South Africa

Last summer I went out to Western Cape in South Africa to volunteer with a charity called Thembalitsha that works with communities affected by TB and HIV. I was staying at a project called the Village of Hope, a farm which has a home on-site for up to nine kids at any one time. The work that they do is amazing and if you want to know more then have a look at their website.

The scenery is breathtaking around Cape Town, especially along the coastline and I took loads of landscape photos while I was out there but my favourite shots are all of the kids I met and worked with.

With one of the girls on the farm

  The Village of Hope does a lot of outreach into the community and every weekday afternoon it runs sports clubs in the local townships.

Two footballers

 The kids were so eager to have their photos taken which was great for me although it did mean that I would take hundreds of pictures every day and then it took quite a while to sort through them all. I can't post photos of the children who lived on the farm just to keep their identity safe but these are all taken out and about in the town of Grabouw where the Village of Hope is based.

These three were too young to play sport but they liked to watch

Some kids were a real distraction when I was meant to be running a netball club because they were just so photogenic!

They were pretty much always this hyper!

This was taken in the heart of apple-growing country (which is what Grabouw is known for) by the farms where Appletiser is produced. It was taken on my last day working with this group.