To do my fundraising I mainly washed cars around my estate. I created leaflets and posted them through letterboxes with a way of contacting me if you were interested. I got a good number of replies and a good amount of money. Also I helped my dad fully decorate the living room for 3 full working days which also helped towards my total money. Moreover, I used all my birthday money towards my fundraising. Now I have finished raising my money, I am really looking forward to the trip and going abroad with my mates. I don’t really know what to expect about Soweto, mostly I am looking forward to the safari. Also I am excited to see the people that came over to England a year ago and me and the boys made friends with.
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In July 2014, a selection of students and teachers from Matseliso High School in South Africa, came to visit England. They were some of the best few days I’ve ever had. My family and I hosted one of the students and his name was Hopewell and he is one of the kindest guys you could possibly wish to meet. During the few days he was here, we became close friends and still remain in contact a year on.
Whilst the students were here, we all had a fun-packed itinerary that Mrs Lakin and Miss Longden had put together, with visits to Anfield, The Trafford Centre but the most memorable was the trip to Wales. Not really knowing what to expect, we turned up at school thinking we were just going on a little walk- but it was far from that. In the end, we went on a huge hike up mountains and over rivers and it was great! Throughout the day, some of the lads from England and Soweto got chatting, and found that we all had a lot in common. For example, we all enjoyed football and that is how our group formed- THE TEAM! To round it off, when the visit ended and we went our separate ways, we all kept in contact and still are to this day, generally talking about football in our Facebook group chat. I would hugely recommend for any new students thinking of getting involved in the Culcheth-2-Soweto programme to go for it. I have gained so much from the scheme, I’m now confident with speaking to the public, making new friends and experiencing different cultures. It has been tough, there is no denying that, but it has all been worth it! Finn S Year 10 Joining the Culcheth-2-Soweto student exchange programme was one of the best things I have done so far. In the last few weeks of Year 8 – July 2014, a group of amazing, talented and ambitious students stayed in England as part of our link with their school – Matseliso High School in Soweto, South Africa. I can honestly say, and speak on behalf of all my Culcheth-2-Soweto colleagues that they were the probably the best experience ever.
Although I have enjoyed every minute working with South African and English students, I made 1 best friend that would have never been possible without the scheme – Frankson, who me and my family hosted, he was so kind, polite and caring it was unreal, while during his stay we got to exchange a lot about our lives and culture. We still keep in contact and probably always will, as it was such a special experience to share. Frankson is genuinely one of the nicest people I have met. A huge agenda was upon us as soon as the students arrived, that had been excellently organised by the leaders of the project – Mrs Lakin and Miss Longden, and we participated in events such as visits to The Trafford Centre and Anfield Football Stadium, as well as an exhausting but fun trip up into the mountains in Wales. All of the English and South African students mingled and ‘THE TEAM’ was born – a strong friendship that will always have. Finally then, to end I would like to thank every member of the Culcheth-2-Soweto team for helping me be where I am today. I now have no trouble presenting in front of crowds, or approaching new people and making new friends – this project really has changed me as a person and, without a shadow of doubt I would recommend becoming involved with the project when you can, because you have to be committed and focused and hard-working because it can be tough at times, but boy is it worth it! This enterprise project was first offered to us at the beginning of year eight when we were instructed to raise about 150 pounds for the students of Matseliso to come over to England. To raise this money we had to work collaboratively and as an individual. These fundraisers could be anything from cake sales to car washes. As a result we altogether raised a significant amount of money so in the following July the lucky students from Soweto came over to us. Some of them stayed in the homes of a few of the people in the project in England. They also visited key landmarks in England and joined in with our lessons. Sadly we had to say goodbye to these students. The next week we had to plan a short presentation to justify why we should be chosen as one of the fortunate students to go back over there in the October of 2015. Out of 60 people who presented themselves only 24 got chosen to go. If we were one of the people to get picked we would have to contribute more of our time to raise even more money for us to go over. Over the last year we have fundraised a lot more money to go over.
This project has not just been about competing to see who will go over, but it has been about teamwork, communication and organisation. It has taught us to show how much we want to go and it will be a time that we will remember forever. Working on the Culcheth 2 Soweto project hasn’t been easy; I have spent 2 years dedicating my time and effort to become one of the 24 students chosen from a 100+. It has involved a lot of hard work and commitment. To get this far I had to raise a substantial amount of money; each of the 24 students have raised £600 or more. Everyone has their own method of raising their money from cake sale to sponsored runs. To start with I sold tea and coffee at my local rugby club, I raised between £30-£120 every Sunday. After that I did raffles at my local pub. The group events raised about £90 per student; we did events such as croft carnival. Throughout the 2 years I have had lots of new experiences such as fundraising, team work and one of the more humbling experiences was having one of the matsaliso students staying with me for a week. Having Tinkyoko here made me more grateful for everything I have, especially the school facilities available to us for us to learn and succeed in.
Further to our football shirt collection we are now collecting dress up costumes for the younger children of Kliptown also. Any donations can be dropped off in PE by students or alternatively leave items at reception. Your support is greatly appreciated. We are now around the four week countdown to our visit to South Africa which is scary and exciting in equal measure as we can’t believe how fast time is flying! We have met with the students to sort final arrangements and ensure that all essential paperwork is handed in and completed. The students have been tasked with two items to prepare for our visit: a lesson, which will be planned and delivered in small teams, with the title ‘life as a teenage in the UK’. They have each been given a detailed information sheet of what to include and starting points to help them. Each student also has to create an individual scrap book which is all about them and their life which we will leave over in Matseliso. These have to be done on paper/card as there isn’t IT facilities in the classrooms. We have set a deadline of lunchtime on Friday 2nd October for these to be brought in for checking.
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October 2019
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