Building the Climbing Wall

This week we have been working hard to get the AIDS Orphans Camp ready to go. The camp is focused on providing OVCs (That’s NGO-speak for Orphans and Vulnerable Children) (NGO means “Non Governmental Organization, i.e. private non-profit aid groups) (Yes, we are learning a whole new set of acronyms)

The basic idea behind the camp is to provide a place where OVC kids can come and spend a week in a safe and nurturing environment, and let them have a little fun. The C4L camp (called Orchard Camp, because it is physically located in an orchard) is modeled on one started in Zimbabwe by the Salvation Army. Heather has been planning and organizing the camp for the last year, including training a whole bunch of youth leaders and counselors. The kids-to-counselor ratio is about 5 to 2, which is pretty good. The kids and counselors will be living in tents (big old ex-army tents, about 5 meters per side, and there are all sorts of programs planned for them like arts and crafts, sports, the climbing wall, and even dance.

It’s a really exciting time to be here, and even before the camp starts there is talk about expanding it to Swaziland and Mozambique. It’s a great idea, especially as way of helping AIDS orphans and a very interesting extension of “Christian Camping” that we and so many of our friends participated in when we were growing up. If anyone wants to get involved in setting up and/or running camps in 2006, send us an email at wielerfamily-at-gmail.com (of course, replace the “-at-” with @) (I do this so I don’t get spam) and I will put you in touch with the folks from C4L Canada.

On a personal note, you will see from the pictures some of the structures we are working on. I (John) have now become a high-wire artist, drilling and hammering at great heights (Over 5 meters!). Charlene has been busy with the painting crew, working especially hard on the “ampitheater”, which is now a lovely peach and terracotta color. This week we also bought a washing machine, its an LG brand, and around here they only hook up to cold water. We need to do some work on our bathroom (where the washing machine will be), because we have no water supply for the washing machine, no drain for the washing machine and no power at all in the bathroom. We had the plumber look at it, and he says, “No problem, unless there are rocks under the bathtub”, which is apparently something he has run into in the past.

Erin's new arrival...

Erin Wieler is proud to announce the newest addition to the Wieler Family. “Lady” was born on October 8^th, 2005 and she was just received today. We had set out to get a watch dog for our yard but I don’t think Lady looks too intimidating. She is 3/4 Jack Russell Terrier and part something else. We think she is very adorable but we haven’t had to get up with her at night yet!

Safari Time!

We took full advantage of our day off to take a day trip to Kruger National Park. We arose at 5 a.m. and were out the door by 5:30 and at the park gate at 6:00. It cost us 360 Rand to get in (about $75) but it was well worth it. We got to see zebras, monkeys, buffaloes, elephants, giraffes, rhinos, warthogs and a lion all from up close as well as hippos and three cheetahs from a distance and too many deer-like animals to count (antelope, springbok etc.). We look forward to returning to Kruger when we have guests to show around. Now we really feel like we’re living in Africa!

Botanical Gardens

We went to a really beautiful place this afternoon that is only about 15 minutes away from our house and we encountered lots of vegetation that we have never seen before. If you’re familiar with The Owl and the Pussycat, it appears that we are now living in the land where the bong tree grows. Some of the other trees looked like they could be right out of the pages of a Dr. Seuss book.

If you click on the photos, they will enlarge.

P.S. We have internet access at home now so watch for regular updates!

Flexibility

MCC told us in our initial interview that flexibility is a key attribute they look for when placing individuals. Sure enough, as of this week John & I are the head of two building teams that have come from Canada to help get this campus ready for two one week summer camps that are being run for orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs). Today I was working with a painting crew while John was doing a bit of construction demolition. John is also in charge of the team that is going to be building the climbing wall. There doesn’t seem to be a real plan on paper for the design of the climbing wall, only that it needs to be 6 metres high. I guess he could have left his business suit and ties at home!
(John) I know that before I left Winnipeg, I had only a vague idea of the job I would be doing. I joked that if I was handed a shovel, I would gladly shovel. Someone forgot to tell Chuck that I was only joking, because my first official duty with C4L was to shovel. I now believe I am a prophet. But seriously, I am having a good time working with the volunteers from Canada, and we are going to get the camp in good shape before the kids show up.

Neighbours

Our girls have two new playmates, Ndzalama and Tsuku, we’re still a little hit and miss with the pronounciations. They are the same ages as our girls and they also attend Penryn school where our girls will go. Their mom is a director at the school so we think that may have had some influence as to how we got in ahead of the waiting list. Ndzalama and Tsuku are trying to educate our girls on the finer points of South African sport but they are met with some challenges, our girls would rather try to balance a ball on their head than learn how to play cricket!

We have (finally) arrived

Hello all, from White River, South Africa! We have been waiting and working a long time to be able to type that sentence, and it feels good.

We arrived in South Africa last friday (the 4th), after a long but uneventful flight. Thankfully, we had no problems with bags (other than that they were very heavy) and customs, and were greeted at Kruger-Mpumalanga International Airport by Chuck and Heather from C4L and Wayne from MCC. It was good to get our feet on the ground. Thank you for all your prayers and support, it sure helped to know that people were thinking about us.

We have started the process of setting up our new house, buying things like pots and pans and such, setting up bank accounts and buying cell phones etc etc. It will be interesting getting internet access, as there are no cable providers and apparently to DSL service in our area, so for now we will be posting from a nearby Internet Cafe. We are particularly happy that as of this morning our girls are accepted at Penryn College, which is just fantastic. We were quite worried about this, and getting them in is a real answer to prayer. Again, we know that many of you have been thinking and praying about this, thanks you.

We have had a good time getting to know our neighbours, we have been already invited over for dinner twice, and had our first taste of "Pap", which is white cornmeal which is cooked till stiff and served with a sauce. It was really good, I'm sure we will have it again soon.

So far the weather has been quite mixed. It was very rainy on Sunday, which is great because this area has been having a real drought. A few days have been nice and warm, but today its cloudy and cool. We have been warned however that its going to get really hot, and we are (sort of) looking forward to it.

Over the next couple of weeks we are going to try to settle into a routine and start actually contributing. Stay tuned for further updates.