Soccer World Cup in Manzamnyama

Feel the vibe - it's here! Thanks to a lovely lady in Switzerland, the Soccer World Cup has reached Manzamnyama Village. We have been donated a projector to be able to show the games, and later to be used for educational movies. So we bent earth and heaven to get everything set up before the opening game! The deal with the village was that they will have to get tickets to watch the game. To earn a ticket, they must come work at the project site for 2 hours or donate something to the project in the worth of R15, like a bundle of thatching. It worked out quite well, even though mostly kids came to work, and then handed the tickets over to their elder siblings. :-) We got them to collect stones for foundations and to build stone walls, to dig the dam, to cut grass, to dig a pathway, to bring sticks for a kraal fence, to dig up the garden and so on and so on.

On the day of the opening game, about 80 came to watch soccer!

Thanks to another large donation, we were able to contract Tolikile to build the first rondavel for accommodation. So far the foundations have been laid and the bricks are ready, so next thing the walls will go up. Meanwhile we were working on the kitchen building, finally getting the roof up - tin though, not thatching, because it was quicker to do. Now we will also be building walls.

a funeral in Manzamnyama

Today we attended our first funeral in the village. Babalwas mother has died of TB last week. The funeral took place at their family compound. They had put up a big tent, and when Aidan and I arrived, the tent was packed with people, mostly women. Aidan got given a chair at the right side of the tent, where all the important men sat. In the middle was the coffin, and the table with the priests. To the left were all the church people, the women who belonged to the same church as Babalwas mother. They were all dressed in blue and white gowns and a funny white hat. The rest of the tent was filled with women sitting on the floor, shoulder by shoulder. The priest delivered one flaming speach after the other, gestikulating and shouting. The crowd sometimes cheered, sometimes laughed. I didn't see anyone cry. Between the sermons, the choir sang. Their voices still send shivers down my spine, so beautiful, so natural.

When the service was over, everybody got up and walked down into the field. Hundreds of feet brushing the long grass. Whispers of wind in waving skirts. The men all gathered around the grave and the women sat down a bit further away. Babalwa was sitting with the women, anonymous amongst them, still like a statue. The choir was just next to her. The priest at the grave delivered another thunderous speach, the choir sang, and then the men lowered the coffin into the grave and started filling the hole. Some young men grabbed the spades and started shoving the earth back into the grave. When one of them tired, another one came from the back and took over.

Soon the grave was filled. Now the women got up and walked past the grave, each of them throwing a handful of soil onto it. On their way back to the tent, they washed their hands in a big bucket.

After everyone had taken their seats again - the men on the row of chairs, the women

on the ground in the tent - the food was being served. The women formed a line and passed plates filled with food from hand to hand, down the line of men. While full plates of food went to the left, empty plates wandered to the right. After the food, tea and bread was served, and after that, Amarheu, a local drink made of mealie meal. Once all the men were served, it was the womens turn to get their food. Aidan and I always get special treatment, they reckon we don't know and understand their customs and so we are not obliged to follow the rules. It is impossible though to refuse food, no matter what you say, you HAVE to eat something.

Once the feeding was over, the crowd started scattering. Aidan and I left soon afterwards. Again I am amazed that I didn't see anyone cry. Somehow, death is more natural here than in the western, modern world, where everyone tries to cheat his way out of it. Here, people just die, and that's that, and life goes on.

back on track

After a long absence we're back on track with Mpame Village Projects. Or must I say, back in the country? It's been a busy summer (in SA) and winter (in Switzerland). Aidan has spent 3 months in Europe and came back to run the high season, welcoming campers to Manzamnyama and carrying on fixing up the place. Meanwhile I was in Swizerland working impossible hours to get some cash together. A few project presentations brought in some more funding, which was paid into the swiss bank account by me in Switzerland and drawn only days later by Aidan in South Africa, to finance some more tools, materials, and lots and lots of pig wire for fencing.

The big news is: the project has a new asset. Aidan and Rahel have bought a house in the neighbouring village Lubanzi which they will now turn into a backpackers that will sustain themselves as well as support the project. From now on time will be divided between Lubanzi and Manzamnyama - some days in the first place to fix up the house and get it ready for guests, some days in Manzamnyama to continue building up the project and the volunteer lodge.

The big event is: Manzamnyama welcomes the Couch Sufers! For Easter we invite Couch Surfers and other Volunteer to spend their holiday in Manzamnyama and help out with the project. We expect a cheerful crowd to hang out with us and the villagers, help build the lodge, fix up streets, make bricks etc. The hilltop is open for guests from the 23rd of March until 14th of April. Volunteers are welcome to stay any length of days during this time period. If you do wish to volunteer this would be a great opportunity as there will be other people around and we're going to have a blast!

More news to follow soon, hopefully on of our Easter Couch Surf volunteers will agree to write a blog entry to keep everyone posted!

Cheers, Rahel

Thathing the Roof and Gardening

We have been so busy these past two days that I have to upload some photos again. Aidan basically finished the roof, apart from one section where there are still a few poles missing (that we have to go get from the forestry first). Unfortunatley we have been hindered in our work again, this time not by rain but by wind ... ever tried to thatch a roof in a gale force wind? Not funny. Around 3 p.m. we had to abandon our posts and find other jobs to do, leaving the thatching for a less windy day.

Babalwa and some friends help with thatching

the first bundles are being put up

Rahel tightens the first row of thatching

view from underneath ... ;-)

it all looks a bit ruffled because of the wind ...

So when the wind rules out the thatching, what's left? How about some gardening, thought Nathalie, and in one afternoon she transformed the completely overgrown old gardens into beautiful fresh beds again!

Nathalie pulling out weeds ...

and that's the garden at the end of the day!!!

building progress of the lodge

hello dear readers and followers of this blog, and sorry for the long silence, but our laptop charger bombed out about a month ago, and to get a replacement was - as everything out here at the end of the world - quite a mission. Now finally we've got a new charger and the laptop is working again ... but soon the blog entries will cease again as people in charge of the project are flying to Europe. Not just for fun, but also for fundraising purposes ... Meanwhile we've been busy here and started putting up the first walls of the lodge. We wanted to get the first room finished - with roof up and everything - but the rains came to quickly. The thirsty landscape is happy but we are annoyed, it could have waited another 2 weeks if you ask me!!! Time is slipping through our hands again for Aidan is leaving in a couple of days, and I (Rahel) am leaving soon afterwards, and the building isn't finished yet. Oh well ... we do what we can, Transkei time. :-)

Aidan laying bricks

the first walls of the lodge in progress ...

and the first room almost up!

Aidan constructing the roof

While we're in Europe there will be no Blog entries, but Aidan comes back to Manzamnyama by mid-December, just in time for the high season. We've already had some booking enquiries for village huts, which is great! Looks like things are finally starting to take off now.

new (goat-proof!) gate to the Lodge

clay bricks made by Rahel and Aidan

roll of pig netting - friend and helper concerning goat affairs!

hilltop on fire

Wow - what a day!! We were in Bulungula, chilling out, when we first noticed the smoke on the horizon ... and thought nothing of it. They are burning the grass everywhere now, it's the end of winter and spring will bring new, fresh grass if the old yellow one is burnt. But an hour later the smoke had become thicker, and eventually we realized that it was OUR hilltop that was on fire! So we packed our bags and walked home, to check out what's going on ...

One hour later we arrived at the hilltop. Some villagers were carrying buckets of water from our garden (where the pipe from the spring ends) up to the lodge area. Uh-oh ... We climbed up to the lodge, and saw ... this.

Well. Aidan joined the people at the front line, and I ran down to the tree house to find some old towels and cloth, and a bucket of water. With that, I joined the fire-fighters. With wet towels we lashed out at the fierce flames. The grass is high, and dry, and burnt like paper. The whole hill next to secret beach was scorched - pitch black. From there, the flames were moving upwards, consuming more and ever more grass, urged on by the wind. We decided to first put out the line to our left, the one that was approaching the lodge the fastest. For now, it was still about 200m away from the building site.

Once that was accomplished, we moved up to the hill, where the flames were even fiercer. Aidan and I had slept little and barely eaten, and we were both exhausted to the bones. The villagers retreated for a while when they saw us taking charge, and we lashed out at the flames until every muscle in our bodies hurt and we swayed like two drunkards. Eventually, some more villagers and some kids arrived, and we happily handed over our soaked towels. The villagers had tried to put out the fire with branches cut from trees, but that was not half as effective as the towels. In less time than we thought, the fire was under control, and we were moving down towards Rain Mountain, to put out the last line of fire. Eventually, there were no more flames flickering. Half of our hilltop is scorched though ... Everyone was tired and gladly went back home. We had been fighting the fire for 2 hours ...

Aidan and I retired to the tree house to have a strong cup of coffee, and I started dowloading the pictures and writing the blog entry. After a while Aidan said, give me the camera, I want to see if I find some more fires. Not a minute later I heard him calling from the hilltop ... the fire had broken out again. Dammit. Tired, exhausted, I changed back in my dirty clothes, grabbed my wet towel and followed him ... By now, darkness had fallen, and the flames created a ghostly orange glow in the distance. The fire was not really threatening us any more, it was too far away, towards Rain Mountain. But we thought it wiser to put it out anyway, you never know, the wind changes rapidly here, and it could suddenly blow the flames back up the hill ... So out we lashed again, not feeling the tiredness any more, not feeling the aching arms any more. We brought a bucket of water, and with soaked towels it was almost too easy to put the flames out. They looked terrifc against the black night sky, we were sad to put them out, it was a beautiful spectacle.

Eventually, we had succeeded again in winning over the fire, and the night became dark again. Let's just hope the wind stays calm, and there are no more sparks blowing around ...

slow days ... cold days

It's cold - it's windy - and that's about all I've got to tell. :-) No, seriously. Not much happening these days. We finally had the village meeting that I've been waiting for for about a month, but it didn't go all too well - and so we all decided to wait for Aidan. Aidan knows everything, Aidan will tell them what to do. I laughed and said, very well. So Aidan came back last Friday but brought not only lots of funny stories from Cape Town but also the flu, and so he's still out of order, trying to adjust to the Transkei bugs again.

Apart from that, ummmmh still trying to fix the Land Rover but it's so difficult to get spare parts in Mthatha, all needs to be ordered from somewhere. Come to Mthatha if you want to find nothing that you are trying to find!!! Patience young jedi ... T.I.A. (this is Africa).

The project will undergo some structural changes soon, and then the blog will be updated more frequently again as there will be things to tell, not like now, where all I can say is that the wind is still trying to rip my roof off and the goats are still trying to get into my garden (but the fence is up now and they can't get through hahaha). :-)