Days In Africa Blog

Vervets, Mongeese and more

2005-08-27T03:03:00.000-05:00

P and I just came back from safari and camping in Chobe National Park. We spent three days amongst the most incredible animals. At the camp site on the first day I had to fight off hoards of vervet. Armed with a stick I defended my neighbors foodstuffs while the head vervet ran at me, hissed and threatened. I stood my ground (sort of) and triumphed (with the help of one of the campground staff.) As I turn around to resume my seat there sitting to my right is a HUGE baboon hiding behind my other neighbors tent. As P returned from his shower, I told him of my experience and he whisked me away to the safety of the restaurant for lunch.

That was the first afternoon.

The next morning, I was awoken by squeaking and a knocking on our tent flap. Again, P was in the shower and when I emerged from the tent, sticking my head out the flap I came face to face with a broad striped mongoose! I said "Good Morning" and looked to my left where I sited 10 more ready to scamper as I spied them. As the day progreessed we encountered bigger and bigger animals...crodiles, hippos, sables, springbok, gemsbock, TONS of ELEPHANTS, water buffulo, and giraffe. We got stuck in the sand and had to be pushed out by four men (one of which was in his eighties - all tourists as well).

The next day we went to the second largest waterfall in the World Victoria, Falls in Zimbabwe.
Stunning! We have lots of pictures so don't even try to imagine it all we'll show you the pics!
We are back in our present house and will move to the capital for two weeks before we leave to Germany. We will be living in Germany for a year at least. But, I might be coming to Canada for a visit end of September.

Miss you tons!!!!!!!!!!! and Love ya tons too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Namibian Travels

2005-08-19T03:35:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone,

We are Namibia and boy is it beautiful. It took two days to get here (we are traveling by bus). When we got to the border we discovered there is no bus to Windheok (the capital of Namibia). We were about 500 km from Windheok and had to find lifts. We lucked out by getting a taxi to Gobabis and that taxi driver brought us to another taxi driver who brought us to Windheok. All it cost us was 180.00 rand. The taxi driver to Windheok was so nice we are going with him today to Drobabis to see weavers and on Sunday we are going to his house for his birthday.

We are staying at the Puccini Backpackers until Saturday where we will move to a different backpackers. The computer I am usiong is not very good so I will leave off here. Love you all!

Leaving

2005-07-14T08:15:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone,

It is July and we haven’t posted on the blog since April. I didn’t post anything while things were going badly and today is my second to last day of being with the organization I work with in Africa.

It has been pretty terrible here over the last few months and especially bad in the last month and a half. We never received any more funding than the original 78,000.00. Which means we can’t really go on with the plan we came up with. But, that isn’t the worst part. The board again let the staff go (rightfully, as we had no money to pay them) and when one staff members resisted (she just says "I won’t accept that") the board again withdrew the letters and had them stay on. When they were given the letters, the women who refuses to accept things said that "if anyone works here besides me I will burn the building down with petrol". This was because one employee was given an extra month so as to complete the books for the end of the fiscal year.

We owed the employees over 50,000.00 for back pay, gratuity and leave days untaken and the board was panicking. Within a week I had sold our store of oil and we received the money from the buyer before shipping to help us get out of the situation (I sold more than 55,000.00). Once that happened I went to a trade fair to sell the products and the money we made was stolen from the apartment we stayed at. When the chairperson of the board found out she yelled at me for over an hour in front of three employees and demanded that I pay the money back.

Since then things have gotten worse and worse. The chairperson has informed me that I am not allowed to make any decisions with asking her first, she gets angry when I make management decisions. She even refused to let the money leave the bank to pay employees, without her – she said that if I and the accounts officer stole the money she would go to prison. One board member (the one who was with me selling at the trade fair refuses to speak to me in English, so I don’t know what she is saying.

The chairperson and three other members make decisions without quorum and have treated the employees with disdain (because they wanted their back pay.

The board had a meeting last Friday and when I found out it was scheduled to discuss my extension (I had been given an extension because me sending agency wanted to pull me out in December when we discovered there was no money in the organization), I asked why I had not been informed and I was told "because it has nothing to do with you." This is interesting because I am at all board meetings and recently when I said I wasn’t a board member but was an advisor to the board they got mad and insisted I was a board member.

Yesterday, my sending agency director asked to attend the scheduled board meeting tomorrow to discuss things and the chairperson said she wasn’t allowed to come. As of today, a fax from my sending organization has arrived saying that tomorrow I am being pulled out. It demands a formal apology be made to me by the board.

I have arranged that tonight a friend will come and move our things from the house (next to the organization I work- and which is owned by that organization). Tomorrow I will attend the board meeting and then leave the village. It also means my sending agency will not find me another placement and we are to be repatriated. So we will either go to Germany or back to Canada. We might see you soon!
WOW! What an experience this has been.

My partner's experience written by him

2005-04-08T00:41:00.000-05:00

This is quite an eye-opening experience. With every day I get more comfortable and there are many things here that I really appreciate. I’ve been a ‘back-to-nature’ guy since my neo-hippie youth – in theory at least. Here, aspects of life are as they would have been in Europe several centuries ago, or in Canada in the early 1800s. Here I see where phrases like "when the cows come home" came from – every morning a herd of the large cattle that they have here (crosses with Brahma bulls) come by our house, big cowbells clanging, and at sunset they come home, big cowbells clanging. They’re impressive beasts, and it’s wonderful to see that they’re not penned up in some factory-farm barn. The donkeys are cool, too, and it’s a shame that they weren’t given better vocal chords because they try so hard to vocalize, sometimes they sound like bellows with holes in them. Their raspy, trumpeting calls sound all over the village any time of day or night. It’s usually the males, complaining about their love lives, of course. Every once in a while I’ll hear a rush and thunder of hooves and I’ll go to the window and see a group of donkeys charging by the fence (we’re the last house in the village and there’s a large wild hill that rises to tower over the village about half a kilometer from our doorstep) – in those cases it’s often males chasing females around. While this might sound idyllic (and I really appreciate the realness of it, and that this, essentially, is the wellspring of life), the omnipresence of these animals has to do with their economic necessity, and there’s no sentimentality expressed toward them. Here, if a dog barks at you or some goats are in your way, you just throw a rock at them (not hard enough to injure, of course). My worldview is expanding and now that the bewilderment is draining away the enjoyment is setting in.

Good News!

2005-03-05T06:51:00.000-06:00

Well…I really need to write more, but I haven't been in our home village that often in the last month, nor will I be in the next coming month.

We have now been okayed for funding of 78,000.00 in the local currency. (21,544.70 CDN). Also, because of that, another funder is now letting us spend the funds they gave us in 2004 - they said we couldn't spend it until another donor came in.

We still need more so that we can do all we plan to do to become sustainable. About our trip on the road to sustainability, we have been given great support by one of the Embassies here. They are helping us to access and penetrate the export market for our best product. This will greatly help the over 1000 women who harvest and produce the products from the wild.

Getting our product to market so the women can make money is hard, to say the least. One of our truck's 5th gear doesn't work, the shocks are shot and the radiator fills with oil and mixes with the water. We took a trip to the capital the other day and on the way (in our other truck - we have two trucks on their last legs, ooops wheels) we had two flat tires. We had no money to fix it and what we really needed was a new tire. But, people are great and giving! When we got to the capital we went to a tire place, you know where they sell tires and put them on for you. I told the owner that we had just travelled over 350 klm and on the way had two flat tires. We still had to go back but had no money to buy a new one. So….he gave us a brand new tire and put it on for us.

I saw the most amazing bug the other day (see photo- I can't seem to download the photo I will try later). I just had to take a picture because it looks like a bug out of "A Bug's Life" (the movie).

There is a lot of death here. Every weekend, in our village, there are at least two funerals. A month ago there was a murder in our village. A young teenage girl was dating a young man (just a few years older than her). The young girl's mother didn't like it, so she and her son beat the young man to death. After the funeral the villagers (mostly youth) had a riot in front of the house of the woman who killed the young man. She had been let out of prison, until the court date, because she claimed that she didn't do it - that only her son had done it. So the youth of the village rioted and threatened to burn down her house. The police were there, but apparently they kept running away from the rioters when they got really excited. I wasn't there to see this, I stayed home, but I heard the voices and shouts all the way to my house at the edge of the village near the hill.

Then the other day I was staying in another village near the capitol. When my driver came to pick me up he said "have you ever seen anyone hanging by their neck?" I said no and he said "well you are going to." As we turned the corner there was a police car and many people on the road. And to our left was a man hanging from his neck from a big tree. I had never seen such a thing. The man was dead and had been for a while. His skin was blue and his feet were buckled under him on the ground. He could have stood up if he had wanted to, but I guess he didn't want to and so he died. For some reason the police hadn't cut him down by the time we drove by. When my driver told me about it before we saw it, I wondered how I would deal with seeing something like that. When I saw it (and now when I remember it) I get a hollow feeling in my chest. It's scary to see something like that but mostly there is sadness for him. I asked my driver if he had ever seen something like that before and he said "yes, this is my forth time". To top it all off, when going back to the capitol last week we saw a car stopped on the side of the road. As we drove by we saw that it had hit a donkey. It was a baby donkey and it was still alive sitting on the road. It was hurt badly and I hoped it wouldn't suffer for too long. When I saw that I thought "there is so much death here". I debated whether or not to write on the blog about this because when writing you will all read it (and see it) in a condensed form, all at once and that doesn't really give the reality. I don't want you to worry and it is so easy to do so when I am so far away. Although, I see more death here than I ever did there is so much beauty too.

The people are so nice and their smiles are beautiful. They love to laugh and I complain that I can't laugh with them because they tell the stories in the native language (because it's easier for them to tell a story that way). They laugh a lot. The staff I work with love to learn and the training and capacity building that they are getting while I am here has made them quite pleased wit themselves and their abilities. This work is definitely uplifting!

On the funding front, I have always said I would not ask for or accept funding from outside this country until this country gave us funding first. We now have achieved that! So…if anyone is interested in doing fund raising for us, we need lots of things, but at this point we really need:

- A new vehicle which would cost approximately P40,000.00 (11,048.60 CDN)

- The chemicals we need to make shampoos and lotions P100,000.00 (27,621.40 CDN)

- And money to pay for petrol, paper, ink, wages, communication tools etc…P168, 000.00 (46,403.90 CDN)

Thanks!

I have to tell you this story.

2005-02-03T01:02:00.000-06:00

A couple of days ago, our Office and Accounts Manager was going to the closest big town, with our driver, in the vehicle. When they returned, I was trying to get the water tap to open so water could fill up our tanks. It was stuck and I was struggling with it. I decided I needed something to use as leverage, so that the tap would turn. I went into the kitchen and took a spoon. I was going to insert the handle through the openings in the tap and turn the tap using it for leverage. When I came out the driver was there. So I decided to ask him to fix the tap. I showed him the spoon and ask it he would use it to fix the tap.

He looked at the spoon then he looked at me and said "Ah!"
I said here and handed him the spoon.
He looked at me, "What is this? You need a spanner, not a spoon!"

He then went to get a spanner. At which point our Office and Accounts Manager came over to me saying "Ah! We had a bad accident on the way."

"Really?," I replied.

"Yes" she answered, "When we were driving a bweid hit our truck on the left side."

"Was there damage?" I asked .

"Oh yes, it broke the front light"

"Did you stop?"

"Yes, to see the damage", she replied.

"Did you get all the details, then?" I asked

"Details? No.". she erplied.

I then said, "You didn't get his name and insurance details?"

She answered, "Insurance? No."

"No? That is what insurance is for, his insurance can pay for the repairs."

"How", she queried.

The driver then came over to us, and I asked if they had had an accident.

"Yes, a bweid hit us." He said.

"But, you stopped, did you get all the details" I asked

"What details?"

"The insurance, his license number, his name", I said.

At which point our Office and Accounts Manager said, "No, how? It was a bweid that hit us."

I said a "Bed?"

"Yes, a bweid."

"So a bed hit the our truck?" Did it fall off a truck in front of you?"

"No, It flew off and went right into our light!"

I started to laugh. "A Bed went into our front headlight?"

"Not into it." Our driver said, "It hit it and broke it completely".

So I said, "Well did you get all the details so his insurance can pay for it?"

They looked at each other.

"What insurance?" they asked.

I said, "The driver's insurance, the one that had the bed fly off the truck and hit our truck."

"Ah, No! " they replied, "What good is that?"

"The driver's insurance can pay for the repairs."

"What driver?", they asked.

"The driver of the truck with the BED!"

"There was no driver."

"No driver?"

"No, just a Bweid"

"A bed?" I asked.

"A Bed?, they replied, "No, not a Bed…a bweid"

"A bweid. What's a bweid?"

They looked at each other.

"A bweid. A bweid", they said and looked up.

" A bweid? I asked and looked up. "Oh, a bird!"

"Yes, a bweid!" they replied.

"A bird flew in and hit our head light." I stated.

"Yes." They replied.

And, I burst out laughing.

Into My 4th Month

2005-01-21T09:28:00.001-06:00

I have now been here for four months. I have gone through the culture shock phase, when you are not happy with all the differences here - the ones you thought were fascinating when you first arrived. I have come out the other side, where things are easier because you just accept them. Although, I still find some differences very fascinating still!

We still have not received any funding. That is all I will say on that topic, as it isn't as fun to write or read about.

The Kgosi (chief of the village) might be coming over to our house Saturday night for dinner. He is a little sick and might not be able to come, but he really wants to come over. I had mentioned having him come to dinner once, when I first got here. I hadn't seen him since, until the other day. We have a group of University students visiting our village. They are from South Africa, Botswana and Denmark. I was invited to be the guest speaker and of course the Kgosi was there to officially welcome them. When he saw me, one of the first things he said was "you had said you would invite me for dinner". So he has been invited and it should be interesting if he can come. I had sat and talked with him for a while that day. He said he wanted to marry a white woman. I told he didn't really want to because we were difficult women. He asked why and I told him because we have been taught that we are equal to a man and that would be difficult for him. He said that in his culture a man is superior to a woman. I said that I knew that which is why being married to a white woman would be difficult. He then said that if he married a white woman he would have to change to adjust to her culture and she would have to change too so that the marriage was good. I expect if he comes to dinner, that we will talk more about this subject.

I had wanted to tell you a story about when I had visited the one of the Region's region council, but didn't have time to write until now. I had visited each region and met with them to talk about what they wanted from the organization I the future. After the meeting at the last one I visited, it was time for me to go. We had sat under a tree and eaten the lunch, which the members had prepared for us all. I got up and said my good-byes. The women all gathered together and to my delight they began to sing (see the picture below). I listened to them for a while and slowly realized they kept singing my name. Then they began to dance - a small shuffling step. I joined them and they slowly danced me over to the truck. All the time they were singing and in the song was my name. I got into with our driver and we drove off while I waved at the ladies and they waved at us - all the time continuing to sing. I asked our driver "What were they singing?" and smiling he said "they were singing that it is too soon for you to leave, Amanda. That they will wait for you to return."

Wow, isn't that beautiful?

2005-01-21T09:28:00.000-06:00

These are the women as they started singing.

2005-01-21T09:27:00.000-06:00

These are the friends I told you about

2005-01-21T09:25:00.000-06:00

This is my favorite bug in Africa. It's a beatle. His name is George.

It's been a while, sorry it took so long to post.

2004-12-21T01:24:00.000-06:00

I haven’t written for such a long time and although I would like to say it was because I was so busy (which I was), the truth is that there is little good news to write about. I realize that the blog shouldn’t only have good news on it, but when I write not so good news, I get almost no responses.

Much has happened in the last month. The big meeting had very good attendance and the food, meeting room and entertainment were exceptional. The majority of attendees were other ngo’s except for three ( a present donor, a possible distributor and a corporation), and although there was much support for our organization there is still no money.

After the meeting we laid off the staff and they rebelled. This rebellion was because the board of directors did not speak with them directly. Once the board met with them four days later, the staff suggested that rather than be laid off they would take a substantial pay cut. They are dedicated for sure, but a pay cut does not inject income into the org, it only lowers expenses. It means a reduction of pay when there is no money to pay them is still a reduction of nothing to pay them with. The board agreed to this, of course, but the big picture does not seem to be visible to all involved. I didn’t lay the staff off as I am not their employer, but the board tried to get me to sign the letter without one of their signatures. I didn’t do this, I insisted that one of them sign. But, even when I insisted on this the person who was going to have to sign laughed at me when I said I was not comfortable signing on their behalf. Suffice it to say no-one was happy and people have treated me very differently since then. This difference is not a good thing. They treat me with animosity. This is partly because the organization that sent me as a volunteer wrote a letter to the board saying they were withdrawing me from my post due to lack of finances and board support. They were given a withdrawal date, which is in 10 days. I negotiated with my sending org for me to stay two more months and a letter has been drawn up telling the board of directors here that I can stay for two more months if they come up with a plan on how to work. A board meeting had been scheduled for today, but has had to be cancelled due to no-one being able to attend. They didn’t even know that, if they drew up a plan, I could be given an extension. All they knew was I was being withdrawn and that as of January there would be no coordinator and still they said they could not attend the board meeting.

I wonder why I am dedicated to this org. There is little support and still I want to stay.

The weather here has cooled off slightly. Still Christmas without snow is going to be a big adjustment. "P" has brought back some "christmasy" items from when he went for his initial three weeks of PhD studies in Europe and has them hidden away as a surprise for me. We have an Angel advent calendar which we open a new window each day and reveal the most beautiful angels.

Today, I will finish the proposal to the foundation that we hope will provide the funding for us to carry on. Then I will begin my holidays. We are staying in our village for the holidays and are looking forward to some relaxation.

I do not know what the New Year will bring, but I refuse to worry about it anymore. Christmas is coming it is a time for joy and love.

2004-11-21T06:33:00.000-06:00

This is an example of some of the natural hazards here. I run into this type of hazard all the time - literally! The white streaks in the picture are thorns. They are between 2 & 3 inches each. I have one of these, as a bush, in my yard, but mostly there are smaller ground spreading ones (which are also in my yard). This one is right outside the gate on the side of the yard that faces the hill.

2004-11-21T06:21:00.000-06:00

These flowers have sprung up in random places in my garden. It looks like a big plant in this picture but it is not really very big.

2004-11-21T06:19:00.000-06:00

This is outside my front gate. Those are two goats. They are called "pudi" here.

Beatings and Beauty

2004-11-20T02:02:00.000-06:00

This week one of my employees husbands died. He had been paralysed for two years from what people say was TB. He couldn't move at all as he was very sick. Now he has died.

At two different times I was told of a women being beaten by men. Once the situation was indirectly related to an employee of this org. The other time, it was directly related to one of our employees. Both times I asked what would happen about it. Each of the incidents was reported to the police and the perpetrater was being summoned to the Kgotla to be tried by the Kgosi. The punishment would be that the men would be beaten at the Kgotla. This means that he will get 4 lashes by a stick on his back or bum.

There is a part of me that says that is not enough. When I think of the punishment they are to receive, I get a feeling of being in the middle ages, when people were put in the stocks.

As of yesterday 8 neighborhood children came to my gate when I left the house. As I walked through my yard I heard my name shouted by many small voices. I looked down the red dirt road and saw children running toward my gate. They stopped and huffed and puffed as they greeted me with big smiles. I asked each of their names and we went over them many times until I could pronounce and remember them. Then I called "P" out of the house to meet them. One girl of about 11 yrs. said "P" was beautiful.

Today, as I went to the office they surrounded me again, with even more of their friends. I greeted them by name. Then asked the newcomers their names. One girl, who I call Sam, had her arm around my shoulder as we walked. She was shorter than me, as she is also around 11 yrs old, but she seemed very happy to be able to do so. I will try and take a picture of the group so you can see my new friends.

2004-11-20T01:59:00.000-06:00

We went to a Nature Reserve when we first arrived. This is one of the Elephants up close

2004-11-20T01:58:00.000-06:00

As we drive through the Nature Reserve Elephants pass in front of the vehicule

After the Capital

2004-11-16T01:47:00.000-06:00

I know that it’s been awhile since I last posted. So here I am today to keep you up to speed. First of all “P” is BACK! We never thought that his going to school would coincide with a crisis at my work.

I went to the capital city last week to find a venue for our big meeting, as well as food preparation, and entertainment. I had to pack up the dog and cat and bring them with me, which was not easy. I am lucky that one of the other volunteers likes dogs and cats and she let us stay with her. She has a one-bedroom place and she ended up sleeping at a friend’s place, who lives up the hill and who was out of town. This way there was room for us. I stayed for 6 days and met “P”at the airport when he arrived. Then we all drove back together. We arrived late in the evening. We were stopped and asked if we had a permit for the dog and cat. Here you can not transport any animal without a permit and there are checkpoints along the way. This was the first time we have been stopped at a checkpoint, but we had our import permit with us and so we showed them that and it seemed to be enough. After so many days in the Big Silly (City) I couldn’t wait to get back to “my village” (as I have come to regard it).

While in the Capital, I was successful in obtaining a free meeting space (at one of the most prestigious hotels in the city) which will also provide the dinner using our food products as part of the meal (also for free). A well-known entertainer has also agreed to perform for free. So the Big Meeting is ON!

On Friday, myself and two of my staff met with the funder that we have applied to. The outcome of that meeting was that they want the proposal revised to meet some of their pritorities. Then, if they do decide to fund us the money would only be available in September 2005. They were enthusiastic , but obviously that doesn’t help us now. Another funder we applied to (this is a corporation) informed me yesterday that they are not funding anyone because they are presently under investigation. They would only give money after the investigation is completed – but it is a big investigation and will take a long time.

On top of this, the Canadian organization that sent me here is talking of pulling me out of this situation. Whenever I up-date them on what is going on, they just talk about the over positions that are available for me and how we will need to go and live in the capital between assignments. This is definitely not what I want to hear. But they are not happy that they did not know the financial situation of the org I am working for, and if they had known they would not have sent me here.

Finally none of my printers in the office work.

But the sky is beautiful and the people -GREAT! I am happy to be here and enjoy going to work each day.

Summer has really begun and it is very hot. Each evening the sky is overcast and forks of lighting pierce the horizon. It is spectacular! But rain has not fallen. Our village water system is not working (apparently someone stole the engine that drives the pump) and so there has been no water for five (5) days. At my house, we have a big tank that is full and so we have water. But most of the others in the village do not. On Sunday, I had some children with buckets sitting at my fence. So I gave them water (and an apple to share) and they went home with the buckets on their heads.

The children have begun to call me by my name (instead of Lekoga) and when we see each other and wave at each other from afar we also do a little dance of lifting our legs and waving with both arms. They do this because I do it and they copy me. We have our own little greeting.

Factory, Field and Funders

2004-10-31T03:28:00.000-06:00

Things are crazy here, so this will be a short post. I had written a nice long one at home and saved it to disc so that I could up-load it to the blog at work. But, my a-drive (floppy disc drive) at work doesn’t work anymore, as of this week!

In short, I have closed down operations in the factory and the field. We will not take any more produce from our members and all centers meetings are called off.

I have had an emergency meeting with the board and explained that we have less than P 20,000.00 (4000.00 CDN) in financial assets. We have a staff of 15 people and 1000 members whose products we are suppose to buy. After which we are suppose to package these products and get them to market. The funds we have do not cover our expenditures for one month.

All the donors have been exhausted (meaning we have been given as much as they would give an org) except for two. One we applied to and have been put off many times. The other looks promising, but the funds would not come in until January.

So the plan is to call a big meeting and invite past donors, international and domestic corporations, foundations, government officials and media. At this meeting we will explain our situation and present a strategic plan. At which point, we hope that someone will kick in some operational funds to get us through for at least the next few months. This is with the hope that our funding application to one of the non-exhausted donors will come through or if not, one of the guests will provide the funds to keep us sustainable for three years to complete our three-year strategic plan.

To do this we must do it right. It must be done with class and professionalism.
It must be done in the capital city and we are hoping that a Hotel will donate a meeting space for it, as well as their kitchen staffs time to prepare the food that our org produces and sells. We need a brewery to donate beer and wine. A drinks manufacturer to donate non-alcoholic beverages. A sign maker to make signs for all those who have donated to us for the meeting (including themselves). I need to put together a business plan to present. All the staff, some of the women members and those board members who attend meetings will there. We need to give all attendees samples of our products in gift packs. Maybe even some entertainment. We have three weeks to do this in as the funds we have will only keep us going for one more month.

WISH US LUCK !

Ritual, Laughter and Gray Water

2004-10-23T08:43:00.000-05:00

It is Saturday. My love is in Germany to begin his PhD. I am very happy about this, but today I miss his presence, his strength, his touch, his smile, his intellect, his teaching, his kindness, his sensuality, his neuroses or idiosyncrasies, his talent, his dedication, his passion, his skin (that can not take the sun), his stance which is so beautiful that when I see him approach me down the street my heart aches for his touch, his face.

This week has seen most of my employees taking time off. They have been over worked during the 2 months when there was no project coordinator. But for the most part they took time off for bereavement, or medical issues.

Last week the father of one of my staff’s children passed away. When speaking of those who have died, people here say they are “late” rather than have died or passed away. I had to tell her over the phone and her response was “eeee!” She was away at one of our regions doing a training and I was trying to get her to understand that her son needed to be brought to our village (he was away in another village approx 150 klms away) and that she should go get him. Instead, she sent her sister and continued to work. This is not from a sense of uncaring but, I think, from a sense of needing to work. Either way she called me two days later and asked me to find a way to relieve her from work. This was because when someone has passed away and you are close to them, there are specific rituals one needs to go through. Since she was not married to him she did not need to stay in her house, but she was not suppose to pass in front of anyone as it is thought that if someone close to you dies you can pass on the illness to others by your presence. She therefore needed to come home to take some traditional medicines. This Monday, after the funeral on Saturday, she is to be taken through the village by the women elders. During her trip she will have to leave aloe from the aloe plant at each intersection. This is too ensure that no-one in the village gets the illness her lover had had.
I am thinking of asking her if I can go with her.

Another of my employees’ (I have mentioned her before) mother is gravely ill. Most days she cries after receiving text messages on her cell phone from her brother which tell her that her mother is getting worse. She left Thursday afternoon early, because her family says she must come to Francistown and help them out financially. She had no money to take the bus and was waiting for money owed to her by her aunt. By Friday morning she had not received the needed money and so she got up the courage to ask me to lend her the money. Unfortunately, because I am a volunteer here, we did not have the money to lend her. But, I promised if she came into work at 7:30 am we would give her an advance on her pay…and that is what we did.

Next week I have called an emergency board meeting to deal with the issues at hand (non attendance at board meetings and the financial situation) also one of the representatives of some of our funders has asked to meet with the board to find out what our long-term strategies are. Suffice it to say, the board has no long term strategies or solutions to the present problem. But, I will try and get them to accept the situation and make decisions before we meet the representative.

This time around is different than it was in Scotland. The stresses are larger but my response to them is laughter. My office and accounts manager keeps telling me to stop laughing (as she laughs with me) but as I said to her, “in situations like these all you can do is laugh and do your best. The thing to worry about is whether you are doing your best or not.” I have to laugh because some of the issues border on the absurd. One of the groups building their development center decided to hire a builder rather than do it themselves (which makes sense since a lot of them are in their 50’s and 60’s). However, the budget only allowed for 650 Pula ( $ 163.00 CND) for a building advisor. They contracted a builder (not an advisor) for 4500 Pula ($1000.00 CND) and of course we don’t have the money to pay this. They did this without our ok and so we find ourselves in another bind.

The best was that we costed the plumbing for the 7 centers being built. It is way over budget and when I asked why we need three (3) manhole covers for each center (which equals 21 manhole covers – quite an expense let me tell you), I was told by my staff it was for the gray water (they didn’t call it gray water but that is what it is) when it passed through the pipes to the septic tank. I looked at the quote and said, but there is no septic tank listed in this quote. The women who sent the request for the quote, which she typed off a list from the potential plumber, said “doesn’t all these pipes and elbow fittings create a septic tank? “ Even as I sit here typing this I giggle. We had a good laugh about the whole thing. But no matter what, the original grant application asked for money for sinks, taps, water connections, pipes and plumbing but no septic tank and no money for the plumber. I mean what can you do but laugh and try and figure out what to do. On top of which the funder has granted us the money but insists it is spent before Oct. 30th, even though the money won’t be in our bank account until mid November and they only told us they released the funds as of two days ago. Come on laugh with me!

Days and Nights

2004-10-17T05:22:00.000-05:00

This week was a milestone for both the organization and myself. I met with the board and told them what our financial situation is like. Suffice it to say they were surprised at how bleak it is. We need sales of our products immediately.

I’d like to tell you what my average day is like so far. "P" wakes at 6:00am and walks the dog before it gets too hot. I stay in bed until he returns at 7:00 am when I rush about getting ready to go to work for 7:30. Luckily, I live right next door to the office and factory. I arrive at 7:30 and the office and accounts manager is already there, working. I go to my desk and within 15 minutes people are coming to talk to me about the various issues that need resolving. Funding issues, report issues, employee issues and product issues. I solve most of them by making quick calls to people I don’t know and sweet talking them into giving us more time, or getting us a quote by today (when really it normally takes 2 months to get a quote for electricity hook-up etc…). On Friday, I visited one of the primary schools for the standard 7 (grade 7) career orientation day. I arrived late as I had my regular staff meeting that day in the morning and made quite a stir as the truck drove up to the tent where they were meeting. I interrupted the policeman’s presentation as I was ushered behind the guest speakers to where a chair had been vacated for me. After the policeman finished I was introduced and I presented in English about the organization and the products we make. A teacher translated what I said into Setswana for the students. There was a lot of giggling going on. Afterward the teachers brought the guests lunch. There is a nice custom here where before you eat someone (this time it was a female student) comes to each person with a bowl of water, towel and cup. You place your hands over the bowl and she pours water over your hands. Then you rub your ands together and she repeats the whole thing two more times. Then see gives you the towel and you dry your hands. I have had this happen to me many times and just last night I told "P" about it. I realized that he doesn’t get to have as many experiences as me in this way because his writing and PhD studies keep him at home. He did have a neat day in the closest city to us which you can read about next. His is the post below this one.

That is not a regular day, my presenting to a school, but I have not had a regular day yet, I don’t think. The marketing executive (who has not been schooled in marketing, so I am training her) and I went to the capital city last week. I had wanted us to take the train to cut down on costs but it was unheard of. I said we could take our products in suitcases and my staff looked at me like I was insane. So we had a driver drive us (and we really did have to many products to take by train). Some of the products we did put into my suitcases. When we went to drop off our first order, the woman who had bought our products needed something else so we went out to the truck. I opened the suitcase and suddenly we were surrounded my people wanting to know what we were selling. Within an hour we had sold almost 400 pula (which is 100 Canadian dollars). That was considered a very good sale day. I was very happy with all the people coming over to buy and I attributed it to the age old (okay not age old, but lets say 50-60 year old) perception of the door to door salesman with their suitcases full of wares. I, of course, told my staff it was because of the suitcases that people flocked to us and we all got a big laugh out of it. We spent two days there and met three potential clients. Our products are really very good and if you want to know more about them post me a comment and I’ll tell you each, individually, more about them. In the end our costs of going to the capital city exceeded the sales we made. So at this point I need to concentrate on marketing and sales.

Some of the readers of this blog have indicated that the culture shock that we are experiencing seems very difficult. It isn’t as difficult as it might have sounded. It isn’t easy but it’s not that bad. Actually people are very nice and strong. A lot of my staff have recently lost family and still they come to work and work hard. One of my staff’s mother is gravely ill. She received a call at work saying her mother was critical. I told her she should go see her mother. But, she just cried and said no she was staying at work to work. They really are dedicated.

After work (4:40pm) I go home. "P" walks the dog. While he is out I cook rice, or potatoes or pasta. I also usually cook what is called spinach here, but it is not the same as back home. This spinach has very big leaves, as long as my forearm. When "P" returns he puts the coals on the barbeque. By this time it is dark and we cook chicken or beef (the beef here is excellent!!!!!). We eat inside the house and sometimes after dinner we bring some of our food to the nightwatchman (who guards the office and factory).

After eating "P" and I sit on our cement porch and look at the stars. We have begun naming the stars for our friends and family. Each night we look up at the stars and tell each other which star is which and in so doing feel closer to you all. I will post a picture of the constellations over Africa, if I can find one on the internet, and tell you which star is who’s.

Afterward we go inside and play crazy 8’s or rummy 250 (not 500 because it takes too long.) We are having a competition for the crown of each game. Our first game I was the Queen of both Crazy 8’s and Rummy 250. But since then "P" has maintained the crown and is King and I am the Jester. I shall regain my crown, I know it. By 8:30 or 9:00pm we go to bed. By that time we are very tired and we can’t figure out why as we never went to bed so early at home. Soon I will include writing to my pen pal (yes you "U") back home as part of my night’s activities. I can’t wait to receive my first letter from her and I hope she also lets her brother "I" write a little as well.

I’ll leave it at that and say to you all goodnight, sweet dreams and see you tomorrow in the night sky.

Cars and Busses

2004-10-17T05:14:00.001-05:00

Note: Since the events described below, I have gone several times to the closest city and overcome most of the obstacles and concerns you’ll read about – including kombis and paranoia.

We’ve been in Africa for 3 weeks now – 1 week in the capital city, and 2 weeks in this sprawling village. Transportation is a source of the daily adventure of being here and my first trip to our closest shopping/banking destination which is 83 km away was a case in point. My quest was to try and open a joint bank account and to get essential supplies – especially wine and imported German beer from Namibia.

I was going to take one of the local busses but I got a lift in the Toyota 4X4 Twincab from one of the drivers of the organization. The speed limit on the highways is 120 km/h, but the driver was doing 140 and didn’t slow down for the goats, donkeys and cattle grazing on the side of the road. Nobody in this country wears seat belts either, and that probably derives from the fact that people wait at bus stops or at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere for a lift – so you’ll often see the back of pick-up trucks packed with people zooming down the road.

I was dropped off at one of the strips malls…it was a little disconcerting to be the only white person around. (I knew, however, that some of the shopkeepers are Indians from South Africa, or Arabs, and that very big stores usually have white managers.) It’s not the same as visible minorities at home – there out of a hundred people on the street maybe 8 to 10 are from visible minorities – here, out of a hundred people on the street 1 is a visible minority…and it’s me.

I had an empty gym bag for supplies and I wore a white shirt and jeans since I was trying to make a half-decent impression on the bank people and be comfortable at the same time. However, what I had thought was the door to a branch of the bank I was looking for was actually just a semi-concealed bank machine in a niche…with a uniformed guard sitting in front of it! I asked in a store where the closest branch was and the young black saleswoman – under the watchful, almost luminous gaze of her Indian employer – told me that the nearest one was up the road. I asked if I could walk there and she said, "No, you must take a kombi."
Now a kombi is something I’d already seen in the capital. They are usually Toyota/Hiace minibuses that have about 4 rows of seats. People just wait anywhere on a street in town and the kombi drivers come by and honk their horns. If you acknowledge the honk in any way – raise your hand, make eye contact with the driver or his assistant – they’ll come to a screeching halt and you climb on board. I had no intention of taking a kombi, I didn’t care how far the bank was. (I wasn’t exactly sure where the bank was, but I had a sinking feeling from having glimpsed it on our drive to our village the first time that it was pretty far.)

Maybe I’m too conscious of the history of European colonization of Africa, and maybe I paid too much attention to recent events in Zimbabwe and focussed too much on stories I’d heard of white people being attacked in South Africa, but I was bit paranoid. Add to that my experience in elementary school that’s stayed with me all my life ("Hey! There he is! Let’s get him!"), and being robbed – very cleverly, I’ll admit – in Bakersfield, I don’t like putting myself at the mercy of other people. At least, on my feet, I’m in control of my destiny – as Bob Marley sang, "My feet is my only carriage / So I’ve got to push on through".

So I began a very long walk. Luckily I’d put on that long-sleeved white shirt, some sunscreen and my very dorky (but necessary) white floppy hat. Lucky, too, that a strong cool wind was blowing, a wind that cooled me right off. (If this country doesn’t go in for wind power in a big way, they’re insane!) I made sure to walk on the side against the traffic, so I wouldn’t be harassed by the kombi drivers. I passed shops selling all kinds of things, but each building was separated from the next by big spaces – in this desert country, nobody’s heard about the ills of urban sprawl! The buildings here are either made of mud brick or cinder block and then brightly painted in every conceivable colour, but, of course, on some the paint has faded or cracked. Since the mud brick houses are stronger the smaller they are, some are very tiny – maybe the size of a 1 and a half apartment – but whole families live in them, which isn’t a problem since it only rains during the rainy season and people hang out outside in their yards of orange-red earth all day long. But, what with this country becoming more prosperous, people want bigger houses – which are popping up here and there. But, so far, a bungalow is the equivalent of a Westmount mansion. Some of the shops had fences around them, and some, especially the many "Investment Consultants" were obviously scams – one "Investment" firm listed all its very impressive and highly improbable services on a flimsy sign, and written right in the middle of all of them was probably the only legitimate one – car washing! I passed a few general dealers several kilometres apart – general stores, depanneurs – and one was painted entirely in the trademark dark blue of a leading brand of milk with red lettering announcing "Clover", "Full Milk". The cutest buildings were the tuck shops – tiny places selling snacks, kind of like the snack shop at a beach or pool. With every kilometre of red roadside dust that I put behind me without being attacked by a passer-by or harassed by a car driver, I felt better and surer of the social situation in this city. (Had I been in some areas of Zimbabwe or South Africa, on the other hand….)

Finally I arrived at the bank – and, after waiting a while and talking to the account specialist, was told that my wife would have to come in before the account could be opened. Although some paperwork got done, my main quest was unfulfilled. But now, at least, I could get to the really important part – the wine and the beer!

So I started walking back…the wind had lessened and it was hotter now. But I was determined to walk all the way back – I had walked there, so I could walk back! Again I made sure to be on the opposite side of the road from the kombis heading my way. Still, one honked at me hopefully, probably thinking I was a crazy white man dazed from the heat. At the 4½ km mark I decided to reward myself – I went into a little general dealer – "Dumela, mma," I said – and bought myself a king can of Coke for 3 Pula 30 Thebe. Ah, how sweet and cold it was!
Feeling downright cocky and pretty acclimatized to the town by now (but with Han Solo’s warning to Luke from the first movie ringing in my mind – "Don’t get cocky, kid!"), I went into an SAQ-type store and bought a 5 litre box of South African red wine, and – my prize – a 6-pack of Windhoek Export. Of course, that was quite a bit of weight and pretty much filled out my gym bag. I got an electric kettle from another Indian merchant – I swear, he must have been 15! and he seemed a little uncomfortable around his brash, voluptuous saleslady. He smiled and blinked a lot. Outside, I passed an old man who was selling strange roots and plants off a cloth on the ground. Then I headed for the grocery store in the strip mall. A few cartons of juice, some cans of dog food, and I already had much more weight than I was comfortable with – in a crisis situation I’d be pretty much a lame duck. I tried to call the bus company on my cellphone (everybody has a cellphone here!), but I had a bad connection. So I went and waited at the bus stop – where kombis and busses came and went, and I tried to figure out which bus to take. I didn’t know if they ran on any schedule and there weren’t any posted – it seemed like a bus arrived whenever, and only left when it was full.

A rickety old blue bus came into the stop – on the front windshield it read the name of our village. Must be my bus! I dragged my bags over to it, wondering if I’d "lose" them on the crowded bus. There was an efficient, bald, 30ish Batswana man with a clipboard taking people’s plastic shopping bags from their hands before letting them on.

‘Here goes!’ I thought and handed him my gym bag full of wine, Windhoek Export, and my electric kettle (and a 100 Pula – i.e. about 30$ -- cellphone scratch card in a side pocket). It was my first gesture of trust in this society – he took the bag while I climbed in with my two other plastic shopping bags. He put the gym bag on the pile of bags and boxes in a little storage niche right behind the driver – and before I could worry about picking my way through the crowded aisle under the gaze of dozens of strangers – I saw that there was an empty seat right behind the storage niche. A seat half-covered by the plastic shopping bag of a thin, elderly man at the window seat. I made clear that I wanted to sit down and did – as he shifted his bag away. I could actually reach out and touch the gym bag on the heap in front of me. I didn’t though, and didn’t even mind when the curious old man took the South African Airways luggage tag dangling from the bag into his hand and studied it.

The bus took 2 hours to get back to our village stopping in dusty villages along the way. I didn’t have to make conversation and followed the lead of the cool young guy across the aisle from me. He had his CD player earphones on and wore dark sunglasses. He made no attempt to interact with anybody.

The bus slowly emptied out and the bald guy with the clipboard asked me where I wanted to get off in the village. I said I wanted to get off at the kgotla – the town square. By this time I’d moved across the aisle to the seat vacated by the cool guy and the woman who’d been sitting beside him. All my bags shared the seat with me, and when the bus stopped at the kgotla, I picked them all up, got off the bus, and started the long hot trek over the baked red dirt and sand tracks towards home.

I was greeted by smiling, running children all along the way – I waved back and smiled. A little weird, but apparently lekgowa – white people – are a sign of luck in the rural areas.
Go figure….

Stares, Storms, Solidarity

2004-10-10T03:20:00.000-05:00

Today is Sunday and so far I have not really had a day off. I am off to the capital city for a few days for a sales run.

Yesterday , I went into the closest city by myself. I took the local bus which seats only 26 people. I was the only Lakoga (pronounced La-ko-ha - which means white person) on the bus and of course many people just looked at me. When I smile and nod my head, they do the same and then stop staring. This is part of my everyday existence here. Being a Lakoga in a small village rather than a city is a much bigger deal. Although, while in the capital people still stared, I was with other Lakoga, so it was easier. When "P" and I walk through our village to the General Dealer (corner store – which is not at a corner, as the streets are red dirt and they wind through the village like a maze instead of what we are used to which is a grid), small children run toward us from their homes yelling "HI!" or "Lakoga". Last night we had about 5 five children sitting in the field staring at our house, waiting for us to come out and show ourselves. Once when I was leaving work a small girl was standing by the door and as I passed her she quickly reached out and held my arm in her two hands, then quickly dropped her hands and smiled. As it turns out some people believe that to touch a Lakoga is good luck. It is very bizarre and although I am usually good at handling strange situations like this, it is getting to be hard. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s hard to be the stranger, maybe it’s hard to be treated like a spectacle, maybe it’ hard to be treated like a VIP in some cases and a good luck charm in others and still in others something to be wary of.

While in the closest city, I had to take a combi (a small van that travel routes and pick up people along the way, bringing you/them to a destination. They are not classified as busses, yet they do the same job, but for smaller distances.) In the first one a girl sat next to me, smiled and said "Hello" her friend stood outside the combi door and giggled because she had sat next to me. On the bus on the way home a man got on, and said out-loud in Setswana (the native language) to everyone "Dumelang and Lakoga" meaning "Hello everyone and the White people". A lot of people giggled and after prodding the woman next to me translated what he had said. He then made his way over to me to shake my hand. As it turns out I had met him at the Vision 2016 rally in our village and he had given me some pamphlets on what Vision 2016 is. I was relived to know I had met him before.

But enough about that. Interestingly, this country is VERY windy. During the day or at night the winds howl around the buildings. If you are outside you can expect to be buffeted by small sand storms (like teeny tornadoes of sand). When I wash and rinse my hair the water is coloured a brownish red. I’ve never seen dirt come out of my hair before. Our water supply is quite low. Hopefully it will get better soon, as the rainy season should start within a month or so. I take a bath in about three inches of water (cold water which is slightly warmed by the sun). I was giggling the other day as I took a bath. This was because to rinse myself off, I have to turn on my side and splash water around, then turn on my other side and do the same, then turn of my front and wiggle around in the water to make sure all the soap is rinsed off. I was thinking how funny it was to do this and then thought that I would ask all who read this blog to take their next bath this way – as a gesture of solidarity. If you do, you must tell me about it! Either way to take a bath here is one of the must wonderful experiences. When I get out I feel so clean! I have never enjoyed having a bath and getting clean as much as I have here.

JuJu

2004-09-26T08:05:00.000-05:00

Dear JuJu,
I am glad you are interested in the work we are doing. Who at Vanier told you about me?

End of a week

2004-09-26T08:02:00.000-05:00

Work has been challenging and exciting. Yesterday, I attended a training session on food production and hygiene where I met the women from one of the regional groups. They greeted me with the word “Pula!” – which means rain and is also the name of there larger currency and the word “Pula” also is used as a joyous greeting or response to news or a speech. I was quite honoured to have been greeted this way. The women in the organisation also always greet each other that way - as a greeting of solidarity.
These ladies work extremely hard. To make one of the food products takes between 3 and 5 hours of stirring the pot over a fire. The yield is minimal probably below a dozen portions. The women involved range in age from their young twenties to their seventies. They all work together. And their smiles are big!

Hi Folks!

2004-09-26T07:59:00.000-05:00

We are having a fascinating time here, and a few days ago was a case in point. This country has a project called "Vision 2016", which is the country’s long-term plan for prosperity and health. To publicise it they are using the Olympic torch idea. Runners bring the torch to every village, where there is a ceremony at the kgotla, the village meeting place. We were invited to sit on the dais with the kgosi, the village chief, and other dignitaries. The kgotla itself is surrounded by wooden barriers and all the townspeople were gathered around it. There were so many different kinds of people -- from women in brightly coloured kerchiefs and dresses, to fashionable young women in fancy modern clothes, to young men wearing soccer t-shirts. The many children – most in their school uniforms, some with the shirts unbuttoned – gathered round and an older boy with a stick kept them in line.

When the torch arrived with a police escort all the children raced out to the road and returned trailing the torchbearer. Then there were speeches, particularly that of the kgosi, who is a dapper man in his late 20s who wears a suit and could just have stepped out of the boardroom of a major corporation. As he spoke, people came out of the crowd to briefly hold the torch – "A" went to hold it, too. The national anthem was sung, and a prayer was spoken, after which the kgosi was presented with a Bible by the National Prayer Committee representative.
Then came traditional dancers and singers. The women wore the traditional costume made of overlapping leather panels and the men wore leather loincloths and fur that looked like hyena skins. Their singing was absolutely harmonious and the men did a shuffling kind of stamping dance.

It was all very fascinating and we were the only white people there. Some of the smaller children had obviously rarely seen a white person (probably only the previous co-ordinator and his partner), they just stood, gaping open-mouthed at us. It’s really quite an experience and we’ll keep you posted!

Whirl, wind, and kgosi

2004-09-21T09:55:00.000-05:00

I started my new job yesterday and it has been a whirlwind. Yesterday, "P" and I were brought to the kgotla (village meeting place) to meet the village kgosi (Village Chief). He is a young man of 28 years old who wears a blue suit and red tie. I gave him a gift of a piece of maple wood that had been carved out so that there could be three tea candles in glass holders. On the side it said Hudson, QC and I told him it was from my village - which it was.

There are chickens and donkeys all around our house. Some of the houses in our village, where we live, are like ours - cinder block with stucco - but the majority are round mud houses with thathed roofs. We have no hot water and the water does not run through the taps well - especially in the kitchen. But the house is cute and we rearranged the furniture, so that we could make it feel like ours. We brought tons of pictures of friends and family so it feels really homey now.

Today we went shopping for pillows and blankets and food. Although we really need the food the blankets were a big priority - it's cold here in Africa! Who would have guessed?

We're Here!

2004-09-16T07:45:00.000-05:00

We are here. It is beautiful and the smells! Like musk everytwhere. We all arrived safely on Monday and have been extremely busy. We go to our village this weekend. Hope to write more then!

BBQ's Galore

2004-09-06T18:53:00.000-05:00

We take our first flight tomorrow. The last two days have been spent with friends and then family. Tears were shed, but in truth laughter reigned. Today is the first time I really felt a need for history. Personal history. To be together and share the same stories over and over and to laugh aloud again and again about the history we share, to talk of memories both pleasant and not and to be able to do so again and again with sensitivity for ourselves. It never gets stale, instead I feel like I live a favourful life. A life not alone.

D,R,B,M

2004-09-01T09:07:00.000-05:00

Last night, we moved from a friend's place to another friend's home. Moving is getting to be tiresome and we have to do it two more times before we arrive in Botswana (after a week there we will have to move again to rural Botswana, where I will be working.) We had spent five days at the last location and we will stay here for seven days before we fly to Germany. The five days before went by so quickly I only realized it was done yesterday morning when I awoke. It was then that I started to feel nervous because that means the next seven days will whizz by before I know it and we will be leaving Canada for three years. Last night, I was sitting on the porch and for the first time I thought..."Is this a crazy thing to do?" Because I want my life to have meaning, we have sold our first home, "P" has received leave from his job, the cat is about to fly in a plane for the first time and the dog has had to have a bunch of blood tests so he can fly with us too. Since I will be a volunteer in this job our income will be sufficiently lessened for the next two years and at this point we aren't sure we'll have enough money to fly back to Canada after the third year - which will be spent in Germany to enable "P" to complete his PhD. All this is a bit rash since it has all happened in a two month time period. But, rash or not it is not crazy. It's exciting, nerve-racking, tiring and well...just darn FUN! Even though I will miss everyone alot.

Tomorrow I have to drive three hours away just to take my driver's test. It was the only place that had an appointment available before we leave, since I failed my first driving test. Keep your fingers crossed that I pass it this time!

In the Big Silly (City)

2004-08-29T09:15:00.001-05:00

We moved from our rural home 3 days ago and are now staying in the city at the first of two friends places before we depart for Africa. We are taking our pets with us on our trip and it turns out this has been the most difficult part of the preparations. Selling our house wasn"t as difficult as getting our dog ready to go. Since we are entering three different countries during the trip, the dog and cat have to meet the needed standards of each country (Germany, South Africa and Botswana). South Africa is the most difficult. The animals will be in their cages for 4 hours in the airport in Johannesburg and still the dog has had to undergo approx. $500 worth of tests to ensure he does not have any of the four diseases (ones which are so rare in Canada that the Official Government Vet wondered why we would need to get the tests done) that the South African in-transit requirements demand. Still, we have had the tests done and we are getting closer everyday.

Our moving from our house was exhausting. We did it all ourselves and it took over 12 hours. All our stuff (that wasn"t sold or given away at our "GREATEST GARAGE SALE EVER SEEN" - which I will tell you about later as it was a very enlightening study in sociology! - so watch for that post...) we loaded ourselves (just the two of us) and since the items were going to five different friends or relatives houses for storage, we had to load it in sequence of which house we went to first, etc...
Suffice it to say, with the move over I feel like I am on a bit of a holiday, now that we are gypsies staying where we can until we depart for our new adventure. I always wanted to be a gypsie! Feeling relaxed-finally.

later on August 21, 2004

2004-08-21T11:58:00.000-05:00

Well I just finished speaking with the unknown lady. How wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She had read in the local paper about how we are going to Botswana and about the women's empowerment project that I will be coordinating. She got in touch with me because she wanted to give us moral support for what we will be doing there. Isn't that great!! A complete stranger, obviously a brave stranger, called me to say she wanted to give support from our little town while we are away in a new and different local. So now we will have moral support from at least one un-met friend along with our met friends as we go on this adventure and do something new. Again I say, how wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday August 21, 2004

2004-08-21T11:36:00.000-05:00

Today is the first day of the Blog. My husband's out cutting the grass with our neighbor's lawn mover (a recharable one!!! We were so pleased it wasn't gas). We had to borrow it because we sold our's at our garage sale (for $9) and we forgot to cut the grass before doing so.

I just received a message from a lady I don't know, who wants to talk to me about our up-coming trip to Botswana. I wonder what see wants to know?