On our way to Awelani, Sam, CJ and I traveled through Kruger Park, the entire length of 6,700,000 acres of space for the wild animals to roam in. We came upon this whole group of elephants drinking out of one of the few tanks of water in Kruger. Notice the tiny baby elephant trying to get in on the action on the right.
Sam and CJ stand on the Tropic of Capricorn in Kruger.
The baboons are plentiful and huge! This is very much like the guy who got into our Lodge in Zimbabwe. They can be very threatening.
We had the good fortune to have Ms. Fluffy Ostrich explore our car while she continuously pecked on our windows. She fluttered her eyelashes at us, so, all is forgiven.
"UNDER THE AFRICAN SKIES..."
Looking out at Africa, we continuously bumped into rainbows and miracles. This looks innocent enough, but riding on the hidden roads to the left, literally shakes the fillings out of your head. It literally was a visual feast.
Last year Gilbert Mbedzi had a 97.4 % graduation rate. And in spite of that slipping down to 85%, Gilbert has such an impeccable reputation, he still received awards for having the best graduation rate in the whole area. We will help him with their 28 orphans, and some technology.
"NEVER...NEVER...EVER GIVE UP!!
We started with 6 Men and a Garden sand dropped down to 3 Men and a Garden composed of (L to R) Tito, Nelson, and Frank. Through some really rough problems, they have had to restart their garden 3 times. . Now, they have completed fencing around the perimeter of 13 acres and cut out all of the thorn bush stumps. They are on the verge of planting!! Nelson told us today they will try to plant before we leave to come back home. (Notice the reclaimed piping and drip lines).'
You can see their fence and how expertly they constructed it. It has to be made "goat proof,"
We completed our meeting with the guys and were so happy they never quit, nor did they avoid keeping their agreement on the portion of the loan they owed HHTH. They had been saving payments for a whole year so they could honor the agreement they had with us. So, needless to say, we are willing to continue working with Nelson, Tito and Frank because they have proven so trustworthy.
Our next stop was to meet with Edison at Tshikuyu Primary School. We work with about 27 orphans there. HHTH will provide them with 3 months worth of food. Again, most of these children lost their parents to AIDS. They come to school to get one meal a day, but they go most of the weekend without food. Edison said it is very hard for them to concentrate when they are so hungry all the time. Our goal is to be able to feed these children for the whole year. If you would like to help, we can feed a child for a whole month for only $25. To feed a child for the entire year is only $300. Call me on 248-514-3022 or email me on
sid4wayne@gmail.com if you want to help feed these children.
"STARRY, STARRY NIGHT..."
Our day was made complete when Hennie (our friend here who helps us so much) invited us to join his party for "dinner under the stars in the cave." Here where we are staying at Awelani, there is this huge, open cave on the preserve. It was magical to follow the lamp lit path to discover this fantastic cave and to share an elegant dinner with fellow sojourners. There was a Professor of Responsible Tourism, two ladies from Cape Town, and another from France and the owner of Trans Frontier Parks Destinations along with Hennie. We could look up from the cave and see the Milky Way, the Southern Cross, Scorpio and many others.
Just when we thought we had enjoyed the last surprise, Anita, our host, announced we were going to do some "Star Gazing!" There is nothing more exotic than to Star Gaze under the African sky.
Argan is an astronomer and has an unparalleled passion for the stars. We were able to see 4 of the 63 Moons around Jupiter. We also got to get up close and personal with Mars and Saturn. Since there is no light pollution here, the experience was vivid.
Argan on the right and Hennie on the left. I went to bed with the feeling that I was granted a small look into heaven this night.
We have exciting news coming up with our many projects, so stay tuned.
Until then... From "The Bush..."
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