South Africa Even Has Penguins!

from Elliott

While in Capetown recently we visited Simonstown where there is a colony of penguins. In the park we saw this sign. At first thought, I wondered who would ever think to shake hands with a penguin.

What if he stuck his hand out first, would we be seen as disrespectful if we did not shake hands. But then, I remembered that penguins don’t have hands. Hmm. 

These penguins make an unusual sound – like a braying sound that a donkey would make. For many years they were referred to as ‘Jackass’ penguins because of that sound. Evidently though, someone thought that was offensive, to the penguin I guess, because they are now referred to as South African Penguins. In fact, the brochure says “formerly known as Jackass Penguins”. Sounds like a PR firm got a hold of that!

 

Voices

from Katherine 
No, I am not hearing them. Rather, it is the sound of my voice that alerts people that I am not a South African.

I stopped at the market the other day to get some milk. I went to the till to pay for it and greeted the cashier and the bag person as I always do. (It embarrasses Cason that I talk to people where ever I go.)
 
As soon as the words were out of my mouth the bag boy asked, “Do you know, Mr. Elliott?” I confessed that I did know him quite well; in fact he is my husband. Lindile was very excited and asked me to tell ‘Mr. Elliott’ that he now had a job at the Super Spar, our grocery store. I asked Lindile if he had taken Elliott’s computer class and indeed he had. Then I asked why he thought I knew Elliott. Lindile said, “It is your voice; you sound just alike.”

A Creation Moment

from Katherine 
We wrote a curriculum for kids based on the creation story. It has been great fun and we have all learned a lot. Something I have noticed about myself is that I am more aware of God’s creation all around me now that I have been sharing the message of the Creation Story with the children in the Eastern Cape for the last year. 

The other day I was walking up the stairs outside of our home and a centipede was crawling along the

step. He was fire engine red!  A year ago I might have noticed him but not given him much attention. Not any more - I watched him, took his picture and made a mental note about how long his was so when I show the kids his picture I will be able to tell them all about the centipede.

Today, our tiny church was crowded so I sat in the very back next to the door. We sang How Great Thou Art and a bird landed on a tree branch right next to the door and sang his little heart out. (Now this is the part where I sound like a nutty little old lady.) I think that little bird was singing along with us; maybe not the exact words but he was clearly singing his praises to his creator while the people sang their praises. It was a cool creation moment. Wish I had had my camera!!

Touch

from Katherine

The children that I read to in our literacy program are in BIG classrooms- One hundred and twenty-seven in one classroom. Yes, that is 127 kids in one room. I like to bring nonfiction for kids like National Geographic in addition to Bible stories because not all the children are the typical 9 years old for Grade 3. Some of the kids are much older, so I try not to read “baby stories.”

Because there are so many in the room, I walk up and down each aisle so everyone can see the pictures. Some of the kids have what seems to be an uncontrollable need to touch the pictures. The teachers will tell them “put your hands in your lap” but some of them just can’t help themselves. I can see them trying to hold back and then this urge is overwhelming and  they reach out to touch the picture.

I guess if you don’t have books available to you the need or urge just takes hold of you and you reach out if only for a second.

"There is a White Man in the Church!"

from Elliott
I had ventured to Bizana to facilitate a Savings and Credit Group. We met in the church hall. We were setting up and I noticed that two young children came in, looked around caught sight of me and then heading back out the door. I did not think anything of it until a few minutes later the one of the Pastors came in and the same two children were with her. One of the children said to her while pointing at me, “See, there is a white man in the church.”

  

My Pastor friend came up to me to introduce her two children. She stopped for a minute and then told me that her daughter had come out side to say that there was a white man in the church but she could not imagine who her daughter was talking about. She then explained that she was expecting to see me and that because she knows me she does see me as just some white man! Instead she sees me as the person that God has sent to help their church empower their members.

As a cross cultural worker seeking to humbly walk in the shoes of others, I felt empowered by her encouraging comment!

"What is Your Chicken's Name?"

from Elliott
As part of the Creation Story Enrichment Curriculum, Katherine has been teaching the children about birds one of Katherine’s favorite topics. She shows the children pictures of the many bird images she has taken in her travels and explains to them how God created them each in a unique way. She points out the features of each species like the shape of the beak, colors and size of feathers, etc.

She then asks the children what other birds they know about. She was surprised when no one mentioned chickens since she had admired many in the community. She asked whether chickens were birds. They all agreed that chickens were not birds! 

That reminds me of working on a mission construction team in Liberia with my friend Dave Main. We arrived on the site one morning and one of the Liberians that we were working with arrived leading a live chicken tied on a string. Dave said, “What is your chicken’s name?” The man replied, “Lunch”
 

Perhaps many of Katherine’s students don’t think of a chicken as a bird because it is really dinner!

Meeting a Friend Along the Road

from Elliott
I had not seen my friend Lusizo in a while so I was excited when I turned off the tarred road onto the rough dirt road on the way to visit Pastor Andile last week. Lusizo was walking along the road so I hopped out of the truck for a chat. It had been almost a year since I had last seen him but he had told me that he was going to work on a nursing certificate at a small hospital about 60 kms from where I found him. He was on a school break visiting family so that is why he was on that road that day.

I met Lusizo last year. He is probably 20 or so and had been a student for a couple of computer classes that I was offering. I share scripture in each class and he was always eager to participate during that part of class and often spoke to me afterward about the message and his hopes for the future.

As we stood by the road he told me all about the nursing program and the practicum at the hospital that followed each semester. I got excited because he was so enthusiastic and not just about what he was learning. He said, “I do not have a computer so I have not been able to use what I learned in the classes but someday I will use it. I learned something more important. God showed me that I CAN LEARN even something as difficult as computers. Before that I did not have confidence and was not sure that there was a purpose for my life. I learned in the class that God has a plan for me and with his help I can get a good job as a nurse and help other people.”

Wow, just what I wanted to hear that day. I don’t think I felt a bump anywhere along that road; I was so excited I must have floating over the rough patches!

A Little 'Croaky' this Winter

from Katherine
It does not seem to matter where I live I always have a bit of a cough in winter.

I was at one of my schools last week with the Creation Story Enrichment Program. Winter has left my throat feeling a bit croaky!  The children and I were singing our little hearts out with giggles in between because every couple of words I sang the words did not come out right. 

Without thinking how it might sound to the kids, I told the children ”I have a frog in my throat.” Well they obviously had never heard that expression before because they looked at me rather funny as if they wanted to come see what kind of a frog would be in my throat making that croaking sound. They wondered how it got there!

"Did You Want Your Package Today?

from Elliott
We were expecting a large box of books sent from friends in America. Late one day recently I walked to the Post Office to check our Post Office Box. There was only one thing there but I was very excited. There was a slip informing me that the package had arrived and to take the slip to the counter to retrieve. It was about 15 minutes before they closed. I recognized the women at the counter…I have spoken to her often and she is very friendly. This time though when she saw the slip her smile vanished and she said with a sense of dread, “Did you want you your package today?”

I could tell she was working by herself since the Post Office was about to close. I could see what I thought was the box about 10 feet behind her and it was very large. I smiled and told her that I could come back the next day since I had actually walked to the Post Office and could not carry it back to the house a couple of kilometers away! Her face looked very relieved!

The next day I went with the car and gave her the slip again. This time there were a couple of people working. She is quite small so she got a fellow worker to help her. A few minutes later the door opens and the two of them are taking turns turning the box end over end to get it to the door. Unfortunately, our Post Office does not have any kind of dolly or cart. They were quite relieved to get it to the door and let me take over.

I was so excited to receive the 200 or so books destined for one of the Primary Schools that Katherine works with that I did not concern myself with the logistics.

"No garnish?"

from Elliott
OK, Cason is a bit weird. When he orders a burger – beef or chicken – he just wants the meat and a bun, nothing else. No ketchup, lettuce, tomato, pickles, relish, mustard; NOTHING! Most places that may not be a problem but in South Africa it can create great consternation! Garnish is the word that they use for all the other things that come on the burger – and they love their sauce here!

Ordering usually goes like this:

Cason:  I will have a beef burger plain – just meat and bread. No garnish.

Server: No garnish?

Cason: No garnish…just meat and bun.

Server: No garnish…

Then they go to the kitchen to turn in the order. Sometimes though, they come back to the table in a minute or two…

Server: No garnish?

Cason: No garnish…

It was clear the cook or manager had ‘grilled’ the server on this strange order and sent them back to check. I am not sure whether they are offended or just perplexed and do not want to get the order wrong.

Either way, it seems about 50% of the time the order comes back incorrect. I am not sure whether they just cannot imagine that the customer knows what they want or they assume they are doing it just to offend the local cultural sensitivities. Sometimes it seems that they just cannot complete the order as requested.

Regardless, they are always pleasant about it and oftentimes, accepting when Katherine strips off the offending items when the order is incorrect.  There are a couple of places where he has become known to the server and after almost three years of his strangeness they now receive his order and complete his sentence by saying, “and no garnish.” 

How nice it is to be known in your small town!

One Mans Take on Saving Rhinos

from Elliott
You may have read about the epidemic of rhino poaching here is South Africa. The horn is prized in Asia as an alleged aphrodisiac. Unfortunately, the poachers method of harvesting the horn is to slaughter the animal and leave the carcass to waste. Already over 300 have been slaughtered this year in South Africa alone most of which were in our province. It is difficult to protect them all due to their vast grazing area even though much of their habitat is in protected parks and game reserves.

There is much discussion on how to protect them from poaching. Even the sand artist on the Ramsgate beach has his take on a solution!

A Rooster Came for Tea

from Katherine

Yesterday Elliott and I stopped at our friend Pearl’s house for a visit. We were having a nice chat that was interrupted every few minutes by her rooster crowing loudly all around the house. He was so loud that we had to stop talking while he crowed so we could hear each other!

Now there are lots of dogs who follow their children to school and wait and sometimes peek into the classroom just to make sure their kid is still there. I have even had the same goat come into a classroom while I was teaching several times.  Chickens and roosters are kind of shy, but not Pearl’s rooster! He finally jumped right onto her stoop and strutted right into the house. I am pretty sure he was saying “excuse me, did you not come to see me and my beautiful feathers and hear my LOUD call?”  I have stopped asking the names of animals because I often get the response, "LUNCH!"

An Amazing Sight

from Elliott
We often do not even notice the large ocean going vessels that travel along the coastline where we are in ministry but this time we were traveling down the long and rough road to the iSigidi community where we are privileged to walk alongside the new church pastored by Andile Mbhele. It is a rural community with a beautiful coastline on the Indian Ocean. Last Thursday was different though. As we crested the rocky outcrop in the road we noticed something very different on the horizon- two large sailing ships!

I imagined an earlier time in this lands’ maritime history. Mariners were passing by this area in the 1500’s. In fact there is a shipwreck off the coast where we live – the Sao Joao, a Portuguese merchant ship hit the rocks in 1552. It had departed from India and was heading to Europe loaded with pepper, Chinese porcelain, Cowry shells and cornelian beads as well as about 600 people on board. One hundred people died attempting to get ashore and the rest made camp onshore. The captain led the survivors north along the coast toward Mozambique. Ultimately, only seven Europeans and fourteen slaves lived to reach Mozambique.

The land where the iSigidi community is has always been remote, due to the large rivers and gorges heading inland. For many years it has supported sparsely populated agriculturalists and herders. Imagine, what they must have thought over 500 years ago when that first sailing vessel passed the coastline here. “What could it be?” “Am I imagining something” I wonder if they were afraid or just curious? I guess it would not have been before the first vessel sent people ashore that they began to get some idea of what it was. I am sure they could not foresee how the arrival of ships from far away would change the world that they had known!

Tasting Party

from Katherine
We are on the third day of creation now.  God has covered the earth with all the trees, plants, grasses, and flowers. Our story begins with seeds. I thought it would be fun to taste some fruits and veg and look at their seeds.

This morning Anagava, who is 2 years old, was sitting next to me and we tasted cucumber. She put a bit of cucumber in her mouth, seemed to like it and had another bite. Next we tasted yellow and red peppers. Again Anagava took a tiny nibble and then put the rest in her mouth. Next we tasted oranges. All the children ate their orange pieces with enthusiasm. All except Anagava. I was surprised that she did not like oranges after eating the other unfamiliar things. I asked “don’t  you like oranges?” Then her teacher said” Anagava, eat your orange.” We were all surprised to see the chewed cucumber and peppers come spilling out of her mouth and once that was accomplished as fast as lightening she grabbed her orange and had a big juicy bite! We all had a laugh even Anagava.

I had told the children before we started that if they did not like the taste of something to run outside and spit it out. (There is no garbage collection so you don’t need a rubbish bin (trash can) in your classroom. I promised the children that they would not hurt my feelings if they did not eat the food. In this and many cultures it is rude not to eat what you are offered and if you are not sure when your next meal will be, you better eat what is in front of you.

As I was leaving a bold little boy asked if I could bring chocolate the next time I came!! He was very surprised when I told him that chocolate comes from a cocoa bean that grows on a plant!!!

Finger Prints

from Katherine
Today when I went out to read I took along one of my favorites.  The Very Busy Spider By Eric Carle I have this book in Africa thanks to my friends Carol and Linley who brought it to me when they visited last year.

I am very fortunate to have a library in our town with a nice children’s collection. I also have a few of my favorites. The spider in the story is visited by the barnyard animals and asked to come along and do something, but the spider is busy. There is also a pesky fly in the story and I bet you can guess what happens to it.

Eric Carle’s illustrations are beautiful and The Very Busy Spider is special because the spider’s web is raised. You can feel the first single strand of the web and feel more and more as the web grows. Thank goodness you cannot feel the caught spider!

Today I added 127 new finger prints to my copy of the book as my giant grade 3 enjoyed the story. The web is getting a bit dirty and I love it!

Monkey Business

from Cason
In case you have not noticed my family likes to watch the crazy monkeys around town. On Saturday morning my mom was driving me to my friend’s house when we saw monkeys out for breakfast.

Two young monkeys were 'play fighting' over something, probably food. They were jumping up and down and screeching at each other. The funny part was the circle of older monkeys egging them on. Just like a school yard fight! Not that I am familiar with that, of course!

Traffic Report - Africa Style

from Katherine
I had to run to the market late this afternoon so I heard the latest traffic report from our one radio station.

The first report was from the Umlass River area where wildlife officials where removing the massive crocodile that has been stalking breakfast, lunch and dinner for 4 years. We have a saying here…Africa Time. They got him, finally.

The second report was from the N2 the national road that is near our home. A large herd of cows decided to eat the grass in the median.  We are not sure how they got to the median. The problem with cows is that when one decides to cross the road the whole herd goes!

Hamba Kahle

from Katherine

We always seem to find a sign on our travels that makes us laugh.  This past weekend we traveled to Durban for some wedding errands. While there, we saw one of these signs that made us all laugh and then we decided that it was a very appropriate.

The sign read “Hamba Kahle Funeral Supplies”  Hamba kahle means 'go well' in Zulu and it is similar to 'Good Bye' for the person going. We found it funny and yet what a better thing to say to wish a loved one the final journey.

Drying Out

from Katherine
It is not the kind of drying out you might think of first. It is the drying out one does after the roof blows off in a storm.

It rained Thursday. It was heavy at times. The rain continued Friday, but fortunately slowed to a drizzle for our youth group braai (BBQ).  Saturday arrived with more heavy rain, gale force winds, flooding and COLD temps for our area. That continued into Sunday. The sun shown for about an hour Sunday afternoon then we had a repeat of Saturday night.

I am happy to say that it is Monday, the sun is shining and there is a steady “drying out” breeze. There are many homes here that have thatched roofs or corrugated metal roofs held down with cinder blocks. When we have a big storm lots of roofs blow away.

On my way to ministry this morning I saw many families (unfortunately, many children were kept home from school to help) taking everything out of their homes and setting it out to dry. Where does it dry? On a ladder that was leaning up against a building with no roof, a mattress placed on Coke crates, blankets thrown over fences and clothes arranged on any bush strong enough to hold the weight.

Interesting enough the folks I saw were smiling and waved as I passed. Neighbors who fared better were helping the ones who did not. Boys were hammering the bends out of the tin roof pieces so they can be used again.  The thatch will be dried out and retied. Nothing will go to waste. Just another day in Africa!

The Dog that Almost Kept the Dry Land From Appearing

from Katherine
You may know that I teach a Creation Story curriculum that Elliott and I created to several preschools around our ministry area. Some of the concepts are a bit difficult for young children to understand so we have worked really hard to make it fun for the kids and focus on showing instead of talking. 

This week we are on Day 3 when God said, "“Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” Elliott had a great idea to get a small plastic tub and put small holes in the sides. We place a flat rock in the tub and cover it with dark blue water made from food coloring to represent the seas. Then we pull the covering off the holes and just enough water drains out to expose the rock. What the children saw was a 'small ocean' and then the 'seas' gathered into one place and the land came forth. The kids loved it! And believe it or not, Elliott found a rock that resembled the shape of South Africa!

At the Sirhashini school there is a dog that follows his boy to school and spends the day there. When I was there yesterday, the dog drank all the blue water. Thankfully, he waited until after the demonstration! I am not sure how I would have explained that part of the story if he had drank the water during the process. If he had done it before the demonstration I would have had to carry the water bucket to the bottom of the canyon and down to the river beacuse that it where the closest water is!

Today, I was at the Mzamba preschool. They have a goat that hangs around and sometimes comes in the building so I guarded the demonstration inside the small church until the children were ready to see how God made the waters part!

How Humid Is It?

from Elliott
It has been very hot and humid here lately. It is after all summer time in Africa. I know meteorologists have a fancy, scientific way to define the level of humidity but I have come up with another,  perhaps more pragmatic one. 

Since we are without air conditioning we often have our windows open with a oscillating fan operating. It will at least move the very heavy air especially when there is not a breeze outside.

One day I kept feeling bits of moisture. I could not figure out what was going on until I looked at the fan and there were beads of water forming on the tips of the blades and the water was collecting on the mesh housing outside of the turning blades. As a bead of water would get large enough it would then break off the mesh and get blown outward at unsuspecting people in the path of the breeze.

Quite refreshing…until you realized why the water was forming. So that is my new method of determining the level of humidity. If water is blowing off the fan the humidity is very high!

One Mans' Trash.....

from Elliott
Monday is trash pickup day in our town. With most of our ministry area not having trash pick up, they must burn everything or dump it. Fortunately, we can take a bag of trash to the curb on Monday.  The pick up usually does not occur until later in the day so when we are out for the day we must put the bag out when we leave in the morning. Like clockwork someone shows up soon after the bag goes out. 

I have watched from a distance and seen someone gently untie the bag and begin picking through what we have determined to have no use.  Invariably we have a different view of what is usable! When the picker has completed their search, they will put their items in a bag to take with them and carefully tie the bag back again. I wonder if they are simply fastidious people or if there is an unwritten code of trash pickers that is meant to increase their acceptance along our towns roads. I am fascinated that they often find something in our trash of value. There are times when we know we are putting something out that has value like clothes or empty containers so we leave it outside of the bag and put it on the ground next to the bag. 

Perhaps I would need to walk in their shoes to fully appreciate how they judge value. They are friendly when we speak to them. They seem to go about their business quietly and inconspicuously. We have not engaged in significant contact simply because we are uncertain how they view their activities and whether they would be uncomfortable relating to the owner of the trash.

One thing I have noticed here is that we generate far less waste than we did back in the US. While there we would throw out two or more bags a week even with a separate recycling bin. Here, we typically have less than one bag even without recycling. We certainly reuse more items but it appears that there is generally less packaging on purchased items. We will see if our new found waste minimizing discipline will ‘return home’ with us when we repatriate in a couple of years!

The Monkeys Might Be Closer to Us than I Thought

from Elliott
Well, I have to admit I have always been a bit offended when people suggested we were closely related to monkeys. I may have to change my tune....

Word seems to have gotten out among the town monkeys. What before had been an infrequent occurrence of a monkey sneaking into our flat has become more frequent and more brazen. At first it was an older one who stole (or as they say here, pinched) bananas and a younger one that stole a piece of hard candy.

The other day we were attacked three times in just two days. The first one was older and he made off with a half a loaf of bread in a plastic bag. I saw him on the road gently opening the bag and taking out one piece and closing the bag. Then the next day, after the bread had been replaced by a trip to the market, a young came to the door but I stopped it and he ran off or so I thought. As soon as I turned my back he returned and to the kitchen counter he went - looked at the new loaf of bread and then turned the other way and grabbed two pieces of hard candy from the bowl and jumped over the door to the tree where he sat on a branch and unwrapped each piece of candy and put both in his mouth!

Maybe they are a lot like humans - the older, maybe wiser, monkey chose bananas and bread while the young one (impatient and undisciplined) when confronted with a choice choose the candy and even to the point of stuffing both pieces in his mouth at once! How humbling to witness!

Gaining Wisdom from Bananas

from Elliott
I saw a friend recently – he might be the most industrious individual I have met in our ministry area!  And he is always experimenting or trying to learn new things. He grows all types of fruit and veg and also has a woodworking shop where he crafts beautiful benches and tables. 

The tribal authority recently gave him the rights to use another couple of acres of land nearby. He described to me his plans to grow bananas on the land. He had met with a NGO a while back to learn more about banana farming. He said that they were telling him that he could sell bananas for R50 per stalk and he could plant 2000 bananas. Each banana tree will produce one stalk every 18 months.

He did the math in his head and thought that is more money than I will ever need! What would I do with it all?

Then he figured that there was a reason why he had been given the extra land and he had learned about growing bananas. He knew that meant that God wanted him to use the land and knowledge to benefit his neighbors especially those that were hungry. 

Most people would have gotten out their ‘mental wishlist’ to spend what they would see as a personal windfall. He on the other hand saw that there was a reason for this windfall – he sought God’s will and not his own personal desires to do the right thing. 

He gained wisdom from the bananas!

"I Just Wanted to Hear Your Voice"

from Katherine

Our family returned to South Africa on January 14^th after spending 5 weeks in the U.S. with family and friends. We had a great time and loved seeing so many old and new friends. Thanks for a tremendous time!

A few days after we returned my cell phone rang and when I answered I heard a familiar voice say “I just wanted to hear your voice.” Wow! Someone cares enough our relationship that the sound of my voice would satisfy their soul. I will try to tell you what that means to me although I am not sure words are enough.

I think almost everyone in South Africa has a cell phone. You don’t have to have air time to place a “please call me” request. Most often when our phones ring it is a request from someone to please call them back because they don’t have air time.  This time my friend used her own air time to call just because she wanted to hear me. To know for herself that I had indeed returned to her homeland, that I was well and that we would once again be together. My heart soared.  My friend was waiting for me to come home so that we could continue our friendship in person. I am loved.