On a wet and windy Saturday morning, nine passionate travellers emerged, some more lively than others, and met at a cold Dublin Airport to begin their eventful journey to Maseru, the capital city of Lesotho.

After a quick nap the team were ready to get their hands dirty. A trip to the shops yielded the tools required to build a swing set for an orphanage close by and to paint a wall at a new orphanage, still under construction. The team jumped into the bus and travelled to both orphanages to be introduced to the children, workers and buildings.

Over the course of the week the team completed and installed the swing set, painted the wall including a series of murals, ran a kids program each day, facilitated an Easter party for the children of the orphanage and built many relationships with the workers of the link where we stayed. The experience was one of joy, tears and a lot of learning. The team grew together as a unit and learnt a lot about each other and themselves. Everyone got stuck in and pulled their weight. The extra fifteen hours of travel and lack of sleep was all made worthwhile by the smiles on the faces of the children we worked with over the course of the week.

Many treasured memories have been made and relationships built. I look forward to future contact with both the orphanages and the Lesotho-Durham link.