | | J29 in South Africa |
As an adult and a teacher in this situation one almost feels the need to provide some form of explanation for the students, to help them understand and come to terms with such extreme poverty and yet every member of our group, regardless of their age was struck dumb with the magnitude of the area and the sheer desperation of the situation. Overwhelming joy Never the less the people we met had a spirit and a joy that was infectious. The church services were vibrant, joyous and alive and the welcome we received in schools was overwhelming. Of all the schools we visited the Isaiah 58 school had a particular affect on all of us. We were all really moved by the way in which children in this school had the ability to praise God for all their blessings in the midst of such poverty. All the children in this school had been abandoned or orphaned, many just surviving by living off a rubbish dump, selling or eating anything they could forage.  | | Isaiah 58 Choir in South Africa |
The school had been founded by one woman’s desire to improve the lives of these children. Most of the students (or ‘learners’ as they are called in South Africa) live on the school site and staff struggle daily to educate these immensely damaged children. The project has grown and is now a school as well as an orphanage. In the school there are small children less than 5 years old as well as teenagers, all orphaned and previously living on the streets. Happy children The amazing thing however about the children was their happiness, small groups of children would spontaneously start singing using the loveliest harmonies, so much so that before our assembly could start the teacher had to hush them up telling us that they would carry on all morning if not.  | | On Safari - spoting a white Rhino |
Our choir as well as the teachers in our group ended up receiving much more than we gave, the young people we took came out with real insights that you could only receive by see at first hand this sort of poverty mixed with hope and real happiness. Whilst in East London we went with our hosts on Safari for a day, another tremendous experience. Travelling in open top Land Rovers, through the African bush, up and down the steepest of rocky hill sides and through streams, we saw lion, giraffe, white Rhino, and many other animals. Visiting Cape Town We then left our amazing hosts from the Ephesians Gospel Church who had showed us such hospitality during our visit and took a plane to Cape Town.  | | On Table Mountain - South Africa |
The affluence of Cape Town was very similar to Europe and took some acclimatisation after the week in Buffalo flats. We went up Table Mountain, visited Cape point, we saw whales, seals, penguins and more besides. The most profound experience in Cape Town was our trip to Robbin Island where Nelson Mandela had been incarcerated for more than 20 years during the Apartheid. Following his release he became Africa’s first Black President. We saw the cell where he was held and we were given first had accounts of that time by the tour guide who had been political prisoner along side Nelson Mandela.  | | Listening to a talk on Robbin Island |
He told us about the remarkable way in which Nelson Mandela focused on rebuilding a country based on equality rather than dwelling on the crimes of the past. It was even more significant that this hope for the future was reflected in the attitudes of all the South Africans we had the pleasure to meet. Experience of a life time We left the hot weather and sun on February 21st arriving back to a cold and snowy England! All in all is was a trip of a life time, the highlights not being the traditional tourist trail but actually working with and getting to know real South Africans. Our experience was truly the experience of a life time and we plan to maintain links with many of the people we met.  | | J29 in South Africa |
Written by: Clive Wright, Katie Harris & Georgina Weaver, tour organisers and teachers at Bishop Challoner Catholic School, Kings Heath, Birmingham. BBC WM's Nikki Tapper in South Africa BBC WM's presenter Nikki Tapper and also former teacher at Bishop Challoner Catholic School was invited to go along with the choir to South Africa. Use the links on the right menu to listen to Nikki's special report on the trip.>>> | 
