Day 2 Shongweni Primary

Day two at Songweni school - the whole team have grafted solidly today to get as much done on the three classrooms as humanly possible - compare this photo to the one yesterday - and we've done 3 of these rooms in two days, the third is nearly ready for the last coat of red, but there's plenty more to do. Doors need repairing and glossing, Budgie is doing a stirling job single handedly sorting out the partitioning walls up in the eaves, blackboards need painting, windows and frames need desperate attention, and we're hoping that we can leave the children with a bright and colourful mural to remember us by, so our last days work tomorrow will need a massive final push if we're to go out on a high. We've been treated to a few more examples of local cuisine today, Carl pulled over to the side of the road on the way to the village and grabbed us a stick of sugar cane, which the local kids munch on all day long like they're chewing on marshmellow - honestly, I nearly lost what teeth I have left just trying to get through it. Tasty though. For lunch we had a local Indian speciality, 'Bunny Chow' (Durban and the surrounding areas has the highest Indian/Asian population in the whole of the country), which is basically a hot curry served inside a hollowed out half-loaf of bread. Which was a challenge in the scorching hot mid-winter weather, halfway through a good days work, still most of us managed some of it, and Anthony managed his usual two (!)

The team are dog-tired, but determined to get the job done, and make sure we go out on a high, having achieved what we set out to do, and even more - we've all learned so much, and we've all stuck together and achieved much more than we'd hoped. We might not get a chance to enter another blog tomorrow - the plan is to finish the job on the school, and celebrate Nat's birthday at a local Shongweni community centre, so we'll be unlikely to find any wifi spots! Hopefully we'll get chance to drop you all a quick line before we fly. Thanks to all who've been following us, it's been good to receive your comments each night. One more final push tomorrow. Job's a good 'un.