Farm Life

            

      We arrived in Cape Town, overcame our culture shock and were transplanted right back into paradise. Brian and his father Errol picked us up from the Airport with open, welcoming arms. We spent the next couple days surfing, hiking, swimming with seals (trying not to think about great white sharks…), cooking mean meals, baking cookies and relaxing—coming down from the whole experience in Ramotswa.

            Errol offered to drive us to Villiersdorp: the farmlands where we would be spending the next week. We took a beautiful scenic route, catching views of magnificent craggy mountains that stretch down to meet the endless sea. The fog looms over the high peaks like a misty blanket. My, my South Africa has a fine coastline.

     We arrived in Villiersdorp around one o’clock. It is located about two hours outside of Cape Town in a lush valley in the middle of nowhere. We had no idea what to expect… when we reached our destination, we were amazed. In front of us lay a pristine farm: green pastures stretching on forever, endless vineyards, countless horses galloping and trotting over the grassy knolls, a quaint little farm house, a plentiful garden, herds of sheep, nine dogs running out to greet us—all to top it off, all of this is just the foreground… behind, rests a massive, gorgeous rocky mountain range. We were instantly in heaven. 

            We said goodbye to Brian and Errol (which always makes us sad… but we’ll be seeing them next week again—their home has become our ‘home base’ or ‘second home’… and they’ve become our South African family). We were briefed on the rules of the farm house:

1.     Eat anything (booze, we have to pay for… not a strict rule, they got us tipsy last night)

2.     Um, yeah, that’s pretty much the only rule…

So, we’ve got it pretty good. We spent the day today helping Willem with the wine making. We were part of what you might call a ‘human machine’. We worked with about ten other men… manual labor, stacking wine bottles. It went something like this: receive bottles, pass bottles, stack bottles, repeat. Receive, pass, stack. Receive, pass, stack. On and on.

We did this for a while, then took off to explore the property.

“Just watch out for the leopard,” they told us.

LEOPARD? !!

“Oh! And the poisonous snakes.”

!!

Regardless, we went exploring… We trekked through the bush on the look out for dangerous creatures. We didn’t find any… but we did find a glassy, turquoise pool of water. Then I remembered another word of advice we had received:

“Look out for leeches!”

They told us that there were two water holes, one with leeches, one without. This one looked so clear and inviting…. So we took our chances and went skinny-dipping. No leeches! Success.

 

So, that’s my story lately.

Side note: Sometimes I spend my days waiting for something to happen. A person might waste their entire life waiting for something to happen… just passing the time, hoping for a climax to emerge from the chaos. What I’ve come to realize is that there is no climax. There is no pinnacle, no culmination of past moments that come together to become something solid—something that makes sense. It will never make sense.  All we have is the current moment—we have to grab it and shape it into our own perceived reality. It’s like silly-puddy in our hands… We have the power to create our own future. It’s all about the ups and downs—it’s about the short and powerful highs that make life worth living. It’s about appreciating the negative experiences, growing from those occurrences, moving on and embracing the disorderly world that we live in.  

♥

ALSO SPECIAL THANKS TO:

I need to thank some people who made this trip and experience possible...

Thank you to Rising International--the 501c3 non-profit organization that sponsored me to come here. It is based in Santa Cruz and is truly doing amazing things. This company promotes ownership of craft-based businesses by women in both impoverished areas of developed nations as well as in developing nations. Their focus is primarily on women in high risk environments such as those in refugee camps, those living with HIV/AIDS, homeless women, displaced immigrants, former slaves, or those in war-torn regions of the world. Please see the website for Rising International: 

http://www.risinginternational.org/

Also, they have frequent craft sales where one can purchase the works of art that are created by the hands of these women... the money you spend will go to a very good cause. See the 'events calendar' on the website to find out when the next craft sale is. You can also purchase crafts online! It's a great way to help out the world and at the same time find some beautiful, handmade crafts for your home or office. The crafts also make great gifts. So please, check out the website and see for yourself!    
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Being backed by this company allowed me to get further sponsored by Adobe and get three cheap versions of Photoshop. I donated one Photoshop copy to an NGO in Windhoek, Namibia called SFH (The Society for Family Health--website: http://www.sfh.org.na/home.html). I also gave a lesson here.

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The other two copies were donated to SEDYEL (South East District Youth Empowerment League) in Ramotswa. This is where Yarrow and I put in the majority of our time and efforts. I gave a two-week-long Photoshop demo here. SEDYEL is part of the Kicking AIDS Out movement. This organization promotes teaching AIDS awareness through soccer. It has proved to be very effective so far. Have a look, their website is: 

http://www.kickingaidsout.net/WhatisKickingAIDSOut/Members/Pages/SEDYEL.aspx

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A special thanks to Adobe and David Kuspa for supporting.

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I also want to thank those of you who donated to our cause from the facebook page...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kicking-AIDS-Out/150077271713178?ref=ts#!/pages/Kicking-AIDS-Out/150077271713178

It’s so energizing to see that there are people out there who still care to make the world a better place—even if the work is happening hundreds of miles away. Maybe you can’t directly see the change happening, but I can promise you, it is… gradually. Every bit counts. I feel so lucky to part of the Santa Cruz Community… we’re one big family and we’ve got a good thing going. THANK YOU FRIENDS for helping. We were able to purchase one camera and some office supplies for the center. Now the people at SEDYEL will be able to create their own social media to promote AIDS awareness AND they will be able to generate income with the work they are doing. SO much love coming from this end… so much love. Thanks again…

WE COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU!

Wrapping Up Ramotswa

    

The crew--final farewells

      Today we left Ramotswa. In a whirlwind of disorder we rushed around the village fulfilling different peoples’ needs…we dashed to the District Health Office, finished creating our AIDS awareness pamphlets, packed, cleaned, tied up loose ends and finished unfinished business.

Yarrow, distributing pamphlets

This is the usual scenario for me when preparing to go away for a long period of time… usually my unorganized brain is too occupied with last-minute to-do lists that I don’t allow the sad feelings that go hand in hand with leaving to surface. Maybe it’s a tactic that I’ve developed over the years to help prevent my emotions from taking over—who knows? I am terrible at goodbyes… I would rather just evaporate and leave a happy memory behind. BUT, this time, I didn’t vanish mysteriously… I said my goodbyes… fighting back tears and allowing laughter take over. 

Mir with the finalized pamphlets

      Now we at a youth hostel in the Mokolodi Nature Reserve (just outside of Ramotswa). I saw white people for the first time in three weeks. It was initially shocking—trying to converse with my fellow white travelers. I began to get used to the Batswana way of life—the straight-forwardness, the honesty, the trueness of their nature. At first, to me, these cultural norms seemed ludicrous; now they seem customary. There are no social barriers between people in rural Ramotswa—there’s no bullshitting. If someone wants to be your friend they say, “I want to be your friend”. In the western world, there is a complex process behind building a friendship… you start from the bottom then work your way up. In Botswana, there’s a striking togetherness. People are accepting, loving, blunt and so honest. I started to forget about the strange taboos that exist in the Western world… ones that I’m now working to break away from. There are implicit undertones in almost everything that people say. We are expected to understand the subtle hints… everything means something else. 

Sunset in Ramotswa (photo by YarGnar)

         

I feel both accomplished and unaccomplished. I’ve achieved a lot in Ramotswa—I taught fifteen people the ways of Photoshop. I’ve created a pamphlet for the District Health Office that will help them build AIDS awareness. I’ve crocheted many hats for the sick people. I’ve given all my time, my money and my energy to the program. I’ve made some wonderful friends. I’ve learned so much about myself. At the same time, three weeks was too short… too short to see the fruits of my labors… too short to make long-term change… Yarrow and I were just beginning to understand how things work and now we are gone. I feel like we’ve helped a lot, but I wish we could have stayed longer. At the same time, it was mentally and physically draining—staying longer would have been difficult, but leaving is also difficult. There’s no easy way out of this one.  We’ve done our best and that’s all we can do.

Dancing in the moonlight

Memories--gettin' down African style.

My time spent in Ramotswa was enjoyable and disheartening. Frustrating and satisfying. Difficult and easy. Uplifting and depressing. It has brought me contentment… followed by sadness.  I’ve laughed and I’ve cried. There has been a complex array of emotions that I’ve felt. I’ve found that the only way to summarize my time in Ramotswa is by contradicting myself. It has been confusing and enlightening—a wonderful learning experience. 

Eating with our fingers

Back to Cape Town tomorrow… We met a couple in Botswana named Hillary and Willem. These two own a farm down the Garden Route in South Africa. They’ve invited us to come stay with them for a while. They have a dozen horses, a vineyard, a garden and a spare bedroom—what more could you ask for? We had an instant click with them and are looking forward to living on their peaceful farm in Villiersdorp. Making wine, riding horses and gardening sounds divine! Can’t wait…

Some of the work I did in Ramotswa:

THE FINAL PRODUCT, INSIDE

FINAL PRODUCT, OUTSIDE

The Girls

     Yarrow and I have acquired a posse. Wherever we go in Ramotswa, we are continuously trailed by a sizeable group of adolescent Batswana girls. They somehow seem to be able to locate us no matter where we are in the village. They follow us to the grocery store, to work…they even follow us home. They grab longingly at our straight hair and tell us how beautiful our white skin is. They tell us that they hate their dark skin. They are so affected by the media that they don’t even realize how exotically gorgeous they are; I constantly reassure them.

            When I pull out my camera they strike a pose—just like the girls on America’s Next Top Model. They push each other out of the way, fighting for the spotlight. They laugh uncontrollably at everything we say. They never ask us any questions. Silence is never awkward—it’s filled with their high-pitched nervous laughter. I crocheted them all red headbands. Now they wear them all over town like some sort of girl band… or a gang. 

Yarrow, Leidso and Hala

            Then there’s the girl that lives below us. Her name is Hala... she’s eleven, but looks about seven. She has a little brother named Leidso… he’s five, but looks about three. Hala is a self-sufficient little lady—she does her own dishes, washes her clothes by hand, sweeps the floor, cooks for herself and takes care of Leidso. Whenever we get home from work, Hala and Leidso are always there to greet us. They come running down the driveway with wide-open arms, smiles and endless giggles. Needless to say, we’re smitten.

            The past two days have been spent performing some real, grueling manual labor. We are clearing the soccer field, an ominous task that has been looming over the program coordinators’ heads for the past few months—it’s extremely overgrown and unruly. We sweat under the hot African sun as we drill our shovels into the hard red earth, attempting to clear out the relentless grass and weeds. It’s hard work, but it feels good to work hard. Aside from that, Yarrow and I have been working on creating some AIDS awareness pamphlets and brochures. We’ve translated them from English to Setswana (Botswana’s national language) with the help of our Batswana friends. It’s been fun and difficult… turns out Setswana is a hard language to translate...especially when it comes down to translating AIDS-related, sexual terms. For example, the word ‘semen’ translates into a seven-word sentence in Setswana! So, as you can imagine, we’ve got our work cut out for us… 

So, all is well on the African front. Ta-ta for now!