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.... there was more dancing .....





And lots and lots of singing ..... and some rather good rapping ......





There was the “Kalahari Jive “ led by Henriette – please note Jannie Bok on the right jiving too .... and I just love the legs of the boy with the jeans and red top





There were Justin Beiber songs (“ Baby, baby, baby oooooooh baby baby baby OOOOOOOOOOOH BABY ” to be precise ) with accompanied drumming on the chair ( he was a REALLY good drummer – anyone got a spare drumkit they don’t want any more - I know he’d absolutely love it ) ....



These were the best rappers of the 4 groups - they were brilliant ! I think Mariska had almost passed out by this stage



But most of the time there was just utter chaotic blissful pandemonium and it was AWESOME..... and the kids had so much fun !



After the concert, the kids were sent off to bed with their Kids in Parks T-shirts with strict instructions to arrive wearing them the next morning and clutching sticky handfuls of marshmallows and biscuits they were loaded back into the bus and we were left to go to bed too.....

Ta daaaaaaaa .... not quite ......ummmmm...... there was the small matter of 180 “broodjies” to be made for the next morning’s breakfast ( 120) and another 60 for the new group of children coming in the following afternoon ( they had a snack by the pool at Twee Rivieren before they drove up to GBP) .....

So fortified by humungous travel mugs of strong coffee we set to work at about 9.30 that evening : slicing, spreading, grating, filling and packing into packets until we were bog-eyed and practically catatonic from lack of sleep ..... We had a quick shower and then fell into bed absolutely shattered and as both Scipio and bosticbudgie have mentioned, we all slept like the dead every night.

Luckily we were far enough away from the kids dorms for the noise to be muted to a dull roar by the time it reached us - I think there was just one night that was really horrendous – our precious Gr 7’s ( no surprise there) .... there were a few charming boys who thought it would be fun to throw rocks on the tin roof of the dorm the whole night and also at some of their “friends” in the dark ..... nuff said ..... Needless to say the teachers and Bassier and Jannie Bok didn’t get much sleep that night .... or as Mariska put it the next morning “ siestog Bassier, lewe jy nog of is jy maar net n lopende Zombie ?” ... “shame Bassier, are you still alive or are you just a walking Zombie ?”

LovelyScouter.... Pity we cant hear the singing and rapping !!!
I remember those sarmies well We had to make two each for 54 boys plus for the moms and dads that was about 60 x2 and we had a few of the moms and dads who always seemed to be busy when it came to preparing food . One mom in particular sooo one day when she arrived just as we were just about there she said oh looks like i am too late again and we handed her a huge chunk of cheese and told her to get grating.. !! then we settled back with our coffee and watched .
Those sarmies were eaten af dune 7 in namibia .. we had to climb first up and down then only were we allowed sandwiches ..
Why do we do this sort of thing .. because we love it and to watch the delight on the little faces

Hugh - next time I go I will take the video camera I promise ... Sarmies are the worst !!!! Sooo boring ... ours were grated cheese and polony ones ... thankfully the cheese came ready grated but poor Mariska landed up grated many huge rolls of polony .....

Can't imagine a nicer place than dune 7 to eat sarmies - I love it there ! And even manged to get to the top one time

What I see are kid's faces beaming with joy and that is worth all the effort that has gone in to this project. I salute you folks, well done

Hi Scouter
Lets see if this will do the tick to turn this stubborn page.....come on....turn!

Will this do it?

Thanks Sparks

And thanks Gandalf and saraf too ..... there needs to be 15 posts on a page before it will turn so I think we need a few more but I think I will post something without photos just to help it along .....

Day 3 dawns with the cellphone alarm squawking its head off again just before 6 and muttered curses floating out from the 2 cabins and the tent ( Henriette pitched herself a tent and graciously gave Mariska and I the decent beds in the cabin ) – nobody feels like getting up this early after yesterday’s hectic day but there’s the small matter of 60 eggs to boil for breakfast .... and 60 cups of coffee to make and 120 rolls to unpack from last night’s marathon spreading session plus 120 chicken viennas to heat up for breakfast.

Now I promise you I’m not a fussy eater ( I was a judge for many years at Kronendal Schools Grade 7’s International Day and have eaten everything from goat stew to Mopani worms during that time) but I have to tell you, that first lot of chicken viennas almost turned me vegetarian ..... In hindsight, its wasn’t such a good idea to actually bring them to the boil, just hot water is sufficient to heat them up ....... nor is it advisable to leave them in said boiling water for a while till they swell up like huge giant white slugs and start popping out of their skins – eeeuw !

I was too traumatised to take a photo but oh, how I wish I had !! The kids didn’t seem to mind at all and wolfed them down along with their boiled aggs ( I was SO glad I wasn’t going to be travelling in the bus with them after that breakfast ) ... so I had an apple for breakfast that morning .... and on Friday the viennas went into hot water for 10 minutes and were “normal” again ..... we live and learn

Here’s another eggie photo to bring this page up to its allotted 10 ...



To follow .... Auchterlonie takeover ....

Lovely to see such happy kids I feel exhausted just reading this never mind been there!!
Thanks Scouter for sharing with us The kids must have been 'eggstatic' having so many kind people providing for them!

Dreamer - yes, in more ways than 1 I think .... some bright spark male teacher came in the one morning and asked us which of us ladies had laid all those eggs Oh, and I learnt quickly to let one of the big strong men lift that egg pot and pour off the boiling water after giving my arm a lekker scald the first time I tried it ... It was really heavy ....

Love the Bendy Legs photo too
I guess the teacher was told he could have just bread if he preferred!!

something like that yes , well maybe not quite so polite

( you dont want to know what Jannie Bok AND Niekus did with their breakfast either )

No I don't
I am now also tooooo
Hope the page turns soon.....

More wonderful stuff Scouter!!

I could not go to bed before helping the page turn! Hope we'll have a new installment in the morning!


Night all!