TKS students build trip to South Africa

By Cabby Tennis & Johanna Smith Bakken, Secondary school trip sponsors.

A seventeen strong team of students from Grades 6 to 11 represented the Gardens Secondary School on an extremely successful third Annual Build Trip South Africa, continuing the relationship between TKS and Footprints, a school and home to over 30 students located north of Johannesburg. The team built, treated and painted a new stand-alone classroom; designed and painted beautiful floral and sea graphics on another.

The team also landscaped and built a brick patio with steps connecting the rooms and helped shore up the drain system against rainstorms. The Footprint children joined us at play during lunch and after work. One of the team’s favorite times featured a visit to a nearby game reserve for a beautiful sundown meal and time to connect one-on-one with the Footprints children.

Our visit also afforded us an opportunity to learn about the history, industry and wildlife of this remarkable country. The team visited Soweto, and the only street in the world home to two Nobel Peace Prize laureates: Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela. We visited the Apartheid Museum, the Hector Pieterson Memorial and the Freedom Tower. We chatted with policemen and women, visited local markets and played with day care children enjoying a sunny day in a park.

The TKS South Africa build trip in photo gallery.

 

On our final full two days, we visited an Elephant Sanctuary, Pilanesburg National Park and Johannesburg’s Rhino and Lion game reserve. The members of Build Team 2015 made the most of every moment and served as excellent ambassadors of our school.

Build Team 2015: Tala Almulla, Layan Almulla, Xarlasht Khan, Ibrahim AlGhamdi, Leesa Tulley, Romane Seclier, Alex Piper, Mohammed Althagfi, Firas Bukhari, Yosuf Alhashim, Osama Ashqar, Omar Shamma, Yusuf Yapici, Rawad Skinner, Sooraj Biju, Saad Khawaji, Badr Khawaji

Sponsors: Cabby Tennis & Johanna Smith Bakken.

Read this week’s issue of  The Wave, the weekly KAUST School newsletter that updates parents and the community about the latest happenings in grades K1-12.