Hi,

This is just a short blog post, because I haven't written one this week. Last weekend was a long weekend so Monday was a public holiday. I went to GFLC church for a father's day service which was fun. The sunday school kids performed a drama which was funny. The pastor asked all the fathers and young men to go up to the front and I went up with Lunga to the front (even though I am not a father). We were each given a black beanie and a pen, which was cool. I had a relaxed weekend. Sandi told me the deadline for the newsletter had been extended so it meant I didn't have to rush to finish it. On Monday I slept in late for the first time in ages. The centre was closed till Tuesday so they provided me with a 'box of goodies' (as they called it) which had in it meals for me to heat up at the cottage (fish and chips and macaroni cheese, yum).

This week I have been working on the newsletter, it has been a rather slow process as I am still waiting for one more article to be added to it. Yesterday I arranged plans to go to Capetown before I leave. The plan at the moment is to fly to Johannesburg on the 8th July and meet Hloni there and we will go on a roadtrip down to Cape Town (it is a very long drive). We will return to Johannesburg on Saturday the 14th July and I fly back home the next day. But despite the long drive, I am excited about seeing Cape Town as I have heard so much about how great it is.  

This morning when I woke up there was no running water in our cottage and then today at the office there was no network so the internet did not work. I have to admit, I am looking forward to all the comforts of being back home and having everything at my disposal (hot showers, power all the time, wireless internet, electric heating, the list goes on . .)

My box of goodies

 Hi,

On Tuesday Michael Cassidy came to speak at devotion. He spoke about his book 'The Church that Jesus prayed for' and gave out handouts with excerpts from his book. He mostly spoke about truth and that truth is not just fact but anything that coheres with the mind of God. He was also talking about heaven and after reading a book called 'Heaven' he said he is actually excited about dying. Because the foxfires did a dance before he spoke, he made a comment like 'If I had joined the foxfires in their dance, I could have died here right now' which was funny. Afterwards we had tea and Michael came up and spoke to me. He said sorry to hear that my grandfather passed and gave me a hug. Then he put his hand on me and prayed for me. It was quite moving.

Songe invited me back to his place on Tuesday night to stay the night as he felt I needed some family company at this time. I met his wife and his daughter. It was very nice and also his flat was so warm compared to the cottage. It was good to get away for one night and stay somewhere else.

Yesterday I went with the Foxfire team to a Youth Expo at City Hall. We were there from 8:30 to about 2pm. Tarryn and I were there to take photos. The expo was targeted for unemployed graduates so there were career counsellors there and also members from the Army and the Airforce there trying to recruit people. It was a good day, except that most of the speakers spoke in Zulu. I have attached some photos from it.

I have just heard that the next African Horizons newsletter needs to be done by Tuesday, which is very late notice. Sandi originally told me the end of June. I am still waiting on the articles and pictures to be sent to me so I can start work on it. The next few days will be very busy (I might have to work on it over the weekend aswell).

Me and Julian ( the Foxfire director)

Me with Danica

Hi,

I was going to post something last week but didn't get to. Last Saturday (1st June) I went to the Royal show with Geri and Shanna. It is a big annual event held in Pietermaritzburg which goes for 10 days. We were there for the second last day so it was very crowded. There were exhibitions and shows, farm animals aswell as a funfair. It was a fun day. I didn't go on any rides, but Shanna went on four. There was also a small snake park there, which was one of the highlights of the day.

I considered rushing home last week to be with the family after hearing about Grandpa's passing, but I felt that this was the right place to be. Though I found it hard at the start of last week, I felt so blessed and all the staff have been really supportive. It felt like a week of deaths - a former foxfire Sanele Dlomo died at the age of 24 and Marne's bird Simba also died (they buried him in the backyard). In addition to doing the order of service for Grandpa's thanksgiving service, I also designed the program for Sanele's funeral which was on Saturday. His friend wrote out the whole program for me in Zulu and asked me to type it out. This was a challenge as I had no idea whether what I was typing made sense or not (fortunately he did come back and check the spelling).

On Sunday I went to City Harvest church with the foxfires. It was a really cold day. We had to wait for 3 hours after church to be picked up. While we were standing on the street, they were picking out possible girlfriends for me from those walking past and then trying to persuade me to go up to them and ask them out. I don't know what it is about Africa, but everyone here is so keen for me to find a girlfriend. It was quite funny.

Shanna at the Royal show