Old News

Team Arrives Home Safely

The first leg of the 'thirst for life' exchange is now complete and the full UK team are home safely, having met or exceeded all of the project objectives.

On the 23rd July the UK team arrived in the Kingdom of Swaziland and were met by 20 Swazi Scouts who accompanied us to the project site in Bhule Buyezi. Over the 3 weeks that followed we lived and worked together to start building a national Scout Centre. Together, using funds raised in the UK, we built toilets and a general purpose building, levelled and fenced a large area of the 12 hectare site, planted trees, installed a bore hole, made signage and made preparations for electricity to be installed.

The UK and Swazi scouts learnt much about each other's cultures and many strong friendships were formed. One of the highlights of the trip was the home-stay when pairs of UK scouts spent a weekend with a Swazi scout and their family. This was an excellent opportunity to experience real African life and the hospitality of the Swazi people helped ensure it was an experience none of us will ever forget.

During the fourth and final week of the stay, UK and Swazi Scouts visited 3 of Swaziland's national parks and took part in a series of activities including safari's, white water rafting, mountain biking and horse riding.

We now start the second leg of the youth exchange with a return visit planned for summer 2006. Our Swazi friends are keen to visit the UK to experience our way of life and engage in a similarly worthwhile community action project. Our next challenge is to raise sufficient funds to pay for flights and hosting.

The 'thirst for life' project has already had a hugely positive impact on a countless number of people. We would like to thank everyone for their continued support, without which none of this would have been possible.

Thirst for Life Summer Ball 2005

A huge THANK YOU to all those who attended the Summer Ball on Friday 17th June at Kings Weston House in Bristol. The evening was a great success thanks to all those involved including organisers, entertainers, friends and family.

Special thanks go to 'Rock of Ages' for the excellent live music, Magician Richard Newman who wowed us all with his tricks and to the capable staff at Kings Weston House.

Please feel free to send us an email to let us know what you thought of the evening - we appreciate any feedback you may have.

Thanks again on behalf of the Thirst for Life team.

More pictures...

Land Transfer Ceremony

On Saturday 20th March a peice of land in Nkambeni was officially handed over to the Swaziland Boy Scouts Association for the purpose of the thirst for life community action project.

The handover was a ceremonious event involving dancing, various speech's from the village chiefs and the traditional slaughtering of a cow.

The day marks the culmination of all the hard work that has taken place to date and opens the doors for the next important activities including the land clearance, survey and utility installations.

Race Night

A huge thanks to all of those that attended the Race Night at the Bristol Memorial stadium on Friday 18th March. The evening was great fun and helped raise in excess of £800 for the community action project taking place in Nkambeni, Swaziland.