Mental Health Day

Images above: Slaughtering a sheep for a celebration at a local primary school for a student who got top honors in his exam last year. Three of my students on the walk back from the celebration. They needed an escort because herd boys are back from the mountains and are generally harrassing and sometimes dangerous. Erik and a local principal at the shop later yet. I dressed up the principal like a "cholo". He loved it obviously.


I stayed in Ha Sefako last weekend. It went well enough. I finished organizing the library, put some local patterned fabric on the pads that constitute the seat cushions around my “Moroccan” table and finished a few books (I especially liked Franny and Zooe by J.D. Salinger).

Monday was pretty good too. We didn’t teach on account of another Cultural Day that was being held in honor of “tourists.” At first I was surprised that we would miss a day of school for tourists, then I realized where I was and just took it in stride. We got up there two hours after the invitation had stated and we were still an hour and a half early. Eventually the tourist convoy showed up in their fleet of Land Rovers, which made me laugh. These guys had probably taken an hour longer to get up to Mafika Lisiu, in their $65,000 customized Land Rovers, than the taxis take with 24 passengers. Later a full sized bus showed up.

When the convoy stopped, an oversized lawn gnome of a man stepped out of the lead vehicle. His beard was enormous and white. I packed up the remnants of my snack (dried fruit and oats) and headed down to inspect these unusual tourists. As I got closer to the convoy I realized this man was much less an oversized lawn gnome than an life-sized Santa Claus, a true-to-life South African safari Santa Claus. He was greeted by some half naked 9 year old girls and taken to the tent where the esteemed guests were sitting. I decided to head towards the back of the line of vehicles because I figured the less important chaps would be back there. The trucks were all covered in numerous decals, from Garman to Captain Morgan. One of the vehicles in the rear had a large decal on the hood with a map on it, and in the lower right hand corner of the map was our Santa’s photo with his alias, Ben Kingsley (I’m not really sure if that is actually his name).

Just then a couple of guys on $6000 full carbon cross country mountain bikes showed up along with their support vehicle. The two cyclists were soon whisked away like Mr. Claus and I struck up a conversation with their support driver to try to figure out what was going on. It turns out that one of the cyclists is a world class cross country cyclist, multi-millionaire and victor of the Seven Summits. The second cyclist was a bicycle shop owner in Durban who was a world class down hill rider named Shaun. And, this Mr. Claus fellow, also known as Ben Kingsley (I’m not sure if that’s really what his name is) is a household name in South Africa. He’s an adventurer and philanthropist who is on this current 110 day adventure to promote tourism, adventure, culture and education.

I had a great time talking to a number of people in the convoy and it turned out to be a much better reason to skip school than I had anticipated. I left the cultural day in high spirits.

I walked back a little early with another teacher, then walked further yet to the place where I get enough reception to send a text message. On the way back I ran into students who were walking home. It turns out they had run out of food at cultural day, and some of these students walked 16 km that day without an food for over 12 hours. The reply I got from the deputy principal upon my remarking on the grueling day was, “At least they are used to it.”

At least they are used to it.

Tuesday class didn’t go so well. Students lied to my face, were repeatedly obstinate and refused to cooperate. In a total reversal from the previous afternoon, I couldn’t stand being in Ha Sefako any longer. I left. We have a long holiday weekend this weekend, so I left a day early, and here I am in Ficksburg, South Africa, having a draft beer and a Greek salad, with crisp, cold lettuce and feta cheese. It is good.

Needless to say, winter break is fast approaching and I need it badly. I need time to get ready for next semester, stop worrying about school and building relationships with students and the community. I’m still pursing some different low-cost, renewable, rural power options and am hoping to spend a significant amount of time working on that.

Cheers all, and remember that your mental health is an important health.

Oops, I almost forgot. I am going to apply for the African Library Project (ALP, www.africanlibraryproject.org) and I need some people who would be interested in leading book drives and raising some cash (chelete) for the cause. If you're interested please send me an email or leave a note. THANKS!