Of course, none of the nice writer-chums who encouraged me to write the dratted book and to get it published TOLD me that I would feel all of the above. Why didn’t they explain to me that every time I meet someone who has read the damned thing, I would feel just a tad bit […]
Comic Remedies
….Part 7 (Dictated to me by small, guest blogger/daughter.) “My mum said that I can have the last blog where we talk about the street children in Namibia.The very last thing we did that day – on the day when all of these pictures were taken – after we gave the children all of the […]
Simon Says?
Part 5 Simon didn’t say much. He didn’t have the energy to. Simon (pronounced ‘Sih-mon’ in Afrikaans) is 10 years old but weighs much less than my own 6 year old boy. Who is hardly a big lad himself. Simon is malnourished. Along with his sister, he is an orphan and sleeps wherever he can […]
Alan Sugar – Read It and Weep
(Part 4) My kids started to hand out the apples we had brought and were astonished at the enormous grins that they received from the children. Fruit is an oh-so rare luxury here. My daughter was puzzled, however. “Mum – why do a lot of the kids sort of bow or curtsey when you give […]
No Tantrums in the Townships
(Part 3) I’ll admit that something I was rather stressed about when returning to Namibia was the way that my kids would behave in public. It doesn’t take a genius to notice that in general, African kids who live in the sub-Saharan countries are less … hyper … shall we say – than kids from […]
Them in Their DARK Corner …
(Part 2) Bit of a play on some very old-fashioned words to a hymn there … One of my strongest memories of living and working in Namibia is of waking up just after dawn and hearing small children a-singing. These were the lucky ones who had a school to go to – walking long distances […]