Caroline's Adventures in South Africa

New adventures

2009-07-25T10:08:00.002+01:00

My adventures in South Africa are set to continue!

Please follow the link to a new blog for a new venture!

http://trailblazinginsouthafrica.blogspot.com

See you there!!

a link

2008-03-10T11:53:00.002+02:00

I know I've finished and tied up my blog and all the rest, but I kind of want to keep commenting on life and so I've set up a new blog

http://ciaocaroline.blogspot.com

So if you feel like following, that's where you'll find me from now on!

All good things must come to an end

2008-02-25T22:11:00.002+02:00

I've put off writing this final blog entry for long enough. I don't think I'd ever be able to adequately end my stories of time in Africa but all good things must come to an end.

Firstly, thank you if you have been faithfully following my adventures from the beginning (Dec 2005, I think), through the preparations and then finally heading down to South Africa, settling in and adjusting to life down there and then the challenges and joys of being in that country, all leading to today when I find myself back in the UK, transformed by what I've experienced and thankful to God for looking after me (and everyone else) during these past 18 months.

So what have been the highlights...

Hmm, FAR too many to name, but here are 10 of them (not in any particular order):

1. Getting to know so many wonderful and special children
2. Living in a ramshackle place with overgrown garden complete with dogs, cats, frogs and sheep!
3. Learning and appreciating Zulu and the culture
4. Falling in and out of love (only once or twice!)
5. Getting to know Jude Law
6. the beach and the Indian Ocean (the British seaside just can't compare)
7. Baby N, the joys and sadness when one you love is HIV+
8. filming, photographing and just hanging out with the people in the valleys who are so hospitable and dignified despite having practically nothing.
9. getting up close and personal with lion cubs, monkeys, giraffes
10. singing in Zulu with the kids at Sunday morning church service

There is SO much more. Maybe I should write a book?

In any case, my job now is to settle back into life here in the UK. I'm moving back to Leamington Spa, just need a job and house and all will be well. (Oh and a husband would be nice too, but let's not rush things!)

I will forever talk about 'my' kids in Africa and will stay in touch with them. It's impossible to forget such wonderful creations as Ga, Marcus, Amahle, Zinhle, Mphikeleli and many many more. THEY are the future of South Africa and I pray a safe, peaceful and happy future for them.

If you know me personally, please stay in touch, I'm on facebook and I believe the blogging community has all but translocated there. If you don't know me personally, but would like to, a little bit of backtracking to my other blog should bring you an email address. Feel free to contact me, but only if you are nice and positive.

I'm not actually allowed to write where I worked, but please remember them in prayer. It's unbelievable how difficult it can be to get support locally in South Africa but they need it, especially with donations of food and the like. It's all very well us giving from the Northern Hemisphere, but that takes a while to get there.

Anyway, enough.... Thank you - Ngiyabonga kakhulu

If I ever head back out, I'm sure I'll reactivate this blog, but until then - hambani kahle - go well and see you in the real world one day maybe!

Love from Caroline xxx

Home

2008-02-11T12:00:00.000+02:00

Am writing this from home in the UK. It's good to be back.

Uneventful journey, but long. I managed to sleep a decent amount, watch a movie that is not being released in the UK that I wanted to see (Gone Baby Gone - excellent movie) and was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by the sunshine in Birmingham!

And so the transition is going well, with daily sunshine I think I'll survive. It's rather cold though here isn't it? This really is the land of fluffy dressing gowns, gloves and scarves (although not all at the same time!)

I've enjoyed meeting my 2nd niece and being reunited with niece #1, catching up with family & friends and luxuries like central heating and clean running water. It's SO easy to take these things for granted. Clothes that I put into the wardrobe 2 years ago don't smell bad... it's amazing!

In any case, I will blog again soon with thoughts about having left Africa etc, I just wanted to post something to say I'm back safely and all is well. Am making spectacularly good progress at adjusting so far. This is my 3rd 're-entry' experience and so I'm well prepared for dark days, but so far (and maybe this is thanks to the lovely clear sunny weather) I'm doing good.

Thanks for your prayers for this, much appreciated.

More soon...

The home stretch...

2008-02-02T09:30:00.000+02:00

It's Saturday morning in Durban and I'm hot, it's about 35 degrees and humid...
This time next week I might be building a snowman (that would be great!!!)

So the home stretch starts... things are speeding up here and suddenly there are a million things to do before I leave. I need prayer for energy for the last few days...

Am SO ready to leave though. The heat is getting to me a little. I've sold my car (turns out it was a potential deathtrap after all - I always said I was getting around by prayer and I was right!) I've now got a hire car for my last week and was fortunate to be given a brand new VW polo which is turning heads all over site! Nice.

Can't drink my water anymore as the tank was full of translucent worms... now been sorted but still a little horrible...

hmm...

Well I'm in a rush now too but I'm looking forward to being at home, I'll be arriving in the UK on Friday morning after a brief visit of a few hours to Dubai. Will blog again when I've recovered from the journey..

now it's off to buy things for my leaving party with the kids this afternoon..

but it's not all grim...

2008-01-24T16:59:00.000+02:00

Down in other valleys, people are still dancing and doing all the daily routines that keep them going... I'm going back to Maphepheteni to film a little bit more of Mdu's group this weekend. Unfortunately it seems that no one sells the appropriate firewires in this country so I can't edit it until I return to the UK, but I can at least get some good footage to use.

I can't stay in Maphepheteni as I refuse to wash in the river Dusi which is one of the most polluted rivers in the province. The recent Dusi Canoe Marathon was nearly cancelled because of the state of the water and yet families like Mdu's regularly wash clothes, themselves and even drink the water quite happily. And they look disgustingly healthy for it!

Above are a couple of photos I took last time, including the Gogos in their traditional attire.

The weather is not going to be so hot as last time so there's less chance of me getting sunburnt again, thankfully.

This is my last 'weekend off' and I need to spend it wisely, so a trip to the beach is also in order, just to say goodbye to the warm golden sands and lightly ebbing waves of crystal clear sea... Oh, how I'll miss it...

I told the kids I was leaving but they are so used to people coming and going that the reaction wasn't terribly dramatic. I'm organising a leaving party for them just before I go and THEN the realisation that 'Auntie Caroline' won't be around anymore might hit them...

But I'll be back to visit, I'm sure... ;-)

The New South Africa

2008-01-24T16:43:00.000+02:00

Everyone is always going on about 'the NEW South Africa', but let me tell you things are going a bit wrong here at the moment...

Firstly, there's the small matter of 'load shedding'... the power is switched off with us maybe 3 times a day. Normally it's from 6-8am, then 12-2pm followed by 6-8pm, just to totally disrupt all meal times! Sometimes, like this morning, it will go off from 8.30-12, just to mess up the computers. It's totally disruptive to working as there are no lights, computers, phones etc working. This is happening all over the country and people are starting to get annoyed. We're well into our second week of it now.

Last week a couple of trains had to stop due to 'load shedding' and the people travelling in it got out and set the trains on fire in protest. Clever. Not so clever when the train people are now refusing to replace said trains and so there are less services running...

The response to crises like this tends to edge towards violence, unfortunately.

There was also a threat of no water for 48 hours last weekend, which thankfully didn't seem to happen. But my house is full of plastic water bottles filled with tap water, just in case. In any case the water from my tap has been green and murky of late and so I've resorted to bottled water for my last few weeks here, just to be safe!

It's really feeling like Africa, just as I pack up to leave.

And then on Tuesday the black teachers at our local primary school, where 33 of our kids go, managed to barricade the white teachers in the staff room and held them hostage for a day whilst the kids ran amok on the playing fields.

Very grown up behaviour, I'm sure you'll agree.

Not.

The TV cameras were back yesterday and other valley schools had to close as teachers rushed to join in the demonstrations against the management of the school, leaving kids roaming all over. This school was already in the news last year for another riot of the teachers for similar problems. In any case our kids are currently being educated by volunteers until the crisis is sorted. It's a bit worrying when these things happen basically in your back garden and could spark backlash across the province... As a result we've closed 2 of our preschools and the volunteers have to stay at home for their own protection. It will probably blow over in a few days, but just to be safe we have to take precautions...

You can read the story below from the local newspaper 'the Witness':

Racism alleged at KZN school
23 Jan 2008
Sphumelele Mngoma
ALLEGATIONS of racism were made during a protest that disrupted teaching at the George Cato Primary in Cato Ridge yesterday.Teachers affiliated to the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) were joined by union leaders and other Sadtu members.“We want you to tell [MEC] Ina Cronje to take the principal and take her to a place reserved for the boers … there is no place here for them,” said Mbuyiseni Mathonsi of Sadtu.
Teacher Bheki Ntuli said the protest was sparked by the alleged beating last week of a black gardener by his white supervisor, apparently for working too slowly.According to Ntuli, when the gardener went to report the matter to the Camperdown police, he was turned away and told to sort the matter out with the school.He said the 24-year-old man was offered R3 000 to drop the matter, or face being fired if he insisted on pressing charges.These allegations could not be independently confirmed.
However, according to Ntuli, the issue of racism is not a new one for black staff at the school.“We are called baboons and our children are called monkeys. We are constantly being told that we are incompetent because of Bantu education and yet not once have they tried to address that problem by developing the staff … ”Nkosi said they complained about the situation last January and the Education Department conducted an inquiry, but they have not heard what the outcome is.Now they demand a full report of that investigation and want action taken.Basil Manuel, vice president of the National Association of Professional Teachers of SA (Naptosa), also blamed the department for the deteriorating situation at the school.“They failed the school, they failed the pupils … Their delay has compromised people’s safety and the children’s education.”However, Manuel condemned the strike, during which, he said, teachers threw stones.One of the parents, who wanted to remain anonymous for her child’s safety, said she is concerned about her child’s education.She said her child spent about eight months last year without a teacher. “I don’t know anything about the children being called monkeys and the beatings … all I know is my child needs to be taught. That is what I demand from the department of Education.”Education spokeswoman Christi Naude said Cronje will visit the school today to do her own investigations into the matter.Naude could not say why the results of last year’s investigation have not been released, but said action will be taken in two days, as the department is busy studying all the reports and recommendations.

tired...

2008-01-15T11:11:00.000+02:00

New Jeans! Shame it's altogether TOO hot to wear them...

New bike, but it's much more fun lying on the grass posing...

It's hot...

Very hot.

There was a big storm last night, and I would have hoped that it would have been cooler today as a result, but no. It's still hot.

But then I am in Pietermaritzburg right now and that's always a few degrees hotter than the rest of the area...

Anyway, as usual I've ended up in an internet cafe without the photos I wanted to upload, so I've put in a few more of my favourite kids, just because I can.

I am extremely tired. Need prayer for energy. Fell asleep on Sunday morning in church and am having difficulty getting up in the mornings (but then it is hot!). In any case, there are a lot of emotions flying around the office here for one reason and another and it's difficult not to get caught up in them, even though none of them are directly aimed at me... I need wisdom to be a good counsellor when called on.

Have packed my box of stuff to send home. It's going to cost me but then I want to keep these few things and Emirates would charge me more than what I'm paying... Now it's back to the report writing (when I can summon enough energy to focus!)

Have found a job that I really want to do in the UK, not sharing more details but pray that if this is the one for me that all would go well. Strange that it should appear in the adverts just as I wished it too. Either that's God providing or it's a big distraction. In either case, time will tell, but I need to get the application in soon...

random update

2008-01-11T16:20:00.000+02:00

It's Friday afternoon and I've not had chance to blog all week, but then it's been a fairly busy week. I've started sorting through my stuff and there's a lot to do...

I'm looking forward to coming back to the UK (arrival date: Fri Feb 8th!) but keep waking up wishing I could magically just be there as I don't want to go through the hassle of packing etc. I'm giving most of my stuff away to a family in the valley who will appreciate it a lot, so that's one less thing to worry about, but I still have to get it to them and then sell my car!

This morning we were unable to go to the local Spar supermarket because someone had come at 2am, planted 2 bombs and blown up two of the cash machines there, which then led to a shoot out with security. Apparently there's a big whole where one of the machines was, whereas the other bank has already replaced theirs... Such is life in the 'new South Africa'...

I only have 2 'weekend off's left and am making the most of the sunshine tomorrow by heading to the beach somewhere near Durban. It's all fairly beautiful there so don't have to decide until I get there. I was thinking about what to do and remembered that going to the ocean is not going to be possible soon so I'd better make the most of it while I can...

A grand day out

2008-01-04T11:14:00.000+02:00

Wednesday was a great day. I went down to the Valley of Maphephete-ni to meet up with Mdu and to take video footage and photos of his new and aspiring Zulu choir and dance troupe.
He'd done a good job of telling all his friends and neighbours and when I arrived there were about 50 people hanging around, either to perform or just watch.

It was an exceedingly hot and sunny day and I have never been so sunburnt on my back (grrr) but it will soon change to tan so that's not too bad. Half-way through filming I had to take a break and give my camera to Khaye, Mdu's brother, while I sat in very long (and probably snake infested!!) grass under an umbrella to get some shade from the blazing heat... I managed, by some miracle, not to get bitten by anything. We walked through some very long grass afterwards and I survived that too! (You never know how many snakes, ticks etc are lurking!)

Anyway, it was really cool as the 25 strong group were practising in a rondavel when I arrived and I managed to get some good footage of them in there, although the dust that arose every time they stomped was quite incredible. Then we met up with the Gogos, all dressed in traditional beaded costumes, and walked down to a grassy area by the river Duzi. Once there a man had to hack down some long grass with a machete type knife to make room for dancing. Then they choir began. They just love dancing and are so good at it, and singing. I got some great footage which I'll be editing as soon as I can get the right equipment sorted to do it.

It was so great to be able to come to an area like this in the middle of nowhere and to be a part of the local culture. Watch out for the DVD when I get back to the UK!

Revamp photos

2007-12-28T16:41:00.000+02:00

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

Christmas Photos

2007-12-28T16:34:00.000+02:00

Revamp

2007-12-28T16:28:00.000+02:00

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

2007-12-26T14:51:00.000+02:00

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…

2007-12-21T11:13:00.000+02:00

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

2007-12-21T11:05:00.000+02:00

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…

2007-12-21T11:02:00.000+02:00

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..

2007-12-13T18:28:00.000+02:00

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.

2007-12-13T18:27:00.000+02:00

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.

2007-12-13T18:10:00.000+02:00

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

2007-12-11T18:33:00.000+02:00

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

2007-12-11T18:11:00.000+02:00

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

2007-12-09T21:18:00.000+02:00

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... ;-) )

2007-12-05T11:57:00.001+02:00

Mum and Dad outside our appartment

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

Contents of a food parcel.

Valley

2007-12-05T11:50:00.001+02:00

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

2007-12-05T11:48:00.001+02:00

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

2007-12-05T11:47:00.001+02:00

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.

the end of term is nigh...

2007-11-22T14:25:00.001+02:00

Next Friday, 30th, is the end of the academic year. This means it's Preschool Graduation time again and I'm off to the first event tomorrow. My days have been filled with getting photos of kids printed and laminated onto certificates, buying sweets and toys for presents, planning how to get the best cake..

Next week it's the second Graduation ceremony, conveniently 2 preschools celebrate together. Pray it doesn't rain on Wednesday or we're in BIG trouble... Trying to fit 200 people into a small preschool... We've lots of ground outside and that's where we'll be.

Just to give myself extra work (I love it really!) I'm hosting an event here on the resort for 2 preschools next Tuesday. Would be nice if it doesn't rain then as well, but I'm not sure we'll manage 2 dry days - this IS the rainy season! Last night was a storm to match Joburg standards... hours of heavy rain turning our car park into a muddy swamp. Lovely.

Finally, some lions...

2007-11-20T16:51:00.000+02:00

I needed a break last weekend and went up to visit some friends in Johannesburg. It was brilliant because I got to see some amazing lions too whilst I was there. I'd remarked to Y that I hadn't seen any yet and she remembered the Lion Park so we headed there on Saturday morning. Bit pricey, but entry did include the cub section where we got to go in and stroke the lion cubs. I stroked this one (see photo), who is 3 months old! So soft and furry, like a massive cat. It was quite hot on Saturday so they were all lying around keeping cool in the shade. When I first stroked the lion it kept looking round but the keeper said I had to stroke firmly as otherwise they think I'm a fly and then might bite me... Cool... a real lion bite.. But anyway, it didn't go for me. The people who went in after us were getting their trainers chewed later on, but as we were only in flip-flops I'm glad they had just been chilling with us...

We also got to feed giraffes from a special raised platform. Cool.

Then we drove round the park and got up close and personal with more lions. (more photos on facebook) It was hot and the lions only get fed once a week on Sundays so they were loitering about under trees. The first lioness was very interested in the stupidity of the men in the white mercedes who were following us round, especially in the one man who opened his window and was leaning out to take photos. Those people were especially irritating as they were cutting up other cars to get to the lions first, and opening their windows etc... Not as stupid, however, as the woman who had her window down and her child in the back leaning out taking photos of the same hungry lioness a little bit later. When will people understand that the 'Lions are dangerous, unpredictable wild animals. Please keep car windows closed at all times' sign actually means just that!?!?! If the animal had been bothered, there would not have been time for that woman to get her child in and window closed...

Thankfully, no one was eaten, but the creatures are magnificent. Covered in flies and ticks, yes, but that doesn't change how wonderful they are. I can't get over the size of their paws. You wouldn't want to be in an arm wrestle with them. Or any kind of combat for that matter. They are just beautiful, majestic creatures and to get up close to them was incredible. God knew what he was doing when he created these as Kings of the Beasts...

I'm so happy that I've seen some lions, but I still want more. Having seen the Gauteng Lions I may have to pop into Natal Lion park in the next few weeks when Mum and Dad come out...

Soccer blues…

2007-11-08T15:34:00.000+02:00

Sihle, the main soccer guy here, has managed to get tickets for all the Kaizer Chiefs games at Durban Absa Stadium. He's the man!

So last night I headed off to Durban with a couple of soccer-mad Zulu guys, the local Councillor and his men. The Councillor has the most easily recognisable car in the valley – a big black shiny Mercedes. Sihle had the honour of driving it last night and I’m sure he made sure he drove carefully as I followed him down the N3, he was certainly not breaking any laws… I wondered why the Councillor himself wasn’t driving his car, but as we drew close to the stadium, the reason became obvious. It’s hard to drive and blow a big yellow plastic horn to alert people of your arrival and allegiance in the forthcoming soccer match!!!

We scrambled right up to the back of the stadium, as it looked like it might rain and there we would be under cover. Then the waiting game began. We’d arrived about 1 hour early and the stadium was less than a quarter full. It filled up to over half full by the time the match began. I abandoned all hope of finding a toilet, or a source of dinner and contented myself with an apple. I was kind of stuck between 2 large Zulu guys and was fearful for a while that if they suddenly leapt up in enthusiasm that I would be swept up along with them, but thankfully I managed to extricate myself from that by breathing in at the appropriate moment!

The match began at 7.30pm. Kaizer Chiefs vs Moroko Swallows. We were on the K Chiefs side, but they were fairly weak for the majority of the game. There were some nice moves but the team didn’t seem to work well together. Thankfully they had a brilliant goal-keeper who successfully managed to field maybe 8 goals in the first half. Half time score was 0-0.

The second half picked up when Swallows scored twice in fairly quick succession. The fans for the ‘Birds’ were getting more and more excited and rowdy, but it was still quite contained. My last live soccer match had been 7 years ago in Italy when I had feared for my life as fireworks sped past my ears onto the pitch. The Africans are so well behaved in comparison. There was no funny business here, I didn’t even hear any expletives, but then there might have been some comments in Zulu that I missed!

The Chiefs finally got it together enough to score a goal. The crowd went wild. Finally some hope but only 15 minutes left. In that last 15 minutes however there were 2 red and 1 yellow cards for the Swallows and several minutes of stoppage time as I think no less than 3 Swallows went down and had to be stretchered off the pitch. In the last few minutes of extra time the Chiefs managed to mess up 2 attempts at goals. It was frustrating for the fans. Full time score: Swallows:2 – Chiefs: 1.

But all the same, it was a great night. Good to see some life soccer action in a country that is so soccer mad. And when 2010 comes around I can say I was in a stadium in S.Africa once. Although matches might not be played there, there is a bigger one being built next to the Absa Stadium. However, the workers down-tooled on that again this week so it’s anyone’s guess as to whether the place will be finished in time…

Linga Longa Animal Farm trip

2007-11-08T15:29:00.000+02:00

One of the Preschools had been invited to come and visit Linga Longa Animal Farm near Drummond. This was fantastic because we’d been trying to plan a trip out but had got stuck with no money. So the invitation was perfect timing! Thank you God!

And so it was that yesterday morning, 57 preschoolers, a few teachers and volunteers and me set off round the windy mountain road to Drummond, only about 20 minutes away. The bus carrying all the children took an unexpected detour when they missed the turning, but they arrived soon enough.

Their trip started with a feast of hot dogs, juice and party bags full of sweets and these little dolphin toys which turned out to fire mini dolphins out when aimed at the unsuspecting farm animals. Following the feast the children were let loose on the farm with carrots to feed the expectant creatures. They saw donkeys, cows, sheep, pot-bellied pigs, goats, even chickens, rabbits, tortoise and marmoset monkeys (which are a cross between cute and mean-looking at the same time, very odd).

There was also a bird park, with a very chatty cockatiel that kept them amused for ages, especially when one of the teachers started mimicking the bird. It didn’t know what to do!

The centre had swings and slides too and a big screen with cartoons so there was plenty to keep them occupied for the morning. However, all too soon it was time to get back on the coach and head back to preschool.

As I normally pop in to preschool for a short time, I was not used to the onslaught of 57 under 5s. Maximum respect to anyone who works with these ‘creatures’ full time! Their attention span was averaging 3 minutes, with the exception of our children from here, who sat engaged in the TV for ages whilst others ran around them! It’s not like they never see TV, just not usually that big!

And on a supernatural note…

2007-11-05T09:38:00.000+02:00

Spiritually, things have really opened up here this past week, in quite a dramatic fashion. It’s been quite a week. First thing that happened was on Tuesday when we received reports that one of the young Zulu guys had been taken ill suddenly, seemingly having had a stroke. I went down with my car to take him to the Drs, as he’s a good friend of mine. But on arrival I realised that this was something spiritual and he didn’t need a Dr, he needed prayer.
Pretty much all the Zulus on site gathered as well as our director and I to see what could be done. Most of the dialogue was in Zulu and I could only understand about half of what was said or was happening. It seemed he’d had some sort of vision about this site. He didn’t go into too much detail then, but later told me some of what he’d seen.
I was desperate to kick out any manifesting evil spirits, having had lots of training for it but little practice, but it was difficult to get in there as we were in the presence of a Zulu pastor and several other Zulu Christians. In any case, I held onto the wooden cross I carry around with me and prayed constantly in tongues for the whole duration of the encounter.
In the end we prayed outside the building. The guy had managed to get up and walk around, previously he’d claimed not to be able to move or see. During the prayers however another Zulu guy ran into the building screaming. It was all happening down there. Confusion still reigns a little bit.
Zulus are a superstitious lot. That’s why sangomas (traditional healers) make so much money, and it’s a gruesome business. This whole episode freaked a lot of people out. I wasn’t very freaked out or scared, in a country full of superstition and witchcraft I’m just surprised we’ve not seen more of this kind of thing around.
In any case, the conversations in the office afterwards have been good, with people more open to talk about spiritual stuff. And the winds of change are blowing. You can’t just ignore it when evil spirits manifest themselves.
If you understand what I’m going on about please pray for continued protection for us here and for wisdom for me in knowing what to do and when. It’s been an amazing week for me, I’ve never prayed so much or sang so much in worship. God is greater than any pathetic evil spirit. Jesus has won the victory and the devil now stands condemned. The power vested in me by the fact that I’m saved through the blood of Jesus means that I have authority over ALL spirits in the name of Jesus. There is nothing to fear as He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world. Nothing can stop the will of God and He will be glorified in this place.
Following these incidents, I’ve been in discussion with the deliverance and healing team from my church. They can’t just come in as a ‘quick fix’, more has to happen. Pray for guidance and open doors to come and work here, the devil might mean all this for bad, but God can and will turn it around for good, if we allow Him to. Pray that more people would turn and give their lives to Jesus, only by doing this can they truly be delivered and saved from further interference on the scale we’ve seen this week.

Interesting that this should happen at the very moment I make my decision to leave soon, and that the main people affected should be close friends of mine. (That’s not to say that people should get worried and avoid me from now on ;-) !!)

Future plans

2007-11-05T09:19:00.000+02:00

Once again, it’s a period of blog drought followed by several blog entries all at once. Nothing can be done, such is the unpredictability of African life!

A week ago I made the final decision after a period of much soul-searching and prayer. Not long after coming back here from the UK I sensed once again a call from God to pursue ordination in the good old Church of England. I made a few enquiries here and there and it seems the best way to follow this call is to apply from the UK for selection (and all the other hoops to jump through on the way) and to return sooner rather than later.

And so it was that I was considering an earlier return to the UK. But then I started having doubts and, just like Jonah (the prophet, not the Young Zulu Warrior choir member) I set out in completely the opposite direction from Ninevah… But the strange thing about running away from God is that He makes you miserable and soon enough I was back in confusion-ville and heading to a ministry evening at church which proved very helpful for my thinking.

One of the people who prayed for me asked me what my 5-year plan was. Interesting question, easy answer (for me at least) – get married, have children, establish a speaking ministry with maybe a book published. Then he asked me what I’m doing about achieving that. It was a crucial moment.

I don’t think I’m coming back to the UK on a whim, I’ve taken advice from various wise people and everyone concurs on the fact that it’s time to come back to the UK (at least for the next few years). Just to confirm all of that, I received prophetic ministry a few days later. A lot of good stuff, nearly all of it linked in some way to leaving. Good, especially as those people praying knew pretty much nothing except my name.

And so I shall be returning to the UK in early February, enough time to finish up and hand over my projects from here and to see Christmas celebrated well and back to school up and running. My main focus is to get Ingcindezi preschool kitchen and new classroom all ready and finished off for the start of the new academic year in mid-January. Then I can leave.

When you make the right decision with God, He confirms it over and over, and the reaction from people I’ve told already has been fantastic. Everyone seems genuinely pleased that I’m coming back to the UK, probably Leamington again for the moment, whilst I do my application. People here, Zulus especially, are less pleased, but I’ll be back to visit, and in the meantime I’ll be speaking out for them wherever I go. You can’t come some place like this and make such good friends with people and not talk about them to others. I’m really at peace about coming back, I can now enjoy the last few months here with the children.

I've found somewhere to upload photos!!! ;-)

2007-10-23T18:37:00.000+02:00

The New Chief and Old Chief are escorted down by the Counsellors, Chiefs and others, including the Young Zulu Warriors.

Me and my Zulu girl-friends...

Here are a couple of photos from the Inauguration of the New Chief. (so you can see how cool I look dressed as a Zulu!)

Maphepheteni

2007-10-23T18:22:00.000+02:00

This is the creature that they make the tops of shields from - wild cat apparently.
Me and Mdu's younger brother (whose name I've temporarily forgotten!)

Before the joys of rugby I spent a few hours in the Valley near Inanda Dam on Saturday afternoon. My friend Mdu wanted to visit his family and so I drove him down there. It's a stunningly beautiful drive down the mountain towards a lake that would not look out of place in N.Italy next to Lake Garda.

Mdu's family live along the banks of the River Duzi, famous for a marathon boat race once a year (not sure when?) and you have to cross the river (thankfully there's a road bridge) and then drive along the river and then down a track right up close to the river before descending through a field to get to their place. Last time I apparently drove 'too fast', so now I let him drive the last bit, which meant I was free to take photos. (again there are loads more on facebook).

Once we got there, Mdu took the kids off to the store and I was left with his family, which was interesting as the majority of them don't speak English. One of his younger brothers, Khaye, speaks good English so he made sure I was being looked after. Bit of an awkward moment when they brought out a bottle of coke for me to drink. I haven't had coke since 2003 as it makes me ill. Took me a little while to get them to understand that. (Ngiyaxolisa kodwa uma ngiphuza icoke, ngiyagula kakhulu.... ) check out my Zulu ;-) Eventually I managed to get some pineapple fanta (still full of sugar, but no caffeine!)

In any case, their family are big on making shields and traditional costume and they do this in the rondavel where they entertain visitors. So I got a great insight into how one makes these things. The animal that they use for the tops of the shields (Chris L - this is what's on your shield! - you wanted to know) is a small wild cat that they catch locally. There were several skins hanging up to dry. The skins that are used for drums were being stored in a pond down by the river and while we were down there, the wife of one of the brothers came down with a rake and hoiked them out. What a smell! Pond-soaked animal skins...

They have their own beach down by the river. You can walk across the river to the other side but I refrained. And I'm glad I did as I later found out that this river is rather polluted. I imagined it would be, it's used for many different purposes not just canoe marathons. The family don't wash white clothes in there, but I think that's the only thing that doesn't get put there!

Anyway, it was so nice to be in the middle of nowhere, to be surrounded by beautiful mountains, and to not hear any traffic. It was so tranquil and peaceful.

Rugby

2007-10-23T18:13:00.001+02:00

I did watch the match on Saturday night. I felt I had to really although I'm not a huge rugby fan.

The atmosphere here was hyped up, to say the least. I'd spent the afternoon at a friend's house in the valley (away from all rugby talk!) and we popped into Spur (S.Africa's favourite steak house) for food on the way to watch rugby at church. The TVs were already on and EVEN SPUR was closing at 8pm on a Saturday night so that the staff could watch...

We watched the first half at my church on big screen, a very well-attended event. They'd had a braai just before. The room was full of 120 S.Africa supporters and me. I shouted 'come on England' at appropriate moments at a volume barely audible by mice...

My Zulu friend Mdu had never seen a rugby match before (he's a soccer boy) and was quite fascinated by the hype. But he concluded after a few moments that the game was 'a bit rough'... and he wasn't too bothered when we left at half time to get home.

The biggest joy of the evening was the N3. We passed 1 lorry and 2 cars on a normally hectic busy motorway. It was bliss! ;-)

I watched the rest of the game alone at home. Sorry for England, but hey, we did win last time so it's only fair to allow others a moment of glory. After the game the TV coverage went to various places around the country for 'how the people are celebrating' report. Durban was the funniest. The presenter got mobbed and you couldn't hear a word. So they switched cameras to a woman and the same thing happened to her. Then a random woman looking for her friend wandered into shot. It was classic botch-up television...

Amahle (aged 6) reminded me last night that South Africa had beaten England and that England were the losers. I thought I should maybe beat him at basketball for that comment, but then the nicer side of me kicked in and I allowed him to win. He does have a disadvantage in being about 3 ft 6...

Prayer letter

2007-10-20T12:16:00.000+02:00

I've just sent out my latest prayer letter. Contact me if you didn't get it but want one...

Please pray in addition to this about my energy levels... you know when you get to that stage of not having any energy to care about things being discussed that it's time for a break..

I'm on weekend off now but haven't gone anywhere to stay cos my car has cost me too much this month in service fees and paying for new tyres...

But I'm sure that even at my house I can be refreshed. I need some fresh energy and inspiration. Everything is becoming tiresome. I'm going on holiday in December when my parents come out but right now it seems that even next weekend off is a long way off!

Having said I'm going nowhere I will be watching the rugby this evening, with Americans instead of South Africans. It's bad enough being in 'enemy territory' at this time, let alone having to watch it with them... Secretly I hope England win, then I can smile sweetly at everyone, but in reality I don't really care, I'm more of a football girl... and there's no chance that there would ever be an England - SA final for that!! ;-)

Inauguration of Nkosi Mlaba

2007-10-20T12:15:00.000+02:00

Last Saturday the inhabitants of the Valley of Kwa Ximba celebrated a rare occasion – the inauguration of a new Chief. The new Chief’s father had been killed when he was small and his uncle has been serving as Chief until this one was old enough. Now, at age 28, he is ready to take on his designated role as Chief of a very large area of the Valley of 1000 Hills. These kind of events don’t happen very often and the King of the Zulus himself was present to do the deed.
We were privileged enough to be invited to join in the celebrations and the Young Zulu Warriors were invited to lead the escort of men down from the Chief’s house to the soccer ground where the big marquee was set up. They were also asked to perform after the ceremony, but due to reasons beyond their control they didn’t actually perform in the end.

The day itself was hot, with a thunderstorm brewing for later in the day. We had to be down there early. The ceremony was due to start at 10am, with the new Chief (Nkosi) being escorted down from his house at 8.45am. In reality, Africa time set in and the actual ceremony began at 12.30pm. The King didn’t arrive until about 11.30am and the Nkosi was definitely not arriving triumphantly at 8.45am, it was more like 10! One gets used to these timings and comes prepared to wait around.

All of our children over the age of 10 were invited and they had to opportunity to wear traditional Zulu dress. The boys wore skins – a kind of skirt, 2 calf bracelet things, 2 arm bands and a headband, all made from animal skins. It took Mdu about 7 hours to make 8 of these costumes up new on the day before. The girls wore black tops with beads and different skirts, all adorned with beads. They opted out of the ‘traditional’ costume of going topless. The majority of girls there did go topless though, as tradition states. Married women wear full outfits with many beads and great hats.

The Nkosi’s arrival was something to behold. He marched down from his house on top of the hill flanked by the out-going Chief and the Local Chiefs and Councillors. Just behind them came the Young Zulu Warriors and they were accompanied by all the other men of the area, some in traditional skins, others just with their shield and sticks. There were probably several hundred men escorting him down. At a short distance behind them came the girls and women, singing and dancing. It was quite a sight to see as they marched into the grounds, brandishing their sticks and shields and shouting victoriously.

Then the waiting began for the King to arrive. The rest of the Royal entourage were in place but it was still an hour or so before His Majesty King Goodwill Zwelithini turned up. And then we heard police sirens and looked up the hill that was in the distance and saw the police escort arriving. The King had maybe 8 police cars escorting him in. His car registration is ZK1 – nice. However this is obviously a state secret as when one of the Brits with me tried to take a photo with his phone he met with opposition from the police and was made to delete it immediately on pain of losing his phone…

A group of Christian guys (and one woman!) from the UK had visited earlier in the week and had been invited, so I spent the day with them. We got VIP passes which ensured us front row seats (although not in the raised seating section for the Chiefs and royal family) and entry to the dining tent for the customary beef curry afterwards. We also had access to the VIP toilets, but unfortunately they were locked. There was also a hospitality tent, which we later discovered was in fact the King’s tent and we’d just stolen his water… oops. He didn’t seem to notice thankfully so our heads remained on… The Brits thought this was the most amazing day and what an experience. Indeed, it’s not the kind of thing one can just walk into and they were very clever in picking their time to visit us so that they could take this experience away with them.

When the King was there and all was set we could proceed into the big marquee where there was a triumphant entry of the king, surrounded by the men and accompanied by a praise caller (who also works at the rugby and is a guy I’ve definitely seen on TV ads) who shouts out praises to the King as he enters. The guy is loud.

There then followed about 3 hours of Zulu, of which I understood about 10 words. I stood up when there should only be men standing, but the mistake was pointed out quickly to me and rectified. I carefully observed some of our girls outside chatting to local youth, unbeknown to them that I could see. I chuckled at the lack of stamina of the Brits, who are strangers to these ceremonies and were dozing off one at a time. I smiled sweetly and looked demure when I noticed the video camera was pointing straight at me. (I later regretted not watching the news on Sunday when I was on SABC1 and SABC2 news. Am trying to track down a copy for a souvenir.)

The actual inauguration took about 2 minutes. The King had a shiny sword and it looked like he knighted Nkosi Mlaba. I was later told by Zulus that his speech was good. He is a popular King with his people and you could tell. It seemed very entertaining and people laughed a lot. Except his first wife, she fell asleep. Probably heard that joke before.

After the ceremony we retired to the dining tent. The Brit boys went up to get some food and were in the process of getting their plates filled when someone realised that we had to wait until the King had been served in his tent, so the food was unceremoniously thrown back and they had to wait! But we didn’t have to wait long.

When the King had been escorted off, the VIPs went up to the Nkosi’s house where the real party was happening. I had to make a brief stop there to present a cake from our organisation, as my director was ill and unable to attend the event. The cake was well-received. I’d taken a couple of German volunteers with me to film the cake-handing over moment but they were more engrossed in the action outside the Chief’s house where the cows were being killed for food. I chose not to watch, I don’t need to see it to understand the brutality of how Zulus prepare their feasts. But the boys loved it!

These are the kind of days that make me really appreciate being here and in the position I find myself in. One can’t just walk into these events, you have to be invited and it’s always such a privilege to be invited to be a part of the local culture and tradition. It makes for very interesting conversations and broadens our minds as to what other cultures value and how they celebrate important events. The Zulus love having non-Zulus come too, not many white people go down into these valleys and so any that do venture down there (particularly if we have a soccer ball in the car!) are made to feel very welcome.

Inauguration

2007-10-16T11:20:00.000+02:00

Last Saturday we celebrated the inauguration of Nkosi Mlaba in the Valley of Kwa Ximba...
the story will follow... just running out of time at internet cafe... ;-)
unfortunately I can't get photos on today, but have put some on facebook as it's easier to upload...

oh and I was apparently on National TV as well, on SABC news Sunday night on at least 2 channels... and I missed it!

trying to track down the tape...

Rain

2007-10-09T15:20:00.000+02:00

It has rained solidly here since Sunday afternoon. We had a brief thunderstorm yesterday to make things slightly more exciting, but apart from that it's wall-to-wall rain, a grey blanket across the skies and a lot of mud and potholes. The track that leads from the tar road up to here is now full of holes and water, making any attempt at negotiating it hazardous. Unfortunately it's the only way out of here.
I couldn't go to small group at church last night. Driving was too hazardous and it was very dark.. Annoying as they were going to pray for me.
One of my preschools was closed today too due to the bad rain, and at another one attendance was low. When the weather is this bad people don't leave home.
Apparently it's due to get better on Thursday, but that's 2 more days of rain... it's bad enough up here on the top of a hill, I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like in the muddy valleys...

And it doesn't help that I'm waking every morning depressed. I know something is wrong because normally I wake up in a good mood, but for a while now I've been waking in a weird mood, kind of gloomy. It's like I've turned into Eeyore and everything is a chore. I keep falling asleep too easily too... (so far I missed the only goal in last week's Man U v AS Roma match AND the end of The Matrix... it's not good) . I've tried praying it off but wonder if it's something I've got to go through and that things will get better soon. I hope they do. Please pray with me through this. God is faithful, but for some reason I'm just glum...

car antics..

2007-10-06T15:32:00.000+02:00

It never ceases to amaze me how good God is... Despite the terrible roads over here, He still faithfully protects and provides for me on my frequent travels..

Late yesterday afternoon, I drove a friend, Mdu, to visit his family in Maphephetini, by Inanda dam (possibly the most beautiful dam in this country..) and we would have been ok apart from the thunderstorm that started as soon as we got there. We managed to get out of the deepest bit of the valley ok, but as I was driving up the mountain to Hillcrest, with rivers of water flowing down towards us from the top on the windy road, I managed to drive over a BIG pothole which resulted in the front tyre of my car bursting... (having just been repaired from an embedded nail from another valley road!) So poor old Mdu had to change the tyre in the rain. Zulus don't like storms so he was especially brave! ;-) He's such a star, didn't complain once!

As we were sorting my car out, another car went past which must have done exactly the same manoeuvre as they too had a flat...

Anyway, about half an hour later and soaking wet (I'd been holding the umbrella, but it wasn't much help!) we could go on our way again and made it home safely.

Then this morning, as I was setting out for Durban, I got a frantic call telling me that my rear passenger tyre was flat... so I had to reverse up the track to get back to the soccer field where all the guys where playing a soccer tournament and take one of them with me to the garage to buy 2 new tyres...

It was only on reflection that I realised both tyres must have been hit by the same pothole, yet the back one survived through the storm, roadworks and delays to get home last night. Had it gone then we would almost certainly have been in trouble.. God is good!

ray of sunshine...

2007-10-06T15:30:00.000+02:00

funeral 2

2007-10-05T13:22:00.000+02:00

As promised, here's my account of the funeral that we went to on Tuesday.

First of all, it was a long way away. I was so glad that I didn't actually have to drive as it was so far. So I travelled in the front of the Combi (the same one I drove a year ago if you can remember that far back). I was also glad as the road we took went from tar road to gravel road, then dirt, then rocks, across a stream and over smaller rocks, through some mud, down a shingly track and into what can only be compared to the wilderness of a game reserve (minus the lions, hopefully) in the absolute middle of nowhere. As far as we could make out, the nearest neighbours were about 6 km away on another mountain slope! Ultimate respect to Samson for driving a combi through what was essentially a 4x4 offroad adventure track! (incidentally, the combi stopped working the next morning, wonder why?!)

So we went via New Hannover to pick up the coffin and then on past Greytown, Muden and into the wilderness for 1 hour till we arrived at the birthplace of the lady. It was bleak, dry rocky ground which was difficult for the men to dig a grave in, probably why they were still digging when we had to leave. Although we did find out that there had been some dispute as to whether she could be buried there as well, which caused delays.

The coffin was taken into the house and the photos and yellow roses that Catherine felt we should buy were laid on the top. Then everyone sat around and sang, prayed and cried in Zulu for what felt like ages. Spha, the little boy sat very quietly to start with but was restless after a while. N, the baby was grabbed by some relatives and didn't appreciate that at all so she wailed a bit, but calmed down later. In fact, both children we very well behaved, all things considered.

And that was it really, we had to drive back before they put the coffin in the ground. The most poignant thing was that the coffin was made of chipboard and cardboard and held together with what looked like tacks. That nearly got me. Even in death, poverty is alive and well. It was all that could be afforded with what little she had. Although at least she had a funeral, apparently there are hundreds of unclaimed bodies in the mortuary that have to be buried in mass graves..

The children are now with us here, now the task falls to Auntie Pretty to sort out their welfare with the social workers. They continue to settle in and are doing well. Pray for the health of the baby and that Spha will adapt to an English speaking environment when he only speaks Zulu.

Tired

2007-10-01T16:55:00.000+02:00

It's amazing how tired one can get here. The weather has been awful and it's chucked it down with rain since about 2 days ago which is depressing and muddy. No thunderstorms, but it's only a matter of time...

I thought I'd poisoned myself last week on some dodgy turkey, but now I think it must have been a tummy bug cos Catherine went down with it last night and we've pretty much eaten the same food. Am glad I didn't get it as bad as her, although I still had to take last Thursday off to rest. This actually was good for me as I had been stupidly tired and that way I had some energy for the weekend of work. I'm finding more and more that I'm totally exhausted at the end of each day, frequently falling asleep in front of the TV or with the light on...

Where is the sun?

The baby (see previous blog) has been a little ray of sunshine. I got her a few toys and a playmat as she had nothing. These stay in my house as otherwise they'd be trashed by the other kids in seconds. She comes over and loves playing. In the space of a week she's learnt that if she pulls the lion's tail it sings and that the toy book has things to pull too. She's nearly crawling, is getting in position... it won't be long. This child has spent the first 6 months of her life in the sugar cane of Swayimane, sleeping at night in a rickety old valley toilet. Considering that, she's positively a child genius! ;-)

funeral

2007-10-01T16:40:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow I'll be attending my first Zulu funeral. We took in 2 children a few weeks ago as their mother was seriously ill. It was a privilege to pray for her last Tuesday when she was here briefly. She looked as if the hope had gone from her eyes. She died early on Saturday morning in a hospice. She was 29.

The funeral is tomorrow in her birthplace far from here. There was no one to move her body from the hospice to the mortuary yesterday so we had to send a car to help. We'll be providing the same help tomorrow. The funeral directors are overwhelmed and so it falls to the families to organise everything. In this case there is little family around, although we have made contact with her brother who is arranging everything.

I have spent quite a bit of time making sure that the 6 month old girl has been cared for properly here with us. She is a little treasure and at her age I guess she won't remember much about her mother. Her brother has settled into the creche, he's gorgeous too, but only speaks Zulu and it's fun to watch the volunteers try to communicate with him. I am managing to speak Zulu with him, albeit haltingly. He's about 4 so will feel his mother's death more. Both children will be with us tomorrow as it's traditional.

I'll write more after the event. At the moment we are busy sorting out logistics. I'm sure there is more to reflect on. I took photos of her with her son last week. These are being printed here at the internet cafe as I write. One or two will be framed and placed on the coffin tomorrow.

National Is’cathamia Competition

2007-09-27T11:13:00.000+02:00

Last Saturday night the boys from the Young Zulu Warriors took part in the 10th National Is’cathamia Competition in Durban City Hall. For once I happened to be on weekend off and staying in Durban and we went to support them. The competition started at 7pm and finished around 10am the following morning! We go there around 7.30pm and the boys were number 18 in the line-up but didn’t get to perform their one song until 11.30pm!
Thankfully we were able to come and go in and out of the building to see various performers and then rejoin the boys outside where they were entertaining passers-by and also scaring off the lesser competition by singing loudly. We only saw maybe 6 other groups, and the standard was high. But when the YZWs came on stage, their sound levels and power in their voices blew the competition away and made everyone sit up and take notice (especially those who were already dozing!).
They did really well and walked away the next morning in third position. Considering this is a national competition they did really well.

intermittent ramblings...

2007-09-17T14:59:00.000+02:00

September 17, 2007
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
Romans 12:3-5

This was the Bible verse on Facebook today. Just put it on to remind me...

I've been off-internet again, the frustration continues... it's not going to go away.. But the joy of making it to an internet cafe supercedes that and being able to communicate with people who care overrides all annoyance!

Life is fraught with annoying people and situations at the moment, wonder if this is a test of my patience. It's certainly testing... Seems like I am suddenly surrounded by 'challenging' people... Pray for everything I need to live as a child of God in this place. I need support...

Have been busy working on a few workshops and meetings, which are too complex to describe, but they are keeping me occupied a lot. And I need to develop the learnings too. I struggle with this kind of work, I'm not a secretary and I only like Admin if it means I get to spend time with lots of people also, so I'm seriously challenged about my 'office' role at the moment. Lots of thinking about the future. Have some great ideas but don't know the 'how' yet. If they are from God then that will fall into place, so I'm not that worried...

On a different note, we gained 2 more children yesterday, rescued from near tragic situation in the valley. They are doing well and settling in. One is a baby and one is 3, the 3 yr old has a similar name to someone in creche so they were having fun with that last night! This is the first time we've taken in children since I've been here. It's weird that our big family here has increased overnight so unexpectedly. Pray for the children's mother who is in hospital, seriously ill.

ok, time is up here at the internet cafe! Thank you for continuing to pray and support me, even if communication this year seems fraught with difficulties... well, it is Africa after all so I don't know why I'm worried...

Auntie

2007-09-11T09:30:00.000+02:00

Oh, and I forgot to say.. Last Friday I became an Auntie for the second time!

J&B had a sister for Gwyneth... Eirys (Iris) Katherine Sofia.

Finally managed to see photos online on Sunday night, she's so teeny tiny and gorgeous. Felt a twinge of sadness that I won't be able to hold her for a long time as no plans to return to UK in the near future, and also that all my family were together without me, but then I remembered that she won't remember any of it, so as long as I see her before her first Birthday I think I'll be ok!

Congratulations to J&B
Commiserations to G for now having to share her parents
and J probably needs prayer for having to live in a female-dominated household!!!

Klutz...

2007-09-11T09:19:00.000+02:00

I think I'm becoming a klutz.

First of all I have the whole car light incident (see previous entry), then I manage to lose my car in another mall car park on Sunday and end up exceeding the time on the ticket. Following this I manage to drive into a multi-storey car park at JHB airport looking for the petrol station and have to ask nicely for the security to let me out again immediately (which they did!) .

And then yesterday I went down the valley to visit a preschool with a new volunteer and warned her about the slippiness of a gravel slope you have go down to get into the school. I've been there so many times and never had problems and yesterday I went straight over and slid (gracefully, I like to think) down the slope, grazing my leg and cutting my toe in the process... hmm. Klutzy...

And then I manage to drop my lunch on the floor so that the cats got a good meal of smoked chicken and I had to make do with eggs...

what is going on???!!

Am annoyed this morning because my toe still hurts and I couldn't go to my dance lesson, which means I have no opportunity for exercise this week at all (not good for my health!!) I'm in a workshop from tomorrow to Friday. I think I'll live, although walking is a little painful. It's not a doctor-worthy injury though, but I'm glad I have an automatic car so I don't need to use that leg! This was my first 'accident' since I arrived in S.Africa so it was kind of exciting, although a trifle painful too... Glad I've had all my shots!

Jo'burg

2007-09-11T09:10:00.000+02:00

I'm just back from a great few days in the South African Capital of Fun, Johannesburg. Some people question what there is to do there, but there's lots, if you know where to look!

Had a good couple of days at CASNET, where I learnt far more than I really wanted to about child abuse in a Child Protection Workshop, for one thing.The usual hotel where we stayed has recently been awarded some kind of tourism award recently. So you'd think they'd have done away with such insults to la cucina italiana as 'Pasta Hawaii' - penne, carrots, pineapple baked in a white sauce with cheese on top. Any self-respecting Italian in the vicinity would have stormed the kitchens in protest. 'Weird' doesn't really sum it up right. 'Wrong' might be a better description!

In any case, Allet flew up and joined me and our little blue boy-racer VW Chico on Friday evening. I'd picked up the car earlier in the day and driven close by to the airport to East Rand Mall. When I tried to remove key from ignition an alarm went off and I couldn't work out why. After a 10 minute phone call to Avis careline, and conversations with VW experts, the nice man on the other end of the phone pointed out to me that I'd left my lights on... Doh! (It had been a looooong week)

Saturday late morning and we were in the middle of 4 lanes of crazy traffic leaving the CBD (Central Business District) with combi-taxis weaving in and out. (We were reminded later that there are major taxi wars going on at the moment, with shoot outs and all the rest - thankfully no-one was in a violent mood on Saturday!) And this is why... it was the Gauteng Carnival in Newtown. And there were many many police on patrol. Possibly the safest place to be on a Saturday afternoon... In any case, we had a mooch round at the entertainment and then popped into MuseuMAfrica for some more culture.

The Museum is massive, and we only managed a bit before needing lunch. We informed ourselves about the 'Tried for Treason' trials of the late 1950's. Crazy times, in a land then plagued by Apartheid, the state still tried people of all tribes and colours for so-called crimes against the state. Perhaps these events alerted the rest of the world to some of the troubles SA was facing.. It was a fascinating exhibition, with a lot of photos and newspaper cuttings of the time.We also managed to fit in a musical styles of Africa exhibition, settlements and shebeens section and a whole load of photos on Ghandi, who was quite prominent in S.Africa at one point.

A couple of shopping malls later, and a quick trip to an African craft market to get hassled by the traders and we headed to the Victory Theatre to see a show called 'Africa Umoja'. This show was in the West End of London for 2 years from 2001 so maybe some people have seen it, but it was great. It was a kind of history of the musical styles of SA from the stomping and drumming to the very new kwaito movement. The show was amazing and very entertaining. It's moving to Durban soon so might manage to persuade some of the YZWs to come along for the show too...

On Sunday, we went to Rhema Church again. Great preaching, great worship. (and am reminded I still need to update on the wonderful things that happened last time I went!)

Then we went to Sandton City and Nelson Mandela Square, which boasts probably the biggest statue of Madiba in the world! After lunch at Monte Casino (which seems to be a huge indoor Italian town filmset!) it was time to head back to the airport and down to rainy KZN.

What a weekend! It was busy but fun. It was fantastic to stay with my friends up there and to spend some time catching up with them. Another busy week awaits so it was good to be refreshed!

another day... another internet cafe...

2007-09-04T10:23:00.000+02:00

Postnet is quite a refreshingly competent internet cafe. I wasn't going to come back online so soon, but I was in PMB this morning and got a call that there's currently no electricity or telephone at home so it's not worth rushing back to the office this morning, it would be rather dark...

Took our little 4-yr old home from hospital yesterday so that's good news. She wanted to get straight back on her bike, not thinking that she is temporarily one-handed... she'll learn! She threw the biggest sulk possible in hospital but thankfully clicked out of it the moment the Dr signed the discharge documents. I was reminded just how much mums have to go through with small children and am full of absolute respect for those who put up with this kind of behaviour on a regular basis! And am so glad that I don't have kids (yet!) ;-)

Tomorrow I'm off to Joburg. This weekend Allet and I will be exploring the city. We are mightily miffed that The Lion King show at Montecasino is fully booked and we can't go. We'll find something to entertain us, it is one of the major cities in Africa... Am looking forward to it and to getting away from the dysfunctionalities (is that a word?) of living rurally, even for a weekend!

internet failure

2007-09-03T12:07:00.000+02:00

I don't know what's going on but systematically my internet connections at home and in the office have failed for no reason! I am not a happy bunny.
Have driven half an hour into town to check my email. It's getting ridiculous.

So that's why you've not heard from me for the past week.

Lots has happened though and I'm very busy. Off to Joburg on Wed for CASNET and a weekend exploring the city with Allet.

Spent a lot of this past weekend sitting in hospital with one of our 4 year olds who managed to break her arm badly at preschool last week. She's coming home today and that's good because she was getting very bored in there!!! Pray for complete healing in her arm.

Also please pray for Ph who is one of my preschool teachers, she is very sick with some mystery thing. I visited her last week and prayed with her. It all sounds very strange and she's been ill for a month. Don't know what could have caused it except maybe stress. But she wants to get better. more when I visit her again.

I did Church yesterday morning, it was so AWESOME to be back praising with the kids and to have an opportunity to teach them about Jesus. I'm more organised this term and we're planned right up to Christmas. There are some fantastic and keen new Christians here too so all is looking good. Catherine arrived safely yesterday too so all is well.

Must go, time is running out!

More when I can get back on line.... PRAY for that too!!!
thanks , bye!

The reality of living in Africa...

2007-08-27T17:08:00.000+01:00

People go on and on about the violent crime rate in South Africa. Many South Africans are prepared to leave the country at a moment’s notice. For a brief moment this weekend the thought crossed my mind too. But the reality is that crime is everywhere and here is no exception.

On Friday afternoon a couple of men walked into reception during the weekly pay-out of wages and asked for one of our staff by name. They then brought out guns and proceeded to take the money. In the kerfuffle one of them fired a shot which THANKFULLY only hit the window and the wall outside, although people were passing there a millisecond later and are traumatised by it all (as you would be, understandably). The bullet hole remains as testimony to what happened. As it was payday there were lots of people milling around, most ran for cover and made sure that none of the children were nearby.

The gunmen made off with a reasonable amount of cash, but not without a fight. Patches (the wonderdog) was on the case and she went for the legs of one of the attackers, digging her teeth in and generally making a nuisance of herself to protect people. She somehow managed to dodge 2 bullets in the process although most onlookers are amazed that she didn’t get shot. But she’s fast. (She’s sitting on the bed next to me as I write this, approving of everything I write!)

It was an inside job. Someone knows who these people were. They knew too much for it to be a random event. Now that the dust has settled there is widespread relief that no-one got hurt (PRAISE GOD) although some fear that these men may return. Although I imagine that is unlikely. Too many people saw them and their car. Needless to say the way we handle cash here has been rapidly rethought.

By God’s grace, I was not on the property at the time. Just half an hour earlier I had made a snap decision to go shopping and didn’t discover what had happened until the next morning. I didn’t even think much of Patches devouring lots of food in the evening and chewing up a big piece of cardboard. She is, after all, an overgrown puppy and very boisterous. Little did I know then that she is also hero of the hour!

The whole incident brings home how dangerous it can be here though. My house is next door to reception, a bit too close for comfort. And yet although I went through the initial fear of ‘what if’, I am reminded that GOD IS IN COMPLETE CONTROL and all of our days are in His hands. He is my Protector and my Saviour and so I do not need to fear. And I’ve got my cats and Patches in my house as guard creatures. I don’t think people would last long if they came near me when P is around. She’s becoming very protective after her first brush with danger! I’m starting to wonder if she might not be a special angelic dog sent to help out here.

Land handover event

2007-08-25T21:29:00.001+01:00

On Thursday a whole gang of us went down into the valley of Swayimane to a land-handover ceremony. A family there has donated some land to us for free so that we can build another pre-school project there. But before we can start building we needed to do all the formalities of switching ownership.

It was quite fascinating. In typical Zulu fashion, I'd had to go the long way and arrived nearly 2 hours late and it still hadn't started officially. I got to sit with the dignitaries (in the shade!) and enjoy the stoney ginger beer... Although the land was free, we'd still had to provide the sheep (for dinner), all the food for lunch and various other offerings.

After several pleasantries and speeches, and a performance by the YZW choir, the offical visit of the land happened, with a group walking the boundary and marking it out. Only after this had been completed could lunch begin...

My Zulu is improving, I can now understand what's being said and follow the gist of the conversation and speeches. Still a way to go before I can respond properly though.

Although, I did manage my first conversation in Zulu in the valley on Wednesday. I visited a pre-school and enquired where the teacher was and managed to establish from one of the other teachers that she was ill. The conversation, though short, went as follows:

Me: Sawubona, ninjani?
Ladies: sikhona. Unjani?
Me: Ngiyaphila. UPhumzile?
Ladies: Phumzile abekho.
Me: Uyagula?
Ladies: Yebo.

Amazing. Not a word of English and communication was perfect.
I am well pleased with my progress.

Back to KZN

2007-08-25T21:15:00.000+01:00

I'm back.

Although I've been struggling to get online all week. Apologies for lack of news.

It was great to get back 'home' here again. The kids were all excited to see me, they've got a little song that they sing for me and I've heard it all week. It's so cute.

I brought the crechies some disney princess/winnie the pooh kids cutlery (very imaginative, it took me a while) and they loved it! Everyone else has proper cutlery and the crechies had to use plastic spoons, so these are special... It was so sweet seeing them use them for the first time and loving it.

There's a positive atmosphere in the air with lots of new, enthusiastic and keen volunteers. It's taking me a while to work out who is who, I reckon it will still take me a while as I don't have much to do with them during the week, but I'll get there. It helps too that the sun was shining and it was beautifully warm when I returned (much nicer than the pollution of Jo'burg). It's almost spring!

My house is still in one piece, apart from signs of a passing rat under the sink. Must be the absence of the cats in the kitchen that allowed it to visit. After eating the entire cardboard bit of the lightbulb box and most of a box of washing powder it moved on. Strangely it didn't go near the food cupboard... Needless to say, the cats are back in full force now. Because HR was away for so long, her cats have moved to reception and the former reception cats have moved to mine... so now when I come home instead of a ginger furball rushing out of the undergrowth, I am greeted by 3 little treasures from different directions all wanting attention and cat biscuits. Natha is small, black, scratchy and argumentative, so he doesn't get to come in much. Veenie is tortoiseshell, soft, gentle and cuddly and she's most welcome (although she hates it when I have to evict her in the rain). Tubbles is a bit miffed that she has to share her blanket, but she's getting over it fast. To add to all of this, Patches the dog has also moved in, even though she did chew up a whole piece of cardboard this evening on the kitchen floor. (better than the carpet that she was starting on before I found the distraction of cardboard!) I've no clue how to look after dogs, and it's getting a bit crowded in here, but for the moment it's fun (and there's no sign of any more rodents either!)

GET REAL WOMEN'S CONFERENCE 2007

2007-08-17T22:47:00.000+01:00

I'm not going to write much now, as it's getting late.

The reason I came back to Joburg when I did was to attend the Rhema Church 'Get Real' Women's Conference, and it's been a truly awesome experience so far. I say 'so far' because there's still one more day to go. But already God has moved in such an incredible way.

I think it's the 2nd year this conference has run. Registrations were up 3000% this year and more people attend than to the normal church conference. Possibly because although this is a women's conference, men can also register! Only in Africa I guess. There are quite a few hopping around, but as the daily attendance is around 5000 people, you don't really notice them.

I'm going to save the 'what's happened to me' section for another post after the end of the time together. There have been some anointed speakers though - Sarah Omakwu from Nigeria, Christine Caine from Hillsongs Australia, Margaret Stunt from Hillsongs London, Zelda McCauley from Rhema Church, Rochelle Niemans from El Paso, Texas and Darlene Zschech from Hillsongs, Australia. If you know any of these women, you'll know how amazing they are, if you don't know about them and you are a woman of God, then you should.

My favourite bit so far was when Darlene Zschech was due to speak this morning and just decided to speak for 5 minutes and then do a worship session instead. It was so powerful, the Holy Spirit was working and many many women were set free from grief and loss in that time. Words can't truly express of convey the atmosphere in that auditorium when arguably the world's best worship team are leading us in giving praise and adoration to our heavenly Father. Tonight, 7000 people jumping and singing along to 'How great is our God' is a memory I will take with me to heaven one day (and probably repeat there too!). God is great, He's the greatest.

Tomorrow, after some more great teaching, a small group of us are visiting an outreach project and orphanage just outside the city. Should be interesting and challenging, and for me a good way to get ideas! And then in the evening there's the official Hillsongs Worship evening (tonight was merely a kind of warm up!)

Sunday sees me back in KZN, and launching into the next phase of my life in Africa, well prepared from this week of teaching and refreshing to do what the Lord wants me to do there. There are some big plans coming my way, I can sense it. And it's going to be an incredibly exciting year with God in control!

The journey South

2007-08-17T22:22:00.000+01:00

Greetings from South Africa!
I'm currently in Johannesburg. More about that in next entry.

I landed on African soil on Tuesday afternoon after what was a rather long way round of getting here. But the sun was out and I was happy to be back.

Monday had seen me heading down to Heathrow, avoiding the closed-off M40 due to that crazed biker murder. It struck me that the 2 main news headlines were about the M40 and the arriving protesters at Heathrow. Good day to travel then...

I've never been to Terminal 3 at H'row. It's a bit horrible. I think I was there on a quiet day too.
On arrival, and having negotiated that most of it is being refurbished and therefore is closed off, I was greeted by an Emirates representative who told me I'd have to wait another 2 hours before I could check in. Why do they insist you get there early, only to send you to the restaurants? Is is a ploy to get you to spend more money??? She wasn't even interested that I'd already checking in online and just needed to drop my bags. I fought my way over to the lift to be faced by another heathrow attendant who tried to tell me I couldn't take my trolley upstairs. I tried to explain to him that I didn't want to take it up either... but the 'nice' lady at Emirates wouldn't let me through... He started swearing, not really at me, but it's still irritating.. so I ignored him and got into the lift only to get out and be greeted by a whole rack of trolleys... So I have no idea what jobsworth downstairs was going on about...

In any case, I decided to attempt check-in again earlier than I was supposed to. The best thing about online check-in is that I didn't have to queue. Unfortunately, I did have to pay excess baggage, although only about half of what I should have paid, cos I argued I'm taking stuff for an orphanage...

Next stop was duty free. Now this is where Terminal 3 became more interesting... I did have to purchase a pashmina as I realised the moment I walked near to Emirates area that most of the women were completely robed in black and my strappy top possibly might cause offense in the extremely Arab state of Dubai... I did wear it all around Dubai airport, unfortunately I could only afford a woollen one from tie-rack and that was rather warm for me in the already sweltering 35 degree heat of 8am in Dubai!!! You live and learn, eh.

Flight from London to Dubai. Mediocre. Food was thrown at us at various intervals. I refused it as it was possibly about 1.30am by the time they got to us. We'd taken off at 10pm. Having forced us not to carry any water, they didn't bring any round until half way through the flight. So considerate of the needs of passengers!?! Great video console in the seat in front of me though. Didn't sleep much.

Flight from Dubai to Johannesburg. This was a longer, but day flight. And I'm glad I did this one as otherwise I might have thought emirates was a rubbish airline. The views were good. The movies were excellent. As he's now a friend, I thought it only fair to catch up with Jude's latest offerings of movies and so I watched 'Breaking and Entering' (Anthony Minghella director, interesting and quite perturbing movie), followed by highlights from 'The Holiday' (already seen it) I also caught up with some lost (for me) episodes of FRIENDS and a particularly entertaining Disney film called 'The WILD' (much better than 'Madagascar' in my view - although there were no penguins). This film saw Ryan the lioncub head off to the wild by mistake and his Dad Samson with friends Benny the squirrel, a giraffe and Nigel the Koala (easily the best British koala I've ever seen on the silver screen) to help him out. Lots of fun.

Didn't discover the music or the computer games until just before landing...

The food, though, was really not nice. It reminded me of airline food of long ago.

Long way of getting to South Africa. But it's cheaper. The fuel pump is in the back garden in UAE.

My lovely lovely helpful friend R picked me up from the airport and dropped my at new friend Y's house, after a few hours of Joburg traffic. And that's where I am now. It's Friday night and I need to sleep after 2 days of the most amazing time with God. But there's more about that later...

Ipswich

2007-08-11T22:45:00.001+01:00

Am enjoying a relaxing weekend in Ipswich chez my sister and brother-in-law. Great for Wi-Fi connection ;-)

We spent the best part of today on the shingle-covered beach at Felixstowe, making the most of the summer sunshine. Most of the summer sunshine seems to have focussed on my knees, which now look about the same colour as my orange/pink/red sundress I'm planning on wearing tomorrow... despite the suncream...
That is going to hurt tomorrow, especially with the 3 hour drive back to Stratford.

L&R are mad keen on sea-kayaking and spent most of the afternoon exploring the sea. Being now accustomed to warmer waters of the Indian ocean (ahem, I've never swum there either!) , I chose instead to finish several of my books.

I've been reading a book called 'There's always enough' by Heidi and Rolland Baker who run Iris Ministries in Mozambique. Managed to finish it today and have been profoundly challenged and inspired by these people who have given their whole lives to Jesus and travel simply, speaking of him and praying with and for people. The miracles that follow them are incredible. They've worked through some of the worst floods ever to reach the unreachable people in the middle of nowhere, and the Holy Spirit turns up again and again, bringing people back into a living relationship with Jesus, their only hope. It's about laying down our lives and dying to ourselves every day so that He might live and work through us. Not easy, but essential for abundant life.

I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with Jesus in Johannesburg next week. For some reason every time I go to Joburg it's a good time spiritually so I'm praying that the Rhema Women's Conference will be no exception. Good to get all my priorities lined up before I head back to work. Pray for me, that God will move in a big way. He is Lord and He is in control, no matter how big the mountains ahead of me seem to be. He is enough.

Not sure when I'll next blog, it might well be when I'm back in Cato Ridge...

more publicity

2007-08-09T09:49:00.000+01:00

There's a good little video clip from Scottish television if you follow the link below.

http://www.stv.tv/content/news/local/north/display.html?id=opencms:/news/north_scotland/Zulus_land_in_Shetland

If you can get video on t'internet, there's also various extracts from shows on Utube, most of which are good but a lot are from the Germany tour last year and not the recent UK tour.

Time Out

2007-08-07T21:01:00.000+01:00

It's taken me a week to chill out and recover from being so exhausted. Mad.

I was ok for the first few days. Then I did a talk for my church about my life in Africa etc, which was brilliant as lots of people came and were really supportive and encouraging. Thanks if you came, it was great to see you and I felt so loved as so many turned up on a holiday Wednesday! Even the sun made an appearance...

Unfortunately, the next day I practically lost my voice. It continued to play truant until about Sunday. But that didn't stop me heading South to visit my Grandparents and to meet some of the lovely people who've been praying for me over the past year. To pray for someone you know is one thing, but to commit to praying for an almost complete stranger takes a lot of faith and discipline, but these ladies have been praying for me all year! Thank You! I shared photos and stories with them and the tea-party was a very encouraging time.

Then it was on to Brighton to see the gang down there. Thankfully the weather was amazing so we spent some time near the beach. I say 'near' because it's not so comfortable to sit on all those pebbles, much more comfy on grassy lawns.. (and especially since I'm now used to the sun-drenched sands of the Indian Ocean). However, it was so hot on Sunday we ended up seeking air-conditioning in Caffe Nero.

Church in Brighton was great too, really refreshing despite me being so tired I could have easily slept through it all and on into the afternoon. Interestingly, the song 'He is the Lord and he reigns on high/ Show your power..' was sung at both the morning service in Brighton and the evening one in Leamington. Great song, good lyrics... Desperately need more spiritual refreshment. Am very much looking forward to Rhema conference in Johannesburg next week where I'll get a good soaking!

Part of my ongoing exhaustion has been due to wacky dreams each night (now up to night 5) meaning I wake up not feeling very rested. Could be due to stupid levels of salt/sugar/processed food still in my system maybe? In any case, they don't seem to make much sense, just a lot of what seems like wierd film plots rolled into one. Friends have gone off to war and been killed, my evil identical twin sister murdered me as I was trying to escape from Shetland, Gordon Brown was refused entry onto a flight because his jacket was stolen... all very interesting, but not when I'm trying to rest... I used to try and analyse dreams, now I can't be bothered. There's enough material this past week to keep a psychoanalyst working for a year!

And today I spent the afternoon looking after my 2 year old niece.
Cute. Very cute.
Until she mistook me for a bear (easy mistake?).
We had some discussion as to who is the owner of Paddington and Donkey (both of which were presents on MY first Birthday) but I decided to let her win... (I know where they live and can regain their affection later).
She's at the stage of rambling on and on, leaving me to decipher what she's trying to say, not quite understanding her completely.
However, old favourite Thomas the Tank Engine helped. The Classic collection DVD kept her entertained for over half an hour. She can name nearly all the engines at a single glance. Impressive. On one side of the room she's shouting out 'Thomas' and 'Toby', and on the other my Dad is providing a running expert critical commentary on how those engines manage to move on various tracks and questioning how Trevor the Traction-engine (it's not just trains, you know) could move from the back of a wagon to the ground so fast and without the assistance of a crane....
Hours of fun.

But now she's gone home and I won't see her until... well frankly, I don't know when. Her brand-new baby brother/sister is making an appearance in several weeks so it will be all change again for her. This is the sad bit about living so far away. I miss seeing the 'next generation Horns' growing up... ;-(

In any case, I did manage to finish Harry Potter.

And he dies.

Or does he???

;-)

a few more photos

2007-07-31T17:54:00.001+01:00

Performing on stage at WOMAD

taken from the floor of the trailer, at last the sun is out!

The full extent of the mud. Some people actually enjoy this!?!

The end of the tour

2007-07-31T17:37:00.000+01:00

I'm now relaxing at home, recovering from the craziness of touring for a month. It's incredible how tiring the whole travelling thing can be. It's taking me a few days to recover.

The show in London last Wednesday was fantastic, with the YZWs on top form as a group of Zulu girls had come to see them perform, so they added extra touches especially for them! They even had the whole 'groupie' thing to contend with at the stage door afterwards, which wasn't very helpful when we had a strict time limit to load the coach!

The next morning we were off through torrential rain to Leamington Spa and the group performed a great Gospel concert in the evening at St Paul's. A satellite navigational error left HR stuck in traffic, meaning I had to present the evening. But that was quite nice, as after all it is my church. The YZWs were very excited that there was a full drum kit to play on and much of the next morning was spent 'jamming' at the front of church.

Friday night was Banbury, performing Thula Sizwe in a beautiful domed church with great acoustics. There was a great turn-out and good atmosphere. Saturday saw us back in Leamington for the final musical show and that too was very well-attended. It was brilliant to see so many of my friends there and I think a good time was had by all. The shields were auctioned off afterwards and proved very popular.

And then the final day... 'WOMAD' (or should that be woMUD?) near Cirencester. It was our last show and also the last day of a four day festival in a field of mud. We were escorted from the coach in a trailer on the back of a tractor through the sludgy muddy tracks to the stage and then back again afterwards. The crowds loved the YZWs and for some it was the highlight of the festival. At least it was sunny and quite warm. Thankfully one of my favourite Zulu Warriors was gallant enough to lend me his gumboots so I didn't have to walk through the depths of what looked like melted Dairy Milk. I was exhausted and mud was the last thing I wanted to contend with... That one single act of lending me boots has guaranteed a lifetime of trips to SPAR when we get back to SA!

So now they've gone. And I've still got various Zulu anthems going round and round my head at all hours of the day and night. Don't know how long it will take to get them out! For about 3 days last week I was walking round as white as a sheet, with eyes stinging like I was about to burst into tears, my ears affecting my balance and generally suffering with dysglycaemia... not a happy situation. But I'm much better now I'm back with the sunshine out and Harry Potter nearly finished... a few more days of R&R should see me right again!

Up to Date

2007-07-23T13:29:00.000+01:00

Ok so now we're back to real time, up to date and I feel that I've achieved something today in getting my blog in order.

We're into the last week of the tour. A week today the group will fly home to SA and I'll drive back to Bidford for a well-earned rest before rejoining them 3 weeks later. It will be a bit weird not having them around actually, you do really become a little (or not so little in our case) family on tour, with all the manoevering around.

On Wednesday we'll be staying in Hackney, where we were hosted before, at least there's no rooming to be organised there, everyone can go back to their old rooms! We're performing at St Mary's Church, Edgeware Rd, so if you are in London, come along.

Then it's the final leg of the tour. Up to Leamington, where people are staying with St Paul's host families (thank you!) and repaying the favour with a Gospel concert at St Paul's (7.30pm), a Banbury show and then back to Royal Spa Centre for a grande finale evening. Sunday sees us heading to a final choir performance in Malmesbury for the WOMAD festival (hopefully dry and not flooded!) The end is in sight!

CATCH UP - Durham

2007-07-23T13:19:00.000+01:00

Friday 20th the group performed in Glasgow to a smaller gathering than usual. Then we all stayed together in the Eurohostel, an interesting experience. We ventured to KFC after the show and I've never seen so many police out on patrol. But then there was a MASSIVE queue outside Waterstones for the new Harry Potter so maybe they were being careful that nothing untoward happened there. Glasgow has lots of shops, but reminded me of Birmingham in many ways...

Saturday morning saw us heading down to Durham, to stay in St Chad's College. Having studied at John's College (next door), it was great to be a bit nostalgic, although there wasn't much time to wander. I went for dinner with D&H, my best friends and former housemates who happened to have stayed around. Was great to catch up and to even video-conference with our other housemate down near London (long live Harvey C! - great memories, we never change!)

The YZWs were initally grumpy at having to carry their luggage in the rain across Kingsgate bridge and up onto the Bailey, as the coach was too big to get closer, but they chilled out playing pool and watching a Mr Bean special evening on Paramount. (hours and hours, I guess almost every single episode..)

All too soon it was time to pack up and move down to Telford. I didn't get chance to even visit John's, but I doubt it's changed much since I was last there 5 years ago, not much else looked different...

Shetland Photos!

2007-07-23T13:16:00.000+01:00

Above you'll see the view over Lerwick Harbour, followed by the Vikings and their accordionist and finally a (rather dimly lit) Zulu meets Viking photo from the Civic Centre.

CATCH UP - SHETLAND

2007-07-23T13:14:00.000+01:00

Thursday 19th July
It’s all downhill from here…

I’m now back in Scotland, having left the others in a coach heading towards the northern tip of the British Isles. They weren’t too keen on having to be on 5 different ferries today (4 small trips and the mammoth one overnight) but they’ll cope. I’m not sure we had enough travel-sickness tablets to cover them all, but there you go.

I’m now even dreaming ‘Thula Sizwe’, very disconcerting. I’ve watched the show any which way I can (from the audience, backstage, in the wings, foyer, outside…). It’s still a great show, although slightly trying when it’s in my dreams too… Am looking forward to the final night in Leamington Spa, as it will be doubly good as all my friends will be there to see it too!

The trip to the Shetlands was an overwhelming success. Thanks to the organisational genius that is ‘From Shetland with Love’, the co-ordinators Mona and Iain and their merry band of Shetlandian helpers, they managed to pull of a major production with full houses every night. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming to us, and exceedingly generous.

As part of the trip, the YZW were special guests at a civic reception at the town hall. As it was Nelson Mandela’s 89th Birthday yesterday, there was even a cake and a TV camera crew, ready to beam the ceremony back home to SABC or, failing that, over to Scotland. The YZW triumphed as usual with the drums, stick-fighting and battle cries. This time they got to meet the Vikings in the form of a local troupe who responded with their traditional songs (and accordion playing!). Our Zulu ‘Chief’ presented the Viking Jaral with a shield, with as much pomp and ceremony as we could muster. In return he received a Viking shield to take back to the Zulu Nation. It was a very entertaining ceremony and history was in the making as the warriors from as far South as you can get met the warriors from as far North (almost) as you can get.

It seems that not much happens on Shetland, these concerts are the highlight of the summer. Mind you, I read the local paper and the majority of the articles were about road traffic accidents, dangerous driving etc. It’s a dangerous place on the roads. Or not much else happens that’s newsworthy. There are an inordinate number of dead animals on the road as you travel about. Apparently even the sheep cause problems during one season when they munch on magic mushrooms and stray into the paths of oncoming vehicles. The sheep in Voxter (where we stayed) this morning were lying around on the ‘beach’ at the edge of the loch. (I thought they were supposed to eat grass, not ‘sun-bathe’).

On the way to the airport Iain gave me a brief guided tour of the sights. We passed the biggest freshwater loch on the island, which has an island in the middle of it where a Viking princess was buried and so it’s an important place. So the concept of burying princesses on islands in the middle of lakes is not a new one then…

The group will join me tomorrow in Glasgow for a choir performance before we head down to Durham, where my university days’ nostalgia will kick in for sure. I’ve not been back in over 5 years and we’re staying in the college next door to mine. Happy days.

CATCH UP - Sat 14th JULY

2007-07-23T13:13:00.000+01:00

Even deeper into Scotland – Saturday 14th July

We’re now in Brechin, an exceedingly small place somewhere on the way to Aberdeen. But it has a Cathedral and is therefore a city. A city that is not prepared for coaches evidently as it took us a while to find somewhere to stop where the coach was not blocking or getting stuck itself, having already had one near miss in Alloa…

At least, the sun is out again and it’s almost warm. Tomorrow I’m flying up to the Shetland Isles, which is possibly within the Arctic Circle, and therefore cold and foggy. Great. If the plane can’t land then it brings me back to Aberdeen apparently. Fun fun fun. Am praying for a clear day.

CATCH UP - FROM 13th JULY

2007-07-23T13:05:00.000+01:00

Scotland 1 – Friday 13th July

I’m writing this after the Stirling show, as people are still milling about at the University Halls of Residence and so I thought I’d be productive with the time before I tell them all to go to bed!
Tonight’s show was excellent and very well-attended. It was kind of strange to be back in the Albert Halls, as only a few years ago I had been to a great wedding reception there (hello Conor and Mhairi, where are you now?!) where the speeches were before the food, thus leading to a lot of drunken comments as the champagne for the toasts went straight to our hungry heads! But there was none of that this evening, although there was a lot of stomping and loud singing.
I had been impressed by the amount of sunshine that Stirling had enjoyed today, but true to form the rain has set in this evening and it sounds like it’s here for the night. So I am reassured about the rumours that it rains a fair bit up here and I do actually need to take my raincoat out with me…

I travelled separately to the group yesterday, arriving by train whereas they came on coaches. One group had been in London at the Centre for Social Justice in Westminster to help HR collect an award, which they did in style apparently. The other group had spent the night in Glasgow, braving the locals in a back-packer style hostel place… (needless to say they were confined to their rooms.) I haven’t travelled long distance by Virgin Rail for a very long time and I was delighted to discover that I could actually watch DVDs on my laptop on the way up, which meant the journey passed quickly.

Telford

2007-07-23T12:50:00.000+01:00

After a lot of travelling, we've finally come to rest briefly in the 'new town' that is Telford. The floods haven't hit too badly here, although there is now a small ocean between us and London (our next destination) but as we're not heading there till Wednesday I won't worry too much yet. It was incredible to see the pictures on TV last night of my home area underwater (Evesham being just 5 mins away from Bidford, which was also badly hit). Madness.

Anyway, the YZWs are performing tonight in Oakengates Theatre, Telford. Come along if you're around. the more the merrier... It's a fairly laid-back day before, the group has gone swimming now and then tomorrow is the only day in the schedule where there is absolutely NOTHING planned. nice. The rain may put paid to some host family plans but you never know what we could get up to...

One thing that has been great has been staying with host families and getting to know different people. I've worked out that during this tour I will have slept in 15 different beds in one month, and I don't know how many power showers I've tested. Everyone along the way has been so welcoming and hospitable and entertained us brilliantly. If any host family people read this, THANK YOU! The Zulus sometimes get a bit nervous about staying somewhere strange and new and having to talk about themselves, but they've all managed well. There are 6 of us currently staying here together, not much chance of resting as we're all talking all the time, and the boys are playing with new cellphones they bought cheap in Durham.

As promised, here are the previous entries I wrote, plus some photos, I've finally found somewhere to link up and transfer the information! Enjoy...

Glasgow

2007-07-20T13:11:00.000+01:00

I'm now in Glasgow using the nastiest computer keyboard in the world, so am not writing much. Shetland was fantastic, more to follow...
Tonight we play a hall here and then it's off to good old Durham...
the journey down the country has begun...

Pony count

2007-07-15T17:25:00.000+01:00

Official Shetland Pony count (so far) : 4
smiling : 1
(told you they were mean)

half way to Norway...

2007-07-15T17:04:00.000+01:00

(Note to self... I've written 2 blog entries on the first 2 days in Scotland, but they are on my other computer and can't transfer here... they'll follow soon... keep up!)

I'm writing this entry from sun-baked Shetland where I arrived this morning through the mist over the North Sea. As I compose this, the rest of the YZW party are enjoying/experiencing, what is for many of them their first voyage by sea, a 12 hour ferry crossing from Aberdeen to Lerwick. My flight lasted 1 hour. It was smooth and easy. I'll be the one to pick up the pieces tomorrow morning for the over-tired Zulus when they arrive at 7am, which is fine.

Last night the group performed in Brechin city hall. Apparently that hall hasn't seen so many people in it for a long time, according to the locals. The performance was sold out and pretty much everyone turned up too. Another great performance on a slightly smaller stage. Despite the informal wager that I'd made with Joe the coach driver, no-one fell through the stage. It looked a bit dated and we wondered if it could withstand 26 stomping Zulus, but it did us proud... I had visions of having to remove Mdu, Siya, Sizwe and Nathi from the basement, but thankfully they didn't come into being and everyone is still alive and well (well, they were when they got on the boat in any case... )

Another highlight were the incredible Scottish strawberries. After dinner there was still a fridge-ful left and they were amazing, so fresh and juicy and big and red... Fruit... how I've missed it... The guys have been treated to Scottish delicacies of steak pie, vegetable soup (Zulus don't do soup for some reason) and more steak pie. Which is nice, but not for someone who shouldn't eat refined carbs, trans-fats etc etc... My body was crying out for those strawberries, but I was disappointed that I couldn't quite manage to finish off a whole punnet... (which, incidentally, is really good for you, the humble strawberry being an official 'superfood', with antibacterial and antiviral properties) Never underestimate the power of a simple soft fruit, especially when it's grown locally. Delicious!

But anyway, back to Shetland. It's great up here. It feels like I'm in another world. We had to stop at a 'level crossing' which was actually for the runway as a plane took off. Great. Then there was a drive up to Lerwick through some amazing countryside with sea all around. Did you know there are hardly any trees on Shetland? (interesting fact number 1) and that despite their cuddly appearance, Shetland ponies are actually quite mean (fact number 2). The things you learn when you go to work in Africa, eh?!?

Yesterday it was so foggy we were unsure I'd make it, as the plane would have had to return to Aberdeen (not Bergen in Norway, as I'd hoped), but today the sun has burnt through and I reckon it's the hottest day I've enjoyed in the UK since I came over here. My massive and warm coat has been slung into the corner of my room. I imagine I may have to use it before too long though.

There are about 9000 families on the Island (or Islands really). The YZWs will perform a Gospel Choir Concert and 2 'Thula Sizwe' shows plus workshops for the local kids. I've just been to investigate one of the venues. It's big and it's nice. Should be good. The Shetlanders know how to build nice venues, I hope they'll appreciate the Zulu invasion. I don't think anything could prepare them for it... Even us just being here and wandering round will turn heads. There's not many Zulus on Shetland (not until 7am tomorrow in any case!)

Off to Scotland

2007-07-11T21:32:00.000+01:00

Today, most of the YZWs headed to London with HR to pick up an award for her from the Centre for Social Justice at Westminster (might make it into the papers). The rest headed for Glasgow. I stayed with my family for a lovely day together.

Tomorrow I head up north and we all meet up in Stirling. Then the Scottish leg of the tour begins in earnest! I'm looking forward to discovering more about North of the Border, having only been once myself. I'm hoping that the Scottish hospitality exceeds the wonderful welcome we've already received in England. Not sure when my next entry will be but I'll be back soon enough!

publicity

2007-07-11T21:24:00.000+01:00

We were in 'The London Paper' and 'London Lite' last Tuesday (4th july?), well to be more precise, Jude was. But it was all about the Zulus he was partying with, and that was us.

Bigger article in this week's 'HELLO' magazine (issue978, 17July 2007). see page 59. Not the best pictures but the write-up isn't bad. Check it out...

the craziness continues...

2007-07-11T09:51:00.000+01:00

The show in Rugby on Monday night was excellent, I hear. I took the evening off to try and recover some of my voice. On Tuesday I rescued the giraffes from Oxford and was a general packhorse with Mum's car, transporting various items of unwanted or 'not needed now' kit around Warwickshire!
The show last night in Rugby went ok, it was one of those evenings when things just seemed to go wrong backstage. We had cast members feeling ill, being ill, miscommunications, and the like. I'm still battling something (maybe just exhaustion) but it leaves me moody and easily annoyed (which is quite unlike me actually), despite the fact I managed to go a whole 24 hours without having to consume a sandwich* (thank goodness!!) For someone who tries to avoid eating bread, the tour is proving to be a trial....

* this word is not a good one to use around the YZW, already a case of 'familiarity breeds contempt'!

Today, however, I am taking a day off. It's little G's Birthday and we've got a family lunch to celebrate. My Mum finishes her job too today so it's a double celebration! Am looking forward to relaxing slightly before hitting the road again tomorrow, when we're all reuniting in Stirling.

Back in Bidford

2007-07-09T23:04:00.000+01:00

Weymouth is cool. Have never been there before. Was even cooler because our host family lived in a beautiful house with a classic English country garden (lots of roses) with fabulous views over the bay of Dorset. We could sit inside (out of the wind!) and watch windsurfers, waterskiers and jetskiers enjoying the water and even monitoring the galleons that were sailing in and out of the harbour. Weymouth will be hosting sailing events for Olympics in 2012, watch out for it...

Sunday morning and we headed to Weymouth Baptist Church for the YZW to perform. With HR detained in London by closures due to the Tour de France (those pesky French!), I was called upon to speak and to introduce the work of GGA and the YZWs to the congregation. But it was all fine and they sang as beautifully as ever.

We then returned to our host families and we particularly enjoyed a traditional Sunday lunch, snooze, walk along the beach AND an exciting Wimbledon tennis final. What more could one ask for on a sunny Sunday afternoon!?!

The evening performance was at a place called Waterside, conveniently just down the hill from where we were staying. The place was mostly filled with residents from the caravan park, plus Rotarians who were hosting us, but as usual the group was well-received and people had a chance to stock up on beadwork, soapstone hippos and the like. Sadly the giraffes have dwindled in number. We had to leave a box of 'disabled' carved giraffes in Oxford and the rest seem to have met a similar fate in transit...

Now I'm briefly back in Bidford. Feeling a bit rubbish from a cold that has developed into silly cough and rapidly disappearing voice. Am hoping to recover before Scotland, but the trip up there beckons and it's going to have to be a rapid recovery! The problem is, it's very difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle and eat the proper foods when one is running around all over the place and that will have messed up my immune system, along with the rock 'n' roll events such as Mr Law's little party last week, which knock my blood sugar balance for six. Wonder if it's possible to detox on tour...

Tomorrow I'm on a rescue mission for those disabled giraffes in Oxford before another gig in Rugby, but driving myself around, instead of sitting in a coach, is great. I get to choose the music for one!

the provincial leg...

2007-07-07T07:03:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday night the YZW performed to a packed school theatre at Cokethorpe School near Oxford. The school were excellent hosts, it's a great place. It's in the middle of nowhere but they've got an internet Costa coffee on site! On Thursday lunchtime, the choir sang in the quad next to the dining room and a large crowd of kids and staff assembled and were were uplifted and inspired by their music.
You could tell immediately who was in the crew though - whilst YZWs bellowed out their melodies and harmonies to an appreciative audience, several of us, who are travelling with the choir, were engrossed in checking email instead. (It's not that we don't think they are brilliant... ;-) )

And then it was a coach ride down to Brighton, arriving in the early Friday evening drizzle...
Have been staying with my old housemate and friend Jane, been great to catch up with her and a few more friends down here.

On Friday the group performed at a beach front bar, although they were battling against strong winds and sand, which seemed to get everywhere! Before they sang, they had a photoshoot for the press on the pebbly beach that is Brighton with the old burnt-out pier in the background. (no sandy shores here like they are used to at the Indian Ocean!)
Got some great shots too. (to follow)
ITV sent someone to film the street performance, we watched the news later but it didn't seem to appear, unless it was on a later edition. If anyone saw them on Meridien, please let me know...

The Oxford performance had been great, and the Brighton performance was even better. These guys are improving an already brilliant show with every session. The acoustics and set-up in The Old Market were excellent for the singing and stomping.
For the second time, I had to open the show by speaking briefly about the work in Africa. This meant I got to wear a beautiful Zulu outfit and get lots of compliments; and I had to put my headteacher assembly experience to good use. I also read the part of the narrator, although I am off-stage and with a microphone at that point. I got to watch the show from the wings on this occasion and it's a great place to be. The choir who are off-stage join in as backing singers for those on stage, adding to the richness of the performance. Little C and S, our 2 smallest performers, and I were bopping along to the songs, by the end of the tour I'll have learnt a lot of the Zulu songs and will have improved on my dancing! (not sure about the high-kicks though, especially in my dress!! Although, it's easy enough for the Zulus...)

And this morning we're off again, this time to Weymouth. It sounds near, but I fear it may be fairly far in a coach! The sun has finally made an appearance though, and looks set to stay until Monday, which is a welcome change from all the ridiculous rain we've had to endure of late. But I'm tired and I'm rapidly developing a cold. :(

On Monday we'll be back up in the Midlands, performing in Rugby for 2 nights. More then from my parents' computer!

leaving London

2007-07-04T15:14:00.000+01:00

We're now near Oxford, as I said earlier. Am updating while I can!

Performing here this evening, finally the sun is out ;-) It's nice to be out of London for a while.

Tomorrow we're down to Brighton for 2 days, then Weymouth. Am looking forward to catching up with my Brighton crew (and will hopefully get internet access again there!)

If you've not arranged to come and see the show. DO SO NOW!

just a few of us out celebrating...

2007-07-04T15:05:00.000+01:00

To celebrate the success of the first Thula Sizwe performance, Jude Law invited the group to a trendy West End club called Kabaret (although I've no idea where it was as we were whisked off there in cars from Clapham and then whisked home again afterwards!). We had to have passwords to get in to the place past the extreme security.

Top bloke Jude had arranged for 'God's Golden Acre' to be piped round the room on the lights (see photo and green bits on the wall - my mind's gone as to what to call it!) so that everyone knew we were 'in the house'... but then it was announced too...

We got to sit and party in the VIP lounge section, rubbing shoulders with not only Jude, but also the likes of Cat Deeley and Will Young. At once point, Timberland and his troupe of mean looking bouncers popped into the club, but as I don't really know what he looks like, I'm not sure I'd even notice him in Tesco... There was one of their crew with a tea-towel over his head, maybe it was him?!?

In any case, we had an amazing time and even HR, the director, was on the dance floor! And she can dance like the best of us!

It was great to be VIPs for once, to have the bouncers being nice to us, but then blocking the crazy crowd of women who were desperate to get to Jude. The poor bloke was at risk of getting mobbed. It's a mad life! But at least we didn't get hassled by paparazzi (they're not allowed in!) Despite the mad women, the company was great and everyone had a night to remember....

THIS is the rock and roll lifestyle (thankfully we had Tuesday off to sleep and recover!)

to continue the story...

2007-07-04T14:57:00.000+01:00

So the earlier post I'd already written, here's the continuation...

So we were in Central London on Sunday, singing for the 10K runners. The stage happened to be outside a Welsh congregation church and the minister came out to complain about the drums. He was won over though and invited the group in to sing at the 11am service and the congregation (of 4) were totally blown away by the amazing singing and gave us pretty much all the change they had on them that day!

Sunday afternoon saw us on the scenic route through central London heading for Richmond, where the YZWs performed at a special BBQ organised by Richmond Golf Club. Very posh and very lucky that the rain moved on before we got there as the lawns had been flooded in the morning. We spent the night with host families in and around the beautiful area of Richmond.

On Monday we spent the morning being entertained and fed back at the Golf Club, a proper English brunch, it was much appreciated, despite the fact most had been fed at home too! Then we headed straight to Clapham Grand for the evening's performance of Thula Sizwe, the first full show in London.

Quite a lot of people turned up, possibly spurred on by the thought of getting a photo or autograph from Jude (for a donation to GGA, of course!) and the show was amazing. Watching the group perform on a proper stage with all the lights and mics etc was outstanding. It's like having 27 children at the school play ;-)

A highlight for some, so far, was the aftershow party that Jude threw for us at a trendy nightclub. that deserves an entry on its own...

Some photos..

2007-07-04T14:54:00.000+01:00

We're now near Oxford in a lovely school, with lovely fast internet connection! ;-)

here are a couple of photos, taken at the Rootsville festival in Birmingham. My camera is not so good indoors so I've been focussing on the outdoor pictures...

YZW UK TOUR – and so it begins…

2007-07-04T14:53:00.000+01:00

We’re now getting stuck into the UK tour. The best word to describe it so far is ‘hectic’, which is a very popular South African word. And the Young Zulu Warriors are certainly leaving lasting impressions on those who come across them.
The crazy rock and roll lifestyle is certainly challenging. We’ve been staying in a secret location in Hackney, annoyingly far from the tube and in a position that none of the coach drivers have been able to find without assistance. We’re learning to live and sleep surrounded by suitcases of costumes, shields, sticks and boxes of merchandise… good job it’s a secure building.
Last Friday they arrived from South Africa to a London hit by the security alerts, which made crossing town easier as most people seemed to have stayed away. After a brief rest they launched into a performance at an exhibition at Earls Court, which was extremely well received. They moved straight from there to the official launch party at South Africa House in Trafalgar Square.
This was a very classy affair, taking place in a beautiful reception room. The event was well attended and the choir performed a selection of songs to rapturous applause. Jude Law was in attendance, much to the delight of many women present and it was great to catch up with him and with lots of former volunteers.
Then the late nights began, with us not getting back to the hostel until 1am and having to unload the whole coach. Fun fun fun…

Saturday saw us heading up the M1 in terrible rain and bad traffic to the Rootsville Festival at the Custard Factory in Birmingham. Due to various factors we were late, but thanks to torrential downpours the schedule was running late too. They performed an hour-long set under the railway arches to an appreciative crowd, most of whom had been loitering about all day drinking beer, and were impressed by the traditional skins costumes, high kicks and drumming.

Then it was back to London arriving once again late in the evening. Sunday morning we headed into Central London to support Tally (the UK Tour co-ordinator) as she ran a 10K race. Despite the drizzle the group successfully encouraged and motivated the runners at the half way mark. I was amazed at how many people were running, a seemingly never-ending wall of people running straight towards us.

the travels begin for real...

2007-06-27T09:09:00.001+01:00

I'm not sure when I'll next have blogging access so here's the last blog for a while maybe (although this IS England so there should be connections somewhere...)

I'm off down to London in a few moments, to drop HR's car ready for the group's arrival on Friday morning. Then am going to stay with my friend A who has cunningly managed to get us on the guest list for the 'secret' extra Snow Patrol concert at the O2 arena (formerly the Millenium Dome). Only heard Snow Patrol album for first time yesterday but they are not bad at all so I'm sure it will be a great evening...

Please pray for my sister Liz as she's in hospital today for surgery on something that appeared a few weeks ago and hasn't disappeared despite mega antibiotics. Am not going into much detail but she's a bit worried I think. Pray for peace and that the surgery would deal with it all. And that I manage to get up there tomorrow to see her in Ipswich, if nothing else to watch a few DVDs and eat ice-cream (medicinal of course!)

Then, on friday morning early, everyone else arrives from SA! And then it's all go... I'll get some photos, apologies for the lack of photos recently. When I'm back here in a few weeks I'll try and get some loaded on! keep you eyes on the newspapers for news of the YZW's arrival and launch party, or maybe just in 'Hello!' magazine! It's all going to be hectic and crazy and very rock and roll...

Green and Pleasant Land - Parte the Second

2007-06-26T09:12:00.000+01:00

Catching up with friends on Sunday night was great, but it didn't feel like I've been away 10 months, seemed like only last week...
Wandering round Leamington during the afternoon was interesting too. There was a kind of nostalgia accompanied by a definite sense that 'I don't live here anymore', in a neutral kind of way, it wasn't upsetting or exciting, just matter of fact. but that's ok, cos I now live somewhere else...
Starbucks now has a card so you can pay with that. The girl there excitedly told me that it's international, not much use in a country where Starbucks doesn't exist though... perhaps I can use it in Dubai on my return to SA later in the summer?
My niece now remembers who I am (she's nearly 2 so quite small still). She was a little wary at first, but when I let her jump on my bed and fling my teddy bear around she warmed up immediately. It's important to be just plain silly with small people. Some more quality time should follow today...

Monday was overshadowed by my long-overdue dental treatment, which isn't normally a problem. But this time the dentist must have put the needle into a nerve or something, leaving me with pain from my head right down to my shoulder when the anaesthetic wore off... I was not a happy bunny with my head throbbing and my credit card still shaking from the cost of it too. So much money, so much pain... (and the realisation that I should have just gone in hillcrest, after all, months ago).

However, you'll all be pleased to know that I feel much better today, after 12hours sleep and many painkillers. Today I'm back off to Leam to see some more family and get ready for the start of the London trek tomorrow, although I have a couple of days there to prepare for the YZW's arrival on Friday morning.

If you still haven't got tickets to see the Young Zulu Warriors in Concert:
www.godsgoldenacre.org.uk
and click on Latest News

Miss it and you WILL kick yourself....

Right, I'm off to investigate the depths of my wardrobe to see what clothes I left behind here last year, it's quite exciting as I rediscover things I'd forgotten I owned... ;-)

Green and Pleasant Land - Parte the First

2007-06-23T18:24:00.002+01:00

I'm back in the UK!!!!

and I am so tired that it's going to take all my concentration not to make a spelling mistake in this post...

As I type, the wonderful aromas of a roasting chicken, gammon AND pork are wafting up the stairs from Mum's kitchen, preparations for a family lunch tomorrow.

My parents made the briefest trip ever to Gatwick this morning, spending just 25 minutes in the place. By 10am we were at home having coffee, wondering why it felt like 6pm already.

After a long flight, during which I slept about 4 hours, and missed seeing the approach to London because I was snoozing, I was quite emotional to arrive back in the UK. Probably exhaustion-fueled emotions. As I closed my eyes with half an hour to go, I didn't think I'd actually sleep again, and I was rudely awoken by an extremely loud thud and the plane jolted. I started to panic, thinking we'd crashed, then I realised we'd just touched down and all was ok... But it was a bit of a shock to the system.

First impressions of being back after 10 months away:

England does GREY in a way like no other.

Yes, it is a 'green and pleasant land', none more than MiddleEngland where I live, but the sky was leaden this morning and the sun was absent, only briefly poking its head out after long intervals... How will I survive without near constant sunshine? what will happen to my tan?

I'm in love with BROADBAND, and my parents' amazing new computer. It's SO fast!!!
With the exception of the relocation of 'superdrug' and the disappearance of the TellyTubbies shop (woe!), Stratford-upon-Avon remains almost exactly the same as before.
Home is always 'sweet home' no matter how long you've been away, or how few hours of sleep you've had....

Tomorrow is a day for seeing lots of people, today is a day for recovering from my long journey (and for delicious roast dinner!) nice.

oh and I'm on the same UK cell number as before, if you still have it in your phones, so please give me a call to catch up, especially if I'm not going to see you (but not until at least tomorrow)

on spelling...

2007-06-23T18:24:00.001+01:00

apparently I can't spell 'weird'...

tsk tsk, to think that I was once in charge of a school....

vinegar pudding...the truth

2007-06-22T14:04:00.000+01:00

no, it really is South African... this is what I found:

Vinegar pudding (or "asynpoeding", as it is known locally)
I found this recipe in an old edition of Woman's Value and although it’s not quite the same as Mama used to make, it is pretty good.
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 45 minutes
Oven temperature: 160°C
Serves: 6

Batter
250ml milk
15ml butter
15ml smooth apricot jam
15ml vinegar
1 large egg
155g (185ml) sugar
150g (250ml) cake flour, sifted
5ml bicarbonate of soda

Syrup
250ml cream or evaporated milk
125ml milk
100g butter
100g sugar

Preparation
Batter:Place the milk, butter and jam in a saucepan. Heat to melt the butter and jam. Add the vinegar and set aside.Whisk the egg and sugar in a bowl over hot water until light and fluffy. Stir the milk mixture in then fold in the sifted flour. Quickly fold in the baking powder. Pour the mixture into a greased, square or rectangular 1,5-litre ovenproof dish and bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until the mixture shrinks away from the edges of the dish.
Sauce: Combine all the ingredients and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven and prick the surface of the pudding with a fork. Pour the hot sauce over the pudding and leave to absorb. Serve hot

So now you know... ;-)

wierd but probably has meaning somewhere

2007-06-22T13:41:00.000+01:00

Am now at the airport, waiting to check in. I'm a bit early, I might even get first in the queue...

Yesterday was a very interesting day, with some weirdness attached:

1. At lunchtime the dessert on offer was 'vinegar pudding'. It was a kind of warm sponge pudding with a sauce which must have contained vinegar as it did smell quite a bit. But it also had a sort of gingery taste to it. Kim and I were brave enough to try it, and it wasn't that bad actually. None of the South Africans would lay claim to it being a speciality of any particular province so I assume it must be an 'alien' pudding... Maybe I'll look it up on google later...

2. The afternoon session I attended was entitled 'Using art as a healing process with children'.
It was always going to be practical session and we weren't disappointed.
We did an exercise on listening to others and I ended up having to talk with a Zulu guy about life for 5 minutes whilst maintaining eye contact. Other Zulus in the rooms who were all doing this exercise complained that eye contact is a sign of disrespect, but they still did it. It felt somewhat like speed-dating, a concept as yet unknown in this Southern country. But it was amusing nonetheless...
The second half of the workshop was practical art, took me right back to my school days and how much fun art was. The facilitator brought out lots of scrap materials: fabrics, buttons, wool, newspaper, glue, scissors etc and set us free in creating dolls to describe whatever we wanted to tell in a story.
Right from the word go I had no desire to make a doll, the only thing I wanted to create was a mouse. So I was relieved when she said we could also make animals.... And it's a great mouse too... (currently in my hand luggage, hoping it will make it through security here at JHB!). Very creative. In the feedback time afterwards, people presented the beginnings of elaborate stories as to what their creations represent, it was fascinating... why don't we do these things more often?
And my mouse? Well, maybe I'm feeling small. Maybe it's like the lion and the mouse aesop's fable about the small mouse freeing the lion from a snare. Maybe I'm just fed up of only seeing decapitated rodents on my doorstep as presents from my ever-thoughtful cats.... maybe it's the rats in Bidford that I'm returning to (real ones in the garden, not family members!??!)... A psychoanalyst could go on forever with these stories...

3. (This wasn't that weird but kind of cool) Had dinner with R, a friend here in JHB. We found a Christian restaurant in Lakeside, Benoni. There was extremely nice decor, except for the slightly weird paintings of Jesus with his heart out and the similar one of Mary... They projected Hillsongs live worship videos onto one of the walls, but with the music set at an appropriate level... And in the sofa corner there was Christian TV. But it was all very subtle and not in your face Christian... Everyone was very friendly and the food was good. It was very cool actually... Don't know which church set it up, there was nothing in the menu, except 'Entertainment Fellowship'...

So now my laptop battery is fading and I must get ready to check in... In a few hours I'll be back in the UK. Weird to think that I haven't left South Africa since last September, don't think I remember ever staying that long in one country (except England)!

and we're off...

2007-06-20T19:12:00.000+01:00

I'm writing this from my hotel room in Benoni, Joburg... am up for CASNET for the next 2 days, networking with the most amazing people from all over South Africa who are working with children and education and NGOs etc. I always meet the most interesting people here, usually with interesting African names too, that make it hard for me to remember from one meeting to the next.
In any case, we'll be discussing 'psychosocial support' over the next few days.
Then, on Friday night, I'll be heading up to the Northern Hemisphere ;-)
Am rejoicing that have finally managed to pack within the weight limit and feel virtuous. The cabin crew moved my rucksack from the overhead locker on the flight here this afternoon which nearly sent me into a panic as I'd slept most of the flight and to wake up and find your laptop not where you'd put it is quite scary... I nearly shouted 'hey someone's taken my bag!', but then remembered where I was and asked the extremely attractive pilot, who happened to be sitting nearby, to assist me. Nationwide airlines, eh. They are so nice.

preparations...

2007-06-18T21:51:00.000+01:00

I'm in the final packing stages for coming to the UK. First of all I'll be stopping in Johannesburg for a conference and then on Friday night I'll be attempting to sleep in an overnight plane up to London (not sure I'll be able to settle, it's altogether too exciting..!)

But actually I'm undergoing mixed feelings about coming back to the UK. Although I am SO looking forward to catching up with people and to show off the choir and all, I know that returning from somewhere like Africa can bring out strange reverse culture shock and all that, which I'm not looking forward to, and I'll be back long enough to feel it too.

I've also been undergoing a sort of 'dark night of the soul' recently, which is causing me inner turmoil and angst about a lot of things. It's like God has taken all my 'securities' and pulled the carpet out from underneath them and is watching to see what I'll do about it. It's a whole cross-cultural mishmash of issues that is giving me one long big headache and I can't see the way out of the woods clearly yet. I'm sure it's one of those 'challenging times' upon which I will look back and see God's hand clearly moving to take me on to another place, but that doesn't really help much when I feel like I'm in a big pit and things keep falling in on top of me.

I'm sure a change of scene is just what I need and no doubt the 10hour flight will reset my thinking somewhat or at least provide space and distance for me to gain some clarity. Please pray for some kind of resolution in my thinking.

In the meantime, my housegroup prayed for me tonight and all I wanted to do when they stood round me was to fall about laughing, had to really concentrate, but still I managed to stop myself by chewing my thumb... hurrah for cool people to hang out with! ;-)

and the strikes continue...

2007-06-18T21:48:00.000+01:00

it's now the third week that the kids haven't been to school.
they are getting bored.

the passport situation for some of our choir is also getting desperate.
but nothing doing as long as the strike continues as the home affairs office is closed.

there's been some violence but nothing too much round here.
perhaps there are some distinct advantages to living on a hill in the middle of nowhere.

I wrote this on Sunday when it was...

2007-06-18T21:44:00.000+01:00

Comrades Day

Today is the day when all of South Africa turns its gaze upon the sleepy R103 old main road from PMB to Durban as thousands of runners descend on KZN’s winter warmth to run the race of their lives.

Here are some facts about the Comrades’ Marathon:
The route is 89.3km (does that make it the longest in the world)
12,000 runners from all over the world fly in to participate
The runners start at 5.30am
They must finish within 12 hours to receive a medal. At 5.30pm the stewards block the finish line and there’s no glory for you. (except the personal sense of achievement of having just run so far)
All the top spots this year went to Russian runners.
The route goes round some extremely windy and steep hills overlooking the Valley of a Thousand Hills.
In order to see the runners go past near us, one had to get up this morning at 4am…

… which is precisely why I missed most of them, arriving as I did at 10.30am to the road already pounded by thousands of feet. (there was NO WAY I was getting up so early on my weekend off) We’re about 30km from PMB and the race started there this year (they alternate directions each year), so runners passed through early.

By the time we (me and a few of the choir guys who’d returned from an all night choir competition and couldn’t sleep!) got down, the onlookers were already packing up. This was a bit disheartening for those few straggler runners who were encouraging each other along at the back. Several ‘rescue buses’ passed us, mostly devoid of runners (yet, it was still early remember). I imagine they would have picked up a few people on the way later on.

Later on I watched the race end on TV, with the final few minutes of the 12 hours plus commentary. It was touching to see runners helping each other to the finish line. I was moved to see 4 strong white guys carrying a black guy over the finish, he’d obviously not been able to make the last little bit. Another guy fell just before the end, kept trying to get up and not managing to do so, his legs wouldn’t behave. And yet he kept on smiling. It’s strange how you suddenly really want him to get up and get going, to encourage them. I think it’s respect for the length they have just run and the mammoth effort they’ve put in.

Any runner friends tempted to try next year? I think my 5km on the treadmill doesn’t really come close to what these athletes put themselves through. I’m a long way off Comrades standard..

All the kids and volunteers from here were sponsored to have a fun day starting at 5.15am with face painting and t-shirts and running through a braai, soccer match, games, the monthly birthday party (and ubiquitous cake).. By mid-afternoon, volunteers and children alike were grumpy, overfed and short-tempered. I don’t think many will have trouble sleeping tonight. But a good day was had by all.

more travels

2007-06-14T19:58:00.000+01:00

I've been to Johannesburg for a long meeting, but it was good to touch base with other partners. Then we went to try and sort out visa problems again in Pretoria...

No sign of all the strikers on Wednesday though, despite there being a general strike called... we even managed to fly home without any trouble at the airport.

And now I'm getting ready to leave next Wednesday for Johannesburg again, for another conference on my way to the UK. It's all go...

Friday

2007-06-08T18:11:00.000+01:00

More and more children are enjoying an unexpected holiday as the public workers strike continues and the violence increases. In Durban yesterday 5 people were killed during a demonstration outside of a hospital. Schools are being forced to close as threats continue against those who try to work. There are demonstrations in all the major cities and now the ambulance service in Durban have stopped working because of the risk caused by the striking. The situation is bad in hospitals too. It’s all a bit crazy. We’re a week into it now, and the plan is ‘indefinite’. Wonder if this has hit news in the UK or not? At least out here in the Styx we don’t fear riots or demonstrations, at least not yet…

It’s been an atypical evening here so far too. Our farm got broken into so we had to send people over to sort that out, then my car key fell out of my pocket and I had to do a major torchlight retracing of steps to find it. Just as I found it I was chatting with some staff and we heard a car go past on the track and then hit something and crash. So we had to send all the men we could find to go and help out. They had to turn the car to the right side round. The driver wasn’t hurt, thankfully. All this before 7pm!

On a lighter note, I experienced a new shopping centre today in Hillcrest.
It’s so new it’s still being built.
Only in Africa would they open up the shops in a half-built infrastructure.
At least the parking was free, but I had to negotiate builders and cordoned off areas to find a space and everywhere was a bit dusty with that construction dust. The escalators didn’t work and the lifts seemed temperamental. I ventured for the stairs, so far minus banisters (but they were lying nearby!) The shops don’t seem to mind, it was all quite bizarre.

But none of that was as bizarre as the curry-flavoured focaccia I bought for lunch.
Now that is just wrong. Curry and focaccia.
It wasn’t too bad, but no self-respecting Italian would ever make that combination, or buy it for that matter. It looked innocent enough, but no… the curry flavouring was lurking beneath the cheesy top…

The only other bit of news is that I have found myself shamelessly addicted to Facebook… I can’t be the only one to be sucked in to this mode of communication… it’s so ridiculously easy to use. So far I’ve discovered that at least 2 of my friends are pregnant and one more got married ages ago (thanks for telling me guys! ;-) )

trouble

2007-06-06T16:20:00.000+01:00

So i think the situation is that 'going on strike' was outlawed under apartheid, so now in the new South Africa it's an expression of freedom as much as anything else. And so the Public workers started striking this week and the whole thing is rapidly turning violent.
Some schools were closed the first day, some stayed open. About half of our kids got sent home. Now it's become too dangerous for most schools in KZN to open as there are threats of violence towards staff and pupils if they go to school. Mad. I guess going on strike makes a point, but there's little point if it's all going to end up on the violence route. Surely we've been there before? The kids, however, think it's great! One more week of unexpected holiday!

As for myself, I've not managed to follow too much what is going on, having been really ill for the past 2 days. I'm now fully drugged up on strong antibiotics to combat a mean sore throat, and have been told to 'avoid situations that push my heart rate up' to try and bring my pulse down to a reasonable level as a brief episode of tachychardia was disturbing my sleep, and my awake times, since Sunday. Apparently there's no damage to my heart, quite disturbing nonetheless to think that a 'simple cold', as this started out, could even cause damage like that!!

Try as I might, it's quite hard to avoid 'stressful situations' in a job like mine. The newest problem is that now there are 4 people in the choir who might not have their passports all sorted in time, all unforseen problems. I'm not going into elaborate details, but please pray that if God wants these 4 in the UK ,He'll move a mountain or something.
3 of them are held up by aforementioned strike action, the fourth one is in relation to my earlier posting on Pretoria. I am speechless at the response we received from them today. I'm not kidding when I question some people's ability to read English and to work through an application appropriately. This one situation has cost us more money than should ever be necessary for an NGO to have to spend to correct a mistake by the immigration office. It is nothing less than a disgrace that is causing head and heartache for these people who only want to sing and raise awareness about the AIDS pandemic in their home country. I am ashamed to be associated with such people. What should be a simple procedure has been blown up into a major problem and it now looks like we'll have to return to Pretoria AGAIN next week... I am not a happy bunny, and I'm not the only one. I need to go now and rest so that my pulse returns to somewhere near where it should be...

The Lobola Event

2007-06-02T20:28:00.000+01:00

Aunty P, who I work with, has finally received all her Lobola payments from her boyfriend and the festivities can begin in earnest. The Lobola is the payment that a man pays to a woman’s family when he wants to marry her, the going rate now is about 12 cows. So today a small gathering of us from here drove down into the valley to help her celebrate. In classic ‘African’ fashion, the timings went completely out of the window…
It took us about 2 hours to get to P’s house, from whence the procession started. There they loaded up the cars with gifts of food for her boyfriend’s family. Problem number one (after our delay, it should have only taken us an hour to get there) was that the person bringing her skirt had car problems and so P had to be whisked off to collect it.
After the traditional standing around for what seems like an inordinately long time, we set off up the bumpy track to make our way to P’s boyfriend’s house in Swayimane. We were blessed by the fact it’s not rained for a while, or that track would have been impassable in my Toyota, a combi and a little hire car, each one heavily laden with people and food.
Trouble was, in all the commotion, we kind of got cut off from P and ended up waiting for ages by what I like to call ‘the last house in Swayimane’ (as it’s the last one when you are driving out before you hit miles of sugar cane plantation.). Eventually she showed up, looking amazing in her traditional get-up.
And so we finally made the last procession down to her boyfriend’s house, arriving shortly after 2pm, when the original estimated time of arrival had been around 11am. In the meantime, one of our platters had to be sacrificed for the greater good of feeding a good number of people waiting around. There were still a couple of platters left so no-one minded!
The next job was to deliver the food and drinks to the family. This involved all of us processing in, singing in Zulu, with the offerings on our heads. I was handed a 5litre plastic bottle of cooking oil, possibly slightly easier than the 10kg bags of rice, or the crates of 12 bottles of coke/beer. In any case, it must have been quite a surprise for his family to welcome several ‘white’ girls attempting to sing the Zulu melodies. It certainly beats Saturday afternoon in front of the TV in the UK!
Only after all this had been accepted could we re-process in as a group escorting P to what will be her new family one day soon. They accepted her in and, after some Zulu dancing, some official and some less official from a group of guys who’d obviously been at the beer since 11am (when we were supposed to arrive!), we were escorted to the marquee which was just about big enough for all of her family and friends.
The Europeans were given the table of honour (something I’m not sure we’re that comfortable with, but you can’t really argue with the hosts) along with P and a few other friends. Our girls, who we’d brought from here, and everyone else just got chairs/benches. The traditional curry and rice combo was soon in coming, this time dessert wasn’t just custard and fruit, but also masses of cake…
The difference this time (from the other wedding/graduation etc ceremonies I’ve attended) is that the boyfriend’s family were all outside and only came in to present the sheep that they then proceeded to slaughter (thankfully, outside. And I politely declined the invitation to go and watch, especially as aforementioned sheep was presented at the same time as the curry!)
Perhaps I did miss something though as various parts of the sheep were brought in to be smeared onto P, and then whatever part of the animal that contains the bile was attached onto P’s dress. No one could explain what the significance of that was, but I hope it wasn’t horrible.
The meal was followed by lots of singing and dancing, quite spectacular. But all too soon it was time to head home, before darkness fell and the extremely drunk guys remembered they were carrying guns. I suppose there are certain risks taking attractive Zulu teenage girls and 20something yr old volunteers into a valley party, but it’s not as dangerous as some might think. Everyone was very smart and I think everyone knew where they stood. The men were interested, but wise enough to maintain a distance. However, some guy did hand me his cellphone and asked me to put my number in, but as he’d not bothered to really chat to me there wasn’t much hope for him. I’m also at a minor disadvantage that most people think I’m about 24, which I should take as a compliment that I look so young. I think they’d run a mile if they knew my real age!!
Despite my best efforts to get everyone back into the vehicles, we had to wait for the sheep to finish roasting which had to be consumed on the way back, in the dark. I’m so glad that I know those valley roads well, even in the dark. We only came across 3 lots of cows blocking the roads

It's on days like these that I really know I'm in Africa!

PS : apologies if this is slightly less coherent than normal, my cold has broken through into the most hideous sore throat, which I'm hoping to sleep off in a little bit...

PPS: my cellphone is fixed, I've found an even quicker connection speed ;-) and I'm back in the world of MSN messenger, Skype etc etc. So give me a nudge if you see me online!

ho hum...

2007-06-01T08:13:00.000+01:00

well, there's not that much to report at the moment really.
I'm struggling to fight off a cold so that means I've been working in the office and then catching up briefly with the kids after work and then chilling out in my house. This has been a good week for Zulu lessons though and I'm now onto chapter 13 of my book (only 4 more to go!) .
Tomorrow I'm off to a traditional celebration of Lobola in the valley, which should be good. I'll put a proper post up about that next week. It's the celebration of when a man has finally paid all the 'cows' for the woman he wants to marry and only then can the sheep be slaughtered and the festivities begin. Should be interesting. Need to find my long skirt...

The weather has now settled to a 'cool' 25 degrees C, tough life eh, it means that in 22 days when I get out of the plane at Gatwick I'm still going to feel cold, probably. The whole weather, season, academic year differences thing has really got me confused! Hence the stinking cold!!!

For all you 'facebook' fans, I'm now registered, but haven't got around to seeking people out yet, I know it's taking off big time so please look me up and add me to your 'friend' list if you get chance! ;-)

oh and my cellphone is apparently fixed, picking it up this afternoon so hopefully I'll be back to fast internet connection (and that means photos!) later on today! ;-)

Have a good weekend, whatever you get up to!

CREATIVE PRAYER WEEKEND – FEEDBACK

2007-05-29T15:30:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the silence in the blogosphere of late - STILL waiting for my home internet to be fixed... ;(

Thanks to all who prayer for this past weekend’s activities. We had a great time, here are a few highlights:

1. 17 young people watched ‘THE PASSION’ on Friday night. I know that ‘enjoy’ is not the right word to use, but they appreciated seeing the film, many tissues were used, and the discussion afterwards was good. One boy, however, asked if there was anyone else famous in the film apart from Jesus!! I suppose it’s logical, if you believe Jesus is alive, why shouldn’t he star in his own film?!

2. The Creative Prayer Room 'THE SANCTUARY - HOLY SPACE SACRED SPACE' which was what the prayer room was transformed into on Saturday proved very popular with the children. Over the day 35 of the children here (aged from 6 to 16) came in. A couple stayed 3 minutes, some stayed 3 hours. They loved the activities, although one girl is now convinced that if she stirs salt into warm water all her sins will go away, she kept thinking of things she's done wrong, going back, and a lot of salt got put in the water!

3. One of the activities was to write or draw prayers to God. I'll put some of the examples into another post as I don't have them with me, but they were amazing. Some kids wrote over a page of A4 pouring out how much they love God. When you think that some of the backgrounds that these kids have come from (not pretty at all) it's fantastic that they are so free to express their love in this way.

4. Praying for the children was amazing. Prayer is a big thing here and they have no qualms about asking someone to pray for them. It was brilliant to be able to pray over some of these children and to see God working in their lives.

5. The t-lights were another popular section, i've never seen so much wax in my life. They loved lighting the candles and praying for others, a lot prayed for family members. Yet the greater fun was in watching them burn and removing any 'spare' wax... (don't worry, they were being closely supervised!)

6. Sunday was Pentecost and the worship in the morning was great. I think for the first time since I've been running the services, I sensed that the kids were really into worshipping. I even taught them a new song 'Father, we adore you', which I'm sure will be sung again and again. At the end of the service we waited on the Holy Spirit to come and for a few brief seconds there was absolute silence in the room as the kids prayed. That in itself is a miracle, when you realise that we had 6 under fives in there too.

All in all, a BIG success, the kids loved it, the volunteers who helped out loved it and it was such a peaceful place to be. I'll definitely do it again, with different activities, as the Spirit leads.

cold

2007-05-21T16:22:00.001+01:00

yesterday I was wearing my usual t-shirt and skirt.
this morning it was ICE-COLD out and I had to layer the t-shirt with jumper, scarf, gloves, shawl, just stopping short of the hat!

winter is here with a vengeance! ;-(

it's definitely time to head to warmer climes..

but that's ok, I'll be there in just 35 days!

Pretoria

2007-05-21T16:08:00.000+01:00

There's a long and complicated story to do with M's visa/passport etc for coming to England and it's my job to sort it out...

The complete (and I mean complete) failure of ANYONE in the British High Commission to answer any phones or emails meant that we had to take the 1200 Km round trip drive up there at the end of last week.

But it did give me a chance to experience another SA city. Pretoria's not bad, we arrived on the wrong side and had to drive through the centre to get to where we were staying, not much of interest on that route except the 'German Foot Clinic' (where Matthias should have gone to increase his chances of escaping aforementioned cheetah).

Pretoria is quite a friendly city, despite being the administrative capital of South Africa. A lady I phoned re guest house couldn't fit us in but found us alternative lodging which turned out to be very comfortable and extremely near the British HC. (possibly shouting distance, although that's as useless as phone/email)

Being a University city, there are lots of student hangouts. We had dinner in Hatfield Square, which is the most European piazza I've been to this far south of the Equator. It's even more European-looking than Cape Town (and that's saying something). The only problem is, I felt really old, as we sat in a bar for dinner surrounded by young-looking students. It made for fascinating people-watching though, even if the now familiar black guy/white girl combo got the usual strange looks again (one gets used to it quickly)... There were even pavement cafes, with decent coffee... nice.

The BHC weren't able to help much, they sent us to the airport, where we had a 2.5hr wait for someone to come down a few steps and escort us through security. I'm sure we only got helped that quickly because I was white and moaning I was tired (in a nice, gracious way, not really moaning you understand!) I think they thought we were yet another mixed race couple!!! But in any case, we made some progress and managed to avoid the Bulls supporters driving down the N3 home (HUGE rugby final in Durban on Sat - Durban 'Sharks' v Pretoria 'Bulls'... meant the FA cup final was relegated to late Sunday night on E! TV, tsk tsk, priorities!)

I am totally fed up with the BHC though, I spent most of last week calling the line for 'Distressed British Nationals' (please hold for the switchboard and someone will be with you shortly..). 'Shortly' in BHC terms is obviously before the end of the decade. I'm lodging a formal complaint as soon as I find out who to do that to. It's disgraceful that a 'Helpline' would remain unanswered. Especially in this country where the crime rates are higher than most warzones... I only pray that I NEVER need to actually use that line to get help. It seems there are distinct disadvantages to being British here. If anyone from the Foreign Office reads this, SORT IT OUT! Pathetic.