Day 5

Today was our first day of getting the Arsenal  kit on and getting out into the community. We were being picked up by Joe at 10:30 but had to be up early for the cleaner to get into our room. Here at Berghof we have a laundry service twice a week and our rooms cleaned from top to bottom a few times a week, we've done well to get this placement as they are looking after us so well.

We were supposed to go to a few offices this morning but were told not to worry as we would soon meet them in the coming days and weeks. Instead we took a short drive to pick up some equipment and some food. We then made our way back to the learning centre had some food and sat down with Joe and Lorens, discussing our 3 months here and the PonJoe amongst other things. 

We then spent our afternoon at the Victory Outreach centre. The best way I can describe it is a rehab centre that uses religion to help put people back on the right track, but also gives them the skills to better themselves. When they arrive they are on a 9month programme where they must abide by the rules of the centre, show they want to better themselves but also work to help the centre. They can leave whenever they want and are not tied to how long they stay. It's a self funded organisation with support coming from the church. Whether you believe in religion or not it was clear that for the 30ish people sat in front of us it has had an effect. We were  asked to answer a few questions and to talk about our experiences and how we made it to where we are. At first it was quite daunting sitting there being asked question by a group of ex drug users, dealers, prostitutes and gang members. Not because of who they are or were that didn't bother me, they were there to help themselves, I just questioned how much good we could do, would they sit there and take it in or would they question what right we had to be telling them our opinions on life? The more it went on you could tell that actually they were taking on board everything we said, we both told them that we didn't  come from areas like Cape Town, but like them I'm from an area that statistically isn't great, and that I've worked hard to not get mixed up in the wrong things, I've concentrated on my education and have taken my opportunities, and here I am working for Arsenal on the other side of the world. After we finished some of the group took turns to stand up and tell us abit about themselves, most if not all had some sort of family issues which was a catalyst for the crimes they commit. It made me think of how lucky I was to have a good home and a good family to keep me on the right path. We were then treated to a performance, I forget what Joe called it but it was great to see. Before leaving we stopped for photos and had lots of the group as well as people that were helping out come up and tell us how they appreciated our talk and they were going to take what we said and use it. I'm not a trained speaker and to be honest most of what I said was just based on experiences I've had, but if it helps at least 1 person then it was worth it. It certainly opened my eyes and thank you to Joe for organising the trip.

Tonight we were invited out by Elias, I was put in contact with Elias from a friend back home, he picked us up and took us for food by the waterfront. It was good talking to someone who lived here and knew where to go, we had some really good food with really great views, it's a shame I had left my camera back in my room and my battery had died, but I'm sure we will go back.

Tomorrow we need to make our own way in, we've decided to walk into town from there we catch a train. This is going to be interesting, and we need to be in by 8 so the alarms are set for 6, I'm still running on UK time so it'll be 4am in London, so I'm going to watch abit of the Stoke game and then it's off to bed.