Hi everyone,

This is the first installment of our 4 month trip around the world. This was written on 21st Feb 2010. We have arrived in Johannesburg where Shena is to be Artist-in-Residence for 6 weeks at the African Leadership Academy at Honeydew about 25 km north of Johannesburg. http://www.africanleadershipacademy.org Jack is carrying the bags and is Tour organiser and IT support.

Our journey so far has also been really good. The school is a very interesting school as the students are so special: they are bright, confident, motivated, and it is going to be fascinating to see what sort of art works they produce.

Our accommodation is very nice. It is a guest room set in the dormitories and we have a double bed and single bed in our room as well as our own bathroom. It overlooks this lovely green centre courtyard, which has gorgeous silver birches and lush trees and green grass,and peacocks wandering around the grounds.

We have been warmly welcomed by everyone, and Gavin, our primary contact has given us a good tour of the school and I will now have to get some projects up and running.I have been shown where the art workshops are to be held and it is in a room next to the library where everyone has dumped their junk, so the first order of activity will be to clean it up and make it usable. Jack will be a great help here. We are also renovating another room as well - as I have already become involved with another teacher and group and we are setting up an inter-faith room for prayer for all religions.

Tomorrow morning (Monday 22nd Feb) I am going to address the students at assembly and tell them about the sorts of art projects which we will do. They have a very full timetable but I have worked out when I can manage it. So it will be interesting.

Yesterday afternoon we watched an inter-school soccer game, East Africa v West Africa. A very spirited game.We watched, sitting under the trees, and it was very pleasant as the temperatures were about Mid 20's and we were a bit jet lagged. Then later that night, we were lucky enough to go on a trip to the theatre in Johannesburg to see some African singers and dancers: it was a wonderful performance withgreat harmonies. On the way home,on the school bus, the students were singing also, which was a fantastic performance in itself.

We have been eating at the school dining hall and the food is very good. We will have to watch the intake as it is easy to load the plate. Also, we have been assured we can drink the tap water with safety. We eat in the staff area and have met some of the lovely teachers who all have interesting stories to tell. More staff will be around after the weekend.

We have also met another visitor to ALA who arrived yesterday and was mugged at the airport whilst trying to get money from the ATM. We also went to the local shops with Gavin and it looks like prices are similar to Oz. We have been told not to go out of the school, wandering around on our own as it is dangerous. There are high fences surrounding the school with barb wire on the top, and a guard at the gate who you have to check in with.

Jack's cousin Jane came and picked us up today and we went to a art exhibition set in an open garden. The garden was lovely and we sat and had coffee and cake in this lovely surrounding. Everything is green and lush as they have summer rains here so it is not hot and dusty as I imagined. Greater Johannesburg is a huge sprawling city of about 9 million, and is a combination of rich and poor. The houses have big fences with razor wire or electric fences You peer through the gates at the big houses which are substantial.I haven't seen the other side of the tracks yet. They all drive like maniacs, very fast,which I like, as you know, but I feel as though I am going to die at any moment.

Jane has been very generous in planning trips to show us around.. She is fun to be with, having a dry sense of humour and is very entertaining. She has invited us to stay with her for a weekend before we leave and is also going to take us to Botswana which should be fabulous.

So as you can see we have been busy, but in a good way. Think of me as I introduce myself to the students. I will add a post on how it goes.