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May 8, 2004 posting, by Jim
We're leaving for Edmonton in a few days to see friends and family and to
do some work with the organization there, including fund raising. The last
seven days have been very productive and very draining because of the long
hours and the intensity of the work, but we're leaving with a strong feeling
of accomplishment. Here have been the days:
On Friday April 30th three new volunteers arrived: Pam and Jessica Kirkwood
(mother and daughter) and Colleen Vallee. Pam will be here until early to mid-June,
Jessica until June 25th and Colleen for a year or more.
On Saturday May 1st Chris and I met with the Ikewzi group of women from another
community as part of the Reichenau business training for women entrepreneurs.
We agreed that we will help them build their sewing and beading enterprise
in return for their help in teaching sewing and beading to the women of Ndawana.
We were also interviewed by a local journalism student. On Saturday night we
had a very long meeting with our new volunteers to set out the week’s
schedule and introduce them to our work.
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| Community meeting. |
On Sunday May 2nd we had a community meeting to tell the community about the
new design for the community centre that will use indigenous materials, provide
much more work for community members, be much larger than the original box we
envisioned, and be a beautiful and functional centre that we believe will be
a draw for eco-tourism as well as serving the community as a gathering point.
The building was designed by architects from the University of Witwatersrand
and was eagerly embraced by community decision-makers. The meeting dealt with
a number of other issues, and was well-attended. Chris stayed at home to catch
up on the accounting for the organization.
On Monday May 3rd we met with the team and Chris met with the beading women
to deal with a number of current issues. The meetings took the best part
of the day.
On Tuesday May 4th we finally decided that the Merc has to go, though it will
be used very locally until we return from Edmonton. I picked up the trailer
in Maritzburg, where it had been for a retrofit. Chris met here with the
leader of the Ikwezi group. In the evening we had a party for the May birthdays,
including Jabulile, Jessica, and Jabulile's grandson. As always for parties
here, our resident staff and their families attended. In case we haven't
said so, our staff of Victoria, Theresa and Alfred obviously have Zulu names,
which they prefer and we now use exclusively, of Balindile, Jabulile and
Mtunzi.
On Wednesday May 5th Chris and two Ndawana team members set out for Mzimkulu
(135 km.) at 6:15 AM to pick up the agriculture inspector for our building
site. Phelelani and Khali had spent the night here so they could get an early
start. The volunteers and I met them in Underberg at 9 so that Chris, Colleen,
Phelelani and Matukiso (Mrs. Mohloali, whom I had picked up from the taxi
at 8 and brought back here for tea and toast) could attend a regional health
meeting to talk with them about how the Kwazulu-Natal provincial health system
can help us get our clinic up and running. Meanwhile Tim, Pam, Jessica, Khali
and I set out for Ndawana, with the agriculture inspector, to finish the
process of approval for the community centre site. Afterwards, we fed the
chief and his Induna (senior advisors) along with the agriculture man, in
a celebration of completion of the provincial approval process. The agriculture
inspector measured the land (two hectares) and filled in a form, but that
step was vital and took place much sooner than we expected. Afterward, Phelalani,
Khali and I took the inspector back to Mzimkulu. We arrived home after 5
PM, and Phelalani and Khali spent the night here again.
Thursday Tim, Jessica and Colleen started at the Underberg clinic, then went
to Ndawana to work with the mobile clinic, which had five staff on that day.
That was the most nurses the people had seen for the entire year previous
to Thursday. We attribute that to the regional meeting in Underberg the day
before and our attendance there. We have had several similar experiences
lately which indicate that our presence here and in Ndawana is starting to
get attention to problems in Ndawana that have been previously ignored for
years. Meanwhile, four of the Ndawana team members spent the day here sorting
clothing, blankets and shoes for distribution to Ndawana orphans, under the
supervision of Pam. Also that day, Chris met with the Ikwezi women here for
some more training.
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| Clothing distribution. |
On Friday, Colleen spent the day with Busisiwe in Underberg at a Family Literacy
meeting, while the rest of the team took the clothing and other donated items
to Ndawana. The morning started with a beading meeting attended by Chris and
Jessica, while Pam, Tim and I met with the joint chiefs to discuss the new building
some more, and talk about how we gather thatch grass for roofing the building.
This is the season for gathering thatch, and by the time Chris and I return from
Edmonton it will be too late to gather. The chiefs and elders were very supportive
and promised they would allocate the entire crop of thatch grass for this year
to the community centre. We protested that enough should be saved to provide
for the roofing needs of families, but they insisted that everyone can wait a
year for the next crop. The rest of the day (about five hours) was dedicated
to distributing the clothing etc. This meant driving over roads, tracks and grass
slopes to every house that was reachable by truck and carrying to those that
were not.
On Saturday we attended the wedding and reception of a Reichenau trainer. Hard
to work in one more thing, but it helped cement our relationships with the
Reichenau people. It was also lots of fun. There’s a story there, but
no space to tell it.
Major events scheduled for our Edmonton visit, along with many meetings,, include:
Thursday May 19, 1:00 PM, live radio interview on the Leslie Primeau show,
6:30 CHED
Friday May 21, 'Into Africa with Love and Hope' A benefit dinner for Edzimkulu
Sunday, May 30, 12:00-1:00 PM, Robertson Wesley United Church Talk
Saturday, June 5, AGM 10:00 AM, Craft Sale to follow 1:00 PM, Riverdale hall
Monday, June 7, Holy Family Parish St. Albert 7:00 PM talk
Saturday, June 19, Beach volleyball tournament in support of Edzimkulu
Thanks for reading through all that. We try to keep these updates shorter,
but this is our busiest and most productive time yet, and we wanted to share
that with you. We hope to see many of you while we’re in Edmonton.
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