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From Alison's Point of View

It's always great to hear back from people who have visited the projects GAGA UK supports. I'm proud to support the projects, and so are the GAGA trustees, but it's always useful to hear other peoples' views and we wanted to share these with you.  Here is a piece of writing kindly sent in by Alison... It was a great privilege to be able to join the group of volunteers who went to KZN in March this year. It was my first time in SA and also my first time volunteering in this way. All of the projects we visited which GAGA support were amazing each in their own way. First Step Right School manages incredibly well considering what they haven’t got. Gael is totally dedicated and has the interest of the children at heart in all she does. She has a clear idea of what is still needed and is excellent at delegating practical jobs to volunteers. She and her staff work in difficult circumstances – for example they all arrive and leave in the same taxis as the children, so

Find out more...

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Want to know more about GAGA and the projects we support? Here are a few useful links!!  Check out GAGA UK's website here.  1000 Hills Community Helpers  Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust     First Step Right School    Spirit of Africa are the UK charity which now support Ithembalihle.   Likhon iThemba is the organisation which runs HOLAH, the baby home in Durba.    LETCEE  THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

The last few days...

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We said goodbye to Kyle on Saturday. He's been a great addition to the team! Thanks Kyle!  Sarah, Hana, Alison and Doreen headed off to Greytown for a couple of days at LETCEE. We were shown around some of their projects on Monday before each heading off in different directions on Tuesday.  Sarah went to one of LETCEE's newest Toy Libraries, in a very rural community. It was interesting to see this new project and meet the Toy Librarian. Iris (pictured above), went along to see how the toy librarian is getting on. Sarah also met with Mary to chat about their upcoming Friendship Bench project.  Doreen spent the day with Thuba and his family. Thuba has CP and has been unable to go to school but loves going along to the playgroups that LETCEE's Abahambi put on in the community. Doreen went along and did some games, maths and reading with Thuba and he and his grandma loved it! What a special day for them all.   Hana and Alison spent the day with Mamsy,

Photos from our second week in SA

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 Sarah met with Julie, Claire and Candace from Hillcrest AIDS Centre. Julie will be heading to the UK in May and will be in Stratford visiting us at GAGA. She'll be running the Stratford marathon, then later speaking at the Holy Trinity Church and Stratford Rotary -we're so excited. GAGA UK have supported HACT's work for a few years now and are proud that this year we could sponsor a bed in their Respite Unit. We all popped to 1000 Hills Community Helpers for a look around (and a shop!) It's lovely to see that their school bus (purchased with help from GAGA a few  years ago), is still in great working order and is helping many children attend the 1000 Hills pre-school.   There was fun and games at First Step Right all week.   We visited the Drakondale Girls Choir school to hear the girls in practice. Wow, what voices! They were incredible. We then headed to the Nelson Mandela capture site in time for a view of the wonderful sculpture w