Day 18: On Their Way!

The team have been dropped at Kili airport and are on their way home....

Thank you so much for reading the blog. We know the team can't wait to show you their own photos and share their experiences with you too.

It's been a pleasure working with Radley again and we can't wait to welcome the next team  back to Tanzania to work with Gehandu again!

Thanks

All at Team Inspire 

Day 17: Goodbye to Gehandu

Blog by Mr Hills and Mr Stobbs. It was an emotional last day at Gehandu school after a busy and hugely fulfilling week. 

Following a later than anticipated departure and Joshua's (the bus driver) eclectic mix of music we arrived with a spring in our step and an eagerness to make the most of the day. Three final excellent lessons were taught before preparations began in earnest for the farewell ceremony combining cultural elements from both schools. In addition, there was added gravitas with guests of honour from the local community. 

Interspersed between a number of heartfelt speeches there were performances of local dances, plays, songs and even some rapping. These were performed by various year groups culminating in the Radley boys joining the final dance with the Year 4 students, who will graduate in November. Radley returned the favour and offered a smorgasbord of culture. As well as an acapella, there was a well-received Monty Python skit, a musical standup and a rap of questionable quality! As the ceremony ended, there was the poignant planting of three new trees that will serve as a lasting symbol of the 2016 cohort. These were planted by Josh Bowesman-Jones and Jack Elvin. 

After a healthy lunch in the staff room with all those who have been involved with the week, it was time to say goodbye. Inevitably, as a result of the close ties that have been forged over the course of the week, this took quite some time. Demand for pictures  was high, which came as a welcome relief for a couple of members of the team! Eventually, the bus headed out down the drive for one last time on this trip. This was carried out to a fitting rendition of 'Jerusalem'. We were joined by some of the staff from Gehandu who then accompanied us to Mbulu market.

Overall, the sentiments of the occasion are now beautifully portrayed in the mural that adorns the side of the science block. It demonstrates the close ties between Radley and Gehandu including elements from both schools motos and crests as well as the names of the pen pals  from 2016.

Radley boys doing acapella!

Gehandu boys showing off their rap skills

Joining in with some traditional dance 

Finishing the Radley/Gehandu motif

Day 16: Volleyball and Football

Refreshed after our first lie in (6:30 rather than 5:45) we headed off to Gehandu for our penultimate day of teaching. 

Having spent the morning teaching we had lunch with our pen pals. Makandi it turns out is a rather bland but filling dish. 

After a close defeat in the penalty shoot outs we proceeded to receive a jolly good drubbing on the volleyball court. 

Returning to the seminary to play yet more football against the formidable 'seminary boys'. 

Finally unshowered and fragrant we headed for a special meal of pork (the first of the trip). 

TD and Atticus

Day 15: Beans, Biology and Banter

Blog: 5:45 again. Luxury breakfast consisting of sweet pancakes which was a blessing. The day started at Gehandu with us all thrashing some beans. 

Team H Social's Bio lesson could not have gone better while others helped students use computers for the first time. 

With a bit of time to spare in between lessons, we whipped out the UNO cards and a few prepared their debate speeches for later. 

Lunch was served - a generous meat dish complimented with a fizzy pop. The sun came out, and all students gathered outside in anticipation of the Annual Radley-Gehandu debating brawl. 

Almost immediately, the debate heated up after a confident and vocal Gehandu audience member silenced Cameron Makin during his speech. 

Suited and booted for football, the 'Radley on tour' 11 took to the field. The game was close with some fantastic skill and sportsmanship displayed from both sides. 

We ended the day with supper and some interesting reflections on the visits to pen pals' homes. By George Eaton.

Day 14: Lessons and Football

Blog: It was an early start, 5:45 to be precise. Followed by a swift breakfast to get into Gehandu early to do some chores, involving watering the vegetable patch, an experience for Gent. 

More lessons were taught today involving the clubbing of Archie to death by a Masai warrior (Charlie). 

An interesting visit to the home of a local student put things into perspective. The highlight of the day however was the two football matches. Firstly the game of mixed Radley and Gehandu teams ending in a tightly fought 2-2 with frequent offsides. Then to the main event, drawing a crowd bigger than bigside has ever seen. The uneven turf and unorthodox style of play proved difficult for Radley, falling behind 1-0 at half time. 

Radley played route one in the second half and Jack Elvin scored with a 20 yard bobbler to level matters. 

Under a hot sun, fatigue set in for both teams, but Gehandu made it 2-1 with a fine passing move. With 10 mins to go, tactical genius from the gaffer saw Radley draw level, with a tidy finish from O.M-H. Final score 2-2. 

Penalty shootout to follow on Thursday......Better rest those tired legs.

By Archie and Charlie

Flight home: update

Dear all

We have been keeping a close eye on the situation in Turkey over the past few days in regards to the boys flight home on Sunday. 

We have now been asked by Radley College to let you know that after careful consideration the College have made the decision to go ahead with the original planned flights home.

This is based on speaking with flight agents and also the Foreign and Commonwealth Advice (FCO):

Istanbul airport is back to normal operations and Turkish Air flights are departing as planned. 

The FCO does not advise against travel to Turkey or transit through Turkey- so there is no advice or recommendation to avoid travelling back home via this route.

Obviously the College and Inspire are keeping a close eye on the situation and if anything changes we will of course let you know but please assume that otherwise the boys will be returning home on the same flight as planned.

With best wishes

Team Inspire 

Day 13: School work

Blog by Josh and Alex. 

First day of teaching done! At the start of the day we had assembly with the whole school where we all introduced ourselves, except Will Caplan as he forgot his own name. 

Mr Jewell also impressed with his little speech in Swahili. All the lessons today went well despite one Gehandu boy getting a little too much into his role play and in fact, bolting from the classroom and over the hill. 

It was quite hard to get the students interacting in the lessons at first, especially the young ones. However, as they became more comfortable with us and our teaching style, they really got into the lesson. 

As well as teaching lessons in the classroom, some of us also gave lessons on using the computers at Gehandu, improving their skills on Excel and Word as well conquering hangman and exploring Google Earth. 

A few boys visited the local primary school, Titiwi, where we sang some songs (head, shoulders, knees and toes) and played a fierce game of volleyball. 

The little munchkins were incredibly energetic and inquisitive, which also included the stroking of Radley boys' hair. 

We also had a tour of Gehandu where we were able to see some of the things that the school had been able to buy with the funds raised by recent trips. 

We left Gehandu and came back to the Seminary to throw ourselves into battle against the Seminary students in a game of football. Thanks to a stunning cross from Tom Rutherford, we sauntered away with victory. Our football tactics were masterminded by first time gaffa Charlie Williams. 

After football, we had a delicious supper and we then headed off for an early night. 

Finally, happy birthday to my brother, Harry Bowesman-Jones, I'm really sorry that I'm not there, I hope you had a good day!

Day 12: Mbulu

6am get up doesn't really mix well with Radlians but we made our way to the 3rd biggest cathedral in Africa which happened to be in our garden.

However the church service in Swahili ended up taking up over 2 hours but a lovely experience nonetheless. The priests welcomed us warmly. Then we made our way to meet our pen pals. Everyone was in high spirits. Our pen pals increased with confidence after our walk up another mountain. Slightly embarrassing as we were all beaten up there by 3 young locals who were greeted with food and games. 

We played a few icebreakers and everyone had a smile on there face. After us teaching them a little bit about our culture they taught us a bit about theirs by giving us some sugar cane to eat. Some of us struggled with the obscure challenge. One must strip the outside of the cane with only your teeth. We had a lovely supper and then returned to plan our lessons for the forcoming days. We look forward to the week ahead.

By Tom Rutherford

     Ollie Martyn-Hemphill

     George Love

Day 11: Safari (Part Two)

After a good night's sleep in an igloo, we set off for the infamous Ngorogoro Crater. 

Despite a slower start than a fat man over the 100m we eventually made our way down the crater rim. It didn't take long to spot the first hyena of the day, shortly followed by a pride of lions, the two species ended up in a standoff over the carcass of Gary the gazelle ( A close friend of Cecil the lion). we also saw Jackals, a black Rhino, Zebras, Springbok and many other animals. 

We then drove to the seminary and settled in for the night. 

Will and Harry

Ps From Inspire and Radley Teachers: Just to reassure all parents we are keeping a close eye on the situation in Turkey. At present FCO advice states it is fine to travel (especially as we are also only in transi). We will be looking at options and assessing over the next few days though and will keep you updated.

Day 10: Safari (Part One)

by George Gent and Seb Berger. 

We had an early wake up courtesy of Tom Rutherford and soon boarded our safari vehicles. A 2 hour drive took us to Tarangire nature reserve where we swiftly took to the track. 

A herd of zebra let us know that we were due to see many animals, but none of us expected the sheer variety and quantity of animals. From a hugely impressive male elephant to the first leopard spotted in the park for 3 years. 

Wildebeest and lions seemed at ease with one another in the midday heat as we settled down for a lunch over a spectacular view. 

In meal entertainment was provided by velvet monkeys, who stole food and defecated on MRJ! 

Fleeing from the monkeys we rejoined the trail, to be greeted by giraffes and an unbelievable number of elephants. 

After an amazing day of safari we headed for the Masai market, where we tried our hand at bartering to varying degrees of success! 

Then a short journey to our hotel whose igloo shaped cabins were unlike anything anyone had seen before. 

After a delicious supper with musical accompaniment we all headed to bed looking forward to a great day at Ngorongoro.

Blog comments

Dear all

You may have been aware there has been a technical fault with the blogsite and it hasn't been allowing all of you to post your comments. We do apologise for this. 

We have now sorted this out and everyone should now be able to post comments on each update.

We will then pass these comments on to the team. 

Once again, apologies for this technical hitch and we look forward to hearing from you all over the rest of the trip!

Best wishes

All at Team Inspire 

NB. Whilst the blogsite had this error the boys were allowed to use their personal phones to keep you updated (if they had them). However, now we have resolved the issue we will be going back to our usual policy of no mobiles. This is for safety management of the team as I am sure you all understand. If you need to contact your son at any point though please don't hesitate to call our 24 hour number on 07531 872658 and we can get a message to the team through our Inspire Leaders. 

Day 9: Onto Arusha

The boys enjoyed a bit of a lie-in this morning, and a hearty breakfast, with weetabix! The new Inspire leaders Jack and Julia then took over, and we waved a fond farewell to Greg and Eamon.

 Our first stop was to the Commonwealth cemetery in Moshi where O.R Noel Gibbs is buried, having been shot in action in British East Africa in 1916. We held a brief ceremony led by George and Seb and observed a minute's silence in respect of his life and sacrifice. 

Then we headed to Meserani snake park for lunch and some brave people (Will) held some of the non-venomous vipers. 

After that we travelled back to Arusha and to Charity Hotel. There we had group orientation with Jack and Julia, and learnt more about the project at Gehandu and the programme for the week. We ended the evening with a delicious buffet supper and an early night. Looking forward to safari tomorrow. 

Some piccies from Kili! 

Day 8: Back to base

Hi all

Just to let you know that the team are now safely back at Weruweru Lodge at the base of Kilimanjaro.

They are delighted to be clean and back in proper beds tonight- but they have asked if we can update you tonight so they can head to bed early! 

Day 7: Summit Day

Hi all.. We have just had the following update from Greg and Eamon the Inspire Mountain Trip Leaders:

'Hi all. We are now all safely back down at Kibo Camp having lunch before descending further to Horombo Huts later this afternoon.

Five team members made it to the summit (William C, Sebastian B, Oliver MH, Joshua BJ and Henry C), with another seven making it to Gilman's Point (Alec GC, Archie, Charles, George E, Jack E , Tom R and Sven WVS).

The other team members did amazingly well but the effects of altitude meant they had to descend earlier (Atticus, Cameron, George G, George L, Thomas TD).

It was amazing weather throughout the climb with little wind, stunning stars and an incredible sunrise.'

The team did amazingly well and were really supportive of each other.

We are all on good form and looking forward to hot showers and food when we get back to the lodge tomorrow!

Day 6: Kibo Camp

From the Team Leader, Greg:

Hi Beth, we have all arrived at Kibo Camp and the team is resting now before we depart at midnight for the final push and hopefully the summit. 

We saw Eland & Buffalo crossing the saddle today which was amazing!

The team are doing well, although the higher altitude is obviously making things tough too. 

Will text with result when we are back in Kibo tomorrow. 

Thanks all!

Day 5: Mawenzi Tarn

The group have again made good progress today- with a tougher climb to Mawenzi Tarn.

They made camp in 4 hours though and had the late afternoon to recuperate and rest, before a full briefing on the summit night tomorrow.

All are looking forward to the challenge ahead and are being supportive of each other too. It's all about the team effort!

Day 4: Kikelewa Camp

Another good day, into camp for lunch and a short acclimatisation walk in the afternoon. The Highlight today was a dancing and singing session as the team were introduced to the local crew. Some fine moves on show with Charlie and Kyle getting the biggest cheers for their struts.

George Love did great job as team captain, morale high with much singing on the trail. All in good health and looking forward to breaking 4000m tomorrow.

Day 3: Second Cave

An update from Inspire Trip Leader, Greg:

Hi, all is good here with the team. 

We arrived at 2nd Cave Camp at around midday after 4 hrs. 

The porters had prepared a great hot lunch and afterwards we had a restful afternoon, lots of card games in the mess tent! 

The sun has been shining and we are all forward to tomorrow.

Day 2: Simba Camp

The team made good time today- taking just 4hrs to get to Simba Camp with weather which was overcast but dry. 

They saw Colobus monkeys in the pine forest mid-afternoon and are in high spirits and all briefed ready for tomorrow and the 6am start.

Day 1: Preps for Kili

The team have had a chilled day today going through kit checks and preparations for tomorrow's start on Kili (only slightly disrupted by managing to find Wimbledon on one of the lodge's TV's!) Go Andy!

Team pics below (with Inspire Kili Leaders Greg and Eamon on the second row) and a misty Kilimanjaro!

Safe arrival

Dear all

The team have safely arrived at Weruweu Lodge in Moshi.

They are having a good rest before preps for the Kili climb start tomorrow!