Zoe Bradford

Zoe's final blog post

Before coming on this trip, I was really nervous because even though I knew the people in my group, all of my friends were in group 2. Now I'm really glad I'm in Group 1 because the people I've met and made friends with are so nice & I've really got along with everyone. I think we've all become really close after experiencing Cape Town together and we've had so much banter!

Cape Town is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, it looks so different from how I expected. Some of the living conditions here aren't very nice, it's horrible driving around and seeing people lying asleep on the streets, having beggars approach us at traffic lights and driving past endless self built housing estates. At the same time, just driving around Cape Town offers so much, the views are stunning and some of the houses are so grand.

The primary school was such an amazing experience. The kids were so lovely and polite and enthusiastic, I adored them all. It's so sad leaving them behind knowing that many of them will never escape from their disadvantaged background. The work from the teachers in the primary and the GCU is amazing, they put so much effort into helping them and a lot of the kids have high hopes for their futures and I really want them to stick with that. Today when we left, I was bombarded with cuddles and some of the kids were even crying trying to say goodbye. I even got letters from some of them telling us how much it meant to them and how amazing they thought WE were. It really surprised me how much we meant to them, they were really touched by our visit and it meant so much to me. It made the whole trip worth it to know that we'd made them happy and they'd enjoyed our visit. 

Cape Town has been the best experience of my life, I've missed everyone at home so much though, but I still don't really want to leave and I hope the second group have a great time too. Big shoutout to the teachers for being so laid back and soond, thanks so much for making our trip good! There hasn't been a single thing I haven't enjoyed :)

Zoe