This post is for 2 weekends ago which was a total blast!
First I saw the land between Namagkale (where we work) and Phalaborwa (where we live) light up in flames on the way home from work. Literally, smoke everywhere and no one seemed to worry in the slightest! I was about to go out there by myself with a few buckets of water when I was told it was just natural fire that just burns the dead grass.
Unfortunately, this experience made me feel that all fire was okay…until I realized the fire burning next to our house was not okay. It was a bit of an adventure as the kids and our host mother tried to reach the hose from one side of the yard to the other in order to put out the flames. We later learned that they were clearing the field beside the house but it was left unattended and got a bit out of control. In the process of becoming firefighter Vicky, I got shocked. Yes, our entire house is surrounded by electric fencing and I accidentally touched it and jumped back with a little yelp. My host mother’s said “Vicky, that’s high voltage!” and my response was, “trust me…I know.” It was the second time in my life I had been shocked with some force and I wonder if I’ll ever be the same.
The week progressed with the Arc Initiative Workshop which turned out to be a huge success! The delegates had some really great comments regarding the workshop such as “phenomenal,” “interesting” and one gentleman, Herman, claimed that before the workshop he was no one and now he is someone. We also got to meet some amazing people including a Sauder Alumni, Kathleen, who is currently doing her PhD in Durban, Abraham and Salem from Ethiopia, a Senior Accountant at KPMG in Jo’burg, Tumi, and Salina who is a current Sauder student who is doing an accounting internship in Jo’burg. It was a true pleasure to meet all of them and exchange stories while creating the relationships that are so important to the Arc.
We topped off the week with a venture into Kruger. It was AMAZING! We saw so many animals. We also saw an elephant fight and at one point I thought to myself, okay this big guy can either choose to ram into our little car, or hit the other elephant again. Fortunately he chose the latter and we were able to off road in the bushveld to get out of the way. Then, just the same as last year, Jeff got a speeding ticket and hit a guinea fowl…I guess that will have to be a tradition.