Road Lodge Durban

I'm spending 2 more nights in Durban with a nice couple I found on couchsurfing.org. Margaret is an environmental consultant working on transportation issues for the city of Durban, and Gavin is a professional clown. They've given me a private guest room and various rides around town, which is great because public ...

Well here I am again in Hillcrest. Spent the week, sorting through clothes to take down in to the valley to distribute amongst the orphans. They were distributed on Wednesday, it has been a variety of weather as well...really hot to quite cold......not sure why I am here early, but I learning to take each day as it comes...

... br> Tuesday we decided to get off our asses and do something productive. We went downtown in search of a some tourist attractions. It was a first for us as well when we got a minibus taxi. These are the main mode of transport for locals and according to our guide book are to be approached very carefully if your clearly a tourist, which we are. Once we figured out the route and where to get on we were on our way. Everyone pays the same, around 3 rand (20 cents), and you just shout ...

Today we just took it easy at the van Belkum's. We held a LifeNets Trustee meeting in the morning followed up with a brai...a barbecue. LifeNets Southern Africa has been in existence since 2001. You can read about it here. I am a member of the trustees here, but, obviously, am always absent from meetings. So, it was a treat to be ...

South Africa is really... white. Durban is dangerous at night and there
is a huge mall. They have blackouts every day for two hours at two in
the afternoon, and even the malls shut down.

... the community, a commitment to community development, a commitment to fighting oppression, an ability to galvanize the community, the degree to which they unlocked opportunities, and an ability to influence decision-making by formal structures. The exhibit had posters on 5 of the 11 women honored with their accomplishments throughout their lifespan thus far and a quote from each. Here ...

I write this well after the event, so for more information on the project itself, check www.cascoland.com. Meeting all the other Casco artists (mostly Dutch and most had worked on previous cascoland projects so knew one another) I sensed what an interesting time was ahead ... didn't sense what a testing time it would also be, not least to remember everyone's name and how to pronounce it. With about 20 of us 'internationals' taking over a ...

... She and the Administrator were meeting with a woman from the American Consulate on a potential grant from U.S.A.I.D. (who happens to know Melanie and John as well). I was pretty embarrassed though as I had been playing with the one boy outside for a while and was all sweaty and my shirt and pants already had dirt, baby food, and slobber stains on them. Anna said that I will hopefully be able to start working with her at her clinic ...

... att det ar pga den instabiliteten som jag har kan fa se alla tankbara arrytmier - oftast maligna (farliga hjartrytmstorningar) pa en natt. PLUS overtryckspneumothorax oh hjarttamponad med pulsus paradoxus. Minst ett par eklampsier finns ocksa alltid med pa IVA-paletten. Inte undra pa att mina kollegor ar erfarna. Fast jag tror det blir en del trial and error i borjan.

... then Butha Buthe to Mohotlong! It was a long day! We bargained for a couple cheapo beds at a local place and took a bus the next day from Mohotlong to Sani Pass. Sani Pass is a really spectacular place where the road is over 9,000 feet. It is the most rugged border post between South Africa and Lesotho and was a famous smuggling place for opposition leaders during South Africa's Aparteid. We decided the weather had gotten warmer ( it hadn't but the bus rides made ...