Armstrong Arrival – Margreet’s Musings

State Side Sightings 1

South Africa Sightings 8

South Africa Sightings 7

South African Sightings 6

South Africa Sightings 5

South Africa Sightings 4

South Africa Sightings 3

South Africa Sightings 2

Monday:

We are up at six and after a leisurely breakfast are ready for our eight o’clock pick up. We drive to Pretoria first as Reinhild’s laptop had ‘crashed’ and needed to be looked at. Thankfully it turned out to be a loose hard drive.

We finally got under way, with two cars, at eleven. By this time rush hour was pretty well finished and we could make good time on the 350km trip. We did have lunch half way and arrived in Dirkiesdorp around four. 

While Margreet and Reinhild drove on to Piet Retrief(50km) to go grocery shopping, Nico and Henk got to cleaning the house. They did have to break in as the key for the outside door wouldn’t turn. After removing the pins from the hinges they were able to get in and get to work. 

After a, for us, late supper we walked back to ‘our’ house which is a hundred meters from the other home. Thankfully we had flashlights as by this time it was really dark and the main menace along the path are cow pies. 

After inspecting the main bedroom we opted for the smaller bedroom. The latter has a ceiling whereas the master bedroom goes right up to the thatched roof and bats have found places to hang.

Tuesday: 

We again got up just before six as we had to catch a ride to the Themba centre leaving at seven. We arrived at the start of morning devotions and afterwards were introduced to the 30 or so black South African staff. 

As the Themba site was developed over a number of plots of land a few km apart it is quite a challenge to get from one part to the next. Reinhild took us around to the school and the separate dormitories for the boys and girls (89 boys and 95 girls grade 6 to 12). We also had a quick look at the preschool where we will have our jobs with fixing cracks and painting the kitchen area.

Although the mornings are cool it does get quite warm and as we are 2500 meters (Ed: I'm guessing 'above sea level'), have to be more careful not to get sunburn. 

After getting home we fixed the toilet: there was a blocked filter inside the water tank. While Margreet was taking a shower Henk chased a bat out of the bedroom. This one must have sneaked in as we hadn’t closed the door properly. It finally was chased down the hallway (Henk only took out one light bulb) into the living room where it hopefully will find its way out again.

Margreet made supper for us –Reinhild had driven back to Johannesburg-and we made it an early night.

Wednesday: 

We have a quick breakfast and walk down to the gate to wait for Nico. It is about 4 km on a pretty rough road to get down to the main road. On the way we pick up two of the workers. After devotions it is a bit of mayhem as Ntula changed money, got air credit, swapped SIM cards and found Henry to install the appropriate program on the laptop. So hopefully this all works and we should be ‘back in business’ internet access wise.  

Themba Photos

South Africa Sightings 1 (Senegal Sightings 15)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARGREET March 2

Senegal Sightings 14

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The link above does not work but following is one that does:    http://www.thembatrust.org/

Senegal Sightings 13

Senegal Sightings 12 (Margreet’s Musings #2)

Safely back in Dakar

(Sunday, February 24, 2013  and Henk and Margreet want us to know they have completed the trip taken to Burkina Faso and will be updating here soon.  Ed.)

some musings...

While Henk is still in the shop finishing a project, I packed our back packs for a 4 day trip to Burkina Faso where we will spend time with my niece and her husband, Myriam and Stephane Gigandet, who work as missionaries for SIM (www.sim.ch) in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou. I know they are anxiously and excitedly awaiting our arrival tonight.

While in Ouagadougou we will also visit the Wycliffe/SIL center. Who knows where we might end up on a next trip??

Dakar was VERY cool this morning (21C). Getting ready to paint railings I had to go back to our apartment to get a sweater. Once the sun comes out, it is just fine. Ouagadougou's temperature looks a lot like the temperature we experienced last year in Chad around 35 C.

Since we will not have ready access to the internet, we will leave our lap top in Dakar and hope to send an update as soon as we return to Dakar Sunday night.

We trust that this trip will be an encouragement to Myriam and Stephane - and by extension to my sister :) - as their vision is to help girls who come off the streets by teaching them new skills that will help them in their future.

Senegal Sightings 11

SUNDAY: Sheila had the group vehicle signed out so we were able to hitch a ride to church. Strange to realize that is was our last church service in Senegal, we have really enjoyed meeting new people and will miss the pastor’s great, thought provoking messages from the book of Isaiah. (Everyone needs a Savior: ch. 53). We had to find our own way home, which we did like old pros. The taxi driver took us right through the busy side streets. Both sidewalks are taken over by stalls selling lots and lots of everything. It really is too bad that we can’t videotape it for you!

In the afternoon Sharon (the translation coordinator) asked us if we could help her getting her bed frame together. She is moving out to a rather nice (for Senegalese standards) third floor two bedroom apartment. It is only two km from the SIL center and has a view over the ocean. While there Henk also installed an extra door lock. Every time we are amazed at the reasonable rents here: Sharon will be paying $175 a month.

On Monday morning the time had arrived to partly disassemble the new kitchen to be able to get it upstairs and into the apartment. It took a bit of doing but it is in and re-assembled. Gaby and Henk have their work cut out tomorrow as the upper cabinets that should fit nicely into the corner aren’t quite doing that. The wall at that height is two inches out from square.

Inset shows Henk routing drawers.

Senegal Sightings 10

After another day of measuring, cutting, planing and other woodworking activities we walked with Ken Creech through our local shantytown across the railroad bridge and the pedestrian overpass over the six lane (!) highway to catch a taxi to have dinner at the Creech’s home.

We had a lovely meal with Ken, wife Cheryl and daughter Rachel. This family hails from the Kitchener/Waterloo area. Afterwards Ken went with us to hail a taxi and haggle about the price. We settled on 1700 ($3.50) and off we went. By now it was pretty well dark. Lots of people on the sidewalks and on the road. A lot of cyclists, motorbikes and cars without lights. Our vehicle had no seatbelts, no outside rear view mirrors, no springs and no third gear. It did have brakes and an enormous inside rear view mirror. Did I mention that the driver had little French and amazingly didn’t hit anyone or anything. We made it back to the center and gave the driver 2000 CFA (and keep the change, thank you).

Wednesday Margreet joined us to do more varnishing.

 Gaby installed the first drawers. Never realized how finicky a job it is to install the sliders properly. Sometime in the afternoon it finally dawned on Henk what Gaby had been saying about getting another sheet of plywood: he had used the piece for the countertop to make more shelves!

Margreet and Edith walked over to the next street to order take-out lunch. The Senegalese dish is called Chabi and had rice, hot peppers, cabbage, fish, manioc, grounded sweet nuts, carrots, tamarind, eggplant.

The whole dish (five servings) cost $6 and after the five of us had our fill half of it was left over. Sophie, the Senegalese center manager, was happy to take it home for her family. 

We had toast for supper after which Henk went back to do some more varnishing. 

Senegal Sightings 9

Friday: cleaning the water filter takes a bit of doing. A piece of Margreet’s banana bread is a welcome snack. (Ed: I don't see any of that banana bread so Henk must have devoured it!)

Saturday: Chris (a British literacy coordinator) invited us for some sightseeing. A taxi ride took us to the bottom of the hill where the lighthouse has been since 1864. It was a nice – not too steep- climb to the top and a great view over the airport and a part of Dakar. 

Chris suggested we walk to a little restaurant that he knew along the beach. We don’t think he realised the distance: we were okay for the five km hike as we were wearing our runners. Chris however had to put up with blisters forming what with wearing bare feet in sandals. It was a nice quiet spot with nice food and it was fun to watch the kids having fun in the tidal pool. (At the apartment the new lino was installed!)

Sunday: Sharon had again signed out the group vehicle so we made it again to the ICF church. Here we met Julie. Her parents worked with us in Cameroon and Julie would have been about nine at the time…and here she is working with CDC (Disease Control) with her husband and their 1-1/2 year old.

We went for quite a walk in the neighborhood that afternoon; we had hoped to get a bottle of coke at the nearest gas station, but that one was closed and (quite unintentionally) we took the long road back to the SIL center. Henk did some varnishing in the evening: everything takes four coats and it really takes a lot of time.

Monday: Gaby and Henk are back at it: Gaby started on the drawers while Henk did a bit more varnishing, cut a few more shelves and started on the doorframes. It all is rather labour intensive.