News from the South

The days keep flying by and I am stunned that is has been so long since I last posted. What makes things worse is that winter is definitely here and I am still disorientated by how early the darkness falls. Work has improved slightly only because I am not taking things personally but the organization has a long way to go before it can be deemed as an organization that someone would want to work for. Communication is the main cause for the many downfalls including lack of good management skills. Hopefully in time they will see that being policemen and keeping a tight rein on staff is not good but poor management.

Having a job has eased the burden somewhat but it has also highlighted just how much more I need to survive through the month. The oil situation has affected everyone worldwide and in this country even more so due to our currency being so weak against the dollar, pound and euro. Petrol prices have soared and so too have food prices and the power company is trying hard to get the government to agree to a 53% price increase in order to carry out much needed upgrading. Sadly, our country is deteriorating fast and I am not sure how much longer we will be able to sustain poor management from government. With our current president on his way out, I shudder to think of what we have in store with the new. At the end of the day, I am still in the same situation – not enough money to make ends meet and I am not alone in this situation.

Though I have not been directly affected, we have had staff working round the clock with refugees who have been subjected to the Xenophobia attacks taking place in this country at the moment. The police and volunteers evacuated all the children and as many refugees as they could on Thursday night and housed them in shelters before the attacks against the foreigners began. It has been a barbaric situation – people being set alight, shacks burnt and shops looted. We had an appeal for blankets, clothing and food and from our own supplies, we packed cars full of items to take to the refugees. I know that a lot of these foreigners are illegal immigrants but we should show compassion to them in light of what is happening in their own country. However, it has been suggested that these Xenophobia attacks are politically motivated one of them being that “Moogarbee” is behind them to entice the Zimbabweans to go home and once there they would be subjected to brutal attacks to force them to vote for him. Speculation or the truth? Anyhoo Friday was a busy day as mostly white ex-Zimbabweans donated as much as they could to help those in need. These whites have had their own share – husbands murdered and farms taken away from them but yet they rallied together to help those who have been subjected to cruel dictatorship in their own country.

I could easily be here right now.

Cabin



A few weeks ago my brother and father took a fishing trip to the Drakensberg area in Kwazulu-Natal and also had the opportunity of going into Lesotho and up the Sani Pass. As I was basking in the last of the summer sun, they experienced snow. I was gobsmacked that it was already snowing up country. Winter did not take long to reach us.

Sani Pass



Besides trout fishing and pub crawling, they managed to take a few bush drives to view some game.

Donkey in Striped Pyjamas Zebra



Tall Horse Giraffe



More Tall Horses Mom, Dad and Baby Giraffe



My brother took over 600 photographs and I promised him that I would scrap an album for him. The photographs were stunning and the one's I posted here, I edited free online by using picnik.com - a fabulous photo editing website.

Next time I will tell you all about Baby, my only source of companionship when I get home and when we have blackouts.

Till then - be good and thank you sooooo much for dropping by.