HeronBridge College

Mission to Xai-Xai in Mozambique

25 HeronBridge College students joined up with the HeronBridge Community Church on their third annual mission to Xai-Xai in Mozambique. They joined 9 adults to spend 8 days giving of themselves to serve this cmmmunity. The HeronBridge Community Church has formed a good relationship with Youth for Christ (YfC) Mozambique and has, in the past, assisted them with their work in the local villages. YFC Mozambique has established a number of village schools in the Early Childhood Development sector. They raise the financial support for the teachers, train the teachers in the use of a curriculum and also arranges for nutritious meals for the children on a daily basis.

The role of the team is supporting this work. Last year the team built a school and also distributed 10 “School in a Box” kits. A box contains all a teacher would need resource-wise to teach a group of 30 kids. This year the team again interacted with these villages and provided 10 gross motor activity bags. Each bag contains a range of equipment which is used to develop gross motor skills through play. The team played with the children and in this way demonstrated to the teachers how the equipment can be used, what the value is in the children’s development. They then left those resources with the teachers, along with documents that explain each activity.

The team also held a 3 day soccer clinic for 160 twelve to fourteen year olds in Xai-Xai. They provided each youngster with a t-shirt and all the 60 balls, 120 cones and whistles taken up were left with the YfC staff to continue conducting soccer clinics with the hope of creating an informal league for this age group.

Following are quotes from HeronBridge College students pertaining to their experience up in Xai-Xai:

Grade 11:
“My heart was touched numerous times and it lead me into questioning who I am. The children in the villages really taught me unconditional love. They did not care about my looks or how I dressed, all they wanted were to be played with and held. These children really understand what it is to be selfless and they have taught me humility and shown me how rich they are in some spheres of their lives. The most touching for me was when I saw children offering some of our group half of their biscuits. This really moved as this was probably the first and last biscuit they would have and yet they were willing to share it with us! This really pushed me over the edge and made me feel incomplete as a person.
Strangely enough, as this hole started to open I started to feel like God wanted me to ‘talk’ with him more and more. In the beginning I did not have the courage to talk to God as I felt guilty for rejecting him but due to Ingo’s devotions and everyone’s experiences I found that I could go no longer without talking to God. I had to confront Him.
I am now a Christian and feel as though God is walking next to me holding my hand. It is the most amazing feeling I have ever had! Every morning and evening when I pray I feel as though I am talking directly to God. With every decision I make I feel as though God is guiding me and all that I can do is pray that I can help others like God has helped me.”

“At the risk of sounding terribly corny, there was so much that I learnt about myself whilst in Mozambique. I really appreciate everything much more. It truly was an eye opener; many of the children are left to their own devices. They have nothing. “

“It stood out for me when we were told, “the people in the village are not poor and different to how we are, but from their perspective, they were normal and living good lives and we were the different ones”

“This little girl that didn’t know me put her trust in me and sat in my lap. She came to me for love, she just wanted to be held and given attention. This was only one of many experiences but it warmed my heart. At first I was in compete shocked, I was scared and I wanted to leave. I didn’t understand why the little girl wanted to be with me specifically and I didn’t know how to react. I think I was afraid to open up to something so foreign to me. I feel that the little girl was a message for me to open my heart and give my all to whatever was thrown my way.”
“I was a very emotional trip in regards to the group as a whole, where I found this year’s experience at Xai-Xai reinforced how I felt and what I spiritually experienced in the previous trip”

Grade 12:
“It, unexpectedly, became one of those trips where you come back to your ‘normal’ life and wonder why it hasn’t changed. I walked into Broadacres after a 14hr trip back and was amazed at how self involved the people were. I almost despaired for our society, until I remembered that before this trip I was more like them than I’d like to admit. Xai-Xai 2010 for me wasn’t only a trip where I made new friends and strengthened old relationships, connected with kids and saw how the people live. It wasn’t a pretty holiday that will be forgotten in a dusty scrapbook one day. It was a trip that shifted my perspective and allowed God to reach into my life and change it irrevocably.”

College Best Speaker Competition

Teagan O'Gorman

Joanne Tomlinson

On the evenings of Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd June, the College ran its Internal Best Speaker Competition. The best speakers in each Grade, from Grade 8 to Grade 11, went through two rounds of adjudication before making it through to the Junior and Senior Finals Evenings. Everyone who participated spoke beautifully and our congratulations go out to all of them. The Juniors wrote and presented speeches on the topic of an abstract noun. Students spoke on inspiration, death, family, friendship, heroism and more, showing intelligence, maturity and a lovely combination of entertainment and enlightenment. The results were as follows:

Grade 8
2nd runner-up: Michael Daubermann
1st runner-up: Jemma Muller
Winner: Natasha Lewis
 
Grade 9
2nd runners-up: Harriet Bentley and Taylor Evans
1st runner-up: Ofentse Moduka
Winner: Teagan O’Gorman
 
Overall Junior Best Speaker: Teagan O’Gorman
 
The Seniors were given the challenge of finding a quote from a well-known person in the form of a question. The speakers put a lot of thought into their speeches and the standard was extremely high. The Grade 10 and Grade 11 speakers wrote and presented excellent speeches that impressed, amused and provoked much thought. The results are as follows:
 
Grade 10
1st runners-up: Farai Mubaiwa and Thabile Myeza
Winner: Melissa Veale
 
Grade 11
2nd runner-up: Caroline Peel
1st runner-up: Jarryd Webber
Winner: Joanne Tomlinson
 

Overall Senior Best Speaker: Joanne Tomlinson

Eskom Science Expo

HeronBridge College entered the Eskom Science Expo the first time this year. The following students are congratulated on being selected to represent the College at the Regional Eskom Science Expo on Saturday 31st July:

Darien Edwards	Farai Mubaiwa	Harriet Bentley
Jamie-Lee Goosen	Megan Rigby	Megan Taylor
Melissa Pullen	Wynand Brummer and Miriam Muller	Warrick Gower

Grade 10:
Darien Edwards – Cranium Cool
Warrick Gower – Magnetic suspension
Farai Mubaiwa & Jonathan Buchan - Effective microbes
Santana Land & Melissa Pullen – Hubbly bubbly
Miriam Müller & Wynand Brümmer – Bottled water

Grade 9:
Mischa Boddenberg-Lift energy
Jamie-Lee Goosen-Ground breaking discoveries
Harriet Bentley & Jodie Porter-The ‘F’ word (FAT)
Megan Rigby-Measuring glycemic levels
Letrisha Mouton & Megan Taylor –Animal tracking system

All the students who made an effort with their colourful, informative, inspiring displays are thanked and commended for their hard work.

Sterkfontein Caves and Maropeng

On Thursday 29th April 2010 50 Grade 11 students, accompanied by Mr Muddiman , Mrs Powell and Mrs Letord began a journey that would see them descending 60 m underground , and being blown away by the vortex.  This was an educational tour to Sterkfontein Caves and Maropeng. The students needed to learn a number of different aspects and what better way than to present them with visual learning of topics, such as World Heritage site, the Ramsar convention, stalactites and stalagmites and then biologically, the uncovering of skeleton remains which have ancient DNA.  The highlight or in fact highlights, of the trip were  different for each student but the stories of the happening of the Caves intrigued the  Grade 11’s for example  the exploration of the underground lake especially because the guides had an awesome way of explaining the different stories . At Maropeng the Vortex had everyone screaming and tumbling but most enjoyed the lazy trip along the waterway going back in time. The Grade 11 appreciated how much time and thought had been put into the displays that were interactive and educational.

Swimming 2009 – 2010

Our Prestige Swimmers did us proud.
The results were as follows:
 
Gold Medal – Marianna Marini – U15 50m Backstroke
Silver Medal – Wesley Marshall – U17 50m Freestyle
Bronze Medal – Danielle Martin – U14 50m Backstroke and Freestyle
                             U15 Freestyle relay – Danielle Martin, Marianna Marini, Jason Rodgers and
                                                              Mischa Boddenberg
 
Overall, we had an awesome season and we have gone from strength to strength!