I didn’t get time to watch the BBC3 programme Wags, Kids and World Cup Dreams when it first showed last week, so this weekend I watched it through iplayer and thought it was actually really good!

It was great to see the “wags” really getting involved with work at the orphanage they helped out at, and they did all really seem to care about the kids they were helping. My favourite wag was Ellie (maybe because she’s from Birmingham?!) and I thought she was the one who put the most effort in and was really willing to get stuck in and – literally! – get her hands dirty. They all seemed to be affected by the volunteer work in some way though… Amii really bonded with a young girl who’d been raped, and Imogen was shocked by how many of the tiny babies she worked with were HIV positive.

This programme is a great way to raise awareness of how many people in South Africa still need help and support from volunteers, at a time when the world is going to be focussed on the glamourous side of the country for the football World Cup. I really enjoyed it, and will definitely be watching the upcoming episodes as they air over the next few weeks. Here’s a link to the info on iplayer for anyone who missed the first episode and would like to watch it… http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sj4my

If the wags’ experiences have inspired you to volunteer with children in South Africa, we’ve got lots of projects over there that would really benefit from your time. Plus, if you book by the end of May you can save 20%!! Here’s a link to the projects we work with… http://www.i-to-i.com/search/?wherefrom=quicksearch&pagefilter=20&fld_diffby=diffby_work_with_children&fld_duration=any
Give me a shout if you have any questions :)

Has anyone else seen the programme? What did you think?

• South Africa
• volunteering
• children
• HIV
• orphans