The past week and weekend

It’s been long since I last wrote. I have been to busy living and reminiscing.
Its time for an update!

Last week I went to two school launches, at the launches there was so much joy and excitement of becoming a Star for Life school. With this they had a programme filled with songs, speeches and performances that were wonderful and inspiring.

The past weekend was calm, but still with few happenings. On Friday early afternoon, I went to “my” school and had a meeting with the “partnership society” students. This is a society I helped create a month ago. This coming weekend, Hlengiwe (the teacher I work with) want to take these 20 students for an educational fieldtrip to one of the Zulu battle fields. This battle field was one of the places where the Zulus fought the British for emancipation. Hlengiwe and I found out that the costs was almost 20 pounds per student (this incl. museum visit, tour guide, visiting the battle fields, transport and lunch), which way too much for the students to afford, and the school has no funds to provide for this trip either. In our society we are now trying to fundraise for this money. On Sat there was an activity day at the school, so we decided we would try and sell a few things to students and teacher. I went home to bake some Swedish cinnamon buns that we would sell together with other foods. We knew this would not give us a lot, but at least it would be a start.

Saturday morning I woke up at 7am, to help the family I live with plant seedlings in a big area of land that they cultivate. They had been up since 4 to plant and when I woke up they had got halfway. I spent 4 n half hours digging holes and planting tomatoes, green peppers, onion and cabbage. After planting them we filled buckets of water to water them with. Even though it was tiring, I liked the feeling of being barefoot in the soil and working with my hands to plant own food. After that I had to get myself clean from all the mud and head to the school with my buns. At the school “my” students were already busy selling. It was wonderful to see them so committed to what they were doing and the eagerness to sell as much as possible. At the beginning, when we started discussing the means of fundraising, they all seemed to see this as a “mission impossible”, as if they are incapable of raising any money, but as soon as they got into it they started thinking like true entrepreneurs. At the end of the day we made 410 rand (about 30 pounds), which was over our expectations.

When I headed “home” after helping the students, a friend from the office (Mdu) came to drop of a car. He stopped outside the fence and signalled me to fetch him water. I quickly got water and went down with it. He stood on the other side of the gate and told me he had just carried a dead body in the van and this was just their traditional belief, he had to cleanse out any evil spirit that might have followed. He took the water and poured it over some leaf branches that he was holding. He then sprinkled the water from the leaves inside the car and on the outside of the car. Thereafter, he washed his hands before he drove the car through the fenced gate.


On Sunday morning, I was awakened not only by the rooster, but by songs that sounded more like enchanted screaming. I looked over the road to the hill on the other side and saw a group of people standing together, dressed in some kind of “churchly” outfits. I asked the girls what was going on, they said it was a funeral ceremony. I understood it must have been the body Mdu had carried in the car.

Sunday afternoon I picked up the school choir (from the school I work at); they were going to perform to some Swedish guests at a private game lodge. I brought them to the place where I stay to practice. They are AMAZING. Sunday, the whole day evolved around getting them to the reserve. At 19.45 they sang to around 20 Swedish guests during their dinner at the Game Reserve. They were so confident and by the looks of the visitors they managed to impress and amaze. Am so proud of them! At around 9, I drove a few of them home.

I only have 9 days left in S. Africa. I feel sad thinking about it, but at the same time I really miss my family and friends and can’t wait to see them. At this moment I dread the 12th of May, which is the day I have to get on the airplane and make the long journey home to the “cold”.