Busy Busy

This weekend marks the end of our first week as Program Coordinators of Tholulwazi, and things are going pretty well. This past week was highlighted by many successes including a plan for trying to get more funding for our Home Based Care Programme, completion of the first week of our life skills course (which had 95% or higher attendance everyday) and the completion of the Tholulwazi website. You can check this out at www.tuproject.org

It is an incredible site. Although we work with a population ravaged by poverty, unemployment, and HIV/AIDS - Tholulwazi is so alive and vibrant. I think the site is a true testament to the energy of the TU staff, Home Based Care workers, and the people we serve. I hope you all have a second and take the time to really look through this website.

As far and Jim and me, married life gets better and better. We are really getting settled in our new house and are starting to get a "routine." Cooking dinner proves to be a little adventure each night, but we have had some great homemade chicken & vegetable soup, veggies and lentils, hotdogs and corn on the cob, and of course some breakfast for dinner. It's funny the things you learn about each other after you get married. For instance, Jim LOVES meat and I never noticed it before, but I can go a few days without eating meat. I like it, but I don't make a huge effort to buy it at the grocery store and cook it. Well, that is having to change a bit now that we are married and cooking almost every night. Luckily, we do have some great friends here in South Africa who are great cooks - and we have enjoyed some delicious braiis and chili meals lately. But, in the absence of an invite to a dinner party, I am now looking at www.epicurious.com quite a bit and getting delicious recipes and ideas to spice up the dinners.

In addition to our cooking adventures, Jim and I have been having some car adventures, as well. On Thursday, Jim drove the car to Jozini (about an hour away from Manguzi) and didn't think to get gas before he left. By the time he realized he needed gas there was only one station he could reach, and of course they were out of gas. The mechanic told Jim that Jozini was about 38 km down the road, and that maybe he would make it. Jim got in the car, and asked God to let his gas last 38 km. Sure enough exactly 38 kms later, Jim ran out of gas. Unfortunately, the mechanic underestimated the trip to Jozini by a few kms and Jim was stuck on the side of the road! Guess he should have asked God for just a few more kms. Anyhow, luckily a nice old Zulu man picked Jim up and drove him to get gas.

Later that day, after Jim had come back from Jozini, we were driving a friend home after work. She lived way out in the bush, so we were traveling on the sand when the car started smoking. At first I thought it might have just been the sand coming out of the car, but sure enough it was smoke. The car overheated just before we reached her house. Again, luckily there were a ton of really nice people around who helped us figure out what was wrong and got us some water. We filled up the little water tank thing (that was of course completely empty) and headed out.

Two days later, we drove to the beach and still hadn't gotten any antifreeze for the car (we didn't even now if there was antifreeze here!) and of course, the car overheated again. Fortunately this happened right when we got to the beach, and before heading home we went to the gas station and got antifreeze put in. Hopefully this is the end of our car drama for a little while.

Finally, just to help all of you understand a little bit of what it is like here in Africa, I want to try to share an "African Anecdote" each week. This week, we were talking with our friend Colin who is a doctor at Manguzi Hospital, and last week a woman came into the emergency room and wasn't helped right away. She proceeded to squat down in the middle of the room and urinate on the floor. Everyone in the room was getting upset at her by this point until as a complete surprise a baby popped right out of her onto the emergency room floor! Crazy.

Hope you all have a great week, and know that Jim and I miss you. God Bless.