Daily Archives: August 6, 2009

06 August 2009

06 August 2009 – Thursday

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The morning sky looked like it was going to be a dark, rainy day but although the sky stayed threatening, it did not rain.

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It was a morning of taking care of business. First I went to the municipality building and visited my friends at the Water and Sewer Connection desk to try and get the water flowing again in Esikhawini. Knele – we are on a first name basis – made a couple of calls and we both crossed our fingers that someone would take care of it. Next we both had our hair cut at Images. We then went to the mall where Mary had her latest Book of Mormon Bingo game laminated while I went to the store – which is in the same section of the mall – for some things we needed.

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On our way to Port Durnford we stopped by the Esikhawini chapel and found nothing had been done with the water. So I called Knele and told her that we still had the problem. She transferred me to someone who was really not happy to talk to me but said that someone else would call me. We then continued to the Nzamas where we had our weekly English class.

If you are ever in Port Durnford and want to find the chapel, all you need to do is go down the only paved road in the area until you see this sign and look opposite the way the arrow points and there is the chapel. Mary, Thandi and I sat up for youth. Thandi Nzama is the YW president and is learning her calling. The last pictures show the youth learning the 7th and 8th Article of Faith and playing Book of Mormon Bingo. They really liked the game and everyone won at least once.

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After the meeting I was taking some pictures and of course everyone wanted their picture taken. The picture on the right is of Siya who lives in a small room near the chapel. He is a very smart young man and could be an excellent leader but he is still trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life. The middle picture shows him sharing some of his bingo ‘winnings” with the small children that live in the front house. He always shares anything he gets with them – it just comes natural to him.

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These are just scenes I shot near the chapel. The woman was dropped off by a taxi and is gathering up her shopping to walk down that road to her home. Sometimes the women will be met by a young man with a wheelbarrow if the load is too big for one trip. The middle picture shows how you start to build a small traditional round house but using block instead of rocks, mud and wattle. They recently tore down an older house just a few feet away. Almost every homestead has a garden where they grow cabbage, onion, spinach, beet root, and in this case peppers. Usually they are maintained by the women, but this particular one is cared for by a man.

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As we were leaving the chapel to take Thandi home they started to burn the cane field just across the street. This is the first time we have seen a non-professional burn and it will be interesting to see if they were able to keep it under control. In the big fields – and there was one being burned as we drove out of Esikhawini – they are carefully controlled. The picture on the right is a typical truck load of workers being taken home. They pretty much pack them in and of course when they have an accident there are usually a number of deaths.

Yeah! We stopped again at the Esikhawini chapel and found that a crew had just finished closing up the hole after fixing the water problem. I thanked them a number of times before rushing off for home so I could drop off Mary before going to District Council Meeting.

I have come to enjoy the Council Meetings because it allows me to see the kindness, wisdom and practicality of President Baldwin as he deals with a district that really is short on trained MP and has a number of problems most Stake Presidents do not have to deal with. I am not fond of 2 hours meetings of any kind, but his seem that long. But I must say that I was happy to finally get home and to be able to relax.