I have been working in and out of South Africa for the past 3 years in 2006, 2007 and 2008. I first started working in South Africa in January of 2006 when I first started working for Travellers.

My first period of work was in Giyani a small town in the Limpopo province close to the Kruger National Park and Zimbabwe. My job there was to establish our new sports projects in a school called Khanysia which was a private school that catered for mainly black children who were formally the disadvantaged.

Khanysia is actually one of the top 3 black schools in South Africa. The school had a number of sports facilities including swimming pool, football and rugby pitches, netball court and cricket pitches. I started approaching local schools some of them village schools and some of them schools nearer Giyani. When I had identified which schools were to be used for the sports program I started coaching at the schools myself each day to get the ball rolling.

I introduced rugby to the schools a sport that non of the teachers or children had ever played before as it was seen as a white sport and no one had ever had the opportunity to play it before. It was hard at first trying to teach the children how to play rugby as facilities were very poor, they spoke little English and they took a long time to grasp how to do the basics such as passing backwards as they all wanted to pass it forwards. I started to teach them touch rugby once they had mastered the basics of passing and how to hold the ball. At first it was quite a challenge for them to grasp how to play the game but once they understood what to do they started to really enjoy playing.

After a few months of coaching the children we held a rugby tournament for all the schools that I had been coaching to give them the opportunity to put their skills into practice. The tournament was a huge success and it was nice to see that the hard work I had put in had paid off.

Coaching rugby was an amazing experience and one that I will never forget, turning up at the villages coaching kids who spoke no English, hardly ever seen white people before, coaching them a sport they didn't know and just the overall environment was amazing.

During my first few months in Giyani I was living with the headmaster of the junior school Ebert and his wife Marina in a house very close to the house which was a thatched cottage with a swimming pool. Ebert and Marina were Afrikaans speakers and quite religious like most Afrikaans people. The first night when I arrived there we sat down for dinner and they said grace and we all had to hold hands which was a bit off for me because I am not religious at all.

Ebert was one of the nicest guys I had ever meet and had the pleasure to work with, he would bend over backwards for me and the volunteers and we would always be having bri's (barbeques) at his house.

My first volunteers on the project were 2 football coaches Dee and Sam and 2 teachers Flick and Geert. I use to coach rugby to the schools whilst Dee and Sam would do football. In the house where we lived there was a sports field and every Friday we would hold a sports club for the local children to come and play sports. I would head up the rugby and the other volunteers would do football, cricket and baseball. It was a great experience to hold these sports camps as it gave the local kids something to do after school.

We all lived in a house provided by the school which was a good laugh and we had DSTV (sky television) so it was nice to put on a good film now and again. We would all take it in turns to cook dinner and most western food was easily accessible in the local supermarkets. Monkeys were often frequent visitors to the house as well and you would often hear them on the roof or outside playing around.

I had only recently past my driving test before I went out to work in South Africa and I was given an old venturer to drive by the school which was quite an experience. The car would definitely not of passed its MOT in the UK, the brakes were pretty shocking, the wing mirrors and rear view mirror would always slant down so you could never see anything properly and the seat belts hardly worked but it was good fun either way.

During the weekends we would often take trips to the Kruger National Park as it was only 2 hours away. I would often go with the teachers in their own vehicles which was great as it was a cheap way of doing it rather than going on a tour. Going to the Kruger was the first time I had ever been on Safari and it was always amazing. The Kruger is the same size as Wales and there is a lot to cover. The park is beautiful and we got to see a variety of animals. Going during the dry season was the best time to go as the grass was a lovely shade of yellow and was low so you could spot animals easily.

I also entered in a few 5km races in various spots in the area which was great and one race I even came second in with a time of around 21 minutes!

The Limpopo is a beautiful province and one that is very rarely visited by tourists. I was one of the only white people in Giyani which was great as you got to see the real country for what it is. I had an amazing time there nearly spending around 6 months in total, it was a great experience and coaching the children from the villages was an experience to behold.