An Update

Since I've started my other blog I haven't really thought to update this blog! (I do apologize)

Winter has come and gone, Spring/ Summer is here and I must say I have been quite busy these past few months:  I am still working at Tuks (my 'day job' doing admin at the university),  I am still studying towards my degree (BA Linguistics & International Politics... urgh it's slow going) and since my last update I have started freelancing! Yes, my diploma in audio engineering is not going to waste!

The freelancing is quite exciting, it's mostly corporate shows (conferences etc) but it's doing something that I love (sound) and it's a really nice feeling to finally be working on building my career in a professional environment (as opposed to the 'volume control management' I did in the bush bush) :-)

To chronicle my new adventures as a freelance tech I started my other blog (but you have to be on the list to access it - so drop me a line and I'll add you!)

Till next time!

PS. I finally bought a car! A very cute Honda Jazz (Honda Fit) 1.4dsi 2008 model, in Milano Red. I like it! :-D

Dassieklip Farm

I've just had a lovely getaway! I spent the majority of the past week on Dassieklip farm (near Volksrust) where Kobus & Mariaan, friends of my parents live. 

View of Dassieklip Farm

Arriving at the farm - Bala with her head out the window!  (photo by Ani)

We went there for a break and also to get the wooden chest I'd bought on the drive down from Pemba fixed. It felt like April had more public holidays than workdays (which was really nice) so apart from the 2 days I had to be back in Pretoria for work, Bala and I were at the farm for 7 days! It was loads of fun:

I spent quite a bit of time in the work-shed working on my box: It had to be sanded down completely, which meant doing each side - inside and outside - with 7 different grades of sandpaper! After that was done, the bottom had to be replaced, and 'feet' put on to give it some ground clearance. I probably worked on it for a total of 4 days...


The old stone work-shed

Inside the work-shed

Me sanding the chest

The finished (Smooth and Shiny) chest ...albeit upside-down and back to front in this photo!

The farm is pretty much located where the Free State, KZN and Mpumalanga Provinces meet, so its fairly chilly! It's not a working farm as such, they have 3 horses (Mike, Misha and Jasmine), 2 sheep (Poplap and Meh) and a smattering of cows on the hills (the cows actually belong to the owner of the farm).

Bala meeting the sheep (photo by Ani)

Karlien (the horses' owner) on Mike and her puppy Toffee (photo by Ani)

I also had the opportunity to go riding! I'm still nice and sore, but it was totally worth it :-)

Me riding Mike with Bala running alongside (photo by Ani)

Me and Misha

There are plenty of things/places to explore:

Me sitting on the cliffs (photo by Ani) 

Plenty of open veld to ride: Karlien and I riding with Jasmine running with us

Some old-fashioned farm implements were still laying around... (photo by Ani) 

At night the stars were so bright! [Southern Cross and Alpha Centauri] (photo by Ani) 

My sister (who was there for 3 days with her husband) and I also had some quality sibling time

And of course, we HAD to have a braai!  [Sarel, my Dad and Kobus]

Bala also had a blast - she and Toffee became great friends and at times could be seeing chasing each other round and round playing like crazy!  Bala also loved barking at the sheep, the cattle and she even had a go at the little filly, Jasmine (although she soon realised it was best not to mess with a horse!)  When we went out riding she would run full speed next to us, bounding over the grass. She was usually exhausted by the time it got dark, and I'd find her curled up all alone in the bedroom, fast fast asleep :-) 

But now it's back to work. I start my exams soon too, so I guess I have to study at some point :-S

Back in SA...

I'm back in South Africa (nearly 2 months already!) and I've sorta settled into life in the 'civilized' world! I'm really enjoying it.

I continue to study full-time thru a correspondence university here in Pretoria, called UNISA (University of South Africa) - I am doing a BA (General) with majors in Linguistics and International Politics, and a minor in Portuguese. I've only ever taken one or 2 modules per semester, so now that I have a full course load it's pretty intense. But I'm excited, I should finally graduate June 2010.

I also found a job! I am working for the Faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria - I am administrating a Government bursary called Funza Lushaka, which is specifically intended to help Education students. It's a lot of work, and quite challenging - no 2 days are the same!


An aerial view of the Groenkloof Campus where I spend my working days
(the tall buildings are the student residences)


The campus is quite pretty - with lots of green!

The job unfortunately doesn't pay enough for me to rent an apartment nor buy a car, so I am living back with my parents and borrowing a car. It's quite an adjustment after having lived on my own for the past 7 years... but with that said, I'm really happy to be back in SA, its a new season and I'm excited to see how things pan out!

Ilha de Moçambique

On the way down to South Africa I took the opportunity to stop on Ilha de Moçambique for 2 nights - its a beautiful little island - very run-down, but oh so picturesque! There are not much in terms of museums, but they were busy renovating the São Sebastião Fort, which houses the Chapel of Nossa Senhora de Baluarte, thought to be the oldest European building in the Southern Hemisphere. The island, which is only 3.5km across, used to be an important part in the slave trade, and today there is still a very big difference between the largely uninhabited "Stone Built Town" and the over-populated "Macuti Town" - its like there is an unspoken divide on the island...

Ilha de Moçambique is on the UNESCO's World Heritage List and totally worth the visit!

Here are some photos - click on the thumbnails to get a bigger picture.

Final Dive in Pemba

Just before I left Pemba, I was sponsored to go for a final dive!



It was easily one of the most beautiful dives I've been on - visibility was fantastic and the bright sunlight streamed in and illuminated the vibrant colors of the coral reef! We saw a Napoleon Wrass, an Octopus hiding under a rock, Scorpion fish, Trumpet Fish and lots more.





It was a great way to say goodbye to Pemba!

Happy New Year

I welcomed the New Year on the beach out at Maringanha with Jacinto, Katie, Raphael, Ana, Jessie and Rui - and of course my dog Bala had a blast running around chasing crabs!



The sky was clear and the stars bright as we built a fire in the sand


and roasted marshmallows to make 'smores'


and to add the usual African flair to the festivities, the guys cooked pork...

As midnight approached we made sure to keep a close eye on the clock. But when our cellphones displayed 00:00 we realized an important thing: We had totally forgotten to countdown! So we promptly started a countdown - and when we reached '1', the few cheap fireworks Rapha and Ana had bought at a store in town were meant to go off. But they didn't, so we counted down again and finally halfway thru our 3rd countdown they lit up the beach.


We were all laughing quite a bit by then!

It was a fun way to spend New Years and I wish you all a wonderful and prosperous 2009!

A Final Project

I was doing movie night for the kids one night a few weeks ago and was shocked at what they had. 150 eager eyes were focussed on a small TV and the dodgy DVD player kept skipping and jumping throughout the movie. This really wasn't fair - we are a children's ministry after all! So I decided to tackle it as my final project here. With a very kind donation from South Africa, I was able to install a projector and Media Player in the library, and now ALL the kids can actually see the movie!

It took me about 3 weeks to get the entire DVD collection converted to divX format and loaded onto the Media Player. It was over 100 DVDs! Most of them are bible stories, but there are cartoons (Tom & Jerry) and also a few Disney movies. All in Portuguese of course!


Mark Mozely helped me put up the cage that John Woollet had designed for the projector - but my drill stopped working just as we were about the put in the final two screws on the front. So in true Iris style we improvised and used nails instead. They were really really really long nails, so we only hammered them in halfway - but now it looks kinda ghetto! But at least it's up and works like a dream!



The first time they used it was on Christmas day and the kids loved it!!

Christmas (round 2)

Merry Christmas (again!) Today went by so quickly, but it was busy busy busy!

It started this morning 9am with handing out of gifts - all the kids got a little gift bag which had been bought from money raised by the children of the Valley Brook Community Church, CT and I helped Jessie hand out the gifts to the Tias, Tios and their kids.



Then we headed down to the church for a live nativity play which was organized and performed by the visitors.




It was great, really well done - they even used a real horse to take Mary to Bethlehem!



After the play, all the Iris kids and missionaries went to the refectory and enjoyed a great chicken lunch. It was family time, and it was really nice.


Then the real fun and games started - feeding all the villagers...

Over the past 3 years our strategy for keeping things organized and calm has evolved into a system that works very well! It has taken some time refining it, but I think we finally have it down!

From the front gate they were let in in groups of 20, holding hands and then via the church they made their way to the refectory - all the while being led hand in hand!


At the entrance to the refectory porch their hands were checked for a purple mark, and if they were un-marked they were let in.


At the door to the refectory they were filed in single file, handed a coke/fanta and a plate of food then directed to a seat.

As soon as they were done eating they joined the 'exit' line, where they were searched for food and plates before being let out. As they exited their palms were marked with a bit of gentian violet and each of the kids got a toy or some candy.



(Gentian Violet is used in wound care, and leaves a nice purple stain which lasts about a day or 2 before it washes off, so it was great to control who had already eaten)

Then they made their way back down to the front gate and went home!


We fed 2500 people today, all in just 2 1/2 hours!

After it was all done, the missionaries got together for a BBQ at John & Margaret's, where we ate and chatted till late!
Mark and Bridget, BBQ Chefs!

And for dessert Jessie baked a cake, and as an homage to the cold American christmas she was missing, I decorated the cake!

Then Jessie, Bala and I went to Maringanha and lay on the beach looking at the stars. It was gorgeous!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas also!

Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas from a HOT Pemba, Moçambique!



Tonight was the annual candlestick fight, or as many in more conservative circles would know it as: "Christmas Eve Candlelight Service".


But I'll stick to 'Annual Candlestick Fight', as it more aptly describes what happens when you give 180 kids a lit candle! But it was loads of fun! (someone also described it as: The Candle Relight Service - well what would you expect?? Haha! Give a child a candle and he will blow it out! - and promptly try to relight it, and then it becomes a game to see who can blow out his neighbors candle...) but it still was fun!



Here I am with Selso, he's the son of our Bible School director. Selso loves taking Bala (my dog) for walks, so he was an instant friend!


Mark and Jen Mozley with Arcelmo, one of our newest kids - he came to live with us 2 days ago!


For Christmas, we all chipped in and gave our laundry lady, Veronica, a chicken, a bag of rice and some clothes, toys and candy for her 5 kids. I drove her out to her house in the village cos it was all a bit much to carry, but I left the camera at home (I'm still kicking myself for that!) She has quite a nice house - here in Mozambique the woman own the house, and they tend to invest in their houses instead of spending their wages on alcohol. So for the past year, Veronica has been putting her income into improving her house - by putting on a decent tin roof and matopi (mud) on the walls. It was really good to see that she has been making such a good investment!


I was tasked with trying to find a chicken - You'd think it would be easy... The first chicken seller I found was in the middle of Natite Market, and he asked me to marry him in the same breath as the price of the chicken. My polite refusal was met with astonishment and immediately he asked me "But why not?!!?" - my answer, "Because I dont want to" was met with another "But why???" Needless to say, I left quickly and went on an expedition to find another chicken seller. I finally found one and bought this chicken, and as I walked away the chicken seller ran after me, and said 'Excuse me, but will you marry me?' And yet again (I just copy pasted): My polite refusal was met with astonishment and immediately he asked me "But why not?!!?" - my answer, "Because I dont want to" was met with another "But why???" Haha, it was pretty funny - 2 proposals in one day! But at least I had the chicken! She lived in our back yard for a day, and Bala had to stay in the house - she liked chasing the chicken!

And this is the bag of rice we bought her:


Until tomorrow, when we have Christmas (round 2)...!

Christmas (round 1)

We are having 2 christmases this year - the first one was December 13th and ALL our kids got gifts. It took nearly a month to get all the gift bags prepared, and even though I helped a bit, most of the work was done by Jessie and Tanya.

The day itself was quite busy - gift giving started at 4pm and lasted late into the night. I opted to stay at the 'Christmas Room' and get the bags ready to be sent down to the rooms as they were needed. Heidi personally gave each child their gift, and she spent a few minutes with each one as they unpacked their gift bags.



Jessie also got a chance to sit and have some fun with Victor - usually she has to run around organizing things, but there were some helpful visitors, so she got some quality time too!

Each of the gift bags contained a ton of goodies, most of which have been collected over the past 2 years by Iris UK and shipped over in a huge shipping container.

Inside a Girlie Bag: (We packed over 50 of these!)
*Stuffed Toy/ Doll
*Board Game
*Earrings/ Bracelets/ Necklaces/ Rings
*Nail Polish
*Hair bands/ Hair clips/ Hair extensions
*Candy
*Cookies
*Underwear
*2 sets of clothes
*Deodorant
*Toothbrush


Inside a Boyish Bag (we packed over 120 of them!)
*Toy Car/Truck
*Ball
*Board/Card Game
*Baseball cap
*Candy
*Cookies
*Underwear
*2 sets of clothes
*Deodorant
*Toothbrush

On real christmas day there will be a special chicken dinner, and then each of the kids will get another little gift, just something small - and this includes all the village kids who will join us, as well as the kids from Mieze and Noviane. Also, there are plans in the works for a candlelight service for the 24th!