Hi All, We are definitely trying to get
back into putting up a blog every few weeks or so…so here goes.
End
of the Month (Again)
I write this about 6am on Thursday 27 Sept.
End of the month always very very exciting in Swaziland…the folks that have
paying jobs, about 99% get paid once a month, and this is at the end of
month…so town gets a little crazy with everyone collecting pay---usually the
money is dropped into an individuals bank account, and since very very few have
checking accounts, and this is cash society, almost everyone queues up at ATMS
to withdraw all their pay in cash….as a result, not unusual to see lines of
50-60 people at ATMs ( which frequently run out of cash!), and town is a
madhouse with folks buying what they need for the next month….we usually try to
avoid town, this week J…
Report
Cards, Report Cards, Report Cards
Africa is on January—December academic
year, three terms in Swaziland. The First Term 24 Jan to 20 April, Second Term
8 May to 17 August, and Third Term 18 September to 7 December. Thankfully the Third Term started on time…and
as I think you may remember we had a ten week teachers strike, that started
early in Term Two….anyhow, tomorrow the report cards for Term Two come out, and
will be most interesting to see what happens. With 29 children in school, of
course we have great interest—and not sure if all the kids will be passed, due
to the strike, or if almost all will fail, because of no marking, or what….all
we know for now is that the children will get report cards…..who knows what
they will look like, or how the schools will be able to give grades !
September
Newsletter/ Internet Connection
I trust by now most of you have seen the
“Special Edition” Newsletter, we sent out about a week ago. It is posted on
website if you have not seen it. It was due out end of October, but we moved up
publication due to planned Internet termination. To make a very long story
short—only one cell service provider in Swaziland, MTN ( that is why our cell
costs are 10 times what they are in USA!)..but in May 2011 Swaziland Post and
Telecommunication (SPTC- the govt post office) announced a wireless, internet
service…that we have been using, gratefully. MTN sued SPTC in International Court,
claiming they had been granted a monopoly for wireless service…and MTN won. It
was announced that the SPTC Internet service was going away 21 September….and
we would be back to walking into town—60 minutes—and going to internet café for
service ( or using my MTN serviced cellphone). So now we are back into walking to town for
internet, hoping the café is open, has power, etc., dodging computer viruses,
and all in all much slower performance, and lots more difficulty downloading
photos, etc. Ugh. Keep the emails, photos coming, and please be patient if takes
a little while for us to respond properly.
September
Weather Wettest in History
Seems like everywhere else on the planet,
the weather patterns here are a little screwed up…when we moved to Africa, June
2010—November 2010…we had no rain, as it was winter/dry. Then our first summer
( Dec 2010—March 2011) it rained a LOT, and all was a mud puddle. Winter 2011 (
May-August) was coldest on record, we burned a fire for heat every night from
Mothers Day to Labour Day. Then our second summer ( Dec 2011-March 2012) much
dryer than normal, especially compared to our first. And this last winter
(May—August 2012) much much milder, only burned fire about 3 nights weekly. And
now the rains have come….we have had more rain in first three weeks of
September than any prior Sept in history. The farmers are happy, as are the
children because we have had several swimming ponds ( we call them dams) pop
up, and lots of impromptu swimming taking place…..as for future weather, all we
know is summer is coming fast, and things are getting green, growing like
crazy, and trees blossoming. It is a beautiful, warm, sunny time in Africa,
with morning sunup around 5:15am….
9
September—Baptism for 14, And Even Earlier Than Planned !
In the latest newsletter, we had a nice
write-up, with photo about the Baptism we held for the 14 children that had
arrived since Sept 2010. Here is part of the story, that did not make it into
the newsletter. You might remember that our very first weekend here…we baptised
all 22 children in town at Holy Trinity Anglican Church. Well, the time had
come, to baptise the 14 children that had arrived since Sept 2010…and our plan
was that we would do this Baptism, in Education Center on the grounds here, at
1:30PM Sunday 9 Sept. All was made ready, food was being prepared for about 50
in attendance, we were making Ed Centre ready with seating, decorations,
etc…when at 11:30am the Pastor, and the delegation from town arrived ! Seems
somehow we got wires crossed, and we all KNEW the time was set for 1:30pm, and
the Pastor and all from town thought 11:30am ! Anyhow, as we say in Africa, we “made
a plan” and on the fly notified all that the Baptisms would take place at noon.
Thankfully, as all the children are resident here, there were minimal logistics
issues…..and we still had all the food ready to serve after the service around
1:30pm. The service was good, all that needed to attend did arrive in time, and
the meal was great also…and we finished a couple hours earlier than planned !!
Kind of like throwing a party, and having all the guests arrive two hours early
!
Happy
Birthday Grandad, Hatch, and Livvy !
Big week for birthdays this week with three
on the 25th. We were grateful to be able to call Columbus around 7PM
( Africa time) Tuesday, to wish Grandad Messick well on his 85th
birthday. It was great to hear his voice and talk for a few minutes. And also
Tuesday Hatch/Livvy celebrated birthday # 2….so Happy Birthday—again to the two
little ones !! We miss everyone, but are busy and the days continue to fly
by….with never enough time to do all that needs to get done.
And Troy we are especially thinking of you,
getting ready to go off to Basic Training in mid-October, and we know your
“going-away” party is set for 6 October…so we must talk before you head off,
and perhaps during the party.
That’s all for now. All good here. Healthy.
Happy. Love to all.
Cheers !
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