The sheer beauty of the surroundings touched me deeply in Thankarvasti. Here we were tucked into the hills, no road access, no lights, no noise. The peace of nature seeping into everything.

And then we brought the big guns in. Dr Sathe had organized a big noisy digger to come from who knows where. Certainly it was the first time such a machine and such noise was to be seen and heard in the village. The digger cleared the land for the toilets we were to build and evened the area where…

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Thakarvasti India 2010 - a few hours out of Mumbai, then an hour by four wheel drive and then a walk with all our gear.

The plan was to renovate and reinvigorate the school environment in the tiny remote village of Thakarvasti.

Perched on a hill the school room had been built some decades earlier and in fact there was even a teacher provided. But that was it. The surroundings were picturesque but the village itself a forgotten place of delapidated buildings and the…

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As I work on the edit for our Johannesburg episode I am once again reminded of the issues there. The feel of the place and the people I met.

I experienced Joburg from many sides. I stayed the majority of my time in the comfort of a very wealthy electrically protected neighbourhood in a beautiful house overlooking a golf course. There was intense security to get in and out and patrol cars cruised the external periphery day and night. I felt safe there and was grateful for the…

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In Port Elizabeth we worked with a two groups of young people from either side of the economic fence, privileged and poor and brought them together to be one group of young people. Together they had an amazing week of learning and creating a new future for themselves and their nation. I am thrilled to hear these kids are still getting together to support and know each other. They are planning a sleepover with the girls in a month or so. This is so beautiful that they are staying committed to… Continue