As the blazing sun of early summer kicks in, the Easter holidays may seem like a long time ago. But probably not for those who took part in this year's Youth Mission Project in South Africa. They will have memories that will last a lifetime!

There follows a brief insight into the experience from one of our group leaders on what took place - we hope you find it inspiring and gives you a glimpse of what it could be like to experience the mission for yourself...

The Project involved building housing for refugees settled by the South African government at the Ebenezer Orphanage and Care Centre, in the Grasmere district of Gauteng, south of Johannesburg. We were assigned to ‘Site 1’ - this was one of the two houses to be built using Thermalite-type blocks on a concrete base, rendered and then topped with a roof of aluminium sheets. The other three houses were built using an experimental technique involving polystyrene-formers filled with a cement-and-clinker mix, strengthened with short lengths of steel. All the concrete, mortar and render were mixed by hand and the area was just grassy scrub before work started.

On Day One we cleared and levelled the site, dug the footings and poured half the concrete foundations.
On Day Two we back-filled the site (!) and poured the other half of the foundations plus all the ‘slab’ (with much help from a team of African refugees)
Day Three was wall-building, under the expert eye of an African builder called ‘Justice’.
Days Four & Five were wall-building and rendering plus roof-fitting.

The daily routine was demanding but not overwhelming. Breakfast was ‘served’ al fresco at 7 a.m. Building-work started at about 8 a.m. with a break around 11 a.m. and then lunch at 1 p.m.Most sites observed a siesta until 3 p.m. and then worked until the meal at 6 p.m. Evenings comprised a shower (when possible), a buffet-style meal, a Leader’s meeting, ‘Club’ and, finally, a hot drink and bed around 9.30 – 10 p.m.

On the "non-work" days we visited a gated-Market (four rand entry and then bartering for goods), a zoo where you could get into the enclosures with the animals, an eat-all-you-can-for-100-rand buffet restaurant and a Zulu church service (where two lads on the project responded to the altar-call!)

The post-Project response from our group has been wholly favourable. The kids had a memorable experience and the Leaders felt that Urban Saints had delivered what it had promised!

P.S. Two of our team met Amy Winehouse at Gatwick when we flew out to Jo'burg. Apparently, she was lovely to them and wanted to know all about what they were going to Africa to do. The girls are putting the story about that 'Amy came to see us off to Africa'...

Project leader Bill Hebner (Urban Saints' Emerging Leaders Manager), sums up this trip best when he says “This is not about building houses, this is about building (young) people” and hopefully you can get a sense of this from the description. The young people work hard but the team, including their own group leaders, work even harder to ensure that they have a truly life-changing, character-building experience! If you'd like to know more about the details of the trip, please contact Bill to get the full picture!