Christmas in South Africa

Xmas dinner in St.Lucia
Our hotel on Xmas eve
Opening Xmas presents
Game drive in Hulhulwe
My Dad on Xmas eve :)

Merry Xmas everyone!!

This year I'm celebrating Xmas in South Africa with my dad who came down about a week ago. We have been travelling around KZN and arrived here in St.Lucia on Xmas eve. It's a beautiful little coast town in KZN, about 3 hours east of Durban. Before that we were in Hulhulwe National Park for a few days. We saw alot of animals, but no lions:(

Even tough I miss you all back home, I don't mind spending my holiday in 30 degrees at the beach:) Tomorrow we are travelling up to the Drakensberg to do some hiking before we go to Mt.Frere. Am excited to show my dad my new family, friends and hometown:)

take care everyone and enjoy the holidays!!

X Marte

Pic from Chintsa

Watching the sunset on Chintsa Beach
Mark and I at the Backpackers
The view from the backpackers
Mark and I
Canoeing (Who do you write that in English??)

Molweni

Kunjani? Ndikhona, Enkosi:)
It’s been a while since my last update. To say I’ve been to busy is lying; it’s just that the internet here is so slow it’s painful and I’ve been lacking the patients to download this page.

Anyways, I’m really enjoyung life in Mt. Frere now. Having Mark here has helped me a lot the last couple months, as he is a great friend and also somebody I can share experiences and frustrations with. Walking together in our community or in town people stare a lot “what? Two “molongos” (white person) in Mt. Frere??” :) If I walk by myself people always asks me where my husband is:) it’s better than the daily marriage proposals!!

Work has also been going ok. The children are just so positive and enthusiastic. Working with a group of older kids in the schools and organising school sport with them have been so awarding. At first they are all the same polite and responsible kids, but after a while they start showing their individual personality and you see who the “born leaders” in the group are.

The last weeks I have been busy planning a festival in connection with the World Aids Day (1st of Dec.). HIV/AIDS is a huge problem here in South Africa with over 25 % of the population infected. In a (semi)rural community like mine, were poverty, unemployment and alcoholism are a reality, HIV/AIDS is a huge problem. You see posters and hear about funerals several times a week, but hardly anyone will admit there loved ones passed away from HIV/AIDS. Although there is a big focus on the problem, the disease is still a taboo and myths about it are widespread.
Together with 5 schools and the Department of Education we organised the festival last Friday. We had Kicking Aids out Games (physical activities which also educates children about HIV/AIDS), had a doctor speak about the disease, candle lightning and a sport tournament. It turned out to be a really good Festival, but I must say I’m glad it’s over. It was the first big event I’ve planned and I’ve learned a lot about how things work here in Africa, what to expect from people, and what not to do next time J:)

After 6 weeks in my community it was good to get away for a weekend with Mark, Thierry and Camilla (other SCORE volunteers). We went to Chintsa (www.cintsa.com ) two weeks ago for a short holiday. Chintsa is a small town by the coast about 4 hours south west from Mt.Frere. We stayed at what is supposed to be South Africas best backpackers. Even though both Thierry and I agreed that the Coffee Shack (Coffee Bay) had a more friendly staff and better atmosphere, The Buccaneers were pretty good. Amazing food, beautiful surrounding, right by the beach, great surfing, volleyball court, pool, table tennis and a proper pool table (this is very important:)). Both Mark and Thierry are done their program in December so this was the last trip with the two of them. I am really going to miss them as they have become close friends of mine and I love hanging out with them. (Who am I now going to change life through pool with?? L)

I still have about 2 and a half week left before my holiday officially starts, but since the schools are closing this week there isn’t much to do. Have a bunch of reports and a NIH assignment to write, and are going to do SCORE for ALL (basically just playing with the kids for a couple hours in the afternoon) 3-4 times a week. But so far it’s been raining and I’ve done a lot of the paper work already, so next weekend I’m going to Durban with Mark and Tanja. Then the following weekend my holiday starts. I’m most likely first of to Port St.Johns with Mark for a couple of days before he gets on his plane back to Canada. I then go to Durban to meet my dad who arrives on the 19th of December! Can’t wait to see a familiar face from back home:)

Think I’ll stop here. Bet I lost Ann Cecilie before I got to Chintsa :) Hope you are all doing well!! I now have the internet working on my phone, so I get my daily update on facebook. MSN is also working proper:)

Hambani Kakuhle
XXX Nolitha

Travel Letters

All of the Norwegian volunteers have to write travel letters to NIF while we work here i Southern Africa. They are posted on their homepage and here is a link to the page:

http://www.nif.idrett.no/t2.aspx?p=68552

Enjoy:)
x

Blod er tjukkare enn vann

HEIA BRANN HEIA BRANN
KOM AA SYNG MED ALLE MANN
HEIA BRANN

FANTASTISK DEILIG!! :)

XX

I've seen the rain fall in Africa

I’ve seen the rain fall in Africa

So, it’s been almost two weeks since I came back from Coffee Bay and it has been raining EVERY single day!! I can’t say patience is my strongest side, and people who know me well know how restless I get. I’m now almost done with all my dvds, so I hope my brother, Eirik, has sent the package he promised meJ Also read a couple of books, and done a lot of administration work. But with the power on and of for the last week it’s been a challenge.

But in-between all the rain there have been a couple of sunny mornings, so last Saturday we organised school matches between two of the schools in handball, netball, soccer and volleyball. It was a bit chaotic, but great fun :)
And yesterday I had my first Youth Leads tournament. 10 grade 6 students organised it for grade 5 & 6 in soccer and netball, and almost 100 kids played. It was a lot of screaming (I still have a headache), but the kids had fun and enjoyed themselves. The other schools will organise them the two following weeks so if the weather is good, that will keep me occupied.

Yesterday Mark (another volunteer from Canada) came to Mt.Frere again, and is staying till Christmas. He is working on a different SCORE project here in Eastern Cape and will be travelling to the other SCORE communities, but will be based here in Mt.Frere. I’m really happy about that, will be great to have a familiar face around!!

So things are still good in South Africa! And today the sun is back:) I will never complain about the heat again...
Have a great weekend everyone. Not sure what I will be doing. But TIA so anything can happen:)

Take care,
Nolita

Three Months in South Africa

Molweni!!

Tonight there is a bad storm; I can hear the thunder and see the lightning. Just waiting for the rain. The power has been on and of all day.

It is not the first time I am experiencing a big storm; I grew up by “Stadt” in Norway where this happens all the time. My first day here we also had this kind of storm, and I remember my feelings that night; scared, nervous and excited. I was scared about the thought of living here by my self for 12 months, nervous about the family and community not liking me and me not liking them, and excited about starting to work and learn about a new culture. That was 10 weeks ago and a lot have changed. Tonight I don’t have any of those feelings. I am no longer scared or nervous and unfortunately much of the excitement has gone as well. Things are not new and different anymore, and work is slow and sometimes frustrating. But I now feel comfortable; in my home where I don’t feel like guest anymore, and in the community where people don’t stare that much and now greet me by my name. And I am happy. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me and I am trying to appreciate every second of it. Work is a challenge but I knew that, I just have to be patience. And thinking back on these three months, I hardly remember any of the frustrations. What I do remember are the good moments and I know there will be many more to come.

When I write these bogs I try to think about what you guys would like to read about. It is hard. What I found interesting 3 months ago had changed. I think my experiences here have shifted my focus, but bare with me, I will try and keep this blog interesting:)

School Holidays last week so I took a couple days leave and went to Coffee Bay with another volunteer. CB is a small coast village about 3 hours south west of Mt.Frere. We stayed at a very nice and cheap backpacker’s (www.coffeeshak.co.za ) right by the beach and spent our days hiking, relaxing on the beach, surfing, playing pool or enjoying a couple of beers by the fireplace (not sure if I should write this, but half our bill was from the bar..:)) I defiantly want to go back there! The place is a Xhosa village and the hostel were doing a lot for the community. They had for example a school fund where they sponsored children from CB that couldn’t afford to pay for their secondary school. Even though I have been travelling a lot the last months, this trip was great because it wasn’t related to work and we got to be “just tourist” for a couple of days.

But it is good being back and I think this is going to be fun month. I have tournaments every week up until “Cup of Heroes”. COH is a big tournament SCORE is organizing the last weekend of October in the North West Province, and all the South Africa volunteers will be helping out. Think our job will be to prepare the food, so that will probably be my biggest challenge so farJ

Hope you are all doing well and keep me updated on whatever. I have an address and would love mail from you guys, but will not write it on here. Will send out an email!

Dad: check out the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park at www.kznwildlife.com, and St.Lucia at www.advantagetours.co.za. The Drakensberg mountains in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg Park seems interesting, but might be a detour.. but check it out anyways!! and Swaziland!

Nolita:)