Six lions and two elephants escaped from a reserve in South Africa.
They are currently at large in rural Shewula. There have been no
sightings, but a cow corpse was found in “the bush” off the main road.
It has all the people of Shewula talking. Apparently, the best
defense against lion attack if you happen upon one is to either climb
a tree or make yourself look really big by holding your arms out. And
you must NEVER run. Reid and I just hope the escaped wildlife will
make its way into our reserve, so that our community can advertise
lions. That really brings in the business.
On a different note, Spring is here, and it feels like summer. Since
Swaziland is a monarchy, each community has a Chief that oversees the
community and reports to the King. Another duty of the Chief is to
decide and announce when plowing can begin. Shewula is a rural
community that is agriculturally based, and they depend on their maize
crop (corn) for their food supply the remainder of the year. Needless
to say, this plowing announcement is a big deal. I think it is about
to happen, because tractors keep driving around.
We are doing well, no more sickness, apparently it was just a stomach
flu or something going around. We have IST soon, and for Thanksgiving
we are all invited to the Country Director’s house to have
Thanksgiving dinner, so that should be nice. We miss everyone back
home, and we love hearing from everyone!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
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Glad to know you are settling in & not sick any longer.... Want to send a package of goodies to you, but wonder IF it will make it to you - do you get mail delivery? Everyone healthy here in Alabama. Love you & want to reconnect MOM
ReplyDeleteDear Brooke,
ReplyDeleteI called on your birthday but couldn't get an answer--I think you two must have been asleep! Happy Birthday belatedly, and I hope you had a wonderful day. I got your letter, and enjoyed your descriptions of the plant life thhere in Africa. Personally, I have always thought Africa to be a beautiful place;but the poverty as you know is a terrible thing. Running water is such a basic thing to us that we take it for granted. I still wish it was possible for you to post pictures--that would be fantastic! Everyone is fine here. Is there anything you need that I can send to you?
Much love, Aunt Renee
I love to read your update, feels like you are just in the US! keep up the good work~ I am "failing" parasite...so hard...I MISS YA'LL~~~
ReplyDeleteDear Brooke and Reid,
ReplyDeleteHope this note finds you both well. The swine flu thing is all over the news here and even where I work they gave out hand sanitizers. Everything is fine here, it'd still pretty autumnal,but I suppose winter is ahead. PV has a huge, beautiful new library, and I am on the Board of Trustees (it was fun to be appointed by the mayor and town council). I got a promotion at work, and now I am Director of Academic Services and I have 7 people who work for me. I like my job, but it's sometimes hard to gey up at 6 in the morning every day! Not like being a faculty member. Wish you had pictures; do you have a digital camera? Let us know what you need or would like and we'll get it to you. Take good care.
Love,
Aunt Renee