Song-filled Summer Sunday

Today has been an extremely musical day. To start, the choir guys returned from an all-night competition of Ischatamia (kind of male voice choir - very loud and impressive, with a bit of movement thrown in), in which they came FIRST out of 28 choirs. So they were pleased, and exhausted, but not too much to give us a rendition in the car park, which delighted kids and volunteers alike. We were all very pleased to hear that they'd won!

Following on from this the kids got to sing God's praises in church, and as I was leading today they chose to sing in English rather than Zulu. No need for a music group, we just sing and it's loud. Although I'm not sure whether 'If you're happy and you know it' would make it into 'mission praise'...

Lunchtime was replaced by this month's Birthday party, this month celebrating 3 children's birthdays. As you can see above, Heather R has returned from her travels and so it was wonderful for the children to have their party on her veranda in the afternoon sunshine. As we had a visitor from Holland too, the older children performed some of their songs from choir and kept everyone entertained. It was a great party and reunion for all with their Gogo and much sugar was consumed too (thank goodness for party games to burn off some of that cake-energy!)

But the fun wasn't over. The teenagers who I take to Youth group had been invited to perform again at a Church braai and concert and so Mavu and I headed off once again in the combi with them to Pietermaritzburg. The church has welcomed them in with open arms and calls us family (how many churches would accept 14 random teenagers who just wander in one day?) But PCF, all credit to them, have loved and accepted us from the start, which is FANTASTIC! Our boys taught their dance to some of the other boys there and they all performed to an enthusiastic crowd, as did the girls. It was a great evening for them and they've all made some good friends there and love going.

They were so hyped up that they sang extremely loudly all the way home (at which point Mavu and I started discussing the possibility of 'investing' in a sound-proof screen to put just behind the front seats.... ) Sometimes combis can feel a little small... these guys are not quiet singers and have no need for any artificial amplification.... Half an hour in a combi and I feel like I've been at a loud rock concert....

But all in all, a great day and much fun was had by all!

Who needs toys?

Well obviously all kids need toys, but there are other ways to amuse oneself on a showery Saturday morning. Some of the kids set about making a small Zulu village in the sand, complete with rondavels and toy animals. They raided the bougainvillea trees around to decorate their creations. All the while they sang beautiful melodies (although I think the topic of the song was 'chewing gum') . It was a truly harmonious sight.

And then not half an hour later the game switched to 'let's see who can jump the highest' as the whole crowd of them trampled their wonderful creation to pieces. I would have cried at this rampant destruction of property, had I not been laughing so hard.

Kids eh, they are quite amusing sometimes.

Some people take graduation so seriously...

On Friday morning I popped into Georgedale preschool to drop off some CDs and books and discovered it was their graduation day and that they'd been trying to contact us to invite us along. Good timing!

This time I took HJ with me to experience the solemnity and pageantry of the preschool graduation ceremony. We had Zulu dancing and all the rest, and this time I was even invited to give a speech, which I started in Zulu, but rapidly switched back into English...

There was such a great atmosphere, everyone takes it very seriously and dresses up super smart, but then the ceremony is very laid back, with children wandering everywhere and, in this school's case, the teacher's getting down to the funky music and even singing in between acts... the smallest children just couldn't quite keep awake and all fell asleep in the corner on a mattress... This is the preschool I recently promoted as being one that has hardly anything, and yet here is where we found the biggest smiles and laughter and the most hilarious and friendly teachers...

Preschool Graduation

It's important to celebrate achievements and this year the Zulu teachers at our preschools wanted to see their leavers off in style as they move up to Primary in January. So 2 preschools partnered together to hold an event at KwaXimba #9 Community Hall today, deep in the Valley. You can see the amazing views above. 5 of our GGA kids are moving up and it was very special to be there for them, several Gogos, Aunties and Volunteers came down to join in the fun.
To really mark the occasion, we had mini graduation gowns made and the kids made their own hats, although the blue poster paint did leave quite a mark on one's hands afterwards! Each child was given a laminated certificate and a small gift to mark the occasion.
The event was well attended by parents and friends, with about 80-100 adults present and nearly 80 children, almost all under five! What a recipe for chaos!
I entertained the kids early on in the day by blowing up twister balloons for them, which Nici (see bottom right picture), one of our volunteers and preschool helper, cleverly made into all sorts of wonderful creations. The children performed several songs and dances, including showing off their traditional Zulu high kicks. The parents talked all the way through the performances (must be an African thing) but were appreciative of their children's efforts. I met lots of new and gorgeous children, but they nearly all mumbled their names and so I'm still none the wiser of what they are called!
Everyone enjoyed the curry and rice, salad, cake and ice-cream that was provided afterwards and it was a thoroughly enjoyable day for all, if a little exhausting!
I'm just waiting to see what will happen to our 5 children's hats when they wear them in the playground in the rain, or just where those blue handprints are going to end up...! 

Miraculous clearings...

So I've been quiet as I've been in Johannesburg all week at various meetings.

But now I'm back.

The thing about Air travel in this country is that it gets SO affected by the weather. When we arrived on Monday at Pietermaritzburg airport (the smallest yet cleanest and most chilled out airport I've been in) the news was that because of heavy rains we might not take off, the plane might not even arrive, and that Durban airport was closed due to weather... But we did eventually leave and made it with a fairly smooth flight only 5 minutes late into Jo'burg. There, it was chaos, with the 2 words no traveller wants ever to read on an information board -'INDEFINITE DELAY' - next to the majority of flights...

And thus the usual Friday afternoon chaos reigned at the domestic terminal of JHB yesterday, with delays being announced left right and centre. Our flight had no announcements, but on inspection I did see the infamous 'indefinite delay' next to it.... (but that was just before we boarded so I wasn't too worried) . Flights from all over were not arriving due to 'weather' and not leaving due to 'operational problems'. And yet at Johannesburg it was beautifully sunny. Funny how quick the weather can change.

Anyway, we eventually set off in our little tiny propeller jet that only seats 30 people (great for turbulence! not!) and the word going round was that almost definitely we'd end up landing in Durban as Pietermaritzburg was in the middle of a major storm (as happens almost daily this time of year). All was ok turbulence-wise until we started our descent through a black storm with lightening all around us, which was really quite exciting!

The pilot announced that we would make one attempt at PMB and then go to Durban if it was unsuccessful. As I was supposed to be heading to youth group in church in PMB I was not too keen to have to travel a couple of extra hours by bus to get there, so I started praying bigtime for God to do something about the weather. And by some amazing miracle we went through the storm and suddenly came out into a clear patch over Pietermaritzburg and landed without problems. Everyone was incredibly relieved and we managed to run across the runway to the terminal before the storm resumed with a vengeance!

The pilot announced that they'd had a lucky break in being able to land.

But I know otherwise ;-) Big up to God who controls even the storms!

Lily concert - Saturday afternoon out

The valley of Sankontshe and Mophela is just down from us and therein lies another Children's home called 'Lily of the Valley'. They've just completed their new open-air theatre and invited the kids from GGA to attend the opening festival on Saturday.

So it was that a group of kids and volunteers headed over there and had a great afternoon, under ominous looking rain-clouds, which finally broke just as we were leaving. There was an American-style African beauty pageant, including most glamourous Gogo (granny) which was very popular with the crowds even though only 3 entered. Some of our boys and girls performed one of the dances they've been perfecting through recent dance lessons here at GGA, and this went down well too.

Most of the volunteers had come to support our very own Vincent, who was playing guitar (see picture above, unfortunately his head got cut off in the collage!!!) with Tim from Lily, and also with his own band, NVS, consisting of Nkonzo, Vincent and Smilo, who also went down very well with the audience, as they were so brilliant! ;-)

The little girl I'm with in the photo is from the valley, she latched on to me and seemed to be alone, and not speaking much English, I had to get our boys to help me discover who she came with, but not before I'd got her a drink, communicating with gestures and a little bit of Zulu that I could remember. 'Ufuna idrink?' 'Yebo!'

a brief entry?

Here's one of the few pictures I have of me here with the kids, I must get more done, but the ones I do have are often taken by kids and so too many people are looking away or off centre, out of focus etc...

This was taken when Jane was visiting, in creche early in the morning, the little girl in pink is a creche child, and the one in white being carried, the others are slightly older kids who are too inquisitive to stay outside!

They all have FAR TOO MUCH energy first thing in the morning... (I suppose anyone who's been a parent will know all about that!)

I'm still working on my next newsletter to send out for Nov/Dec, hopefully will get it out soon. The days do seem to fly by here, despite getting up early. I managed to get really sunburnt on Tues at a meeting outside, I'm so used to it raining here that I completely forgot to put any suncream on and it just shows how strong the sun is, even early in the day, as my legs and feet are still bright red now!! I'll remember in future though! Think I'm so settled here now that things like that I just forgot about...

Today, Michelle and I did some preparations for the Pre-school graduation ceremony to take place in 2 weeks. It's going to be a very exciting day at 26 kids move up from pre-school to Grade R in primary school. The teachers and parents are looking forward to seeing their kids 'graduate' and we have a whole cohort of 5 yr olds who'll be moving up in January so it will be great to celebrate with them. Pictures and a report will follow, of course. The little munchkins will be too cute in their graduation gowns...

I'm still struggling on a number of levels:
1. that the school year really does end in December, it's soon Summer holidays and everyone changes year/school etc in January (the English system is still ingrained in me!) The kids are now writing important exams, in my head it feels like the first term still! I expect some of my teacher friends (hello people!) will be wishing it was nearly the end of the year already!!
2. that the weather really will get hot for Christmas, I'm still hearing plans about people organising braais and trips to the beach and thinking, but you'll be freezing!! Am looking forward to the summer though, the heat is breaking through now, we've had a couple of scorchers, but this is nothing apparently. With the heat comes the thunderstorms though. So it's not all good news!

I'll get there. I think I need to live through one year of South African life and then I'll be fine. And then my reverse culture shock in the UK will be major... if I come back?!?!

transformations in the valley...

This bit of land, currently covered in rather large cacti, is due to be transformed very shortly into a new preschool, thanks to some generous donors. It's going to be very exciting to work alongside everyone as this process happens and to rejoice with the local preschool teachers as they get a bigger and better space to teach in, and welcome in many many more children as well.

Visiting pre-schools, dropping teachers off at home and all the rest is meaning I'm spending more and more time in the valleys, it's so amazing to see how people live and how inventive they are at building their houses. This is the real Africa, where we really can make a difference. I think people are starting to recognise my car on certain roads, I'm getting more people waving at me as I cruise past! ;-) I'm praying that our car copes with the ever increasing pot-holes we have to sometimes drive over, the suspension is ok, for the moment...

Prrrrrrrrrrrrre-school!

One of my little friends here, Amahle, really rolls his 'r' when he talks about where he goes to school, it's too cute...

Today, we didn't go to his preschool, but Michelle (current pre-school administrator), Maureen (volunteer just arrived for 2nd trip here) and I went to visit 3 of our 5 preschools in the valleys and to take them CD players and books.

The preschools vary in stages of how developed they are. This photo is of the one which is least developed right now, there are 40 children in the one small room for school, with no lightbulb and dirty walls (as you can see). But they were overjoyed to see us and sang us everything they know in English and Zulu.

I finally got to use my Zulu too!
Thulani! = be quiet!
Ninjani? = how are you?
Nikukhuluma isiNgisi? = Do you speak English? - to which came the chorused reply 'How are you?'

It was great to be in the valleys, but this preschool was the last of the 3 we visited and it was quite overwhelming to be greeted by all the kids on one small room. Actually, there are 26 in the room next door. Even more overwhelming when you discover that there are over 100 on the books, and this morning it was bitterly cold so some will have stayed at home!

We are seeking funding to help this school in particular, so if it touches your heart and you want to do something practical to help them, please get in touch... They need resources of all sorts, paint and lots lots more!

I-Life Sunday 5th Nov

I-Life

Psalm 138

‘I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; before the ‘gods’ I will sing your praise.
I will bow down towards your holy temple and I will praise your name for your love and faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.
When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stout-hearted.

May all the kings of the earth praise you, O LORD, when they hear the words of your mouth. May they sing of the ways of the LORD, for the glory of the LORD is great.

Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life;
You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me.
The LORD will fulfil his purpose for me;
Your love, O LORD, endures for ever – do not abandon the works of your hands.’

This was the passage preached on this evening at I-LIFE, the special Sunday evening service for Youth and Students at PCF. We took 12 teenagers with us and, as most of the regulars are mid-exams, we made up the numbers somewhat! It was a great evening, thinking about God’s purposes for our lives and how we must seek him with all our heart.

3 of our young people responded to a call to come up for prayer. Pray for their continuing obedience and walk with the Lord. It’s so exciting to be involved in the lives of these young people who are so hungry for more of God. Pray for further opportunities for them to learn more about the God who loves them so much he sent His son to die in their place to bring reconciliation and a restored relationship with Him. They’ve been invited to some exciting things, pray that if it’s God’s will that these things will come to pass, leading them into a deeper relationship with God.

Zebra Crossings

After another busy week, it was good to get away again. This time HJ, her husband Michael and I went to Amanzimtoti, just South of Durban to stay in a Guesthouse. We weren't that enamoured of the area, it was a bit too aimed at tourists. However I was given what we think was the honeymoon suite... which was very comfortable indeed!! :-)

On Saturday, the weather didn't look promising enough for the beach, so we headed down to Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve. Only buffalo from the big five present, although we didn't see any. Came across a lot of Zebras (are they merely horses with tattoos, or is there more to them?) , several lone wildebeest, and a snake that passed in front of my car. It was a nice change with fantastic views over the hills. Still to make it on safari though!

The best restaurant in Amanzimtoti, if you are ever there, is called 'Butcher Boys' - no idea if this is a chain or not, but they do really really good steak, and the only other choices for food are of the fast food variety so you don't have much choice if you want to have a nice meal. It's on Kingsway just past Woolworths Food.

The thing about Woolworths in this country is that it is not 'Woolworths' as the Brits would understand it. Confusingly enough, it's actually Marks and Spencer's under a different guise. The food halls are almost identical to the new M&S layout in the UK. Having worked at M&S for 4 yrs as a student, I am well-qualified to identify similarities. Have I just uncovered a big secret or do the main men at M&S know that their ideas are making it out here?!?!

HURRAH!! FINALLY ONLINE!!!

Today, I am SO happy as I've finally found a way of getting a good, superfast internet connection to my laptop, with help from my new best friend - computer whizzkid Linus (check out his blog from the links, although it's in German!)
So I'M BACK!! ;-)
And now I have to catch up with all the emails and contacts that have been flowing in for the past week. We're trying to get the whole system here sorted, but it's complicated. I'm only online because I invested a little bit of money in updating my connection system...
So if you've emailed me of late, sorry for the lack of reply, I'll get round to it soon! ;)

The weather here is still weird, it's supposed to be summer, but there are thunderstorms nearly every day, and the fog descends in the early evening and stays, which makes for fun driving when I come home in the evening as there's about 3-4 miles of roads with bad markings to negotiate with minimal visibility. It can get really hot, and then 10 mins later be cold enough to need a jumper... bizarre...

Work is still chilled out yet manic as I get things done but it's little by little. I've been mildly entertained this week by the fact that I've suddenly become irresistable to members of the opposite sex, especially Zulu guys. After 31 years of waiting, 3 guys asked me out this week..... They do say men are like buses... (obviously I can't divulge any more information on what happened in each case in such a public forum, sorry! :-) )

This weekend I'm off to Amanzimtoti for some R&R at the beach. After working for 12 days, I really appreciate the opportunity to relax and catch up on some sleep. I might even get into the Indian Ocean this time instead of just look at it!

Crazy busy weekend

Tuesday 31st Oct (couldn't get online till now!)

Although it seems every week’s the same, crazy and hectic!!!
Weekends on are always busy, but this past weekend was especially so, with several events organised.

I accompanied the choir to a church in Pinetown on Friday night where they were invited to perform. Half-way there Siya (choir leader), Samson (driver) and myself realised that none of us actually knew where we were going… we had the name of the church and I could remember what I thought was the road, but Pinetown’s a big place! We only had to stop once, although didn’t get much help, and when we stopped for directions a second time, we found we’d stopped in the coach parking bay for the very church we were aiming for! God is good at directions when we are forgetful!
It was a mission praise type concert event and lots of different choirs performed. Apart from another black choir, the Young Zulu Warriors were the only non-white faces in there and when they got up to sing, they totally blew everyone away, it was great! I was really proud of them…

On Saturday I couldn’t go with the male voice choir to a competition as we had lovely visitors coming to repaint our dining room and I had to be here for them. I was glad also not to have to leave at 4.30am with the boys and they were under strict instructions not to wake me up with last minute questions! They were in the second round of a prestigious competition and finished 5th out of 22. Not bad, but they should have won and there was mutterings of possible rigging etc. Still, they got 90% overall, so that’s not bad!

The weekend wasn’t over for the choir though. On Sunday afternoon we hosted a Tea Concert in our theatre, where the choir performed and the children who had been doing intensive dance courses with a teacher from the Durban Playhouse also put on a show for the other children, volunteers and visitors. It was a beautifully hot day and a really good atmosphere and everyone had a good time.

I’m writing this in my room, ready to paste when I can get online. I moved offices and the phone line in my new office is out of order already, so internet connection is FRUSTRATING at the moment. Please pray for a miracle with the phone lines here, they are rubbish. As I type, a massive storm is raging right overhead, about 10 minutes ago the power finally went, instead of flickering on and off as it has been for the last hour. 2 nights ago the power was off all night and my fridge defrosted onto the kitchen floor. Looks likely I’ll have the same joys tomorrow morning… I’m providing shelter for Jock, one of Heather Reynolds’ many dogs, who is quite sad as his owner is still overseas. He came scratching at my door when the storm started but is now drying off in the middle of the carpet, might end up staying all night if this storm continues…. Thunderstorms in the UK will never be as exciting as these! (and don’t worry, I’m not connected to power supplies when I’m writing this!)