Gregor goes SASA

August

2009-08-07T12:32:00.003+02:00

The last month has begun and every single muscle refuses to leave or at least to prepare for the long journey home. However, I and every single muscle of my body know that there is no way out. Well then, soon it will be for old long since and Cheerio. What I have experienced in these six months here in South Africa can not be replaced by anything imaginable. The friendships that have been made will last until I’m old and grey and because of age related dementia unable to recognize those who got hold of a place in my heart. If it was possible to start all over from day one, I would do everything the same just as I did before. I might take care that two or three slips never even happened, but in the main I would not change any of my decisions. Back in Germany I will try to make the dull everyday life, which most probably will catch up with me much sooner then I’d like to, more endurable with the help of all the beautiful memories, which I was allowed to collect. Even if it will be good for me to see old friends, family and surroundings of my childhood and adolescence, one part of me will be bound, for all time, to this wondrous country.

Sgd. Ndod’enkulu (The big man)

Gregor Piesche

Ulf, Kai, Sifiso, Jack, Gregor

Henry

More pictures following...

Good Hope & friends

2009-08-05T16:58:00.004+02:00

In the month of July three of my oldest friends Kai Kaffka, Jack Voß and Ulf Wahner gave me a visit and I tried to show them everything that I’ve been exposed to as good and compressed as I could. I was as excited as anyone who hasn’t seen his best friends for a long time. The permanent smile in my face was even noticed by my fellow volunteers. As we toured around they got to know some of my South African friends and also, with some difficulties in the beginning, the local handshakes and high fives. They even learned some SiSwati in their limited amount of time. Yebo phela (yes of course). During our conjoint vacation we’ve seen the Blyde River Canyon, the Sabie waterfalls, the MacMac Pools, the Valley of Death, the Sudwala caves and the Kruger Park. But this one moment that has touched all of us in an instant of a second happened at the Good Hope center in Mataffin. Together with Sifiso, one of my South African friends who is volunteering at that center, we’ve donated 20 mini toy cars to children between the ages two and five. Half of the kids started playing around with the cars. Driving, shoving and crashing them. The other half got colored pens and paper and they started painting the most terrific pictures, which were handed over to us as an appreciation for our donation. After a while the kids started rolling the cars over to us and we rolled them back, until there was a line of five kids rolling cars without any order or timing, which made it quite impossible for any of us to handle. This must be the worst nightmare of any traffic analytic. The next thing that happened was little happy smiling kids all around us. Over, under, in front, behind, on the left and on the right. If you started taking one kid up in the air the next one was already in the line ready to take the chance of breathing the air of the big people. If the line was short you had to take the same kid up twice or thrice. My oh my, were some of them heavy. My other favorites were the footrace with a kid on each foot, an act of piracy were at least six kids captured either Kai or Ulf or even both plus one of them stole Ulf’s glasses and last but not least Jack holding two kids on each arm and if I remember it right even one or two on his back. What a day. I bet we’ll still remember this day for many years to come.

Nursery school in KaNyamazane

2009-07-10T12:37:00.000+02:00

After dropping two carpets in one of the nursery schools in KaNyamazane, which we yet again got from the Emnotweni Hotel, Jan and I were granted another insight in everyday problems which occur in nearly every township. But at the same time we were shown a method of resolution. To compensate the problem of having too little money the school is producing and selling bead work in a variety of patterns and forms, whether you want a tie, a scarf or a key chain with the flag of South Africa. The possibilities are nearly limitless, although I have to ask myself if the tie is ever going to be sold. The profit is then spent on food, game and school material as well as on colorful designs and pictures, which are meant to pep up the dull grey walls. After we were led into the back rooms of the nursery school, we were shown the very latest source of income. To begin with the headmistress buys shredded pieces of bed linen in all sorts of patterns and in big quantities. These are then, according to pattern, sorted by full-time supported handicapped persons and seamed together forming high-quality pillows or new bed linen. The proceeds pay for the material, some goes into the nursery school and the rest is for the pillow producer him- or herself. I was really surprised when I, after seeing the enormous bags crammed with shredded pieces of bed linen, held the final pillow, which I must say looked just as new bought, in my own hands. Another special event I happened to be part of just occurred shortly before we left. When I, forearmed with a camera, began photographing the little children, which were put into blue and pink potato sacks, I suddenly became the center of a group of little punks eager for knowledge. Every picture I took had to be shown to everyone instantly and little hands covered me almost completely. Virtually cut off from the outer world I was asked what my name was. To top it all off I was asked that question in SiSwati, a language which I do not possess yet. But I got lucky and I was able to make contact with an interpreter and exchanged a couple of phrases with my new friends. To my regret, I was pulled out of this wondrous experience just as fast as I have been trundling into it, because we already had to leave. Wow, how exciting was that.

Fox’s adventure

2009-07-03T16:00:00.013+02:00

Collen Logan, founder of the adventurous hiking experience Fox’s adventure, got his nickname Fox due to his foxy ideas and founded Fox’s adventure because of his love for hiking. His adventure, lasting over two days and divided in two phases, consists of a hiking part and a mountain biking part. The difficult part, the hiking, took place on the first day and it was not unusual that you found yourself bending down or on all fours. Some scratches and clingy plants had to be endured in order to see the breathtaking view over an untouched South African mountain range and into the longest valley of the world, which is here know by the name of the Valley of Death. In a time in which there was no existing cure for Malaria the name Valley of Death wasn’t just a name. During the summer month the valley is obsessed with mosquitos. By the way the longest operating gold mine, with over 100 years operating time, is located in the same valley right next to the hiking trail. The average operating time of an ordinary gold mine is usually between 35-45 years. Back then the gold was probably the only reason why somebody took on the dangerous journey into the Valley of Death. On our hiking trail we already past two mine entries. Arriving at our camping ground in the evening, Jan, Henry (our South African rapper friend), and I started to pitched up our tent right in front of the panoramic view over the Valley of Death and we began preparing our dinner. Noodles and Chakalaka. Surviving the ice cold mountain air night, we bestrode the mountain bikes and began our decent. On the way back Fox showed us a certain part of the old now completely overgrown hiking trail, which is called Piano Staircase. If you believe the legends, a piano was pulled up to the top of the mountain on request of the wife of a mine owner and the one hill which is called the Piano Staircase, is a small path going up in a zigzag course. Quite difficult I’d say. After arriving in the valley we were rewarded with blisters on our hands and with a Fox’s adventure badge, which you can get only once in your life and only on your first completion of the hiking trail.

Street Soccer Opening Tournament

2009-07-03T15:57:00.003+02:00

Finally the big day came, this past Sunday. Our street soccer project Phumelela was officially opened with a big tournament for 200 young Scouts aged 11-14 years. On request of the GTZ (German Technical Co-operation, our sponsor of this year’s street soccer project) and on occasion of the Confederations Cup we put the whole tournament together, in only one month time. The first teams already arrived at 8 o’clock in the morning and after their team was registered at my desk they were provided with hot soup and bread. After registration all teams were presented with jerseys and base-caps from this year’s street soccer project. In the morning all teams rotated between different bases from Altus Sport, Green Feet and Karos & Kambro. The bases contained Talk Life (Bring the youth back to start talking again. Sharing problems and delights), Life Skills (Active games connected to problems of HIV/Aids), dance (Expression, body control and team development) and recycling (How can I produce a soccer ball with plastic bottles?). The GTZ team from Pretoria was especially surprised about the intellectual curiosity and the high organization capability of our young players, which was reflected in the form of good listeners and systematic rotations. The first games started around midday. Every game lasted 10 minutes, with four field players per team on the field and without a goal keeper, on a 25yrd x 15yrd field with a 3yrd goal. At the end of the day every team was rewarded with t-shirts and medals. The big winner of the day was the team of the two Rovers Thokozani Phangisa and Mbongeni Mokoena from Nkomazi, which entered the DJ stage with deafening noise from the Vuvuzelas (trumpet like team spirit creators) and a victory dance. With winning the tournament the team won, besides glory and envy from the other teams, a trip to Pretoria. Accompanied by their fieldworker Chris Mthembu the team spend four whole days in South Africa’s capital city. Their program consisted of further life skills activities, sightseeing tours, drama, art productions, Confederations Cup public viewing and a soccer tournament. Representing Mpumalanga the young team played against the winning teams of the provinces Gauteng, Eastern and Western Cape as well as against the winning teams from their neighboring African countries Mozambique, Botswana, Lesotho, Zambia, Ghana, Rwanda and Namibia. On the first day of the tournament they won every game fabulously and on the second day they merely lost against the team Africa United, which they’ve already beaten on the first day. In the end they obtained a bright third place.

Johannesburg

2009-06-15T12:07:00.002+02:00

Joburg was our striven aim on June 3, 2009. Armed with a city map in form of a book in a DIN A4 format and with high spirits we hit the road at 8 o’clock, driving along the N4 towards Gauteng, our neighboring state. Once we’ve reached our destination the Jacaranda Backpackers has become our home. The Jacaranda tree, by the way, belongs to the trumpet-creeper family, has preponderantly crimson to mauve colored blossoms and one of our local radio stations is named after him. During our four day stay we have been to the SAB (South African Breweries) World of Beer tour, the Apartheid Museum, the Hector Pieterson Memorial Museum, the old house of Mandela, the headquarters of Soweto TV, the Carlton Centre (highest building in Johannesburg), the play Umoja and the Lions Park. If you ever happen to be in the Lions Park take the yellow information boards serious. Because if, say for example, a playful young lion comes up to your car and takes your number plate, you won’t get your money back. So now, take a good look at the gate with the many lions lying in the entrance. I was driving through there :). The traffic was a little gooey and we really lost our number plate to a playful young lion, but it was an unforgettable adventure. Closing up I will end my report with the words of my volunteer colleague Jan Ekkert “There’s lion slobber” (on the plate).

Extension on house

2009-06-07T15:14:00.003+02:00

On the 2nd of March, a sunny Monday morning, the construction works of the extension on our volunteer domicile began. Within one month and pressured by constant supervision of Jörg the foundation, the walls and the roof nearly sprung up out of the ground. The wiring and the last intricacies happened in April. The last step however, the relocation of the office, has been delayed because of misunderstandings and took place at the end of May.

Mozambique

2009-05-29T14:02:00.004+02:00

The first vacation in our uttermost warm neighboring country Mozambique, what a magnificent time we had. On Sunday afternoon we drove off with a hired VW Golf 1. The plan was to get to the beautiful capital city of Mozambique in the evening. But before we could reach Maputo we were confronted with some interesting problems at the border, the beginning of our agitating adventure. After trying to find the right counter (Counter three, 2nd floor, permit 46 B, the red one) a young friendly guy offered us his help. To our satisfaction all papers were filled in fast and accurate and we could leave South Africa in no time. As we arrived in Mozambique our friend was already awaiting us. He led us to the right places, provided us with a third party insurance and did everything for us at all times. After we got our Visas and our entry permit nothing was left in our way. Or was there? There he was again our helpful friend who got us through all this mess. After we offered him R20 (≈$2) for his help he rejected and instead insisted on getting R200 (≈$20). Adding to this he said “Hey ma friend, if you don’t have R200 it’s OK”. Noteworthy was only that he repeated that same sentence, roughly estimated, about twenty times. And just after some time we were surrounded by black man who apparently wanted to help us. Hereafter we drove to the last control without giving any donations and without taking any help whatsoever. Now our “friend” was running past us and right up to the police officer. He told him something in Portuguese and suddenly the police man wanted to search our car. To be exact: our boot. A full backed boot with clothes and bags was the only thing he found and so he wished us a save journey and off we were. „Obrigado senhor polícia e cião!“. On the last 100 Km we only saw an enormous bushfire far in the distance. Finally in Maputo the only thing left to do was driving down the Avenue 24th of July, onto Vladimir Lenin Ave and into Mao Tsé Tung street, where we had to find our backpacker Fatima’s Place. Yet before, we had to encounter the public authorities once more and we made a short visit at a hotel with magenta colored neon lights where you paid every hour, every two hours or every three hours. On the next day, finally, we explored Maputo with nearly no stress at all and at night we went to the fish market, the best insider tip we could have got. On the way there the only difficulty was that our internationally mixed group had to squeeze into a bus. The countries Canada, Netherlands, Switzerland, England and Germany were represented. Funny thing was St. Gallen was also represented, by two girls from Switzerland. By the way my seat in the bus was really easy to get to. You just had to get into the bus via the drivers’ door, crawl over the steering wheel and there you are sitting right over the glove box. What a blast. The next day we drove 400 Km to our last destination. Tofo, truly it must be paradise on earth. Azure blue Ocean, the Indian, white sand beach, did squeak a little, and a palm tree hut with a bar where they served ice-cold 2M’s, one of the three most known Mozambican sorts of beer. Now, enough writing, my Mozambican adventure has come to an end for you right here. But before it ends you get one more delicacy, the cherry on whipped cream if you like.

“A tourist does not know where he was. A backpacker does not know where he is going.”

Long Easter weekend

2009-04-21T19:39:00.001+02:00

Now that our third volunteer, Krissi who is going to stay here for three months, arrived we planned as much activities as we could for our Easter weekend. Together with Johanna, another Weltwärts volunteer who has been living here for six months already and who will stay six months more, we stayed at a rich settlement with a porter and a big entrance gate in a big house with a ceiling height of at least FIVE meters (≈ 16 feet) and a decadent shower with a door leading to a balcony which turns it to a walkable outside shower. What an absolute unique experience, showering under the breathtaking starry sky of South Africa. Starting from this base we planed and executed all our trips. I’d say it is best to let the pictures speak for themselves.

First Rover Soccer Workshop

2009-04-16T17:38:00.003+02:00

Now, finally the first of four trainer workshops for our Rover (Scouts in the age of 18-25 years) had begun. On the morning of the 4th of April 25 Rovers from the different Scouts districts as well as six youth trainers and two project leaders from Altus Sport arrived at nine o’clock at the scout hall in Mataffin. By the way giant giraffes are holding the roof of the 2010 World Cup stadium that is under construction right now in the background. The first thing that the trainers from Altus Sport did with our Rovers was warming up with standard warming up exercises and traditional dance moves. It is really an exceptional experience to see those traditional dances right before your eyes. Following the warm up topics such as HIV/Aids were playfully built in the training, e.g. there was a little playfield with three areas and the aim of the game was to get the ball from area one to area three. In area two they had to be careful so that the “virus” doesn’t touch their ball. They were shown how easily you can get infected, if you are not careful enough and that you have to protect your “ball” because if you are once infected there is no way back. After every game the Rovers discussed the exercise in-depth in coherence to the topic.

Rover cooking competition

2009-04-06T19:39:00.002+02:00

On the 23rd of March 2009 the initiator of the first annual Rover Cooking Competition, Lucky Bembe, gathered 24 Rovers (Scouts aged 18-25 yrs) from three districts Mpumalangas from Hazyview, Nkomazi and Nsikazi. Divided into three groups they fought very hard in order to win the first price, a challenge cup with a cooking pot and the inscription “Rover Cooking Award” on top and a badge with the name of the winning team on the side. As a neutral judge I had to estimate the cleanliness, organization and safety of the cooking area and thereafter I had to rate presentation, originality, taste and temperature of the meal. Since it was the first time for all of us doing this cooking competition, we faced a time problem and the food of the three teams for eight Rovers and two judges was served with a delay of one hour. After several security checks and double checking the scores we finally announced the winner of this year Rover Cooking Award and it went to the Rovers from Hazyview. Hip Hip Hurray!

Zamokuhle disabled center

2009-04-01T13:28:00.001+02:00

The new month has begun and finally we have the cheaper internet connection and 2 Gigabytes are just waiting for us to be used up. At last I can upload the latest reports :). I fixed the wirelesss network as well today and I am as happy as can be :]. On March the 18th we donated bed sheets, pillow cases and napkins to the Zamokuhle disabled center. The Scouts on the other hand got them from a noble hotel, whose standards must be very high, because we found nearly no flaws at all. Furthermore we planted two mahogany trees with the energetic help of all attendees.

My work

2009-03-15T20:55:00.003+01:00

Now for all of you who thought “Hey, he’s just doing vacation there!”- No!, I am not. All previous activities took place in the first 2-3 weeks after my arrival and happened on the weekend and/or after working time. Since my normal working day is not so fascinating and picturesque for the most of you, I have been deriving you from that part of my stay. Every Monday we have our Monday meeting with Nikki, Jan and myself. Jörg has been joining us for a short time now and with him our Monday became the Nangu Thina day, which is intended to be exclusively for needs concerning Nangu Thina e.V. For this weekend we had to copy, punch and staple and copy, punch and staple many training booklets for the introduction course, in which future scout leaders are developed. In addition we had to prepare everything for the weekend kitchen utensils, plates, cutlery, every material needed, as for example three diverse colored scarves each for a group of eight, name tags and and and. Some of those things we had to get out of the big containers (some of them still have labels form the GDR on them) that are secured with huge locks. Along the way we attended the DESD conference “Decade of Education for Sustainable Development”. The three main topics were water, waste and greening. Needless to say, that the Scouts were represented on all three topics. My main project is still street soccer and bears the beautiful name Pumelela – “we want to Succeed!” More on that as soon as I have the time. The remaining pictures are from God’s window, Blyde River Canyon and from the introduction course on the school ground in Manzini.

The Sudwala Caves

2009-03-10T14:51:00.004+01:00

Together with the other volunteers Jan Ekkert, Jan Evers and Simon Evers, the three soccer trainers from the “Yes”-project Sascha, Silvia and Annke, and Sifiso a South African scout and good friend of Jan Evers and the other three trainers, we went into the oldest known caves of the world. On our very own Journey to the Center of the Earth we had to wade through waist-deep water with a ducked back, squeeze ourselves through small openings, endure a continual strength-exhausting climb going up and down and adopting a completely new definition of being dirty. The crystal chamber at the end of our journey was my personal highlight and our deepest achieved position that evening. For nearly half an hour we turned out any kind of light and kept our mouth shut, which gave Jan Ekkert the opportunity to take a nap in the dark depths of the Sudwala Caves. Back again at the surface of the earth both Jans and my humble self took a shower.

BP Camp

2009-03-06T20:12:00.009+01:00

On my very first weekend, after five days of being exposed to an enormous amount of information and impressions, each of the five scout districts here in Mpumalanga had their annual BP Camp. It is basically a weekend, from Friday to Sunday, for scouts where they go camping, do activities and talk about Lord Baden-Powell the Founder of the World Scout Movement. At first Jan Evers and I went to the Nkomazi district where we spend the night in a tent. The camp was surrounded by a barbed wire fence and within that camping ground the bathroom facilities and a pool were surrounded by walls with broken glass on top, which is quite bizarre when you are first confronted with so many walls and fences that are there only for you to feel safe. The next day we went to the East district for a short visit and it was there, where I saw the biggest bamboo “tree” in my life. The third district on our way was Nsikazi at a place called Eco Link (www.ecolink.co.za), where I met a really interesting old Lady. Sue Hart the founder Eco Link. She lived here in Mpumalanga during the apartheid time and fought the apartheid regime from the beginning. Back in the days she gave black people a place to live and proper education and over the years she was collecting poems from students, teachers and friends and the collection of all those poems she called “Cries of the Heart”. At the end of my meeting with Sue she gave Muzi (a Rover, scouts aged between 16-25yrs), Julia and Lucy (two scout leaders) and me a copy of that book and more books on environment and planting. After that I met up with Muzi, who is going to Germany at the end of this month for a three months promoting trip and we played soccer 5 on 5 and of course the team I was on won. The last district was Iyamazane, where 300 scouts camped at a dam that was closed down just for the scouts. This whole weekend I had a whole lot of fun.

Farewell party Jan and Simon Evers

2009-03-01T12:58:00.008+01:00

Finally, on my second Tuesday in South Africa the big farewell party of Jan Evers, who was living here as a volunteer for six months and his brother Simon Evers, who somehow became a volunteer during his vacation, was opened by a big banquet (on the right Dudley, in front the youngest son of Elvis and in the back Muzi). But before this toothsome meal I gave guitar lessons to Gracious, the daughter of Nikki who has by the way an amazing singing voice and Jan Ekkert my fellow volunteer. So now with Lucky I already have three potential guitar students to whom I can pass on my extraordinary guitar skills ;). After the meal we listened to speeches from Jörg, the assistant chairman of Nangu Thina who lived here for eight years already and started off as an volunteer as well, from Nikki, my “concerning mother” and at the same time omniscient boss and from Elvis the Provincial Chairman of SASA. At the end both were presented with an official scarf of the province Mpumalanga and a knot made of springbok, which you cannot purchase anywhere you have to earn it. (On the pictures you can see Charlie (bagpie), short blond hair Jan Evers, short brown hair + glasses Simon Evers, behind the grill Jörg)

Kruger Park night drive

2009-03-01T11:51:00.003+01:00

Three days after our arrival in South Africa we already went to the Kruger National Park. A park ranger took us on a night drive. With an average speed of about 12 mph (20 km/h) we started our tour in a jeep with extension at daylight. On our way through green highlands, over the Crocodile River and past big water holes we saw a bright variety of animals. Sadly we did not see all of the “Big Five” but the black rhinoceros and the African elephant crossed our way multiple times. Luckily there is still a lot of time to get the chance to see lions, leopards and cape buffalos. Further animals we saw where impalas, zebras, greater kudus, the head of an hippopotamus, rabbits, dung beetles and at night we saw one owl every 600-1200ft (200-400m) in the middle of the street. They stood there because the street gave off heat which was retained in the tarred road. By the way the frogs are running around everywhere in and around our house.

The story of Thomas Gisela Schneider

2009-03-01T10:09:00.006+01:00

Now as promised you will hear the story of Thomas Gisela Scheider. On the first morning after our arrival we were introduced to Thomas from Cape Town, a very friendly black South African from the Cape region. Right from the start he said if we ever have the chance to come down to Cape Town we should give him a visit. After almost half an hour of adjusting the early morning hour, which we desperately needed after this terrible jetlag we had, Nikki called us for our weekly meeting. The Monday meeting is basically for reflexion and to discuss the upcoming events. By the way I take care of the coordination of the Street Soccer Project, where Rovers, scouts in the age of 18-25, get taught to be trainers and then each one of them is going to be the trainer of one of the 14 scout soccer teams at eight players a team. Over the year the will have soccer training combined with workshops on moral values, environment and HIV. Now back to Nikki, during our meeting we somehow said “well Thomas said…” and Nikki looked really disoriented and asked us if we meant Simon the brother of Jan (Evers). Thereupon and absolutely confused she asked Jan (Evers) “Who is this Thomas?” and out of the corridor Lucky said “Hello! I am Thomas.” Lucky is one of our five fieldworkers and helps us out almost every day in the office. A fieldworker takes care of one scout district. That means there are five districts in Mpumalanga and those cover only a slight part of Mpumalanga. A bigger coverage is very difficult because of the long distances. Lucky has a really distinct humor as you might have noticed and he can be really convincing. He actually got Jan (Ekkert) to eat a chicken bone, because it is a custom here in South Africa.

First impressions

2009-02-19T17:24:00.004+01:00

After a journey affected by very long waiting periods and invigorated by solid "English Breakfast" Jan and I finally arrived in South Africa. From that moment on we sucked up every impression that hit our eyes. Here are our top 10.

Number ONE, when a very neat, young man dressed in organge receives you at the terminal exit and is very kind and wants to help you, do not believe that he does that because he's just a nice person, he actually works on a mutual basis. In the case Jan Ekkert it was 20€ for leading him to the baggage room. It was a special price for a friend, but rather the extrem.

Number TWO, if you look closer at the landscape you'd think it could be anywhere, in Europe or the United States. Which mainly happens to be so because of the rainy season that you have here over the summer. The grass, flowers, leaves and buds sprout, thrive, grow and bloom. They even grow large fields of needle beams here which lets it almost look like the Black Forest in Germany.

Number THREE, the weather is very warm (100m behind our house is a swimming pool :). The sun shines every day with an average temperature of 77°F, +/- 10°F. From time to time we have thunderstorms coming up quickly. Most of the times they start at about 5 in the afternoon or at 2 in the moring. Because of lightning strokes all electronic devices must be taken of the power. Warm kindly nights are included and sometimes there are even fog banks.

Number FOUR, summerlike temperatures are even over the winter a normal thing. The average temperature is 70°C as long as the sun shines. At night it can get very cold. The green of the leaves fades and everything adopts a more red brown ish color.

Number FIVE, you can feel the different influences of the Netherlands, England and of the U.S. in many ways here. Whether you look at the language, writing system, infrastructure, scenic or cultural characteristics.

Number SIX, the road network looks very familliar to the U.S. standard, even though it has it's own little differences. Here you drive on the left side of the road, the speed is measured in Km/h and the traffic signs do look more like European ones but still have their own unique touch. You have intersections with 3 or 4 way stop signs, which makes the rule left goes before right or as it is usually said in Europe because you drive there on the right side right goes before left.

Number SEVEN, for security reasons we have a barbed wire fence surrounding the property, a big gate and motion detectors at the fence, outside and inside the houses. If you arm the alarm you can hear a loud "peeeep" and when you disarm it it goes "peeeep peeeep" just like the sound of a car security system, but much louder.

Number EIGHT, if you are ever going to meet Thomas from Cape Town, be prepared he will pull your leg right from the beginning. But more of that later.

Number NINE, everything that was not imported is normally much cheaper than in Germany and most likly in the United States as well. Yesterday we ate out and I paid 100 Rand for two big delicious LM chicken with honey mustard sauce, potatoes, divers vegetables and a Coke (R13 ≈ $1.3) . And that was actually already a little bit more expensive than normal.

Number TEN, punctuality as you are used to, like arriving in time, is here much more complicated for several reasons. Some people do not own a private car and even the caps are to expensive to drive more often, because of the long distances. A lot of people actually go by foot. Even on the highways. And that is why most of the times you say "oh its African time" to another person when somebody does not arrive in time at the arranged meeting place.

Pheeew!

2009-02-04T15:42:00.000+01:00

Finally nothing seems to be left in my way. My passport combined with the little Visa entry arrived today, all important seminars are done and I passed my driving test last week. The little plastic card (my driver's license) seems to be the only thing left which hopefully gets here by next week. Yes there was a little formal thing ... the notorious entry 01 on my driver's license. Basically it indicates that I need to drive with glasses. The thing that happend to me now is that my driver's license did not say so but silly me was taking the test with glasses on. So now I just have to wait (again) to get it. And yes I really need glasses there is no way around it.

And now, so you will know what kind of things you do on an Experiment e.V. seminar I do proudly present the award winning team of the "Schnitzeljagt Awards 2009" in the category "Schnitzeljäger of the Universe" here are Conny, Eva, Tobi, Simon, Sebo and Mara with their absolute fantastic rap which has great potential of becoming the new "Weltwärts" jingle. Spot up.

How do I become a Donor?

2009-01-28T15:14:00.003+01:00

On February, 15th 2009 I will finally start my volunteer service at the Scouts in South Africa and I am still searching for active donors, who will financially support the projects that I take care of as well as their project coordination.

Since the sponsorship of the federal ministry of economical collaboration and development covers only 75% of the arising costs in South Africa and the accuring costs in Germany are not taken care of, I am in need of social committed people.

The amount of the donation is predominantly not so important, because I act as a multiplicator who wants to give his experience to as many people as possible. That means I would be glad about many donors who will in return talk to others about my experiences as in terms of "Do good and talk about it."

DPSG-Bundesleitung
A/C No.: 2000110119
Bank code: 370 601 93 ( Pax-Bank eG )
Reference: Volunteer service 2009 Gregor Piesche

Contribution receipts can be handed out, but I am not sure if it makes sense to get one for a none German citizen. However every donor will be mentioned by name in my blog.

Why at all?

2009-01-27T15:50:00.003+01:00

As it turned out some where wondering how I came to this and why I am even doing it. To begin with I only have this blog since yesterday and well the complete preparation and application time lies now severel months behind me, you'd bet that I do not remember everything so clear. And a lot of time I really do not have left, especially for the little things. Mum, thanks for the utterly tasty sandwich that you brought me about noon. Without this absolute necessary brain food I would have already fallen off my chair long ago. You are the best :)

Now to my decision to do a voluntary service. As the day comes where every young person stands in front of a wide-ranging branch where he has to decide which way to go, was I just as well standing before that branch right after I finished my German Abitur at Werner-von-Siemens Schule. And I was asking myself:" Now Gregor what next?" and how all great things happen by chance I was having a conversation with one of my old classmates and we were talking about a voluntary service in Africa. After one or two days of reflexion I was totally thrilled. Thereupon followed one thing after another and with my contacts to the scouts here in Germany I was lead to Nangu Thina, where I was heartly accommodated and after some whimping and trembling I finally got the OK form SASA Mbumalanga. After that I went straight into my preperation time, because I had only one and a half month left and that is why a lot of flexibility was required by Jan and me. Jan by the way is the other volunteer who is flying to Johannesburg the same day as I am and we will be living in an apartment-sharing community on a farm. We were even able to participate at an, at least for us, at short hand occuring seminar, which was led by Experiment e.V. (www.experiment-ev.de). How fast everything went is best described when I tell you how and when it happend. It was Thursday the 15th of January I was signing the contract from the DPSG (www.dpsg.de German scouts) and Weltwärts (www.weltwaerts.de) in which all the important aggrements were stated. And then I was asked if I would have time from next week Monday until Sunday. Only one thought came to my mind:" Well sure!" and the other day my driving teacher told me:" Ho, slowly son that won't work." but I was totally convincing at our night drive. I knew I can do it :)

Short insertion:" Seminars are simply abnormal rad!" the people that I got to know at the Experiment e.V. seminar were simply peachy. And at this point I underline it again that I was really sad that I already had to go on Thursday. I would have really loved to see that rap from the winning team of the "Schnitzeljagt".

The hot phase

2009-01-26T23:25:00.000+01:00

The time has finally come, I only have a few weeks left in which I want to get a few things done. The first flyers, queries and orders are sent out. A little bit late but better now than never. The important workshops lie now behind me and I feel invigorated and perfectly prepared and I'm excited as a little kangaroo from morning to night. At this point I want to thank Nangu Thina (www.nangu-thina.de) for the good organized and informative workshops as well as the sacrificial assistance and that you were so flexible for Jan an me, even in this more or less short lead time that we had available. The Asian food at Uwe's was my fav ;) and also not to be forgotten should be Experiment e.V. (www.experiment-ev.de) where we found a place at short notice and where we internalized the 3 F's. Which are by the way flexibility, flexibility and flexibility.

The important documents and immunizations are already taken care of. My certificate of conduct which was sent to me by our courteous police only confirmed what I'd already known anyways, and that is that I am hopelessly not involved in any criminal activity what so ever. Since the South African Embassy has changed a few requirements and forms, which are to be filled out and handed in by the volunteer in order to receive the visa, I'll have to sent one or two letters more to the SA Embassy. My new favorit requirement now is that I have to get the consent from my parents allowing me to do voluntery service, because I'm not of the age of 21 at my entry in SA. And how it seems I also need a guardian for 4 whole days because I'll not be 21 until February 19th. My alternative dad Dudley James, which is at the same time my host at the farm where I'll be living for my time being in SA, made himself immediately available. Yippe? And I thought that I was already of full age.