Day 11

This was a day to recover from the extreme heat that we had encountered yesterday. We spent the morning with our hosts. I was fortunate to be taken to visit Mrs Plaatjies’ parents for lunch. South Africa were playing cricket against India in a “one day international” and everyone was very animated watching their team on the television.

The family were very welcoming and interested in my experiences. There were about 20 people present at the meal. I found out later that this was only about ¼ of the family. Some very moving stories about apartheid were shared with me. Later I was taken on a tour to see the places where the protests happened and lots of students were injured.

We stopped off at the barbers too. I managed to resist the temptation of a quick trim just in case I was given a new style. We then visited the only beach that black and coloured people were allowed to use. It had no sand, only sharp rocks and was extremely dangerous to swim. We then joined the rest of the group in Gordon’s Bay. The scenery was stunning, apart from Mr Rees in his bathers.

The wind was quite strong and every so often our skin was sand blasted. Most people had a swim in the lovely clear blue water which was refreshing for our over heated bodies. Mr Rees was very generous to the local insects as he allowed them to feed on him for almost an hour before he noticed the raised red lumps appearing. He tried to pretend that he had been attacked by a Great White but that didn’t wash with us as he hadn’t even been in the sea.

At the end of the afternoon all of the teachers, hosts and pupils went to the restaurant for food. We watched the sun set over the vast bay eating steaks, fish and buffalo wings. We then departed back to our hosts. We needed to get ready for another day at school. Least there was no homework to do tonight. Usually there is when we’re in the UK.