February 20, 2005
Hello everyone
E-mail has been down here for over a week but up and running today. Very
frustrating to be out of communication with the rest of the world for that
length of time.
All is fine here. Elections set for March 31 so all the papers are full of
the goings on. Nominations, rumors on who is running. Even the e-mail
being down is rumoured to be a government effort to stop contact with the
outside world but I find that a little far fetched.
I have been very busy on the committee arranging the celebration of 100
years of Rotary set for Feb 23rd. Have enjoyed helping get things
organized. We have 98 confirmed coming from the four clubs here. We hoped
for 80 so are happy with the numbers. I set up the menu and will also
provide the background music as we dine. I have a new state of the art
computer (sure as hell beats the old 386 I had!!!!) with lots of programs
including CD burner for making music. I have transferred all my CD's onto my
hard drive and then made special CD's with selections from each CD which are
appropriate for the occassion. Include background music, slow tempo
variety music and dance music. Really enjoyed doing this.
I also have a new colour copier/scanner and programs to use this. I
download my photos from my digital camera and can print pictures any size up
to full sheets from it. Wow! I have joined the modern era. Old dogs can
learn new tricks.
I had a braii (bar b que) for a few friends (Rotarians) yesterday at my
place. We met a 4pm and it went till about 11pm when threatening rain sent
us inside or home (the badly needed rains never did materialized - just a
lot of thunder and lightening) We ate like kings. Steak, chicken, sausage,
pork, 3 salads, and lots of other goodies. Drinks flowed and the discussion
was great. Ended up talking about the color or peoples skin and whether the
biblical explanation (I was amazed at how well some of them knew their
bible) or evolution (Darwin) is the right explanation. Lots of talk aabout
intermarriages in the world today and if we will all end up being "colored"
many generations from now. Also talked about funny things that have
happened to us personally over the years. Lots of laughter. Brought back
lots of memories for me of growing up, university years and my experiences
with friends and family. Good for the soul.
Went to a farm the other day where the war veterans have taken over. Sad to
see a productive farm that had over 1000 head of cattle and a huge orange
grove reduced to 100 cattle and the orange trees in decline, with the orange
crop stolen . Heard about a dairy farm taken over in 24 hours and the family
forced to flee at gunpoint. Now the dairy herd is decimated for meat so no
milk production. The wild game on the farm is all gone (this is a very
serious problem here with poaching) and the once productive farm is now
reduced to subsistence agriculture. There had to be a better way to get the
population into land ownership but it was never planned properly and the
consequences are sad.
My combi (van) has been in for repairs for over two weeks. Complete engine
overhaul including injectors, head regrinding, rod replacement and new
rings. They do one thing at a time and then reassemble to only fine another
problem and dismantle again. But I hope it will be up and running early
next week. Finding rings is the problem now. I have had the use of a
station wagon from my Rotarian friend, Denis Paul, in the meantime or I
would have been in big trouble trying to get around.
Visited a few schools lately. Have a committee organized to help with this
final Matching Grant and the purchase and disbersement of the materials.
This includes fencing, school furniture, medical clinic equipment, lens
grinding machine for the Council for the Blind, etc. My goal is to have
this grant complete before I return to Canada on May 4. Wish me luck!!
Got to run.
love to you all, thanks to you who take the time to drop me a note and bring
me up to date on your families and local news.
Doug
Traditional hauling of water
Water
New cistern build by Rotary