Mo's African Adventure

I spent an amazing day in Laerskool Olifantsvallei, a primary school located in Citrusdal.

Citrusdal is a largely black, coloured and Afrikaans community about 30 minutes south of Gecko Creek. It is a farming community, mostly Oranges and Lemons, with a large (by African standards) fruit processing plant. There is a very high population of coloureds and blacks who work on the farms and in the processing plant and shops and services in town.

This school was different than the two schools that I go into in Clanwilliam in that the classrooms are mixed with white and coloured students together. Although the blacks still have their own primary school here, even the coming together of coloureds and whites is noteworthy at this school.

All instruction in this school is given in Afrikaans even though English is the language that the country now recognizes as the language which instruction should be given in. To understand this contradiction you must understand a little bit about the culture in this area of South Africa.

The northern part of the Western Cape (the province I am in) contains an extremely high population of traditional Afrikaners. These are the people who control most of the wealth here, and consequently, the “power”. They are staunchly Afrikaans and their traditions and their culture are unquestioned here. In fact, although almost everyone here can speak English, they laughingly say that they speak English only in self defense. Having said all of this, they are a wonderful, friendly, industrious and amazing group of people. I consider myself very fortunate to be invited into their circles to the extent that I am.

Getting back to the school, while the children receive some instruction in English, it is taught in this school as a subject, much as we teach French as a Second Language. The lesson was almost exactly the same as a lesson we would have in our English lessons with a writing piece that had been read on several days, discussed in class and to which the children would now prepare a response. Care was given to apply all steps of the writing process exactly as we would instruct the children to do in our classrooms. For the most part I have found that when people do speak English here it is much “better” English than we speak at home. Although it is heavily accented, it retains the formality and grammatical correctness that we so easily give up as we slide into our slangs and colloquialisms. This is further emphasized by the impeccable manners with which people address each other.

I must say that listening to en entire day in Afrikaans certainly tested my meager understanding of the language. I usually could grasp the topic that was being discussed but not what was being said about it. For example I could tell that they were speaking about the inter-school sports day but I did not know what they were saying about it, or in the staff room I could tell that they were talking about the Braii on the weekend but again, who knows what they were saying. Fortunately, my new friends at the school took pity on me and switched the staffroom conversation to English and they had good fun laughing at this foreigner struggling to decipher their beautiful language.

Again I cannot tell you how beautiful and respectful children are here. They sit in rows and receive instruction from the front of the classroom, get down to it and do their seat work and are deeply respectful of their teacher.

A little something that I found interesting was that I had noticed that each time a child came up to the teacher’s desk to ask her a question, they would gently scratch her back as they spoke with her. I asked her why they did that and she said that the children liked to do it and it is considered a sign of affection for a child to do this. I was quite touched when as the day progressed the children began to scratch me on the back too as I interacted with them.

Another remarkable experience and the more schools I visit I am again struck by the uniqueness of the culture of each. Still, the level of instruction remains good and the respectfulness of the children makes for a very productive day at school.

At the end of the day, each of the children greeted me as they left the classrooms with phrases such as: “You must have a good evening further Madam,” “I will keep you in my prayers Mafrou,” and “Thank you for teaching me today teacher.”

How can you not love these children ???

Gecko Creek Wilderness Lodge is what is called in South Africa, a self-catering camp. It is a wonderfully eclectic collection of cabins, permanent tents and safari tents that people may rent or they can come with their own tents or camper vans. It is a collection of buildings nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains and it is without a doubt one of the most tranquil places on earth.

When you first arrive, the first structure you will notice is the Lapa, a beautiful octagonal open-air building which houses gas cookers, refrigerators, pots and pans, plates, dishes, cutlery, utensils … in short everything you need to prepare meals. Guests bring their own food and prepare their own meals which may also be eaten at the tables in the Lapa. it is wonderful to watch, smell and chat as visitors from all over the world prepare wonderful dishes and the banter is always lively as rich aromas waft from pots simmering gently on the stoves.

In the evening, guests often gather in the “Boma”. This circular structure is basically a high, circular fence built out of vertical sticks. The word “Boma” means stockade and one of its traditional uses is to enclose animals. In the centre of the Boma is a fire pit, around which guests laze in comfortable beanbag chairs under the magnificent South African night sky. You have not experienced darkness until you have been here. Even the spectacular Milky Way and plethora of brilliant stars of the southern hemisphere strewn as far as the eye can see cannot penetrate the blackness of the cloak of darkness here.

The Boma also houses the three “Braii”. To the uninitiated these may seem like merely Bar-B-Que pits … and they are … but to “Braii” in South Africa is more than just to throw some burgers on an open flame. It is an entire epicurean, social and cultural event. Where to start … To begin with, food prepared on the Braii expands far beyond what you can even imagine. Every kind of meat can be and is prepared on the Braii. Vegetables as well either on the open flame or in a potjie (3 legged black pot cooked in the embers of the Braii or open fire), rolls, bread … you name it, these people have mastered cooking it on the open flame.

Traditionally it is the men who do the Braiing and they are wonderful at it. It is as much a social event as it is cooking with the men gathering round, joking and chatting as the Braii coals are readied and the meal is leisurely prepared. Nothing is rushed and it takes hours to prepare, enjoy and participate in a Braii. The men have an extremely good sense of humour and are terrible pranksters and the cajoling, insulting, bantering and teasing that goes on is merciless.

You cannot imagine the amount of food that is prepared at the braii and if you’re lucky there will be leftovers to be eaten up the next day.

While this is a wilderness camp, the facilities here are absolutely stunning and provide just the right balance between “roughing it” and “creature comforts”. With this in mind, the solar heated showers housed in the beautiful ceramic tiled washrooms provide a welcome touch of civility to the wild experience.

Life at the camp is very peaceful and tranquil and visitors come and go as they please but as with any business, the responsibilities associated with running the camp are quite onerous. The opportunistic nature of crime in South Africa means that someone must always be in the camp to ensure that nothing walks off. The responsibility of being here for the telephone, responding to enquiries, taking bookings, keeping the facilities tidy and in good repair, and being present to greet and help new guests settle in, means that it is difficult if not impossible for management to get a break away.

Usually there are two people here managing the camp but my friend Ingrid took ill about 3 months ago and has had to stay in Cape Town for medical reasons. This has meant that John has been abandoned to run the camp on his own for the last several months. As wonderful as this place is, you can imagine that not being able to have a break can be quite exhausting and even more than that, quite isolating.

During my stay here, I have encouraged John to get away for a few days here and there to give him a break before I have to leave. Most weeks I have gone to Cape Town for a few days during the week and then when I have come back John has headed off for a weekend with his chums after giving me a crash course on the basics of camp life.

True to this routine, I arrived back from Cape Town a week ago Thursday and John headed out on Friday. He had made an appointment to have his “bakkie” (truck) looked at in Cape Town as he was having some trouble with it. As I stopped in at the main house to check in with him just before he was leaving, he was going over his mental checklist of things he had with him … keys, licence, passport … Passport? Hey wait a minute. Passport? “What the heck do you need your passport for,” I joked. “You’re not planning on skipping the country on me, are you?”

Despite his good natured assurances that it was just in case he needed it for identification, I haven’t seen hide nor hair of him since and that was over a week ago! Hmmmm….

John? John? Are you out there John?

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