Kruger National Park

Last Saturday, Pastor Solly lent us his toyota truck and we headed for the Kruger. We had a fantastic time!!! The Kruger is an amazing place. Really huge. The size of Wales. So we only saw a tiny bit. Just a few of our pictures to give you an idea...

Or not... the internet is not loading our piccies today.

Hosanna Church Friday and Saturday

We were back at Hosanna church Friday 17th and Saturday18th July.

Friday we made soup, spinach and Pap for the orphan kids and Andy went on a drive round with the Pastor Soli's son Covenant to look for a starter motor (a boys and cars thing) for the Toyota pick up that would be piled high with food blankets and clothes on Saturday.

On Saturday we spent the day with Pastor Soli. The plan for the day was to distribute blankets, fruit and clothes to orphans and other people in need in the community. We piled pick-up trucks and cars with bananas, oranges, blankets and clothes. Getting away from the church was not easy. The children who were not supposed to be coming for food on Saturday kept turning up anyway. We didn't have much to give them, but handed out bread and fruit. Then just as we were about to leave, someone would turn up in a car wanting to take some things to the community to distribute. We would help them load up and then another group of kids would turn up. So we would feed them. Then just as we were about to go.....

Eventually we went to a number of communities to distribute things. It was interesting to see the various villages. We were also able to sit in on a meeting between Soli and the local community police. They are working together to support some of the young people in the community.

By the end of the day, we were most grateful to be able to relax with a beer before heading back to ASM.

Friday Night Out

On friday we had the opportunity to escape the college. Hendry was after something to do on Friday night and we saw a ministry opportunity where we could use our gift of socialising, so after lengthy debate about the local high spots Hendry said he'd take us to a resturaunt called the loose mongoose. Porsha, on of the other students, also came.

Just Photos of africa and the people that have made an impact on me

African Smiles. One of many!

Tokhu helps look after children despite the fact that her husband can't work because he has had a stroke. Her son and daughter cannot get work because jobs are hard to get. They go to people who know people or those who have money to bribe the right people.

Stanley was an orphan himself and has dedicated his life to working with kids. He worked voluntarily for 5 years before getting employment working in a youth centre. He writes poetry and is fiercely passionate about his work with kids.

Elliott acts a father to about 8 children in the community.

Students from workshops

We've done quite a few workshops about drugs and alcohol over the last 2 weeks. Here are some of the students

Some of the kids chilling

Maggie is very clever self determined. She wants to be a police detective. She writes songs and poems and sings at church. She is really talented and I hope has a great future ahead of her. She is an orphan and lives with her uncle.

Thulin, the joker in the pack and always the centre of attention. Loads of front but not agressive at all. He comes from the roughest area in Mpumalanga. Thulin is a really great guy and fun to be around

Some guys did a poster about drugs and this is 2 of them presenting it.

We would have games every day and this team had just won.

Our last workshop: Caption competition!

We did our last drugs workshop this morning.

No idea what we'll be doing after this.

A Night Out

Yesterday evening we got chance to go to the cinema. A dutch student was going with a friend and we blagged an invite and a lift. This may not sound like a big event, but I was very excited as it was our first evening out.

The night life has been quiet. Most of the students here are on vacation, and even if they weren't I have a suspicion that being at a Bible College, wild partying is unlikely to be a common occurence. It gets dark here by 6pm and the dining room area and common room, which has a pool table and a chess set, has been locked up by 8pm. We've had lots of games of cards and plenty of sleep!

So the cinema was a big event for us! We saw a fairly average film called 'The Knowing'. Sort of Horror movie meets Apocalypse meets American moral tale.

Sunday School

We did Sunday School yesterday. An interesting prospect as despite our best efforts we were unable to ascertain much information before the event. Such as how many kids there would be, for how long, where, with what equipment.

There was a party of about 20 Netherlanders here for a week, who were doing part of the service, including some slightly odd dance numbers. They requested that the kids should see the 'play' they were doing. So we actually had about 20 minutes with 40 kids, aged between about 3 and 14, an interpreter, some wooden benches, assorted Dutch persons and a box of about 160 bananas. We'd taken along some felt tips and paper. Sounds a bit like Ready Steady Cook, doesn't it? What would you have made???!!!!

Had T-bone steak for tea. Found it very cheap in the local supermarket. Ah the joys of self catering!

Saturday in Town

We spent most of Saturday in town, finding a decent internet connection, trying out a recommended local bar, where Andy enjoyed a beer, and doing a bit of shopping.

We bought some veg from some street stalls and met a couple of kids, who enjoyed being photographed.

Octavia.

Octavia's picture of us.

Adorable. Yes, that really is his name!

Playing games with various kids. And kids chilling.

Kids walking home and local housing

After dinner, balloons!

After dinner, Catherine made balloon models whilst Andy took lots of photos and played with the kids.

Cooking at Hosanna

Friday we spent at Hosanna church, helping out with the feeding programme for vulnerable kids. We helped with the cooking and made and sampled pap for the first time.

All the cooking was done in cauldron style pots on a wood fire in the kitchen area.
Pap is a sort of porridge made with maize meal and water. It's fairly tasteless, but filling.

We also made the world's largest pot of scrambled egg!

And vegetable soup to make the pap taste better.

Workshops

We have been doing workshops with various groups of kids all week. They get teaching on various topics, and we do the bit on drugs and alcohol.

The teaching method here is largely chalk and talk. The facilitators do a stand up performance. Not really our style at all. We’ve been doing more discussion and group activity. This has generally worked quite well, but sometimes I think they don’t know how to respond to being expected to have their own point of view. Even really open questions, like “why do you think people take drugs?” they seem to have set answers for.

Today, I felt we got a really good balance between chalk and talk and participation.

Church

Ronas took us to the Hosanna church on Sunday morning. It is proper black, African Pentecostal. The worship was great. The songs were incredibly repetitive, (no more than 8 words per song!) but the sense of joy and the level of enthusiasm was unbeatable.

There is a young lad who leads some of the worship, probably aged about 14, who has the most amazing voice. He was incredible to listen to.

The sermon was less than exciting. They had a visiting preacher from Australia, who spoke well, but wasn’t terribly original. Andy got bored and went outside to play with some kids. A great time was had by all. Except the little girl in red who insisted on playing on the swing until she threw up. Ho hum. We're doing kids work here next Sunday.

Not So Wildlife

Africa the Safari capital of the world!!!!

Despite being on the borders of the Kruger National Park. We have not been inundated with unwelcome visits by wilderbeast or even (luckily) mosquitoes. On Day 1 we saw some Vervet monkeys in the trees but haven't seen them since on the campus but have spotted them as we've been going to the YFC centre.

We were beginning to think that there was just about no wildlife here. But then we got talking to Porsha. 2 weeks before we arrived a black mamba was found curled up, keeping warm behind the computer in the admin office and a dog was recently killed by a snake. There are black mambas and spitting cobras and also massive pythons in the surrounding forests. Andy went to look for some but didn't come across any.

Being told by Porsha the place was full of snakes, immediately made Cathy check for snakes everywhere she sat down and under the bed etc.

I told her that the most dangerous animals in Africa were hippos but she replied hippos can't hide under your bed.


Here's the wildlife we have seen :

One Pigeon and a Bee-eater. We have also seen many lizards but they tend to move to fast to photograph.

In the lake there was recently a hippo which people kept well away from.

Water Shortages

We have been catering for ourselves. A group of South Africans staying here on holiday donated us leftovers from their brie (BBQ). Sausages, pork kebab and T bone steak (whoever heard of leftover T bone steak????!!!!). Needless to say, we found a good home for it...

Saturday afternoon was spent helping to mop up the results of a burst water pipe. The corridor to the kitchen and the computer section of the library were both flooded. Andy then spent several hours helping to locate the burst water pipe. This eventually required digging up most of one the kitchen floors.

During our water logged adventures, we met Porsha, who we had dinner with. She was very impressed with our chicken stew, rice and beans.

Water supply was intermittent for a couple of days.

Shopping and Other Adventures

We awoke last Saturday, to discover that the gates of the college, where we are staying, were firmly locked. There are 2 gates. One for pedestrians which is sometimes open and sometimes padlocked, and one for vehicles, which is remote controlled via mobile phone. It looked like we might be permanently imprisoned. Fortuneately, someone called Albert was going to White River, our nearest town, and we cadged a lift.

We explored the street stalls, down town shops and local off licence, got ourselves a South African sim card for the phone and had a South African breakfast (almost completely indistinguishable from an English breakfast - some things never change!) at a local cafe.


Andy sampled the local beer with his breakfast - some things never change! (Castle Beer isn't bad. No bitter here though)

We wandered around the town closely watched by townsfolk as we found out later when we were debating where the taxi rank was. A stall holder interrupted our heated debate and told us "you got out of the car here you went down there around and back to the crossroads". Ever get the feeling you're being watched???!

This proves that we totally inconspicuous and blend readily into the south african scene.

We were the only white people at the "taxi" rank. The little minibuses they call taxis remind me very much of the gwa-gwas in the Dominican Republic. Cheap, crowded and badly driven. Never missing the signature cracked windscreen. We got dropped off at the end of the road and were immediately offered a lift by a ciagrette smoking Africaans man in a pick up and a turquoise shell suit.

The Lull Before the Storm??

Yesterday, we actually got to do some shopping. Ronas took us to the 'Pick and Pay' supermarket. Which looked a bit like Kwik Save and had the pricing structure of Waitrose. However, we now have food. Hooray!!
Given that wages are probably not great, food presumably consumes a large proportion of income. Rice and pap (whatever pap is...) and beans are staple diet for many locals.

On the way back from the supermarket, we passed a young man who'd evidently been run over. Much to our distress, he had many onlookers, but no one helping. Our host did not seem surprised or distressed by this at all, and had no intention of stopping. Perhaps life is cheap...

Today we have nothing much to do except enjoy our surroundings. These pictures were all taken from the grounds of the Africa School of Mission where we are staying:

Perfect blue skies!