SHOCKERS

Fly away and take me with..

You stay with somebody through the toughest of times and then they drop you like a hot potato. That is how I felt after hearing Riaan is now in Bloemfontein, staying with family and looking for work there. He assures me that is not the truth, that he is not “dropping” me or running away, but we will just have to wait and see how things develop, there is no way I am moving to Bloemfontein and living with my partners whole family. I have nothing against his family (sister, brother in law, 2 teenage daughters and “Mother in law”); out of all of them I have only met his mother. The fact is I do not know his family and that is part of the problem.

Let me start at the beginning, Riaan went up to Hoespruit to do Anti poaching, this mission lasted 2 weeks, then he was on his way back to Howick, but somewhere along the line he decided to go to Bloemfontein. I do understand why he is doing what he is doing, it is called survival, but it was a big shocker to receive an email saying I must pack up and come to Bloemfontein, excuse me; just for one thing I need 2 new tires and a new battery before I can go anywhere! 

I cannot help but wonder, Riaan knows how I feel about living in a city and we have spoken about living with his family (or mine for that matter) and we both agreed no, so I do feel a bit betrayed, but Riaan is just not cut out for the sustainable living and that is his absolute right and choice. I accept that and as I said, we will have to wait and see how things develop between us. Only time will tell at this point, but I am not packing up and going to Bloem.

I will miss Riaan, I will also miss the camera. Unfortunately it is Riaan’s camera, (birthday present from his mother) so right now I am a photographer without a camera. Well, I can use the Rainbow camera anytime, but it is just not the same. I also hinted for my own camera for a birthday present, but under the current circumstances I am not sure I will get anything. I am feeling a bit sorry for myself. Riaan also said he will courier the camera to me, I will be real grateful (and it will also be a very positive sign), let us see if this actually happens.

Now that I have got all that out of my system let me tell you about the Impendle community, (our neighbors), we are in Dargle, and this is all near and around Howick, just for reference. Impendle is a very poor rural community and currently we have various programs running to help improve things. There are the Eco schools programs, then there is Eco tourism and Voluntourism programs and they interconnect. We are trying to give people a fishing rod and teach them how to fish, so to speak, instead of just giving them fish all the time.

Very bright and colorful, on the way to a wedding

But Impendle itself it very dry and dusty at the moment, we are in the middle of winter

“We facilitate a grassroots ecotourism programme in Impendle (KwaZulu Natal), South Africa where people can stay in the rural community and be a part of community activities and projects.  We’ve been hosting international volunteers and students in Impendle for the last three years. 

The main volunteer project is with Eco-Schools (environmental education) in Impendle.  The programme is run through the local non-profit organisation, Sihlangene Kokwethu. 

We would like to invite volunteers to participate in this intercultural, community building programme.  We’re offering a one week (6 nights) package with option to stay on for more weeks.  This includes home stay, all meals, donation to the project, a local team leader, local transport. Cultural activities, Guided tours and Airport pick-ups are not included in the price.  The per person cost is R 2 300 .00 if there is a minimum of 6 people in the group. We do cater for individuals or smaller groups but the cost will be a bit higher; please contact us in this regard.

For more information on the programme, please visit 

www.impendle-ecotourism.org.za

E-mail    Sam - sam@zuvuya.co.za                      
Rika - rainbowrequest@gmail.com   “


The above was copied from the Impendle website.

I am busy marketing the Eco- and Voluntourism projects, so although I am rather sad and lonely, with a birthday on Sunday, I have enough to keep me busy and I will survive. It is just getting more and more frustrating to try and work while there is never enough power and I am getting way behind with the "to do" list.

There is also this other little problem - I am suppose to get paid for this job, I have the original email correspondence and I was definitely offered a salary. Not a huge one but never the less it works out to about R 400.00 per week. Shine now suddenly have big problems with this, I think the problems is than Sam never told him that she agreed to pay me and now she is trying to deny this. As I said I still have the original Email correspondence. What Shine does not seem to get is the fact that I am not here as a Volunteer, this is an Internship. It is seriously bad for my self worth that somebody can think I am not worth R 400.00 a week!