Blogs from East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa, Africa

First off, Merry Christmas to everyone! I don't have much time as I leave to start my little holiday trip in less than an hour. The last few days have been quite fun for us here at Open Arms. Father Christmas was a little late coming in last night but thankfully he made it and as the kids ran into Emmanuel Hall for chocolate chip pancakes this morning, all the presents and stockings were there. In addition to the presents provided by Father Christmas, the East London Rotary Club also presented each child with a gift. We gave the Rotary Club a little insight into each child so everyone was really happy with their gifts! Instead of writing all of the children's reactions, I decided to include a bunch of pictures of today's events. We all ... read more

I feel so much has happened since my last update! First off I now have a new roommate named Uncle Dudley who derives from Phoenix, Arizona. Dudley was superintendent of six Phoenix high schools for 5 years after a very successful career as an assistant superintendent, principle, athletic director and history teacher. He will be my roommate for the next two months as he helps Open Arms develop a plan for home schooling our children. It will be a laborious endeavor as homeschooling about 17 children properly will require much foresight and planning. Personally, I am very happy that Dudley has arrived as its good to have a guy volunteer to hang with during the days. We have already had discussions pertaining to education issues in the United States along with other philosophical tops each night ... read more

Something I have realized quickly about Africa is that something is always burning. Every night since I have arrived there has been a visible grassfire in the distance. In fact, last week there was a large brush fire that came close to Open Arms and resulted in us having to cancel a trip to the beach for lunch on a Saturday afternoon. That fire was actually quite scary as it covered the hillside near Open Arms. The fire traveled several miles as the next day I could see the trail of ash across the farmland below us. The brush fires are unlike those in the US. They are very slow moving and according to the Komga citizens do not burn down the houses. Still, when I hear the crackling of wood and smoke rising in the ... read more

Hello everyone, It has been a while since my birthday but there is rarely time in the day to have access to a computer unless I stay up late (which for me is past about 10 pm now). First of all I had a fantastic 23rd birthday! Thanks to everyone who sent me emails or cards in the mail! I will hopefully be able to respond to everyone's emails by the end of this weekend. The day started off normal as I made sure all of my kids got to school. After which I went to East London for the day. Driving to East London from Komga is said to be the most dangerous highway in South Africa which is saying a lot. I will soon be driving there on my own now that I have ... read more

This second week has really gone quickly as I have finally begun to learn how daily life operates here. Every Sunday, we get to sleep in till 8 am then we go to mass with the kids. We attend a small nondenominational Christian Church wherein our large group of children and workers take up half of the seats. The Church is much different from what I am use to with a lot of singing/music and no communion. This most recent mass was quite interesting as the pastors wife had a sword to demonstrate that our tongues could be weapons - that clearly got my attention as she waved it around. Last Sunday after mass we traveled to Lunch in a little cafe. After lunch we walked down to the beach which was only a minute away ... read more

Things have sure been crazy here as this is my first time connecting to the internet since I arrived last tuesday night. My airplane flight was quite an adventure and a much longer journey than anticipated. I left my house at 4:30 am last Monday (August 13) nearly missing my 6 am flight to Washington DC. Thankfully one nice gentleman let me skip him in the security line which allowed me to catch my flight just in the nick of time. From Washington DC I spend about 17-18 hours on a flight to Joburg from which I caught my last 1.5 hour flight to East London. All that was left form there was an easy hour drive to Komga. 40 hours later, I finally arrived at Open Arms Home for Children at 9 pm on Tuesday. ... read more

Well 1 year now we have been traveling, thinking back our Nam trip with all the problems was very interesting, meeting up with the locals especialy the old sheep shearer will always stay in my memory, but S A is still more buetifull, We are still in East london and will be leaving in aprox. a week or so to go up to Port st johns for a few days and then up towards KZN. We have seen more game around this area than in Addo, there are a lot of game farms around and game can be spotted from the roadside often, and at night on the roads aswell, so you have to be wide awake when traveling after dark, well not much else at this stage, i have taken up fishing seeing as with ... read more