the zimele crafts program is a vital part of the organization that employs the women of winterton to produce craftswork such as beaded pens, necklaces, keychains, bags and a variety of decorative items. there is quite a bit of emphasis on expanding this operation to become more fully functional as a commercial enterprise – focusing [...]

my weekend trip to the drakensberg mountains was postponed, so i instead joined the men in town to watch the sharks/griquas currie cup game at the beautiful tourgar estates owned by chris and his wife, who are neighbors to the brits family. it was a gorgeous afternoon with the sun out and not a single [...]

this week i was given the opportunity to interact with some of the disadvantaged youth of swayimane. i participated in a new life skills training course for a group of 17 kids, mainly between the ages of 16-25, sponsored by a program called SLOT (School Leavers Opportunity Training) which is funded by the Youth Development [...]

the past few days have been an interesting mix of activity – some more productive than others, but certainly unpredictable as the weather has been here lately. audrey and i spent the majority of this week in swayimane following our daily routine with the few SHGs we’ve decided to focus on – documenting their progress, [...]

audrey and i spent the day at rosetta’s place, who had been away for two weeks and had just arrived back home this weekend. after having heard so much about her and corresponding with her through email over the past few months, it was great to finally meet her in person for the very first [...]

cape town was mostly what i expected it to be – a vibrant hub for tourists worldwide and a brilliant city set against the magnificent backdrop of table mountain that dominates the skyline. it is home to some of nature’s most beautiful reserves, wildlife and oceanlife, and has some of the most breathtaking views that [...]

this morning i booked my flight to cape town this weekend. i will be leaving bright and early tomorrow morning and coming back sunday afternoon. i wish i had more time here so that i could explore all of the many things to see, since 2 days in cape town is quite the bare minimum. [...]

the truck broke down today, so instead of heading off to swayimane, i spent most of the day with miranda – running a few miscellaneous errands and shopping for childrens toys that are being donated to the creche in swayimane. among the toys we bought were legos, mini-motorcars, rubiks cubes, a few math puzzles and [...]

after breakfast, we were quickly off to the st. lucia world heritage site and a boat cruise on the estuary to see hippo, crocodile and the abundant birdlife. the weather was absolutely gorgeous, the sun shining brightly, the skies clear and the air still. the boat ride turned out to be a lot of fun. [...]

a weekend with mr. pietrus venter, our stentorian-voiced, barrel-chested afrikaaner tour guide and good friend, is a trip full of unique memories, buckets of laughter, and enough secondhand smoke to incapacitate ones lungs. after only having gotten 2 hrs of shut-eye and waking up at 2am this morning, peet and i packed the van and [...]