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Visit to Mosiouoa Lekota
School
Our visit to this school was highly
memorable. We were greeted by the Principal, Mr K.S.
Khomoeasera and a number of his staff and were welcomed with
traditional South African tea and home baking. After an initial
meeting, chaired by Mr Rakometsi, we toured the school, a school
that serves the township and had only been open for the past 2
years. It was well resourced and the pupils showed great pride in
their school. A wonderful speech was given as we also received gifts
of cards made by the students using their ICT suite. They reflected
on what a difference ICT had made and was making to their learning
and how the installation of a phone line or broadband internet
connection would mean a great deal to them. We then gave gifts of a
number of English teddy bears - a symbol of a figure to whom young
pupils might tell their stories - of their lives, their culture and
their country.
At the Educational Resource Centre, one
of five being planned for this region of South Africa, we discussed
the impending installation of hardware and software. We also
discussed possible visits to the UK and the idea of a Summer Expo
with prize-winning young pupils from South Africa visiting the UK
was first considered.
This single visit did a great deal to
consolidate discussions that had been had, the scope of this
inaugural visit to South Africa and the notion of a Fast Gain and
Fast Gain Community (UK/SA) for 2004
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FREE STATE
This landlocked province between the Vaal River in the north and the
Orange River in the south is an area of wide, open spaces - an
immense rolling prairie, checkered with farmsteads and windmills.
Hospitality is one of the province's prized assets and a Free State
farm holiday offers a unique opportunity to get to know the friendly
people who inhabit this region. One of South Africa's major rivers,
the Vaal the flows through the province and there are attractive
holiday resorts near two of the river's largest dams.
The mountains of the eastern highlands harbour romantic hideaways
and rugged hiking Park in the trails. The Golden Gate National Park
in the north-east, with its spectacular sandstone formations, an
area of scenic beauty, has a network of nature trails and provides
the opportunity to see a variety of antelope and birdlife. The
adjoining Qwaqwa National Park is sanctuary to rare species of
vulture. Other protected areas include the Mount Everest Game
Reserve at Harrismith and the Seekoeivlie Nature Reserve, a
birdwatchers' paradise near the small town of Memel. Qwaqwa and many
other parts of the Free State are home to the South Sotho people and
their culture can be appreciated at the Basotho Cultural Village.
Capital of the Free State is Bloemfontein, known as the 'City of
Roses'
Ironically, but not
inappropriately, the "rose" is also the symbol for Mirandanet (tm).
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