280712, Last week's news...sangoma student

On Wednesday 25th I became an aunt.  That is extremely good news for me and something me and my family have been looking forward to for a long time.  So, little Daniel was born, a good 3.9kg and what a beautiful little boy. I really wish I could just fly over to my brother’s house and go and see him right now.   But I must be patient.

What else happened this week?  Not that much.  I’ve gained a new student.  He just came by and looks like he’s planning to stay.  A sangoma.  So that’s been interesting. 

He says he’s also a Christian (apparently there are good sangomas and bad sangomas) so we’ve had some interesting conversations about that because if you are a Christian you can't at the same time be praying to your ancestors to bring about healing or whatever.  (A lot of people really are confused about what it means to be a 'Christian'.  Personally I can't say that I like that 'label' at all because of so many misunderstandings - largely associated with religion.  I'd rather just say that I follow Jesus.  Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, not so  much on the people who claim to be Christians.)

God doesn't want us to pray to Him and then go and pray to other spirits or gods.  Jesus also said that we should pray to the Father (In the Name of Jesus).  Why would we then still want to go and pray through ancestors for healing or whatever, just because that is the tradition…?  It's like praying to the creature rather than the Creator...  The truth is that is why Jesus came, to set us free from that kind of bondage.  If we have Jesus the Son of God (who offered Himself once and for all and who is alive) what more could we ever need?

"for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" ... Acts 4:12

290712, Sunday, Xhosa church

Was a sort of an interesting Sunday today.  We went to visit one of the local Xhosa churches this morning, really because Robin (and me) was interested to see the kind of message that got preached there. 

We first weren’t sure exactly where to go, but eventually found the place, a newly built mud-brick 8corner (octagon) house with only very few chairs and no people at first.  But we were assured that we were at the right place.  We were received very warmly and soon the women started singing so we joined in. 

Now that’s one thing about the Xhosa people.  They know how to sing and generally most people have very strong voices and just about anyone can lead a song.  Also, the songs they sing are quite easy to learn and very repetitive, so you can catch on rather quick.  Whereas us, white people, do not have such strong voices, well only some do, and the songs we like to sing are a bit more complicated, we really need to see the words on paper most of the time. 

So there we were, there weren’t a whole lot of people and all we were doing was singing.  (The pastor was running an hour late).  So, as I suspected, it was not that long before they asked us if we had any songs to sing (looking straight at me).  Now I know that I do have a few talents, but however much I enjoy music, singing unfortunately is not one of them.  But I knew it would just be insulting if I refused so I got up and tried my very best with Jabulani Africa, which not a single other person knew.  I have good memories of teaching this song to the kids in Zambia and they were still singing it when I returned a year later, but here it didn’t seem to go down all that well.  I guess every one just felt a bit too much put on the spot.  Anyways, glad my turn was over.  Robin did much better with her kids songs with actions and Matthew 19:26 song, With God all things are possible. 

When the pastor finally arrived, we kept on singing some more and then he asked Robin on the spot to please share the scripture of the day.  Luckily I think she always has something ready, so there she went.  After that the pastor came back and basically said what she said in Xhosa.  Then we sang some more, took up an offering and 2 hours later it was time to go.    It was special.

210712, Grace and the mud on the floor

Mama Grace doing the first layer of the Reading Hut floor.  Mud.  

After that, more layers of cow-dung/mud mixture.

Mama Grace is one of my special bead-selling-mamas.  In fact she is a mama-kulu (grandmother) in her fifties.  She has the energy of a teenager.  She is always on the go, if not with her slender body and long legs, then with her mouth, not shy to speak out about anything and very quick witted.  I don't always understand what she says due to my limited Xhosa, but I can tell from  the laughter 

she  invokes from her listeners.  

I'm glad to have her on my side.  The other day at the pension market she told the guy who did my skew fence exactly what she thinks of the bad job he did. 

She likes to call me Lavovo.

180712, Coffee Bay kids: Josh

Josh giving me a surf lesson

Collecting leaves while we wait for the others

A little upset cause I won't let him go for a swim while his clothes are already half-soaked...

Sorry Josh, next time!

Josh lives with his parents who run one of the backpackers in Coffee Bay.  If I had children I would love to give them this kind of childhood...  I  spent my first years of childhood in a very small town, running around freely, barefoot and mostly without adult supervision in the cow-fields nearby our house.  Here, most kids run around almost by themselves.  There are many 'mamas' around who will keep an eye on them and see that they don't get into too much trouble.

Running ghost of the rescued puppy

This is Tino, the puppy that’s been staying here at the campsite for a while now, who I tried to keep away from my tent before (he had strange skin diseases and infestations) .

He has this wonderful talent for just being too impossibly cute to chase away and has become best friends with Aquila the boerboel, so really I had to allow him the same rights. 

Saturday was a pretty cold day around here when in bounced the puppy, ever curios of his surroundings and wanting to explore.  So he sneaks into my caravan and spots my bed.  Irresistible.  So there I leave him be.  How can I take away that happy face.  I let him take a nap and snuggle his nose into my blankets for the afternoon. 

At some point he starts making funny sounds and I think he’s going to vomit, so I take him outside.  He starts foaming at the mouth and looks a little bewildered.  I thought maybe he ate something funny and is just feeling a little sick.

On Sunday afternoon I got home and found him in my tent, foaming even worse and losing all balance.  I decided to take him to the only lady I know in town, that has some dog medicine and would probably know what is wrong with it.  When I got to her house, they just told me that it’s a highly contagious dog disease called Parvo and I have to get it out of the yard and away from their dogs.  There was apparently nothing I could do and the dog is going to die.  I have no idea how long it’ll take.

I took him back to his owners and told her the story.  There’s not that much we could do, phone reception was off the whole day yesterday and only got back on late this afternoon.  The closest SPCA is in Umtata. 

This morning I woke up and the puppy was in my tent, just looking tired.  Soon it had another attack of foaming and started shaking terribly.  When it was over he ran down crazy to the river, I thought it was going to drown itself. But he just ran in circles in and out of the water, falling over getting back up again.  Eventually he came out, running around disoriented.  Finally he went to sit under the caravan, shaking.  He wouldn’t come out, but I pulled him and wrapped him in an old blanket.  I put him inside my washing tub and there he lay shivering until the sun finally came out to warm him up.  Then he was up again, running around aimlessly.

I don’t know how long this is going to carry on…  

160711, Stormy Wild Coast

It’s been a while since I’ve written.  I’ve felt a bit uninspired, perhaps because of the countless times I’ve been cheated with this building operation (and let me tell you it never stops!).  Also, last week I had an incident where an Ethiopian guy without a licence drove into my car and now well, he’s just walking away with no worries while I’ve got to deal with the damage myself.  This after the police officer was the one that suggested not arresting him because he said he could pay for the damage.  I didn’t believe it then and I believe it much less now, a week later and no word from this guy.  Even the police officer is useless in helping me find him.  Apparently he doesn’t have airtime to phone him.  Right.  What else?  Do I smell corruption in the air?

Anyway, my spirits have been boosted a bit by somebody who bought me a door for the Reading Hut and someone anonymous deposited R500 in my account, also for the Reading Hut.  Thank you people!  God bless you a hundredfold! 

In the meantime I had a guy putting up a fence for me around the Reading Hut and now he is supposedly finished.  But never in my life had I seen poles put in so skew…  The people walk past and tell me that my poles are sleeping!  Am I going to be relieved when this business is finished...

On Saturday night I went out to the Bomvu festival.  They had some mamas dancing, the Bomvu Tribal Rhythms Band playing and some Djs to finish off the rest of the evening.  I was there to enjoy myself with dancing and do a bit of a fire poi performance for the crowds (mostly other performers and locals), it was fun. 

The Friday night rained and I thought we’d have no rain that night, there were stars in the sky when I went out.  But sometime during the evening a strong wind came up and rain was falling.  Just before 2am I left and headed homewards.  As I drove into the campsite, the outside lights flickered and went out.  Pitch darkness.  I was still in my car and couldn’t even see my caravan.  Then the lights flickered on again for a second and was out again.  I got out in the wind and rain and ran toward where I knew my caravan and tent were standing.  When I reached it, nothing felt the same.  I walked into my chairs and and felt around for the zip.  I realized that my whole front porch section of the tent was gone.  All the poles and tent pens were out, even the extra rope I used for extra security.  It was all flapping on the roof of the tent. 

I went inside and tried to find the door handle.  It was so dark, I’ve never seen anything like it.  I found my little lantern and got a candle out.  There was no ways I could find my way to the bathroom.  The whole place was dark as a cave.

Later when I blew out the candle, it was so dark that I had to blink my eyes often, trying to figure out if my eyes were open or closed.   That must be what it’s like to be blind.  I was just longing for a little piece of light somewhere.  I couldn’t sleep that night.  I feared every loud gush of the wind to rip something apart.  My tent was flapping all over the place and my caravan was shaking like a washing machine reaching it’s final rounds

Electricity finally came back on this afternoon...  So thankful. 

060712, Reading Hut Roof finally finished!!!!

So I've learned that here in the Transkei, every tomorrow has another tomorrow.  It's a bit like those restaurants that advertise free beer all day tomorrow.  Anyway, so this tomorrow turned into another week and today, finally I can say with certainty that the roof is officially finished.  It's got the tyre and cement on the top, so it is done!!!  I can hardly believe it but there it is.  Praise God!

010712, Beautiful Sunday with the girls

The Reading Hut roof is not yet finished, but very almost there.  I pray tomorrow is the day!!!

We have been very blessed with awesome weather here in Coffee Bay this weekend...  Yesterday I went for a quick swim in the ocean... Lovely. Today I did washing and soaked in all the sunshine I could.

In the afternoon I went to the other side to see some people.  Bumped into Snooks and René with her dad.  Ended up looking after the girls and picking up clothes for Snooks' sleepover at René's house.  Their friendship is very interesting.  Snooks speaks Xhosa and English and René speaks Afrikaans.  Now René's English is improving quite a bit and Snooks is learning a couple of Afrikaans words.  They seem to understand each other pretty well.

The girls, becoming great friends...

Snooks inside her house, packing clothes for sleep-over

René, waiting for Snooks

The view from Snooks' house