Revamp photos

People who know this place would not recognise it! Honest, it looks fab!

Christmas Photos

Revamp

A lovely woman called Jen descended here yesterday and transformed the children's living quarters with new duvets, pillows, curtains, towels, mats, mirrors etc. The children hardly recognised their rooms when they got back today, it was an amazing transformation.
Each room has a theme, the girls' rooms are pink and the boys' rooms are blue, green, red etc. The whole place looks so cool!

Now the kids have to learn to respect their living spaces, but it's such a marvellous new thing for them that I'm sure they will do.

Christmas Crazy

Christmas has been crazy and fun this year. The festivities began on Saturday when some visitors came to bring the kids some presents. They dutifully put their presents under the Christmas tree in the dining room and spent the next few days going back to check if their presents were still there and pestering me as to when they could open them. As it was they had to wait until Christmas Eve to get their wish.

Sunday saw all of us heading to Durban Playhouse in our old bus, which has a maximum speed of about 60kmph. We had been invited to see a Zulu Christmas show called ‘African Mother Christmas’, which was a tale set in the Valley of 1000 Hills complete with Rainbow mother Christmas arriving on an elephant. (not a real one of course – the show was in the Loft Theatre, it wouldn’t get up the stairs…) The kids enjoyed the show, mostly because it was only an hour long and they got a snack box at the end which filled them up on the way home.

‘Cruising’ home down the N3 in the late afternoon sunshine, I had a sleeping baby on my lap, a grumpy toddler to my right and several other weary kids all around me, full of juice, crisps, sweets, muffin and apples, it struck me that it all seemed totally normal to be hanging out with these lovely children and that Christmas sunshine is brilliant. I was feeling good and feeling festive.

My ‘traditional’ Christmas CD of Cliff Richard (for me, that album IS Christmas – you can’t got wrong with Cliff!) helped nurture the festive spirit and I was feeling merry enough to say ‘ho ho ho’ a lot to the kids (without a drop of alcohol, honest!) The main Christmas party here took place on Christmas Eve. A small group of volunteers made the dining room look incredible with crackers, streamers, balloons and party poppers. At 4 o’clock the children were allowed into the room and the party could begin. Shortly afterwards, Father Christmas came round the corner into the car park on the back of the Bolero truck, waving to the expectant group of kids. Thanks to the generosity of visitors, sponsors and volunteers, the kids scored well on the present front this year with a bumper stash of presents. They were so desperate to play with their new toys that many of them rushed off as soon as the meal was over to their rooms to compare gifts, leaving a small group of older kids and volunteers to share in some modern Zulu dancing to the latest tunes. It was a top party, really good fun.

Christmas Day was more hectic than I thought it would be. Having spent the previous few evenings increasing my viewing knowledge of insanely cheesy Christmas Movies (How many different versions of Santa stories can there be?), I was quite tired but had to get up at 5.30am in any case to make sure the kids left ok for their 4 day trip to the seaside. After a few last minute hitches, they finally left and are have been making the most of the beautiful South Coast beaches. And we were left with 5 crèchies, 2 girls and 2 babies on site. It was so lovely and quiet.

The crèchies spent all of Christmas Day playing with their new toys. Toddler ‘A’ got a lion that is twice her size, and little ‘M’ got a great new ‘thu-thu’ ride on toy which he loves, but also seems to prefer ‘Mb’s’ dolly buggy (maybe it goes faster on the rough playground terrain?)… They even made Christmas cookies. Happy Days.

Then mid-afternoon the beautiful weather disappeared and a storm broke.

At about the same time I had to get a couple of our aunties back to the valley to be with their family in an emergency, except I didn’t have a suitable driver to get all the way as it would be too dangerous (merry people walking all over the road, or worse still, driving.) and then my other driver phoned to say he’d managed to get one of our combis stuck in some mud in Sankontshe. One minute I was worrying along with the aunties about their family and the next minute I was falling about laughing about the ridiculousness of the fact that someone could get stuck!

After I’d stopped laughing, I went to sort out help for him, and after the guys had stopped laughing, and run to get cameras, a group of 5 volunteers set off in the 4x4 to help out. The only problem now was that the girl who was in charge of the kitchen was in the stranded combi and it was getting near to crèchies’ dinner time. One of the crèche volunteers and myself had to get into the kitchen and sort out dinner for them – easy, as it was leftovers.

Everyone made it home ok and it was all rather funny.

Life is never dull in this place…. Not even on Christmas!

Christmas, and so it begins…

It’s weird being back here and knowing that I’ll be leaving in a few weeks (48 days, not that I’m counting). On the one hand I’m looking forward to being back in the UK and catching up with everyone and on the other hand I’m so sad about leaving ‘my’ children here and I can’t even imagine not being here anymore. But I guess everyone who comes here to work, even for a little while, falls under the enchantment of the wonderful treasures who play, sleep, fight and laugh here.
But, for the next week at least, they are all mine as I get to be in charge of the whole shebang. Everyone else is on leave and the party is mine… Nice. We only have about 20 kids here and all but the crechies are heading to the beach on Christmas Day, so it will be very quiet for 4 days.
I am, however, restricted to site until Friday 28th, and seeing as my internet connection is rubbish, I guess this is my Happy Christmas message to everyone. I hope you all have a wonderful, peaceful and joyful time celebrating Christ’s birth and that your wishes come true for Christmas!

Tragedy

There is sadness in the air this morning as the choir comes to terms with the loss of one of its members.

M was a wonderful young man who I had much to do with last year when I was trying to get him a passport for the UK tour. We only managed to get him an ID not a passport and so he was unable to come to England with us. I'll always remember him sitting in my car just after we finally picked up his ID book a few months ago, stunned and happy that he 'finally existed' in terms of being a South African citizen legally.

He lived with his family on a hill not far from here and they have received quite a bit of help from us in the past. He was well loved by people here.

Tragically last night he put his arm through a glass window. Unfortunately for him a main artery was severed and he did not recover. He was 17.

In a country where so many people are dying of AIDS related diseases, it seems all the more tragic that a bright young man who was healthy and had everything to live for would have his life cut short by such a crazy thing.

Please remember his family and the family here, especially the Young Zulu Warriors, at this time. I expect the funeral will take place next weekend, after Christmas. So it won't be easy for any of us with this happening so close to the festive week. Pray for God's peace and comfort for people here at this time.

Visa again…

I got back from holiday to discover I had to arrange for one of our girls, B, to get her visa for the Netherlands and then get on the flight. This involved a very early start on Tuesday up to Joburg and then drive to Pretoria in time for 10am to collect her visa.
All of that passed without incident, until we got to the Royal Netherlands Embassy to be told that her visa has been sent back to Durban and would be ready for collection on Wednesday morning. All great plans thwarted by bureaucracy…
Hmm, in any case, there was nothing for us to do but chill in Pretoria until Wed lunch time when we met a volunteer who’d flown up specially to put the newly-collected visa into our hands and then I could make sure she got the flight at 5pm. A lot of flying for one little visa.
However, it was all worth it as B had never flown before and it was good for her to fly with me from Durban to Joburg to discover what it’s all about, before a long-haul flight Joburg-Paris-Amsterdam. She really appreciated that experience. And also the nice room she got to herself in Pretoria (she has never had her own room, or a TV to watch in bed!)
We spent the evening at Mcdonald’s and then seeing a movie. Things we take for granted, such as popcorn, were a real treat for her and when someone phoned her the next day on the way to the airport she excitedly recounted the events of our time in Pretoria as being ‘the time of my life’…
It was fun getting to know her better and helping her out. She walks with a crutch and had to have a wheelchair to get to the plane and it was quite emotional saying goodbye to my new friend when the time came for her to go through security.

Unfortunately as soon as I’d seen her off, the day went downhill with a delay for my return flight (someone had apparently run into the side of the plane?!?!) and the disappearance of my luggage (which thankfully turned up the next afternoon – just as I was getting major flip-flop withdrawal…)

the joys of constant internet connection..

I've been spoilt this week in St Lucia with my laptop internet connection working perfectly.. and thus I've managed to keep on top of a lot of internet issues. However tomorrow we leave this place and head back to Cato Ridge, where internet connection is sadly sporadic. Thus I don't know when I'll be online again...

Mum and Dad are going to experience staying with me (in the room next door) for a few nights. Not sure if they'll cope with the higgledy-piggledy ramshackleness of site, but we'll see... It's better than camping (just!)

Then they are back off to chilly old England, leaving me to top up my tan yet further over Christmas... (not that there will be time for sitting around - lot's to do, little time to do it!)

Any questions? Any answers.

The Wildebeest question of a few days ago is solved. Our helpful and knowledgeable guide at Umfolozi yesterday informed us that male wildebeests are territorial and have to stay in their allotted areas. They wait for females to cross their path and only then can they mate with them. This means that standing around under trees, doing nothing much but eating, is mandatory until the women come along. They often pick a tree near to a bunch of nyalas, zebra and giraffe so that there’s safety in numbers. As these animals all prefer different lengths of grass, they help each other out in this respect too.

Isn’t nature great? It all has some kind of order…

Indeed the male wildebeest probably act and get into gear when beautiful female wildebeest cross their path. Perhaps men who moan that they haven’t met anyone suitable need to just stand under their trees, eat grass and keep their eyes open too!

Umfolozi, the return.

Having failed miserably to find any big cats (lions, leopards, cheetahs) on our previous trip to Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game reserve, we decided to take the leisurely route and booked a tour to go back. We cleverly booked when no one else wanted to go and thus had our very own private game drive in a big land rover game watching vehicle all to ourselves. The driver even collected us from our front door and drove us all the way to the park, around it and back again. It was certainly an experience and we got to visit areas of the park inaccessible to an ordinary car.

Sadly, still no more cats but then we did see several more elephant and lots of baby animals: zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, nyala, rhino, warthog….

Did you know that 60% of the cute baby warthogs don’t make it to their first birthday, being choice delicacies for a little snack for passing jackals, cheetahs etc….

…And that baby wildebeest are born light brown, the same colour as lions, so that they blend in easier and are protected from an attack. Fascinating stuff.

Visiting a game reserve is a bit like life, in my opinion. You arrive filled with hope and expectation of what you might see and this turns to perseverance after about 2 hours of fruitless searching. You force yourself to rejoice with others at their tales of how many lions they’ve seen, and photos of fresh kills by a passing leopard, whilst inwardly wishing that it could be the other way round and that you’d be recalling these moments. You develop a continuing ‘gritted-teethness’ about driving round, scanning every single tree and plant in the hope of a glimpse of something big and furry and you rejoice over even the smallest of warthog babies. There are the occasional vultures waiting to take you out if they could, but you sail past them in your vehicle. Even on the way back to the exit you refuse to give up hope and in vain continue to stare around for anything that moves. In fact, long after you’ve left the game reserve, you find yourself in ‘game spotting pose’, eager scanning the horizon for the odd elephant or rhino…

Happy days!

St Lucia 2

Tuesday.

Today it was hot.

Very hot.

You don't realise how much you value overhead fans until there's a power outage and there's nothing to help you keep cool. In the past 24 hours we've had no less than 3 power outages (this is when Eskom (national power people) shut down various areas around the country to share electricity or something. They do warn you somewhere on the internet, but don't stick to timings. The most convenient time to shut down is when you are cooking or watching TV, perfect to switch everyone off. Then they'll tell you on SABC to turn all non-essential electrical items off, TV being an ESSENTIAL item, it seems... Hmm, suppose it's helping somewhere, possibly not in St Lucia where every second place seemed to switch to generators immediately.

In any case, the power came back on after the usual 2 hours. And so did the fan. Nice.

We paid a visit to the Crocodile Farm this afternoon. Not much has changed since I went in April, except the snakes had been temporarily shut down. Same old crocs. Dad did point out that several information boards were regaling us with tales of escaped crocs and ones jumping over the fences to be reunited with other ones... Good job it was too hot for them to even consider giving us more than a raised eyebrow.

Hluhluwe Umfolozi Game Reserve

Getting up half an hour later than the previously stated time of 4am was a pleasant surprise as the sun had risen and it felt later than it was. By 6.10am we had driven to the game reserve and were in to start the day's search for animals.

Top of our list of 'animals to see' were the elephants. There are reputed to be 400 elephants in the park, we managed 3 during the course of the day. That's 3 more than last time. They say you should keep a distance of 50m from the elephants as they can be extremely dangerous. (It's always the vegetarians you have to watch!) but the layout of the road next to a watering spot necessitated us going about 20m from a couple of them. This would have been fine if one hadn't been a elephant bull 'in must', and therefore more aggressive. He didn't cause us any trouble though, but after the first menacing look from him we weren't going to hang around too long to find out how quickly he could upturn our toyota yaris!

The view from Hilltop camp gave us a picture of just how massive Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park is. This is no small safari park. The 2 parks together are about 40miles long and up to 20 miles wide. That's a lot of space for roaming. It's full of forest, rivers and other terrains, which is perfect for animals to hide in. There are many trees for leopards to sit in and watch unsuspecting passing vehicles without ever being spotted. And we were unable to spot any big cats this time, which was the only disappointing thing about the day.

Having been before, we were used to seeing zebras, impala and wildebeest roaming. However an interesting trend seemed to be developing amongst the animals. A single wildebeest stood under a tree near each group of zebras and impala, we saw hardly any in herds.

There were many many babies - impala, baboons and even warthogs (Dad's favourite). As the day progressed it got hotter and hotter and towards mid-afternoon even we would have given anything just to chill out under a tree in the shade at a water hole. (Perhaps then we would have seen some big cat action!)

Watching animals at close quarters brought out lots of unanswered questions though:

1. Why was there only 1 wildebeest with each group of impala/zebra etc? Was he on guard, or in trouble with his mates? Had there been a general falling out of all wildebeest and each one settled with the other creatures for company?

2. One group of giraffes were all standing facing the same direction, seemingly staring at something. We couldn't see what. But then it can't have been a predator or they would have run. Why were they pretending to be 21st century robot giraffes stuck in the same mode? Was there a reason or had we just stumbled upon a game of giraffe 'stuck in the mud'? (usually it's only the warthogs who favour this party game)

3. Zebras like hanging out by standing facing each other and putting their heads over the back of the other one so it looks like they are embracing. What does this behaviour mean? Or are they just extremely friendly animals?

Hmm, lots more questions remain unanswered. I think I need to watch more 'Animal Planet'...

St Lucia 1

We drove up on Friday from Durban to St Lucia, stopping for a spot of shopping in the upmarket resort of Ballito on the way. I drove through near torrential rain all the way from Ballito to St Lucia but we still made good time to arrive at our ‘luxury’ apartment near the town centre.

I’ve come to realise that ‘luxury’ is a rather subjective term. After the lush accommodation in Westville, this apartment has rather too many cracks in the tiles and a whole range of bamboo furniture. I’m not a fan of bamboo furniture, it belongs in conservatories and garden houses, not in ‘luxury’ accommodation. However, it was raining and so everything looked grim and so we put on a brave face and settled in. Apart from having to purchase nearly everything we need for the kitchen, the inventory being imaginary rather than fact, we’re doing ok here. The shower is fantastically powerful and there are nice big fans in each room to keep us cool. So, all is well.

On Saturday we ventured out into the town and up to the jetty for another river cruise. (I say another because we already did a lot of these activities in April). This time we were in a smaller boat and could get right up close and personal with the crocs and hippos. In fact a little too close for comfort. Nearly every single crocodile saw us and propelled themselves into the water heading in our direction.

As it’s early summer here a lot of creatures are ‘with young’ and the creatures of the water are no exception. We came across a 4-day-old-hippo with its mum (and about 12 other hippos keeping guard nearby). After a few minutes of photos and ‘aww cute’s from the people on board, Mummy hippo decided she’d had enough and made a funny noise at which point the rest of the hippos started making a big noise and turned round to face the boat. Could have been nasty, but we escaped unharmed.

During the course of the day we also managed to see 4 fish eagles, who are the most beautiful birds. Black and white, they swoop down over the water before returning to their treetops to survey the land. Definitely a top bird.

Today, Sunday, we ventured into the Eastern Shores of Lake St Lucia game reserve and up to a resort called Cape Vidal. We were blessed to see 3 white rhino grazing peacefully near to the entrance: Mum, Dad and baby. They were far enough away not to see us (they have bad eyesight) but for us to get a good view. During the rest of the drive I spotted a Martial eagle and a Wahlberg eagle. Amazing birds. I’ve never really been into bird-watching, but when there are so many interesting birds, it’s suddenly a great thing to do.

We spent a bit of time on the beach at Cape Vidal. It’s a beautiful wild coastline, where only a limited number of people are allowed each day. At night the turtles come up and lay their eggs on the same beach where we walked.

Much fun was had watching the locals drive their fishing speed boats up onto the sand and try to winch them onto trailers. One Toyota was having particular problems getting off the beach and had to drive really fast to get over the dunes. Later we watched the same fishermen gutting their fish at a specially prepared area. Bit smelly, but fascinating nonetheless.

No monkeys disturbed our picnic. Think Dad was a bit disappointed. But we did come across a light-coloured monkey who is different from all the others we’ve seen in the past; and on the way back we saw a mummy monkey with a very young baby vervet monkey. It can’t have been very old, it still looked like a gremlin. She wasn’t too pleased to see us, but did sit still long enough for some photos.

The weather has been hot, but a bit overcast at times with the odd rain shower. The sun is hot though, despite being plastered in factor 40 I am still getting red on a daily basis. Can’t go much higher in sun cream levels, but at least it’s developing into a great tan. Dad and I are having red nose competitions, but I think he’s winning at the moment…

Tomorrow, Hluhluwe game reserve. And a 4am start. Eurgh!

a few other photos (for the family... ;-) )

Mum and Dad outside our appartment

Baby N was not too happy to be held by Mum...

Contents of a food parcel.

Valley

Dad and Mum with Angel, the Community health worker (in orange) and the mother and one of her daughters in the sponsor family. That box is well heavy...

In Mophela, with some of the kids at the second sponsor family house.

Monday was spent at my house, catching up with children and meeting my sponsor baby, who gurgled and crawled on cue. (well trained!). I treated M&D to the Spar Experience – a trip to our local shopping mall at Cato Ridge – very Zulu. We had to buy essential food parcel components for our visit to a couple of sponsor families on Tuesday and this is the best place to go.

On Tuesday morning I drove M&D down to Kwa Ximba #9 in my car (the roads were a bit precarious for a hire car, and my car is well-known in the valley). We picked up a community health worker and set off to pay a visit to the family that my parents sponsor through the Child Sponsorship scheme. The road up to their house was fairly torturous, enough to keep Dad concerned in any case, but definitely not the worst roads I’ve been on.

On arrival at the home of the family, we found out that the mother was off in the community garden working and she had to be summoned. Despite the abject poverty in which these people live, they still manage to keep mobile phones working and have a small TV for the kids to watch. Thankfully she was reachable on her cell-phone and rushed back to greet us. Have got some great pictures of M&D sitting outside a wattle-and-daub mud hut, taking in the view over the valley. It’s a totally different world, but very good to come down and discover for themselves how it is to live in these valleys.

The mother was overjoyed to receive an extra food parcel, it will certainly come in handy with Christmas round the corner.

After lunch we headed to another valley to visit the family sponsored by my sister’s church. They lived not far from where I used to hang out with Smilo so I knew the roads well. We picked up another community health worker and headed over the sandy ant-infested fields towards a group of mud huts. There was some confusion as to the whereabouts of the family, but when we produced a photo of the family the penny dropped and the young people led us down to the family abode further down the hill. We had to go on foot and so I had to move my car into the compound, parking in between 2 dilapidated Mercedes, one of which looked like it had been blown apart. Leaving a group of small children to keep an eye on the car (assuring Dad that it would be the same with 4 wheels etc when we returned) we set off across the fields, braving the longish grass and ants, to get to the house. Bravery award of the day goes to Mum, who is terrified of snakes, for even setting off on this brief journey. She didn’t moan at all.

In comparison with the poverty of the family from the morning, these people lived in even more poverty. It took us a little bit of negotiation to work out which children lived there and which were from the neighbouring houses. I managed to communicate with the kids in Zulu, even telling one of the girls she was beautiful ‘Omuhle, wena!’, which produced a huge smile.

There are 6 in the family, all sleeping on the floor of an extremely small rondavel. The mother has found a job locally but returns at the weekend, where there are 7 of them. They had electricity which powered a radio, small stove and a freezer, but there didn’t seem to be any light. The family are in the process of building another small room next to the rondavel. It was fascinating to see the process of building with almost medieval methods.

We handed over the food parcel and also sweets for all the kids around. The amazing thing was seeing these young women put the boxes of food on their heads and carry them from the car down to the house. These were huge boxes full of food, too heavy for us puny English people to carry. This family is due to start receiving food parcels next week and the extra one will be much appreciated.

Shark Tale

For Sunday lunch, I’d booked us a table at the famous ‘Cargo Hold’ restaurant at UShaka Marine World (Durban’s top tourist attraction). UShaka is a combination of the 5th largest aquarium in the world (allegedly) and a Water park – Wet’n’ Wild. (Liz, if you are reading this, you are going to be so gutted that we didn’t go last year when you see the photos!). There’s also an array of shops and restaurants, all along the beach front. The Ocean was quite rough and seemed fairly grubby with crisp packets and other debris floating around next to the body-boarders and sea kayakers.

The Cargo Hold is famous because it’s set in an old ship wreck and the décor is complete with barnacles on the metal beams. The centrepiece is an enormous tank filled with fish and 5 lovely big sharks who swim round and round and round, eyeing up the diners who are attempting to order whilst snapping the marine creatures on their cameras and mobile phones. It took us a while to choose from the extensive menu, Dad was rather distracted by the sharks who were swimming close to his left ear every few seconds baring their many rows of nasty-looking teeth.
However, the food was good, and the setting unique and it made for a pleasant lunch.

Durban is not the safest place and the centre of the city is fairly scruffy so I gave Mum and Dad a brief tour by car. We chose to bypass the seafront, formerly known as ‘The Golden Mile’, it’s now rapidly gaining a reputation as ‘Muggers’ Mile’. There’ll be plenty of time for beaches up North in St Lucia next week.

As you drive around Durban, the now shabby buildings build up a picture of how glorious Durban must have been in its colonial heyday. Unfortunately the buildings have been left to fall apart. Although there is some renovation underway, the transformation will take a long time and parts of the city will stay unsafe for many years to come, which is a shame as it could be so nice.

overdue catchup

Apologies for not blogging for a few weeks, every time I got to the internet café I was too exhausted to be creative… I think it was general burnout, probably what was causing my month-long headache etc too.
But on Saturday, Mum and Dad arrived and now it’s time for 2 weeks of fun and relaxation so I am in a better position to write about our adventures!
The journey down for them was long, not helped by the fact that one of the major South African airlines – Nationwide – who we often travel with (but thankfully not this time), had been grounded, leaving many passengers stranded and scrambling for other flights. Mum and Dad flew Air France and South African Airways, which included its own scramble at Paris for a flight which was then delayed 2 hours due to various technical difficulties and then a smaller plane than planned, meaning cramped sleeping conditions.. The joys of flying long haul!
They arrived late at Jo’burg and missed the connecting flight. They had been transferred onto another flight but the Air France staff were on lunch and didn’t bother to ensure that Mum and Dad were informed of this fact. In any case, I managed to arrive late at Durban airport, have a leisurely lunch and read a large section of ‘Become a Better You’ by Joel Osteen. They arrived at 4.30pm, 3 hours late and rather exhausted by the whole ordeal, by which time I was at least 3 steps closer to being a better me.
But the weather here is great and we are staying in a lovely apartment in Westville, on the outskirts of Durban. It’s conveniently close to Pavilions ‘Shopping Mecca’ and also to the M13, making it very easy to get to mine whilst avoiding the traffic of the city centre.
The apartment is very tastefully decorated in the traditionally modern South African style with dark brown wooden furniture and a fantastic bath. Because I don’t have one, I tend to appreciate baths the most in places I stay. There’s also a lovely pool, but so far we’ve not had time to indulge.