Adventures With The Ultimate Soccer Dad

---

Autumn is starting to ominously drudge its way into life at Komga. Sunrise is no longer at 5am and the days are noticeably shorter. When you are at an altitude of about 1/2 a mile that means cold, crisp morning air that then dissipates as the afternoon sun heats up the climate. The nights as well are beginning to cool as we can no longer sit outside comfortably with a cup of tea gazing at the sky in a t-shirt and shorts. However, the brisk night sky is clearer than anything I have ever seen as sometimes I feel I can reach out and pluck a star into the palm of my hand from the sky. With no central heating, the only way to stay warm is wearing layer upon layer of shirt, short, sweatpants and sweatshirts as winter arrives. The leaves of the deciduous trees are beginning to transform from a lush, thick shade of green to a burned brown as they prepare to fall to the ground. Autumn is also when the winds start picking up and since we are located on top of a hill, I'm sometimes surprised that I don't see children whirling around in the air when a strong gust blows by.

Term one has come to a close at Komga Junior (private school) as well as with our homeschooled children. Remarkably, we have already seen a vast improvement in our children who have left the near public schools to become homeschooled. Already, one of our 6^th grade homeschooled children has been accepted into Komga Junior which is much ahead of our goal of gaining acceptance after one year of homeschooling. It is amazing how much these children have developed after a few months of learning in a stimulated environment with dedicated and caring teachers. It shows that the environment is of the utmost importance when it comes to education. After years spent idly sitting in an overflowing, uncontrolled class (one first grade class at Morganster has 90 students with one teacher), our children have been eager for a proper education constantly absorbing new information every day. While there have been hiccups in the first term, any form of education is better than the public schools of South Africa which rank near to last in world-wide quality of education.

I am shocked and slightly forlorn to think that I am in the last quarter of my time here at Open Arms. Since I arrived, we have grown from 45 to 53 children considering our latest addition of 6 week old twins. As with our last few children, these twins arrived in poor health – dehydrated and underfed after only being nourished with a mixture flower and water since birth. After a week of being fed, nurtured and loved at Open Arms, they have both already gained about half a pound to a pound which is a significant amount considering they arrived weighing about 5 pounds. Our other 11 babies have also gone through significant growth in the past 8 months having gone from infants to toddlers; they now running around exploring everything with a curiosity that only a two year old could possess. Moreover, they are all really beginning to speak and if either Anne or I walk by the baby room, we hear chants of “AUNTIE ANNE” or “UNCLE KEVIN” as if we were rock stars (particularly Justin Bieber for our kids) walking past adoring fans. For the past month, we have been remodeling the baby rooms with new wood laminate flooring as well as new paint on all the walls which should be done in the next couple weeks. While the remodeling has been done, the babies have spent their time in a much smaller living area and I’m sure are ready to extend their legs and run around the soon-to-be finished rooms.

So I left my last blog off as I was about to take on the burger challenge. In preparation to doing this challenge, I did a little research into what food-eating professionals do before a food eating contest (like the Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest). So the day before, I stuffed myself with food that would expand my stomach. Going into the contest I felt ready to go. Another volunteer and heavy weightlifter (it has been funny to see him shrink here since there is no gym to lift with) also wanted to do the challenge and so the contest was on - not only were we trying to join the ranks of winners and get our pictures on the walls but we also wanted to beat each other.

Finally, the ill-fated night arrived where I was to attempt to eat two burgers the size of dinner plates. We sat down and announced to our waiter that we had two people intending to do the challenge. The waiter laughed and told us that we would get to know each other well over the next hour since he had to sit right next to us to ensure that there was no cheating going on.

After quite a long wait, four hostesses came out each holding one of these massive burgers since no person could carry two of these beasts at the same time. It was then we found out that EACH burger contained approximately one loaf of bread in the bun, a pound of beef, a half-pound of fries all soaked with a not so delectable tangy BBQ sauce. Moreover, of the 85,000 contestants, only 4 have succeeded and upon the arrival of the burgers, I understood why. Needless to say I gave it my all, putting on a respectable showing eating 1 and 1/4 burgers. My most impressive feat however was that I was able to hold all that food inside my bursting stomach during the bumpy car ride on our dirt road home. Jonathan had a nice showing finishing about 2/3 of one burger but he was no match for my eating ability. The leftovers of our behemoth burgers were not set to waste as we gave remaining bits to our friend Piet's dogs who put Jonathan and I to shame by making the food disappear in about 3 minutes. Needless to say, it took me several days before my stretched stomach shrunk back to its normal size.

One thing that was very important for me growing up was that my parents always went to my sporting events to support me. Therefore, I have spent as much time as I can attend (and sometimes participating in) our kids sporting events and coaching the swim teams. Therefore, when the annual Komga Junior Swimming Gala was to occur I was ready to jump in suit and all. Unfortunately, the day of the meet was on one of the few cold and rainy days we have had but the event persevered on. It was fun to see the 150 kids I have been coaching the last couple months to dive (or more often jump) into the water for the races. For the gala, the children at the private school are divided into two houses: the House of Davidson or the House of Williamson. Personally, the most important race was the Mom & Dad's race wherein I was the only "Dad" to race alongside two 4-person Mom relays. I ended up swimming a 100 meter IM and ended up quite fatigued after the race but thankfully did not lose haha. I was a part of team Davidson which always wins the swimming gala but then always loses the track meet.

In addition to the Swimming Gala, Komga Junior also had an inter-house track meet to determine who would qualify for the track team to compete against other primary schools. The meet was exciting with about 8 of our kids qualifying for the competitive team. Just like the swimming meet, my most exciting race of the day was the Dad’s relay. Thankfully, this time I did not have to do the whole relay by myself. My relay consisted of two actual Dads, one guy in his late 20s and myself being the anchor. Our main competitors were four Xhosa men from the nearby location. To be honest, I thought we had no chance as I was running against a man I imagined being Usain Bolt. Before I knew it, the starting gun exploded. I knew we were in trouble right after the other team had a sizable lead with our first runner being a pretty portly guy running in boots. We dropped even further behind when the second runner finished his section but thankfully our third runner caught up a significant amount and it was up to me. In a photo finish, I was able to take over the lead for the victory as all of the kids that I coach for swimming were cheering on loudly.

Two weeks after my triumphant victory at the Komga relays, I had my actual race – The 15k Cabbage Patch (~9.3 miles). This was to be my first ever competitive run and I had been training for about two months after taking a month off from running when I went to the National Championship. I felt to be in pretty decent shape and had done a practice 15k in the hills holding a decent pace not trying too hard. For the three weeks before the race I had been dealing with a slight illness that unfortunately took a turn for the worse the week of the race. Even so, I stubbornly finished the 15k with the same time as my practice 15k, only this time it did not go so effortlessly. I still managed to be one of the early finishers and as a price I won a cabbage.

When I swam at Notre Dame, our team always travelled down to Puerto Rico for a training trip. There we always participated in the Copa Coqui Relays swimming meet. The last relay of the meet was called the Pineapple Relay as all of the members of the winning relay received pineapples. So now to go along with my fruit trophy collection of pineapples, I additionally have a cabbage!

I’m not sure how many of you look at my photos – or actually read my ramblings of a travel blog for that matter – but if by chance you have, you have noticed that I have not cut my hair since I left ND in May. After noticing one of our kids recently having cornrows braided into her hair, I figured with my hair being long enough why not be that tall, goofy-looking white male with cornrows (as if I didn’t stand out enough already walking around the location). So on a Saturday morning in the middle of March, I and asked the local hairdresser Ciara to have cornrows braided into my hair. Ciara laughed at me saying she had never done cornrows in a white person’s hair before and did not know if it would be possible since my hair was too soft (a stark difference from my hair during my swimming days). Even so, I asked if we could just try it and an hour later it was finished. The whole process hurt. Ciara was tugging and pulling my hair so tight that sometimes I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from dropping some choice words. Moreover, I created quite a spectacle as many of the local people popped in the salon to see what the crazy white man was having done to his hair as I imagine they have never seen a white person having hair braided let alone braided in Ciara’s salon. If you are curious to see how awesome (or not so awesome) my cornrows look I have attached some pictures.

The day after having my cornrows braided, my friend Ayanda asked me to go to a funeral with him in the location for his Uncle. So, on Sunday morning I arrived at his house with cornrows at about 9:30 am. Many of the houses are very small in the location and his house consisted of a tiny kitchen and a bedroom that could sparsely fit his whole bed. Yet, when Ayanda brought me to the back of his home, he proudly showed me that he was laying bricks to triple the size of his house. After he put on his sparkling purple suit, we were ready to go. We walked for about 10 minutes to the little hall where the funeral service was being held. Thankfully, we got in just before the service started but in typical Africa fashion, it took about 20 minutes into the service before the little hall was overflowing with people to pay their respects. As per usual, I was pretty easy to spot being a head taller than most people and the only white person there.

The whole service was in isiXhosa which meant I had no idea what was going on but it was still interesting to observe. After a two hour service, the casket was carried into the cemetery. Inside of the cemetery, many of the graves were unmarked and those that were marked were often just done so with a plastic sign. Given the amount of deaths that occur in the area due to HIV and other ailments, it is not overly surprising. After a few words were spoken by the deceased loved ones, the casket was lowered into the grave and everyone picked up a handful of dirt and dropped it into the grave. Once all of the women had left, the men at the funeral grabbed shovels and pitchforks and began to fill in the grave. It was not before long that I found myself vigorously shoveling dirt and rocks over the grave with the other men all wearing suits.

It took about 45 minutes mixed in with some blood, sweat, and tears to fill in the grave. Once the grave was finished, Ayanda took me to the reception which was a few blocks away at a relative of the deceased house. Whenever someone passes away in the Xhosa culture, it is the responsibility of the immediate family to provide a big feast in the honor of the deceased. And so once I sat down on a couch next to Ayanda and was quickly served a plate full of rice mixed with vegetables, chicken, pilchards and noodles, as well as potato salad. Once I was finished with the food, one of the Mamas in the house grabbed my plate and handed me a glass bottle of sprite.

While it was to attend a funeral, my day with Ayanda was awesome as I got to experience something totally different from my world.

About a week ago, I got two kittens from out friend Cindy whose cat had babies about 6 weeks ago. One is named Nala (after the Lion King) and the other Kunga. Nala is a bright blonde on her belly with a deep orange on her back that stripes so she looks like a little lioness. On the other hand, Kunga has the heart of a lion as he jumps right into anything with no fear, exploring every nook and cranny of my room. Like his sister, he has a bright blonde belly but has a much lighter shade of stripes on his back. The kittens are the cutest things ever as I often walk into the room to see them wrestling each other or cuddling next to each other while they sleep. Yesterday, I gave them the first bath of their lives and it is incredibly true when people say that cats do not like water. Nala and Kunga were freaking out clawing all over the bath tub trying to escape while giving out desperate “meows” begging to be taken out of the water. Even so, I finished washing the cats who are now sparkling clean. The kittens were quite upset and traumatized for a few hours but had forgiven me by night when they jumped into my bed to fall asleep next to me. I have fallen in love with these cats and it is quite possible that I may have to take them both home to the US or at least one. At least I will have the kittens to keep me warm in the winter at the least.

Only other things going on are that with the help of a recent short term visitor, I am now growing tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, beetroot, spinach, lettuce, turnips, and radishes in a new little garden nearby my rondavel. The cucumbers are already quite large and have been served with salads among other things.

For the Easter holiday, Anne and I will be travelling up to Swaziland (a tiny little country that is inside of South Africa) then up a little farther North to Kruger National Park which is one of the best game parks in Africa. I am excited to see some real lions, though I will miss my little lions that will stay the week at Open Arms.

I hope everyone is doing well!

---

Photos

Burger Challenge
A quick pose before the burger challenge. This is at Inquwenquezi (Sparkling Star) Game Lodge. If the two burgers are finished in an hour, the winner gets 24 cases of beer. There have been 4 successful people out of 85,000 attempts

Pat on the Back
Our friend Anina giving me some encouragement. The first burger went down in 35 minutes but I could only finish about at most 1/4 of the second burger in the last 25 minutes

Conquered
This is when I was toast, I could not physically fit anything more in my stomach and I was scared that I was going to throw it all up!

Williamson's Mascot
Our smallest kinder-gardener was chosen to be the mascot for team Williamson! She's the cutest

Post-Race
One of our little girls after her race! She sure is having a great time!

Davidson
My team Davidson getting all pumped up for the day's races

The Race
The final stretch of the "Dad's Relay"

Finish-line
Running to the finish with nothing left in the tank

Victorious
Post-race with my prizes

In Progress - Cornrows
Almost halfway through the process and it hurts but beauty is always worth the price of pain hahahaah

Cornrows
The final product

After the Funeral
Ayanda and I pose for a picture in the location after the day's events were over

Kunga
Kunga waking up from a lala (nap in isiXhosa)

Kunga and Me
I had no pictures of the cats and I so I had Anne take this picture while I was finishing my blog

Comments

[Chris Burke]

Love the corn-rows!
Kevin, what a great look for you! But seriously, I can't tell you how impressed I am with all of your adventures. What a truly life-changing experience. xo, your Godmonster, Twisty

[Jim McKenna]

SO glad to hear (and see) all of this, and what you have been up to, Kevin. It couldn\'t have worked out any better and I am so happy that you will have had this incredible opportunity which, I am certain has been transformative in all the right ways. Its clear that there has been something magical that happened with respect to both your contribution to the children and in turn what they have done for you. be safe, my friend..and come back when you can to say hello, Kevin. I look forward to that. be safe..and love from your friends at Notre Dame, Jim ps those are the biggest hamburgers I have ever seen in my life...its clear that you enjoyed every bite!! :)