Being around the animals and swimming
Today we set off at 10.00 to help he children at Letaba school get on the bus to go to Daktari animal sanctuary near Gravelotte. The sanctuary is owned by Michelle ad Ian who started the project to help animals, and also children in the local village. A lot of their aims are very similar to ours, and when we are working with the children on each trip we will take them to Daktari to visit the animals where they are allowed to have hands on contact with some of the smaller ones.
10 children had been selected to go on the trip as we helped them on their bus. When arriving at the sanctuary the children ate their lunch, being helped by some of the volunteers, although most of the children 
are very independent. One young boy who we thought would need our help, is unfortunate to have no hands, and also cannot walk. As we went to help him when he was sat in his wheel chair to eat, the teacher who came with us, 
explained that he did not need any help and found it easier to sit on the floor when he ate, which he managed very well on his own. Again, we are learning how independent many of these children are.
After lunch we started a tour around the sanctuary. Some of these children have never seen such animals and others we have taken before. The children were allowed contact with the tame mongoose, who was handled by the staff at the sanctuary when letting the children touch them. Some of them giggled, and others were slightly worried but relaxed after watching their friends. The children met a variety of animals and were also able to touch and hold the tortoise which they 
also appeared to enjoy and were very inquisitive of this.
The next stop was meeting one of the donkeys who was blind in one of his 
eyes. One of the children who had been before was laughing as he hid behind a tree as we approached the donkey. He laughed, telling us about the last time that he had been when we held him on the donkeys back who decided he didn’t like him very much! we soon learnt and of course had hold of him at the time. We giggled with him about it and he then came and said hello to the donkey.
After going to see all of the animals, the children all appeared to have enjoyed it. One little girl though, remained unsure throughout the time we spent with them so did not want to get too close. She seemed to be a very quiet girl.
We then decided to give the children the option if they would like to go swimming. Many of them wanted to, so Ruth, Lucy, Lisa and 
Nichola went into the pool with some of the children. As some of the children have a wide spectrum of disabilities, the children with high needs needed more support than others. One of the children who cannot verbalize well and has a lot of energy loved swimming and as we supported him around the pool, kicked and splashed as much as he could.
Others had the chance to move their legs and arms in the pool, as the water helped them to loosen their joints and muscles. They did really well and when we explained to them to kick their legs and move their arms, they did just that, and were full of smiles. This also taught us a-lot about some of the children whom we thought had no 
understanding of what we were saying when previously working with them. They now appeared to be very understanding of what we were saying and very quick to respond too.
After swimming we all warmed up in the sun and then drove home.
We all really enjoyed the day and hope that the children enjoyed it as much, if not more than we did, we had a really good day.