Hello from Jess

Hello to everybody back home! This is my first blog, and I hope you won't fall asleep while reading it. My dad forced me to stop chasing cows and sit down and write it, so here it goes.
I worked at the Preschool again today. The kids are so funny, and they love to sing. Some of the songs they like best are 'Khumbyah My Lord', the 'Days of the Week' song and the 'Teddy Bear' song. For the activity, I drew up a number one and two, which they had to color in different colors; the one yellow and the two red. They did it pretty well, but some got carried away and just kept on coloring the entire page the same color. You can't expect them to do activities on the same level as North American preschoolers, because there is a huge language barrier. They know little more English than we know Zulu, so it is very difficult. This week was especially difficult, because all the Zulu teachers were at training in Greytown.
When we got back from the preschool, we went to feed the kittens. They were very hungry, so the mealie meal, chicken and milk disappeared very quickly. The black kitten is still very traumatized from its short trip to our house. We are still hoping that the want of food will help it overcome its fear of us.
We (Dad, Micayla and I) went on a 'short' walk to the ridge ten minutes away from our house, to see the view. What we ended up getting was a tour of the Kwa Thintwa School for the Deaf. As we were walking back to the outreach center, we were stopped by a woman who was going into the school ground. We said "Sawbona" and she said "Hello" back to us, but we could see that she was wondering what three white people were doing walking around a black community at sunset. She asked us this and we told her we lived in the area. Then she was real confused, so we told her we lived at the farm that used to be called Nansindlela, and then she knew where we were living, and she asked us if we were working for GGA so we told her yes. She promptly gave us each a big hug, even though she didn't know our names. It turned out that her daughter went to a school in Pietermaritzburg with some kids from GGA, so she knew all about it. She immediately offered to give us a tour of the School for the Deaf, at which she taught science and art. The kids were all gone for term break, so it was very empty and quiet. Normally 300 kids, from ages three to twenty live there. We saw a dorm room, the kitchen, and some classes. Everything was spotlessly clean and perfect, it seemed like nothing was out of place. It was amazing that an organization that big could be run so well. (We were all thinking that GGA could learn some lessons from this place.) The woman (her name was Collette) kept on introducing us to people and saying we were "gifts from God" or "People of God". She told us the history of the school, that it was a Christian organization... and that it badly needed funding. she told us that they greatly appreciated any donations, and asked us not to forget them when we went back to Canada. I don't think it would be possible to forget a wonderful organization like that.

Well, I have to go now, so goodbye.

Jessica Taubensee

Hello from Micayla

I have to do school work today because I went to Pre School yesterday. I wrote an email to Alex and Holly. Holly has emailed me back already.

We had a BBQ (Braii) last night it was fun. I had chicken, corn and noodles. I sat in between Lilith and Dad. The mommy meow came up to our house and I played with her and she came inside and snuggled. She stayed till the braii was over. She rubbed and rubbed agents my legs. I wish we had a picture of her. Opa called us this week and he is moving to a new house. I miss Canada a lot but I love Africa too.

I had to wash milk buckets and they smelled really bad but I like watching the cows getting milked. We have computers that I play games on. I like going to the salt room and playing with the cats. Bye and I miss you all.

Eleven strange things that are normal in South Africa

It has come to our attention that our last blog entry did not actually post to our site!  Some of you have been worried about our silence…now we know why!  Dan finally got my March 17th entry posted last night; he also tried hard to upload some pictures, but was not successful.  Nothing is ever easy in Africa!

 

Speaking of Africa, a friend and I were recently listing some of the strange things that are “normal” in our part of South Africa.  Here is what we came up with:

1. Men have to completely pay for 11 cows before earning the right to marry their special girl. (Yes, this still happens here, and often takes years!  Many people do not marry as a result).
2. Most motor vehicle accidents happen as a result of a vehicle (usually an overcrowded 15 passenger taxi van) losing a wheel or some other vital part. 
3. You cannot leave your garbage outside at any time because it will be enjoyed by monkeys.
4. A nice cup of coffee in the morning means boiling water poured over instant coffee crystals.  A sad thing when good coffee beans are grown right here in SA!
5. You must always turn on a light if you get up during the night…stepping on an unsuspecting frog beside the bed is unpleasant for all parties involved!
6. NEVER make rude gestures or wear an angry expression while driving.  You never know when the driver next to you will take it personally and pull out a gun.
7. The word “recycling” means throwing your “rubbish” into a pit in your back yard, or into the ditch along the road.  When the pile gets high enough, or you can’t stand the smell any longer, just cover the whole thing with motor oil and set it on fire!
8. Using an outhouse can be dangerous…especially in rainy season!  Since the outhouses get a lot of use (most people in rural areas have no plumbing) and the ground is often unstable, it is quite common for the outhouse to collapse.  Not a nice way to meet your Maker!
9. You may live in a mud and thatch hut with no electricity, but it is very important to wear designer clothes and carry a fancy cell phone. (We have had strangers knock on our door and ask if they can use our electricity to charge their cell phones!)
10. It is considered rude to walk by anyone without exchanging the following in Zulu: “Hello, I see you!” “Hello, I see you too!” “How are you?” “I am fine. How are you?”  “I am also fine”.  Only then can you introduce yourself and begin a conversation.  Our girls have gotten good at this routine!
11. When entering a room, women should generally choose a seat that is lower to the ground than the men in the room.  As you can imagine, I don’t go for this one!

A family Update

By South African standards, there has been much progress here at the farm in the 2.5 weeks that we’ve lived here.  We have worked hard to make our little cottage homey by hanging curtains and creating some shelving for the kids’ books.  The communal areas around us are now somewhat functional, so that we no longer have to share our kitchen and bathroom with the other volunteers!  When I say functional, I mean that the basic amenities work “most” of the time.  The communal kitchen and bathroom still have no floor or counters, few windows, and most of the new pipe connections leak.  But, there is a stove with a real oven, and even a washing machine!  We have already used the oven to bake a cake, and it has also expanded our menu options for meals so that not everything has to be boiled or fried.  In general, this continues to be like one long camping trip!  Life in Calgary now seems like a remote memory, as we are totally used to making do without a TV, stereo, clothes dryer, microwave, walk-in closet, and all the other luxuries that we take for granted.  I’m sure many of you would pay to have seen me herding 11 cows off my porch with a big stick this morning as I hung my laundry out to dry!

 

There is a family of wild cats that live in one of the sheds here.  The mother cat is a skinny little grey thing, and the three kittens are about 5-6 weeks old.  They have not had any human contact previously, but I’ve always been a sucker for cats, and have begun to make friends with them by bringing them food.  At first, they would only gobble the food that I threw to them if I kept more than 10 feet away, but I have progressed to the point where I can pet the mother cat and two of the kittens while they eat.  My goal is to tame one or two of them enough to make pets out of them.  We need some rodent control up at our accommodations.  Jess and Micayla dearly hope that we will get a cuddly kitten out of the deal, but I’m not sure if their wild tendencies will ever really be tamed. 

 

Last week I was touched when Dan came home and told me that he had booked a one hour massage for me with a massage therapist!  There is an American woman staying at GGA for 2 weeks to offer her expertise to the volunteers, and there just happened to be one spot left on the sign up list.  So there I was on Friday afternoon on a makeshift massage table in a little hut, with the warm African breeze blowing over me while Mary worked her magic!  What an awesome thing to use her talent to treat the volunteers to such a luxury!  She was also able to work daily with a little boy at GGA who is confined to a wheelchair because of Cerebral Palsy.  His stiff limbs relaxed noticeably after each treatment.

 

Many of you ask often about how Jessica and Micayla are doing.  Thank you for keeping their safety, health, and well-being in your prayers as they face many different experiences.  So many people have told them what an amazing opportunity this is for them, and how it will change them forever, and we continue to be amazed at how adaptable they are and how life here has just become “normal” to them.  Home schooling has been an adjustment for all of us, but all four of us are enjoying the experience.  We do some pretty intensive learning for about 3.5 hours per day, and then the girls work on art projects, research projects, or read while Dan and I go about our work duties.  We have them studying the animals and culture of South Africa, and reading some great books that they would not otherwise have the chance to study.  Jessica has had the opportunity to work alongside the Zulu women in GGA’s “Craft Project”.  The women come to the outreach center 2 days a week to sew, bead, and make traditional crafts to sell in order to generate income for themselves, and to learn the basics of small business management.  Jess recently completed a beaded coaster of Nelson Mandela (?!).   Jess has also taken several dance classes alongside the GGA kids.  The classes are completely in Zulu, and obviously, it’s not the ballet that Jess is used to, but she tries hard to “dance like a Zulu warrior”!   Out of the four of us, Jessica has had the hardest time adjusting to South Africa.  This is partly due to her personality, which does not particularly enjoy change, and is partly due to her age.  She will turn 13 in just a few weeks, and finds it hard at times to be without her friends, and living in VERY close quarters with her sister and parents.  She is a private person by nature, and our circumstances afford her very little privacy.  However, Jess is feeling much more settled now that we are living at the farm, and really enjoys the other volunteers here.  After our “braii” this week (which was once again attended by the volunteers and various farm workers), Jess mentioned that it will be sad to leave here in 4 months.  We took this statement as a sign that she must be enjoying some aspects of life here!

 

Since our move to the farm, Micayla has been somewhat lonely for her new friends at GGA.  In her perfect world, there would be little friends to play with 24/7 like there was at GGA.  But, Micayla is such a positive little soul and seems to make the best of most situations.  Since she loves to talk…all the time…to anyone, we all have to take a bit more time to let her chat so that she can use up some of that social energy.  Lilith (one of the Dutch volunteers here) really enjoys our girls, so Micayla often hangs out with her.  Lilith is a Drama Therapist, so she has tons of interesting songs and games for Micayla.  She is also great at getting the girls to open up to her and process their feelings and experiences.  Micayla’s passion is helping at the preschool!  She gets to go with Dan one or two mornings per week, and is quite in her element there.  The level of action and activity of 60 preschoolers is just her speed.  The mornings when she is at the preschool, I enjoy one-on-one time with Jessica, and the days when Jess helps out at preschool give Micayla and I the chance to do school alone together.

 

Dan is working with both girls on the “Excellence in Writing” course which he teaches back home in Calgary.  He usually does this late afternoons on a blanket in the shade, and the girls love this “daddy time”.  He has them memorizing poetry and playing word games in order to improve their vocabulary and writing skills.  This is a unique opportunity for all 3 of them, and Jess and Micayla look forward to this time as the best part of their schooling.

 

Enough for today.  I cannot help but add that it is beautifully hot here again today.  We are told that rainy season is over, fall is approaching, and that we will have some of our nicest weather over the next several weeks.  Better go and lay in the hammock with my book for a few minutes before it gets dark!  Thank you all for the email we receive from you!  It encourages us, makes us smile, and connects us to home. 

--

Note from Dan:  it is now the Friday morning, and I’m finally getting around to sending this email.  Cathy’s optimism about the end rainy season was dashed, as we were pounded with heavy rains & winds most of the night!

Building Community

It's early Sunday morning at the Outreach Centre (a.k.a "the farm"), and I'm enjoying a cup of real coffee.  Strangely, real filter coffee is a rare pleasure in this sub-tropical area...most grocery stores don't even sell it, as everyone seems to think instant is just fine! 

 

For the first time, we are experiencing our off-duty weekend on-site.  As you may have guessed from the frequency of our blog entries, the 12 days in a row that we work are generally packed full.  When we lived at the main GGA site, we were always in the middle of the fray, so we needed to escape during our two days off.  But things are much quieter here at the farm, and our bank account was telling us that perhaps we should stay close to home for a change.  

 

I'm currently at the office, a building on the farm property which is about a 3 minute walk from our accommodations.  It's where Cathy works each day, and is now the place where we can check emails and blog.  Unfortunately, our laptop problems are irreparable (at least for the near future), but we are grateful that we now have access to this office computer in the evenings and early mornings.  Other than the use of this computer at the office, our lives have been incredibly "unplugged":  we have no radio or stereo, no TV, no laptop, no MP3 player, no newspapers, and no opportunity to surf the net.  When we do hear news of the outside world, it is typically second-hand and a week old.  There are times when I crave news (almost like an ex-smoker craves nicotine), but generally I love being outside of the media frenzy.  At home, I would listen to a media update every 15 minutes while in my car, plus get news updates via TV and internet.  I would check sports scores religiously, something that is now completely absent from my life.  And yet I know that 99% of  "news" isn't...it's someone's opinion on what happened yesterday or what might happen tomorrow.  And those opinions are usually false, if not in content, then at least in perspective. 

 

Speaking of "unplugged", yesterday evening our electricity flickered for awhile, and then went out completely . When we looked around, we realized that it was not just our farm; the power was out in the entire valley.  As it was a Saturday evening, we began to prepare for the fact that the municipality might not repair the problem until Monday, and we enjoyed an evening of candlelight.  Surprisingly, before we went to bed, the power was back on again!  During the blackout, we heard repeated gunfire in our neighbourhood, and could see and hear police sirens converge on an area couple of km away.  Maybe I'll have to buy a newspaper today to find out what was going on! ;-)

 

The weather this past week has been warm and sunny...the first time we have had a long stretch of such weather since we arrived.  Yesterday, in fact, it was downright HOT, and Micayla had fun hosing me down in the afternoon.  Of course, I have no idea what the actual temperature was.

 

My work this past week has largely revolved around the fact that this was the first week of training for the Zulu preschool teachers that I work with.  They are working towards full certification, and will attend training courses many times this year.  Last Sunday, I drove them to their training in Greytown, a small city less than 2 hours drive from here.  I imagined this to be a 4.5 hour round trip, but things don't work that way here.  In the end, it was an 8.5 hour adventure, full of windy dirt roads, memorable detours, fascinating people, and the most beautiful scenery I have seen since coming to Africa.  The rural valleys in this "Valley of a Thousand Hills" region are breath-taking, and we often wish we could get out there more (although we live on a farm, we are close to the freeway and to commercial areas).   The valleys are FULL of children...there must be 6 or more for every tiny house we see.  When I brought the teachers back on Friday afternoon, the kids had must been let out from various schools along our route, and I weaved my way among thousands of them, all walking home in their crisp clean uniforms.  People here take much pride in the neatness and cleanliness of their clothing, and it is remarkable to consider that most of these rural children are returning to their rondavel homes with mud walls, corrugated or thatched roofs, and dirt floors (often mixed with cow dung or ant hill heap to keep it hard and smooth).

 

The training also meant that we volunteers kept classes at the preschool going without our Zulu teachers, and so I was a full-time teacher this week.  I had the youngest class of eleven 3 and 4 year olds who speak as little English as I speak Zulu, but we had a great time together, and I really got to know the kids better.  Jessica and Micayla both did double-duty at the pre-school this week as well, and their help was truly invaluable.  I'm so proud of how they both rose to the challenges and responsibilities!  In fact, on Friday, when I was driving to Greytown, Micayla basically taught my class for me.  She had an adult volunteer in the room with her, but it the adult's first day at the school, so Micayla was the one who knew the kids, knew the routine, and knew the lesson plan. As you can imagine, Micayla loved it!

 

One last note about preschool...please pray for "Z", our youngest teacher.  She is 21 years old, with a 5 year old daughter in the school.  She is trying to escape an abusive relationship with the father of her daughter.  I won't get into all the details, but because of tight-knit families & communities, economic inequity, cultural traditions (money and cows have been exchanged), drugs, guns, and police corruption, extricating her from this relationship is much more complicated than we would think. 

 

The highlight of this week has certainly been the opportunities to build relationships and community in our new home here at the farm.  Last weekend, we had a surprisingly frank conversation with three of the Afrikaner (white South African) men who work during the day here on the farm.  Then on Tuesday night, we helped to host an impromptu braii (BBQ) for those who are now living here:  our family; Lilith & Bram, the Dutch volunteers who have become good friends; Claudia, the new volunteer who arrived from Germany this week; Baba Elliot & Gogo Regina, the Zulu couple who have lived here for years; Wesley, the young Zulu man who does Agriculture Outreach; Sipho, the farmhand; and Mkhonta & Ndundizi, our night security guards.  We all sat around the table together on our patio and enjoyed a warm evening together.  As Cathy remarked later, this may have been the first time that some of our Zulu friends have been served by a white person.

 

On Thursday night, we hosted our small group here again.  I can't recall if we told you about them yet, but we have have met a few times with a group of 7 or 8 volunteers from GGA who share our sense of purpose about being here.  One of them is a talented musician, and we've enjoyed singing & praying together.  Amazingly, we know many of the same songs even though our group includes Australians, Germans, Dutch, British, and Canadians!

 

Well, I better wrap up and go find my family! 

 

Dan

Sunday afternoon on the farm

Blog,

 

It’s a sunny Sunday afternoon here at the farm, and I can hear the cows “mooing” anxiously for milking time.  Jess and Micayla are helping to round them up and will help Baba (Grandpa) Elliot to milk them by hand.  Baba Elliot and Gogo Regina (remember the Gogo whose friendship I won with a glass of coke?) live here on the property and help with farming, building and cleaning jobs.  They are very dear Zulu folks with big smiles and generous hearts.  Baba Elliot is also a pastor, and he alternates between leading the Sunday service at GGA and leading a service at his church in the city.

 

Since it’s 4:00 pm, I can also hear the sounds of Muslim prayers being broadcast across the valley where we live.  There is a big Muslim mosque up on the hill, and five times a day their very effective sound system sputters on and loud prayers are sung in some unidentifiable language. 

 

Dan is off driving 7 of his preschool teachers to a week of training in a town about 2.5 hours Northwest of here.  He is the “principal” of two preschools at the moment.  One is the larger preschool that has an enrolment of over 65 children, and employs 4 Zulu teachers and 3 GGA volunteers, and the other is a small preschool farther down in the same valley.  The second was started by a Zulu lady with no training, just a heart for the little ones in her community.  GGA began helping her last year by purchasing some supplies, and paying for the rental of a small room in the community centre.  Dan drives down to the school twice a week to bring hot meals and bread for the kids, and is also taking this teacher for her first level of training this week.  The hope is that GGA will soon begin building a new school for these kids so that more children can attend.  Dan is really enjoying his work with the teachers and with the little ones.  This week he will be teaching a class while the regular teachers are away!  Some of the kids don’t speak much English yet, so this should be an interesting challenge.  They do know how to shout “Teacha!!” at the top of their little lungs though, followed by a rapid stream of Zulu, and they love to sing the typical English preschool songs.

 

My work lately has been varied.  I am continuing to work on funding proposals, I coordinate registrations and transportation to training sessions and workshops, I put together orders for medical supplies for our community care workers, and I order school uniforms and soccer uniforms for kids who are sponsored by GGA.

 Last week I had the task of shopping for all the supplies for the communal kitchen and bathrooms that are just being built beside our house.  We are lucky to have our own small kitchenette and bathroom, but the other volunteers that will live here at the outreach centre will have their own sleeping rooms, but will share a communal cooking area.  This is a great plan in theory, but in reality, the communal areas are far from finished at this point, and will probably take several months yet.  There is another new volunteer arriving later today, and she will also be using our kitchen and bathroom for the foreseeable future!  Of course, the building manager here at the farm claims that the kitchen is “ready”.  This means the 4 walls are up, there is electricity, and a brand new stove is plugged in and functional.  However, there is still a dirt floor, no sink or cupboards, and no door or windows!  So, I was told to go out and buy dishes, pots, pans, and everything needed to stock a kitchen, but there is no kitchen to put all the supplies in!  Oh well…at least the shopping was fun!

 

We’ve had 3 uncommonly cold days in a row now, and once again dug out the jeans and sweaters that I had hoped not to need.  Some say that fall is beginning early this year, however, the forecast for the next few days is back to warm and sunny.  We have been told that there’s been more rainfall in the 7 weeks that we’ve been here than is usual for the entire year!  And on a farm that means mud and more mud!

 

I will close for today with a humorous farm story.  Since the cows roam freely here, we often have a cow or two walking across our front porch.  The other day one of the guys had been painting the steel pillars on our porch with thick, blue oil based paint, and had left to go on a coffee break.  When he returned, he found a large clump of cow’s hair stuck to the pillar he had been painting and a trail of blood across the porch!  Apparently a poor cow had swished its tail a little too enthusiastically and had gotten it stuck to the wet paint.  It then must have pulled hard, and lost the entire end of its tail along with some skin!  You would think that this incident would deter this cow from hanging out on our porch, but no such luck!

 

Time to go and make supper so that the new volunteer (coming from the US) will have something to eat when she arrives. 

"March"-ing On

Well, after much too long, it’s high time to post an update to you all! We are currently experiencing technical problems: our laptop has crashed, so I’m writing this on my office computer. Coincidentally, Dan “cleaned out” our Webmail files on “black Tuesday” (the day the computer died), so we now have no record of email received recently. I did get a chance to read over most of the messages, but had not replied to them, so please be patient if you’ve not heard back from us. You may wish to re-send, if an email you sent us needs our attention soon. We are still in the early stages of figuring out just how seriously ill our laptop is. We all have a love-hate relationship with it, since it allows us to communicate efficiently (sometimes!), play games, listen to music, and is our only form of electronic entertainment. But, we often have problems with “the beast”, and long to be back working with our Mac iBooks (sorry, Mike, Chris, and all you lovers of the evil Microsoft

empire!).

We have finally moved into our little cottage at the farm! It’s a 3 room cabin with a porch at the front and a gorgeous view of the jungle trees and plants in the valley below. Best of all, it’s quiet and peaceful here, and waking up to the sounds of birds and monkeys is much preferable to the voices of 92 screaming children! We are currently waging war with ants and leaky pipes, and are still living out of suitcases (no cupboards yet), but we are happy to be able to slowly settle in to a more permanent way of life. We are still amazed by the “South African” standard of building…we’ve never seen a new structure with so many cracks, holes, leaks, and broken or missing parts! Dan and Jess and I are relieved to be more settled and have a more predictable schedule now that we’re living closer to our work, but Micayla already misses her friends from GGA and longs for more action.

The highlight of our lives recently was that last weekend we were able to spend three days with Phil Toews and his daughters Lauren and Lindsey! They are dear friends from Calgary who were traveling home from Malawi and were able to arrange a stopover in Johannesburg. We both rented cars and met in the Drakensburg, the famous South African mountain range about 2 hours Northwest of where we live. We had a great time chatting, eating, playing cards, hiking, and even chasing giraffes together! We visited a small safari park, and were able to see zebra, wildebeest, bushbuck, rhinos, and various other animals in their natural habitat. At one point we found ourselves surrounded by a herd (do giraffes come in herds?) of 11 giraffes almost close enough to touch! After enjoying the massive creatures for a while and taking lots of pictures, I mentioned that it would be cool to watch giraffes running…not something you would see at a North American zoo. Dan and Phil were happy to

grant my wish by chasing the herd across the field. This is one memory we won’t soon forget! And don’t worry…there are no lions or other carnivores at this park, so leaving your vehicle is permitted and not life-threatening!

We stayed at an eclectic B&B at a large farm in the mountains. Our hosts were generous and kind, and served us a delicious breakfast each morning on their beautiful verandah amidst the stunning scenery of the Drakensburg. Thanks Phil, Lauren, and Lindsey for taking the time to visit us, encourage us, and see a bit of Africa with us!

I have been sick with the flu for over a week now, so our move and our holiday were a bit of a challenge as I progressed through the stages…fever, head cold, chest cough etc. But I think I’m on the mend now, and am thankful that no one else has caught the bug.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was municipal Election Day here in SA, and was therefore a national holiday. This meant that schools and offices were closed, and this gave us a chance to unpack, hang curtains, and do the laundry that’s been piling up. As far as we could learn, municipal Election Day for the locals is a good excuse for some partying and a fair bit of violence, but politics itself is taken seriously only by a few. Some of the individuals we talked to expressed that they would not be voting because they felt that it would make no difference to the outcome. There is a loss of respect and trust in the corrupt governing party, and very little hope that anything will change. However, there was a heavier police presence in evidence over the past week in order to discourage violent demonstrations.

We apologize for the glaring absence of pictures to go with the stories we tell on our blog. They are a bit more difficult to post, and require a lot of time, or a high speed connection. It seems that when we encounter a good connection, we never have the necessary equipment with us to post pictures. Hopefully soon. I’d better head up to the house to make supper for the family and prepare for a few GGA guests that are visiting tonight.

Cathy