Thursday, July 26, 2012

Movie Day!

I put together a movie afternoon for the OVCs [orphans and vulnerable children] in the new (and still unfinished) building at the drop-in centre. We started with some Planet Earth and then moved on to Finding Nemo. I have no idea how much they understood of the rich, complex plot, but they seemed to have a great time. I'm going to try Wall-E or The Lion King next.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Gardening!

About a million years ago we had an organic gardening training. I've taken to doing trivia nights at the trainings. Grand prize this time was shaving Lanna's head.

As part of the training we built a garden at a nearby clinic. Mack, our trainer.


Like any good project, there was a lot of standing around and commenting on the work habits of others.

Mack led us in song most of the time we were working.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

The House Mabasa, or, Trip the Longdrop Fantastic

Some photos from around my house.


The courtyard. This photo was taken on an overcast day right after it rained. The place doesn't usually look like a scene out of post-communist Russia.

 Our rondevaal, which was used for cooking and storage until it was knocked down. I'm still not sure why

 



Our mealie (corn) field.

 
  The pit latrine




 
Our mango and paw paw trees.



Clothing line and garden.

One of my green pepper plants. Photobucket
Also, I hung a bok skull I found in the Eastern Cape from the roof. Motlare likes to hit me with it while making cow sounds. Yet another awful panorama - this time of my room. The room now has the table, clothing shelf, and book shelf I built. The tapestries are from Mozambique.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Fish!

I bought a fishing pole and have started fishing at the dam in my village. The real challenge is not being killed by the croc or poisonous water snakes.





I only actually caught one of those. My friend, Patrick, a local fisherman, gave me the rest so I could cook dinner for my family. Mme showed me how to gut 'em and clean 'em. For the sake of ego let's pretend I caught the biggest one.