EXTRACT FROM AN EMAIL RECEIVED FROM JANIS MOWLAM, WHO HAS MASTERMINDED THE LINK BETWEEN LLANHARI SECONDARY IN SOUTH WALES & UMQHELE SECONDARY SCHOOL IN IVORY PARK JOHANNESBURG SA

Date 17. March 2004

Subject: Safe arrival of consignment in Ivory Park

Dear Everyone

I am delighted to report that on Monday afternoon the pallets for Umqhele arrived at their destination.

The last few weeks have been eventful, a roller coaster ride, in fact. I could not write this at the time, but for the stout of heart the account of it follows.

My application to the Nelson Mandela Foundation for help with transport received their support and they wrote to a transport company asking for assistance. (That is usually enough to secure it here!) Unfortunately the company no longer exists, I discovered, when I could wait no longer for the response. 2 new companies metamorphosed from the original and neither had heard of a letter from the Foundation... Hence no reply!

When the ship docked on a Thursday, Eliza (Sold on Success) was taking a workshop outside Cape Town. Neither of us had been able to find out when the ship was due before she left - you need a ship number from Capespan. The pallets were unloaded at midnight on Thursday and temporarily stored in a wood storage warehouse. The usual storage was full. Eliza came back on the Saturday, visited the dock, found the pallets obscuring access to the wood, (needed to secure pallets during transport,) and about to be evicted at 6am on Tuesday. She rang me to consult.

I recalled Michael Jackson's email to Les Lee, which someone kindly copied to me. I rang him on Sunday night and discovered, that he was visiting CapeTown and that he is a transport logistics consultant! He took on the challenge at once. On Monday he rang with the name of an associate, whose company Fast and Fresh, would help with transport as soon as possible, - hoping we could get an extension on the storage.

On Tuesday lunch time the goods were removed from the store and my urgent call to Gavin Wilson mobilised a truck that collected everything, taking Eliza's portion to a New World Foundation storage facility that she had rapidly negotiated, and holding the Ivory Park consignment in the meantime. Eliza has been in and out of the docks, endlessly proactive with Capespan and the International Harbour Services, getting them to load the donated truck for free! Days passed, then suddenly last Friday the Johannesburg office of Fast and Fresh rang to say the truck would deliver on Monday (15th) - at some point. At lunchtime the call came: "They had got a horse,"(?) were loaded and ready to go.

I jumped into my car and collected the man with the video camera, Mike Shryane, and we sped off down the motorway. When we reached Umqhele the truck had just arrived and was backed at a precarious angle, on a downward slope by the back gate, near the technology workshops with secure internal storage. It looked huge. A small army of boys had just started shouldering the boxes from the back of the lorry. The pallets were stacked to the roof
of the truck, the boys swarmed round the open end and spirited the contents at an amazing speed into the store, darting to and fro like ants.

The teachers had copies of the lists that I had brought. They were amazed at the amount and scope of the contents. They kept looking at the numbers and finding the corresponding description, and there was wonder in their voices. Philip Makua, Head of Technology, intercepted the computers and took them off to the Principal's office.

Councilor Julia Kubu, who is a school governor and who runs the crèches in Ivory Park said the Principal had rung her, asking what she was doing that afternoon, and told her to cancel it, whatever it was, and get to the school. She was in the store, looking at the furniture, the boxes of games and books for preschool, the sewing machines and tools, saying "I just can't believe it" over and over again.

The staff arranged to go through the list and check what had arrived, then asked the other 2 schools to come for the resources intended for them, well aware of the need to share their good fortune. The boxes were in a good condition, all still sealed. They had travelled on the pallets, which kept them from damage.

When empty the lorry made ready to go, but as we have had such rains the ground was soft and the lorry was slipping back to the school wall with each attempt. Finally the driver had to ring for a recovery truck, and then settle to wait, the Principal staying too.

In Michael Jackson and perhaps Gavin Wilson we have a potential for strong support and practical assistance. The connection was a Godsend. The school is thrilled and will write soon. Further news must wait.

Thank you all for all your efforts. We filmed the unloading here and will send you photos as soon as possible. It was a relief of course to finally fulfill my part, but such a privilege to be here with the community and see the result of your hard work and the reaction of everyone to it.

Kind regards to you all, and from everyone involved at Umqhele on Monday, their warmest thanks

Janis”