310511, Tuesday morning

a little bit windy and unpleasant outside.

With Donovan gone, I could set up the little table on the one side of the caravan (it functioned as his bed before) and now this is my handy ‘office space’, so this morning I’m doing a bit of office work.  It’s got a nice view of the little brightly painted in green, orange and purple rondavels of the River lodge where I’m staying.  Patches (the black & white kitty) is lying curled up on my bed and Hillsong is playing on my ipod and little speakers that never really came in so super handy up until now.

It feels like the real test of my stay here is only starting now.  Most of the initial excitement is now gone, I’m not staying anymore in the hub of the town where all the action is going down (which is sad because I might be missing out and potentially become lonely, but good, because I’m out of the holiday/party vibe and out of temptation’s way – that area is well known for much underhand activities going on there, after all, magic mushrooms and dagga grows wild in the Transkei!)

So now, with Donovan also gone, I’m forced to recollect my thoughts and look around me as to why I’m here in the first place. 

Yesterday, on the way to Ngcwanuba, I gave 2 schoolkids a lift, they were both in matric and the boy told me about his dreams for the future.  He really wants to become a teacher and wants to go study at University next year.  I realized quickly that these kids have no idea how to apply for a course at University or elsewhere and neither do they have the means to apply. And if they apply too late, they simply won’t get in and have to wait another year. 

They have no electricity at home and probably not at school either.  Which means they have no internet and don’t even have the faintest clue how to use a computer.  These days, to be able to apply for something, internet is kind of a necessity.  Even just to look for the right institute to apply to.  I know, for that other kid I helped in my first week here, we had to print out the pages for his application, he had to complete it and then we had to scan and email it.  Dawn, the lady from the Montessori school, luckily had such a printer that could also scan, but it was still a bit of a mission.

It looks like a real need over here and a project that needs to be considered by all willing to contribute something.  It looks like we need a group of people with a couple of laptops with mobile internet and a printer/scanner to go around to these schools and spend a day or 2, helping children to find the right place to apply to, get the forms printed for them and get it emailed before the closing date as well as making sure they have all the other necessary documents like registered ID copy and exam results.

Ultimately, there is a big need for computers and internet for all the schools and people that can give the basic training.  I’m not sure how one goes about organizing such a project…anyone with ideas, please comment! 

Inside Ncgwanuba Store, 20km from Coffee Bay

You can find a lot of useful things in this store, I bought a plastic basin for my washing, for R38.  Also, a 2kg bag of samp and beans for R15.  The hardware section comes in very handy.  They also have good cheddar cheese, yogurt and veggies, however of limited variety...(tomatoes, butternut, potatoes, onions, wild avo)  I really need to get a veggie garden going...

The wall side of 'Hole in the Wall'

People on the way to Hole in the Wall

Different kind of bikes on the road

Donovan, making a plan with my leaking roof...

Some roadside entertainment...

300511, Monday

Monday evening, alone in my caravan,  it's really quiet tonight with Donovan gone.  I'm almost slightly bored.  I'll have to get used to this!  

Had a nice sunny day of doing some long awaited hand washing of some clothes-not everything, I learnt that from the last time (not too much at once).  Moved some stuff around in the caravan and then drove to Gcwanguba, the closest big store- 20km, to get a light bulb and a few other things.  It was pay day or something, cause the place was rather crowded.  

I had to draw some money at the cash machine, which stands right next to another queue of people waiting for something.  The cash machine was quite short in comparison!  There was a friendly old Xhosa man standing in the other queue.  When I walked past him, he held out his hand and gave me a hearty handshake.  He made me feel very welcome.  I saw him looking at what was going on at the cash machine and he would find it hilarious to see what happens as the machine spits out the notes, qa qa qa, he would say as the notes pop out, and nudge the old lady next to him. Together they would cackle...  I suppose it's not often that they come to the shop and they've definitely never in their lives had a bank account or cash card...

Yesterday, Sunday, me and Donovan had a beautiful relaxing Sunday at Hole in the Wall.  Donovan threw his fishing line in the water but didn't actually catch anything that time...  I met a little group of people from Israel, who live in Cape Town and do some teachings about the Jewish ways...  I'm now interested again in going to Israel some time, perhaps working at a kibbutz...

Donovan, driving over the bridge that connects me to the world..

The rainbow, hopefully to give hope of sunny days to come...

260511, The night of the swamp things...

So, I was sleeping quite peacefully last night, listening to the heavy rain outside when it started to rain big droplets on my head.  And then the fun started.  It was leaking from 3 of the 4 corners of my caravan roof.  I was really not in the mood for that. All the pots and pans and towels and whatever else had to be used to try and keep things dry inside the caravan, while the tent floor was getting flooded from underneath the caravan...  Donovan went outside in the pouring rain and threw and tied the extra tent awning sheet over the roof to stop the leaking.  It worked! Thank God.  The rest of the day it kept on raining and we couldn't really do much to stop anything, so hopefully tomorrow we can do something about the floor....at the moment it's like a lake in the tent and I have to put on and take off my gumboots, everytime I'm in or out...  I really hope tonight the rain won't be too bad.  Also the little bridge that connects us to the rest of the town and the outside world is basically flooded, we could get over today with Donovan's bakkie, but my car wouldn't make it..

Latest camping spot...hopefully the last for a while...

At Zithulele Hospital

250511, Slight rewind

Okay, I have to REWIND a little bit.  Monday (day after we put up tent) Donovan developed a super wisdom tooth ache (started Saturday night already while he was driving). I finally persuaded him to let me take him to Zithulele to go see the dentist at the hospital.  It took some serious persuading, but eventually the pain won.  So, off we went in my little car with Johnny Clegg playing in the tape player and me enjoying the hilly scenery while Donny’s lying low in the seat next to me, clutching his tooth and not saying a word, but still checking that I don’t run over any sheep.

Hour later, we arrive to Zithulele and walk into the Reception to try and find out what to do. There’s a long queue.  I can see Donny’s ready to give it up and turn around, but I tell him don’t worry someone will help us.  So I phoned the woman I met last year who works in the hospital and she tells me we must get a card, fill it in and ask to bypass the queue cause we’re not going to the doctor, but to the dentist.  So I pull in front of the queue and ask the mama what we must do, she says we must get an ‘ikadi’ for R4 from the woman outside and come back.  We go outside and look for the woman, I’m thinking it’s a medical card of some sort.  There are a couple of people outside, I start asking randomly and feel like I’m a contestant on the “Amazing Race’.  Finally, I see the woman on the other side of the fence and she’s beckoning.  I go closer and there’s a little boy showing me a bucket with a water tortoise (Not sure if that’s what you call it – but it was in water and alive). Anyway I wasn’t really looking cause I was trying to focus on the woman who seemingly holds possession of the ‘ikadi’ and it turns out to be just a little A5 book to write in, just for some personal details and a stamp, so it means you’re registered.  We went back and were called to the front.  Everyone was looking at us, we thought, oh they’re annoyed cause we jumped the queue, but they were just curious and said that I’m beautiful, but yo the indoda! 

So, we were pretty lucky further as well, looks like the people here don’t have a lot of trouble with their teeth, everyone’s just going to the doctor.  So I had the pleasure to wait on the bankie in the hallway with the other people while Donovan went in to see the ugqirha wamazinyo.  I really loved every moment of it.  There was a chicken coming in and out, a mother dog looking for something and the people were just waiting.  One of the things I realized here, the people here don’t have a lot, but what they do have plenty of, is time. 

Donovan wasn’t in for very long, he’d taken too many Disprins, so they weren’t able to take out his tooth.  He looked rather relieved.  He’s supposed to go to the other clinic tomorrow.  We’ll see how brave he is…

Had another session with 2 of the 3 boys tonight, we’ve made progress, however slow.  We literally did the basic shapes, - square, rectangle, triangle and circle.  If you’re only starting for the first time to write at age 15, there’s a lot of catching up to do.  Every little bit of progress is a battle won.  For the other youngster I gave a book to read about the history of aeroplanes.  I have a feeling he’s just going to enjoy that quite a bit.  He asked if he could take it home to read, so I can’t wait till next time I see him to see what he thinks about it.  I have a good feeling about these guys, they’re going to do good things in life.

Ooh, the rain just started again and I really have to go to the loo now.  Don’t worry, I’ve got my warm boots and my umbrella.  Goodnight. 

Shaving in a bucket

250511, 21:33 “Closed means Knock”

In the Transkei, I’ve discovered one of the unwritten rules today.  It’s really not so much a rule as a friendly suggestion.  Basically, if you see a closed door, of a toilet maybe, rather knock just to make sure.  Cause you think you might be the only person there, but maybe you’re not.  And the doors here don’t necessarily have locks on them.  Depends where you stay I suppose.  But I can thankfully say that the place where I’m staying now, I really don’t feel like I need a lock for anything.  That’s a good feeling.  I certainly don’t miss my city window bars tonight.

Right now I’m amazingly thankful for the extra blankets my family packed into my caravan.  Pretty chilly tonight, sitting in bed, snug with hoodie and red woollen mittens my mom gave me some time ago. 

So much to say, I really hope I can remember everything.  It’s so difficult to try and explain to people who don’t know this experience.  I just chatted to my flatmate from Cape Town and she must think I’m mad, I couldn’t stop babbling.  It was the first phone call to a friend since I left and it feels like another one of ‘Survivors’  special prizes!  I’ve had a couple of those in the last few days.

The fact that Donovan is here surely contributed.  He’s fixed just about everything here that needs fixing, from my gas bottles, my washing line, my tent zipper, my tent pegs, my fire, he brought delicious meat for the braai, I can’t name it all and probably the most fun gift was a bucket of HOT water 2 nights ago when I couldn’t face the cold shower.  I had the most fun splashing in that bucket, from my face, my feet to shaving my legs.  Sho, the small things!  God is SO GOOD!

Another amazing thing that happened today, my one young friend Michael took me to his village to drop off some Xhosa Bibles at the church.  It was quite late so I couldn’t spend much time, but everyone I met were so friendly and really made me feel welcome.  They just wanted to show me everything and they were so proud and excited.  I definitely want to go back and also visit their church on a Sunday.  Maybe not this week, I might go to Port St. Johns to say hi to my good friend André who's going to be shooting a documentary or something.

To be continued..

Donovan and his new friends, John and Patrick

Campsite nr.01

Sunset, 230511

250511, The great trek

Oke, it’s been a while since I had the time to write.  Kind of a lot has happened!  Of course, by now you would’ve guessed, my caravan is here!!!

Donovan drove almost through the night and arrived on Sunday morning at about 10.  We immediately started putting up the tent, which was the first time putting up this tent and we had to figure out some stuff, but it went quite smoothly. 

We hardly had the tent up when 3 half-dressed Bangladeshi guys gathered themselves and their bottle of brandy on the camping spot right next to ours – while there was a huge stretch of space further that they could use.  Well, I guess they were quite drunk and it didn’t take them long to invite themselves over and make themselves (and the brandy) at home right on our ‘stoep’, inviting us to share their brandy.  Well, being a Sunday morning and all, we didn’t really feel like accepting and well, I was also still busy trying to unpack and get some order.  So Donovan tried to keep a decent company and not be rude to the guys, while they were basically shouting at each other and ‘talking over the phone’ but more like screaming into the phone as if having an argument or something.  Very strange.  The one guy even went for a piss in the river, right in front of me.  I’ve never met such a rude and disrespectful culture. (In fact I can’t believe that such a disrespectful culture exists, so I suspect they acted like this on purpose to drive us out of the campsite) It turned out that they actually live on the campsite and run some shops around the area.  And there are more of them.

They then continued their screaming and shouting and luckily moved a few metres off.  So, I picked up their now empty bottle and their shoes that they left in front of my tent and took it over to them.  Thank God they didn’t come back.  But, later when I wanted to take a shower I met 2 of them in the bathroom and I knew that I couldn’t stay there.  Especially not when Donovan leaves.  Such a pity, because it’s really a beautiful camping spot right next to the river.

I was so thankful for my first nights’ sleep in my caravan, a gigantic improvement to my previous 2 weeks painful sleep on a bad bed and the hard floor.  But no relief from my cold showers yet!  I was so looking forward to that.  And the showers were really bad, like absolutely nothing to hang your clothes or towel on and the floors are completely wet, and of course my warm top had to drop on the floor and get all drenched!  There is a new bathroom though, just a bit of a further walk, but much neater and with a gas geyser that unfortunately didn’t work either…  But at least no Bangladeshis in this shower!  

There was a very friendly night guard and 2 self-employed dogs that became our watchdogs.

Anyway, we went to check out another campsite just a little further.  It’s not that pretty all next to the river, but definitely safer and the bathrooms are also much friendlier.  So, yesterday morning we packed up the tent again and moved.  Bit of a mission, but we’re becoming more experienced campers now!  And I’m so thankful for Donovan being here, cause I actually need quite a lot of help with all sorts of things that you need a real man for!  We survived the first rain on the tent last night!

Oke, lots more to be told, but watch this space (I need to go for a shower now and start this day), this story will continue!

A quick sunset special...

Mpatane and Capri

The Cope celebrations down the road

200511, Friday

Sorted out some English Bibles that needed to be dropped off at the Christian School this morning, they were very thankful for it!  Then someone took me for a 4x4 drive to Mapuzi, just outside Coffee Bay, it's really breathtakingly beautiful there, some day I'll walk back there and take proper photos, just be patient!  

I'm not teaching this weekend, I have a bit of a break, so I'm just hanging around a bit.  There was a post voting celebration today, to welcome the new counsellor, apparently COPE won the votes in this area.  We hope that they are actually going to do something about the roads inside Coffee Bay, have I mentioned how crazy they are, you almost need a 4x4 to drive up the hill...

Then me and Sarah and the baby hung out in the little playground that some volunteers have set up a little while back.  It's quite nicely done, just sad that there's litter all over the place.  So I got a black bag or 2 and got a few of the young boys to help pick up litter.  At least the park is clean now, but the rest of the street is still pretty dirty.  I'm not sure how exactly to motivate them without bribing them and getting them to learn to not actually litter. I just gave them some biscuits in the end...  It also doesn't help that there aren't a proper system for rubbish bins and I can't see who's coming to pick that up.  There's also a rubbish heap that's collecting randomly next to the road as you enter Coffee Bay.  This place is really beautiful, but seriously needs someone in a higher position to take charge and get it cleaned up.  Who knows, maybe COPE will do something!  We have hope for COPE!

Later, I went for a little poi session at the top off the hill behind the house.  Really awesome views of the ocean and hills.  Makes me happy.  Tonight, I might say hi to my other house fellows around the fire and tomorrow I'll try collect my things again to prepare for the next move...caravan will depart from my brother's place in the morning and reach Mosselbay at about 9 and from there, it's Donovan and the long winding road!  Prayers for safe driving and thanks!!

190511, Mqanduli

Spent most of today driving to and back from Mqanduli with Silas, Sarah and little Capri, sorry no photos today!  I do regret not taking my camera though, it would’ve been good to get a shot of the guy who helped me transfer the packages of Bibles from the Post Office to my car in his wheelbarrow! My car was quite heavy after that, but I’m thankful that finally the Bibles are here.  Blessings to the person who sponsored those! 

Sarah just came to pop into my room and she said she’d like a Bible to read, so I got 2 boxes out and we opened them to see what’s inside, it was a bit like opening a treasure box!  The children’s Bibles are really beautiful and I can’t wait to start reading to the kids!  There are English and Xhosa ones.

Tomorrow I’ll go to the Christian School again and we’ll see where all the Bibles will go.  I’m definitely going to use some for my teaching English classes! 

So, yesterday I had my first teaching session with the 3 boys(ages 14-17).  I really enjoyed it although I realized they were even more behind than I thought.  I just started to get a slight idea of how different their lives are to what people like me are used to or can even imagine.  At one point I asked them how many hours there are in a day.  They hadn’t a clue.  This is not something that has ever been important information for them.  Imagine growing up without TV, radio, phone, a watch, an alarm, a clock of some sort, not going to school….  Why would you be interested in what hour it is. You function with the sun, I guess.  I’m looking forward to getting to know the boys better.

I made my first experimental lentil soup last night (with onions, garlic, ginger, carrots, beefstock, currypowder, butter beans, tomatoes, salt & pepper), it tasted great, I’m so pleased!  It’ll definitely be a regular item on my Transkei menu. 

The other thing that I’m of course super excited about is my caravan that should be arriving by Sunday already if it’s God’s will!  En baie dankie aan al die awesome mense wat dit vir my moontlik maak!  Everybody who’s praying for me and sending me encouraging thoughts and vibes… Ma en Pa, vir al die goeters wat julle vir my bymekaar maak sodat ek niks kort nie!  Amiel, vir daai eerste stretch op die pad!  En Donovan wat hom al die pad verder gaan bring!!  Julle verstaan dalk nie heeltemal hoe dankbaar ek is nie…Baaaaaiiiiiieeeee!!!!!  Julle is almal awesome!!!  Xxx.

Self-portrait: Revising Xhosa in bed

My new wrist band from the bead ladies

Coffee Bay River Car wash

180511, Wednesday (Voting day)

Yesterday morning I spent some time with the bead ladies for an informal Xhosa lesson (they sit next to Coffee Shack on the way to the beach and sometimes ‘harass’ the backpackers a little, cause if someone buys beads from only one of them, the others get angry!).

Anyway, I’m trying to let them understand that I’m not a backpacker, so I can’t buy their beads every day.  I’ve made at least 2 friends there now, Mpatane- who I met first and Uniswa, who also turned out to be a very helpful Xhosa teacher.  They made me an arm bracelet- very pretty- while I was sitting there.  And I think my Xhosa is making slow but sure progress!  I’ll have to do some revision though, cause these words are so quick to be forgotten again!  I have one Xhosa storybook that I found a long time ago somewhere in Cape Town, the thing is like gold to me!  The other day, I read the story to some kids, but I didn’t know much about what I was reading!!  So, yesterday Uniswa helped me with that…Thanks!!

Later I took my car to the river where I saw the guys washing their taxis.  My car has been super mud clotted!  I was going to let Joe (the Xhosa guy who works at my future camping site) wash my car, but earlier the day we kind of got into trouble about that when I asked if he could wash my car – there’s another guy living at the campsite and he didn’t think it was such a good idea, especially not while Joe was supposed to do other work.  Of course, I wasn’t really thinking!  Sorry. 

Anyway, so I went back later, but on the way, 3 boys wanted a lift and asked where I was going.  They were then so eager to wash my car that I wouldn’t have been able to stop them by force.  They sure aren’t lazy!

Luckily Joe was still working, so it was okay that they’d already started.  I promised Joe, next time and he was quite happy with that and R4 (just about everyone here asks for R2 when they pass you by). Joe is quite a character, he can’t speak English, but he speaks a little Afrikaans, most of which are swear words…

I gave the 3 boys a mere R21 (to share) and a couple of dates (which is new for them, but they like it!).  The money was a bit of an issue for me, (still is, I suppose).  Before I went, I just asked a couple of people what’s the going rate and they said R15, sho, I don’t know,  I’m new here and everything.  I guess I’ll still have to see about that.  I don’t want to start a slave business. 

It’s difficult to say what’s too much or too little around here, cause some people really have nothing and for them a couple of rand is actually worth something.  Earlier the day, I bought some amangwi (vetkoeke – hey anybody, what’s a vetkoek in English?) for the beading ladies and they were only R1 each!  And the ladies were sooo thankful!

Some things are of course more expensive here than in the city.  (Oh by the way, you can buy eggs here for R10 -It says Athlone farm on the box.  I really hope they aren’t super hormone filled, cause I’m going to have to eat lots of them.  They are nice and big and seem fine.  How can I tell?)

I also met the three boys that I’m going to help with extra English and reading classes.  They are orphans and live by themselves.  They’re ages 17 (Grade 3), 15 (Grade 5) and 14 (Grade 4).  They only started attending school at the age of 10/12…

They didn’t go to school yesterday, because the water at their house ran out and they couldn’t wash their school shirts. (Each boy own only 1 school shirt).  When the water runs out, it also means there is nothing to drink.

The Coffee Shack owners started to help out the boys in 2007.  I’ll give more information about the boys later on, as I figure it out.  All I know now is that it’s not good to just give them handouts, because they don’t really know how to look after anything.   (I know it sounds a bit harsh, but one does need a sense of pride instilled and perhaps you don’t get that if stuff just gets given to you and you don’t have the skills yet to manage it responsibly.  I might be wrong, but I think it needs to be a work in progress).

The view from where I'm staying and a sunset nearby...

One of my 'housemates' Sarah and her beautiful baby...

Axium Education session, Saturday at Kwaaimans

160511, Montessori day

Monday, week 2.  I went to Dawn’s little Montessorri school this morning. There were about 10 little ones from about 2 –5 years old. It was nice, they learn a lot there.  These are definitely the more privileged kids of the area.  I realized quickly that I am not trained in the Montessori method and I think it’s good, but I don’t necessarily agree with everything. 

 I’m trying to figure out how exactly I’m going to spend each day here: Fridays and Saturdays are for Axium, Sunday is definitely a rest day, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons I’ll work with 3 teenagers with reading problems.  In between I’ll spend a lot of time doing admin – preparing for English classes, emails checking and answering, writing the blog and diary, taking photos, processing photos-(what’s happening here + landscape/ stock-library), try to study Xhosa and whatever happens in between.  Perhaps for now I won’t commit to too much else, except maybe for spending extra time with some of the little ones who don’t have afternoon care.

 I had such a good experience today, I was supposed to meet Dawn and the 3 boys I have to teach, when the meeting was cancelled.  I was happy to see Josh (the boy from the Coffee Shack’s people), Nobusnooks (Probably not the right spelling) and her tiny brother Asefika playing around.  I met them today at Dawn’s school.  Asefiki and Josh are also like best buddies.  I found out that Asefiki and Snooks’ mother work at the bacpackers just across the road and that the kids hang around on their own till they get bored and go home when it’s probably dark already.  I felt kind of sorry for them, cause they are so small and I think they are just craving for love.  Snooks was also really tired at school today- at one stage she just lay down on the grass for a nap. 

 They wanted me to tell them a story, so I came home and got them The Lion King and the only Xhosa storybook I have.  Snooks really enjoyed it, Fiki was falling asleep on my lap and Josh wandered off on his plastic black motorbike.

I’m thankful for the Xhosa book, cause one of the ladies came past and helped me a bit. I think if I try to read a bit every day, I’ll learn a lot.  Anyway, it was getting dark and drops were starting to fall, so I walked the two little ones home and pray they get some food and have a warm place to sleep.

 So, I can’t help wondering if this is something I should start around here, like an afternoon care centre, with a friendly atmosphere, warmth and food and love and a place where the children could safely take a nap if they wanted to.  Wish I can find a place to do that here, that is also close to their homes, but not so loud as the backpackers…We’ll see, with God nothing is impossible hey!

 I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned before, but I’m very excited at the moment!!!  On Saturday I found a beautiful spot for my caravan and not too expensive!  A little bit away from the hub of Coffee Bay where I’m right now…(I’ll miss the vibe around here, but I reckon it will also be good for my soul to have some more space to myself)

 And the second good news is that my good friends and brothers Donovan and Kenneth are going to actually bring my caravan to me all the way!!!!!  God is GREAT!!!

Thank you my good friends.  May you be blessed!!

140511

Just a quick hello... I had my first teaching English experiences in the Transkei yesterday and today and it wasn't too bad, just did a bit of tense revision, to check if we're all on the same page.  Turns out that some are, of course, but some have a lot more work to do!

My car is so muddy, I'm not sure if it'll ever be clean again!  The guys here say I should trade it in for a Toyota Hilux... I don't even know what that is!  We'll see...

Oke, it's Saturday night and everyone's out having a party.  I'll be heading over to Bomvu now to check out a bit of drumming...

Wish you were here...x

Day 4

I'm starting to feel settled in, sort of got my new little routines going, like when do I shower or where (I know that sounds arb, but it's quite interesting because the bathroom next to me doesn't have hot water, so I have to go into the house and use a kind of private shower-which isn't really that private cause nothing here really is- I'm talking in riddles aren't I?)  I guess you'll have to come here to really understand.  

The kitchen is also interesting, cause you can't leave anything there, it'll get taken, like I keep all my food in my room and my special knife and my cloth and dishwashing liquid etc.  I guess it's a little like camping. You have to plan ahead.

 

I'm renting a room outside a house where I'm not sure how many people actually live, it seems almost like a backpackers.  The place is also right opposite Jah Drum and Bomvu Backpackers and the River trading store, which actually sells bread.  I have yet to go in there and see what else they sell... Coffee Shack is also just a few meters down the road.  I'm hearing the drumming at Bomvu right now, every night at about this time...

My room is a rectangular shape, part built of stone and part wood, wit a tin roof, kind of like a shack.  It's a bit damp in here, but that seems to be the norm in this place.  

This morning I helped a boy who wrote matric last year and wants to apply for a bursary to study mining engineering.  We had to print the papers so that he can complete it before we send it off.  I'm glad I brought my printer.  

Then, I went to Zithulele again to chat with Craig and Michelle and I went with Michelle to one of the schools where she gives extra maths classes.  It was quite interesting.  Firstly, the drive was, 12km on a very bad road, it took us almost 30minutes to drive.  And the school itself was quite shocking.  300 students in a small 3 room school.  The children share broken chairs and a desk between about 3 people.  The principal also made us wait for about 20 minutes for no apparent reason (he just stood outside talking to other teachers and the kids were all sneaking out of their classes!  Can't blame them, their school time was supposed to be out, but they're not allowed to leave until someone rings the bell!)  Anyway, a lot needs to be done.

Just arrived...

I arrived last night (to Coffee Bay)  after a long, long drive in the rain (it basically rained since I left Cape Town on Tuesday all the way till last night -Sunday)  

It's been a crazy day of culture shock and trying to adapt to my new surroundings where it's quite uncertain how long I'll actually stay.  This community is seriously poor, even though there is still a divide between black and white -the latter of course, still being relatively richer.  My first feeling was of selfishness- (myself), like I really just thought of myself when I was packing my stuff.  I really have so much more than the people around me.

The people here are intense, everything and everybody are very tightly knit.  You quickly get the feeling that you are going to deal with a community of politics and that some people you can trust, but not everyone.  And nothing's for mahala! 

Except maybe the views... I walked to Hole in the Wall today (3hrs 1way) and it was beautiful, however exhausting.  The way back was awesome (through hills and valleys of the local villages)

There's so much more to say, but for now that's going into my diary.....

Photos will follow!