A Dallas country girl in Africa

I was hosted to a surprise party for my birthday last week.  A dear group of my friends collaborated with my husband to cook me a thanksgiving dinner menu that was delicious!  The older kids knew about it, and kept the secret the whole time!

My new friends from the UK wrote a song in my honor, "A Dallas Country Girl in Africa."
A funny story about why I'm known as the Dallas girl, even though I've lived in Arkansas the last 15 years.  Most people here in South Africa have no clue where Arkansas is on the U.S. map (just like a lot of my U.S. friends didn't know South Africa was actually a country and not a region of Africa!).  South Africa received TV in 1976 for the first time, and one of the most popular shows was the TV series Dallas.  Everyone here used to watch it and as a result knows "all" about Texas!  So it's easier just to tell people we're from Dallas.  Once a Texan, always a Texan!  The locals are impressed that Cam and I have actually been to Southfork Ranch on one of our first dates.   As a kid, I have great memories of going every weekend to my grandmother's house and watching Dallas with my mom and aunts.

So here is a video of the song they wrote.  The quality is not so great from my camera, so I've included the lyrics following the clip.  How blessed I am to have so many thoughtful and caring friends! Thanks to all of my family and friends for making this such a special day for me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIw8KUHWKY0

Once there was a country girl and her name was Kim.
Got married to potato head when apparently he was slim.
She's a Dallas country girl

She grew up there in Dallas, her daddy had a ranch
But Cam had new ideas, so to Africa they branched.
She's a Dallas country girl in Africa, she's a Dallas country girl.

Kim now lives in KZN in a place called Durban Hall
She'd rather like to have us round and roast turkey for y'all
She's a Dallas country girl.

Cam says she's American again, again, again
But perhaps...    She's Canadian
She's a Dallas Country Girl in Africa.  She's a Dallas country girl.

Her husband Cam he drives her nuts, he's always running late
But I don't believe he was that slow for that kiss on their first date.
She's a Dallas country girl.

My Cam he is a raspberry, now why did she say that?
He is her favorite indulgence, but I prefer a cat!
She's a Dallas country girl in Africa, she's a Dallas country girl.

Her 3 kids are lovely,
Shiloh, Ani and Wyatt
But when they see our hamster Tiff
there is no peace and quiet.
She's a Dallas country girl.

When she taught at Happy's,
was it something that they said?
They thought the popcorn was for them
but instead she threw it over her head, and it fell on the floor, and it made a huge mess........

So coming to South Africa for 3 years is quite a feat,
to find such dedication would be difficult to beat.
She's a Dallas country girl.

Now part of our big family, she's charming, kind and witty
we wish you a happy birthday with our little ditty
She's a Dallas country girl in Africa!

Thanksgiving Tea in South Africa

We hosted 50+ South Africans to a Thanksgiving Tea today.  It was so fun preparing to teach them why American Thanksgiving is so important to us.  After sharing videos about the history of thanksgiving and our own personal family traditions, we played a trivia bingo game and the excitement was catching!

The kids made many of our table decorations, along with our friends Char and Jude who helped us immensely with the food preparation.  Our dear friend Cathy set up all of our party decorations beautifully.  We received a care package from our sister church back in Denver, Colorado, filled with a plethora of thanksgiving goodies!  Thank you to everyone in Denver!

The menu consisted of Cranberry infused turkey, stuffing sausage balls, fruit and veg turkey tail feathers, pumpkin cheese ball, pecan pie bars, my friend Tammy's "Better than Starbucks" pumpkin cream cheese muffins, Cam's famous apple and peach pies and my aunt Janis and Shirley's hot cranberry punch.  MMM!!!

A craft station was set up outside where the the kids could make pinecone turkeys and Indian feather headresses.  Even the adults got in on the action. We are so thankful to have shared our thanksgiving with our friends here.  We wish our families and friends back home could have joined us.  Blessings to all of you!

Psalm 95

 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.   Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.  For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.   In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him.   The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.  Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;  for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture.

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Don't blink! Amazing things are happening here in South Africa!

Mat and I had an amazing day at the Mason Lincoln school for the disabled (aka Happy's school).
We had a delivery of 4 more wheelchairs (5 last week) and also spent about 5 hours repairing existing wheelchairs for many students. Mat, myself and the Happy's school maintenance men got to learn many things about maintaining wheelchairs, as Thula was teaching us right on the spot!

This is Thula. His Zulu name comes from being a loud baby and his mom wanted him to be quiet. Thula means "be quiet" in Zulu. We discussed if this shouldn't be my new Zulu name. I think he liked the idea. Hmmmm....

Thula is an amazing gentleman who sells wheelchairs. He not only sells the chairs, but he also decided to help us repair many of the chairs that we already have, many in poor condition. I really enjoyed working with Thula as he clearly is passionate about getting to help people, especially the disabled kids!

We not only got new wheelchairs, but the following picture is of old wheelchairs which we were able to use. We found wheelchairs in a state of disrepair, and we patched together several good chairs from the myriad of broken chairs. Thula taught us much about wheelchair repair, and you can also see several of the school's maintenance men working (in the back corner) with us to assemble usable chairs. Most excellent!

In this picture, Mat and I are repairing the brakes on one of the wheelchairs. Mat says "It's amazing how many parts of the wheelchair can be fixed with a hammer and a good 'whack'"! How true it is Mat, how true it is!

I love this picture. What you see here is a wheelchair that has had the following:

1. New back cushion

2. New seat cushion

3. New wheels

4. Adjusted brakes

5. Seat brackets

6. Oil and Lube and new windshield wipers...

(Just kidding on the O&L)

Look closely to see if you can spot the custom "Spoon holder"

It's amazing the difference this makes in the usability of the chairs. Prior to the change, these seats were wired to the frame and the brackets were broken. This means the young person had seats that moved back and forth, and wire rubbing against flesh. Not pleasant at all...Also the tires were torn up and not in-round, which means the chair wasn't smooth when rolling. Not even pleasant...

And here is Thandika, who has just gone from a full-size wheelchair that is clearly too large and uncomfortable for her, to a smaller wheelchair that is just her size. The smile says it all!

It is also notable that Thandika is also one of the students of the Happy's Bible class that meets twice weekly, and is always in attendance when we are able to get the Happy's students to one of our youth weekends!

It is so amazing to be able to help others in this fashion. There is nothing quite contributing in a way that is real and effects immediate change in the welfare of others, especially when it is truly appreciated.

Thank you for your sharing in our efforts and God Bless you!

YBIC,

Cam

Kids first visit to Gateway Mall

In the midst of deepest, darkest Africa (tongue in cheek), we suffer to find ways to connect to the Western way of life (not!). I am still amazed at what a mix this country is of 1st and 3rd world. We recently spent a Saturday at the most massive mall I have ever been to. We drove past all of the shanty town shacks to get to it. In addition to stunning stores full of beautiful items I could never afford, Gateway offers a complete and total array of entertainment. Just check out this link... http://www.gatewayworld.co.za/entertainment.php

We spent the day just walking around and oogling all the possibilities. We had lunch in a most innovative restaurant for kids. This chain of restaurants called Spur has a theme for each store based on an American Indian tribe. The kids have a play area in the back of the restaurant with bounce house, movies and video games. There are employees paid to stand there and watch your children for you. They post live video feed on tv's to all the tables so you can see what your child is doing! The kids get their faces painted and the food's not bad either. I've never seen anything in the U.S. like it.

One of our church members is a partner in an optometry practice in the mall. They just recently renovated their store. We went by to visit Mr. Chris and Michelle and enjoyed their innovative coffee bar.

We will definitely be hanging out at Gateway during the summer break on half price Tuesdays. There's an IMAX Volcanoes under water movie that Wyatt will want to see. The kids have never tried bumper cars and we'll definitely be watching the surfers in the wave pool. WOW!

More Pics from Wyatt's Birthday

I just found some pics on Cam's computer that I didn't know were there!

Cam and Shiloh spent the day with our church friend Ryan at his woodworking shop

and built Wyatt a woodworking table for his birthday gift.

Here is Wyatt's 2nd birthday cake on the actual day of his birthday.

This is Wyatt's 3rd birthday cake made by some dear girls that Wyatt adores from our church- Kaitlyn and Talya. He calls them his "followers" although it's really the other way around. They had been in Kenya and Tanzania when Wyatt had his party and brought him back the love of his life - MONEY! He was so excited to have coins added to his foreign collection. They stayed up until midnight making this intricately decorated snake cake for Wyatt. What wonderful friends! His birthday was so special to him!

Durban Bible Education Center

Dear Family and Friends,

Now is the time for the odd entry by Cam, as normally Kim is the moderator of this family BLOG...(Thank you Kim!!)

As a missionary, one of the projects I help to manage is a Bible Education Center (BEC) where we provide free Bible Correspondence courses and sell at-cost bibles in English, Xhosa, Zulu, French, and Lesoto. I work several days a week at the BEC, helping with stock, helping with Bible studies and helping the students work through Bible verses. This is a very rewarding experience, but easily the best part is getting to recognize our students!

Every Quarter we have a ceremony recognizing all of the students who have completed one or more of the correspondence courses during the period. Here is my post on our most recent graduation, on Saturday, Nov 21st.

Saturday was an Amazing day! We hosted a BEC graduation in Durban and about 30 students showed up with Family and Friends to receive their certificates for the classes they had completed. The graduates and their guests enjoyed a motivational Bible talk by Barry Van Heerden and shared a tea and cake fellowship directly after the ceremony. But wait, we aren't done yet ;-)! There are an additional 60 certificates that haven't been handed out because some graduates were not able to attend. Many of these students will come in to the BEC to receive their certificate. This will provide more great opportunities to share their successes and encourage them on to greater studies and additional correspondence courses. It is absolutely amazing to go through this journey with these students as we study the Bible together and come to learn the promises and hope that are written in the pages of God's Word! It is also SO inspiring to see the excitement that these students have when they begin discovering that the truth of God's word is something they can connect with and that is within their ability to understand.

There's very little that compares with the enthusiasm of a new student, especially one that has counted themselves as "Christian" most of their lives, who begin the correspondence courses and have the Word of God come to life for themselves!

Praise God!
Cam

2010 World Cup Soccer - it's coming to South Africa.......

Here is an interesting bit of info I received on the hype of what's coming next year. Thought you might also enjoy the sand art of the new soccer stadium they are building. Here is a link to look at one of the actual stadiums being built in Durban.

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/destination/stadiums/stadium=5018127/index.html

Although the official World Cup is 11 June - 11 July 2010, the period between March and July 2010 will be an exceptionally busy period with the pre- and post- arrangements that will have a huge impact on business travel. The grid below indicates the magnitude of the disruption to business travel over this period which includes other major events beside the FIFA World cup.

Categories		March	April	May	June	July
School Holidays		27 March - 11 April, 26 April			10 June - 11 July
Events	Cape Argus	14-Mar
	Comrades			30-May
	Cape Epic	21 - 28 March
	Two Oceans		03-Apr
	Durban July					03-Jul
	Grahams Town Festival				20 June - 08 July
	2010 World Cup				11 June - 11 July
Public Holidays	Human Rights day	21-Mar
	Public Holiday	22-Mar
	Good Friday		02-Apr
	Family Day		05-Apr
	Freedom Day		27-Apr
	Workers Day			01-May
	Youth Day				16-Jun
Around 2010 World Cup	Media Groups		Arrive 25 April and depart two weeks after final
	Teams Arrive			Around 03 May
	Supporters arrive				Around 6 June until departure after post tours
	FIFA Family arrive			Around 01 May until 2 weeks after final

Overview of what is to be expected during the World Cup:

1. Volume of Travellers expected

The World Cup is approximately 15 times bigger than the 1995 Rugby World Cup. The media contingent that will attend is estimated at 30 000. Business travel is disrupted purely due to the volume of supporters.

All indications are that approximately 220 000 long haul visitors will attend, 180 000 visitors from Africa and an average of 150 000 local supporters. On any match day it is envisaged that 100 000 travellers will need to use a travel commodity i.e. flight or road / rail transportation.

An additional 2 000 busses have been imported (overload on road transport) to carry these supporters. It is predicted that supporters will watch their team play every 3 or 4 days. When their teams are not playing, supporters will frequent the Fan Parks or embark on tours within the city of their choice.

2. Fan Parks

Fan Parks are situated in central areas so that general public can watch all the games. Entrance to the Fan Parks is free and it is expected that these Fan Parks will attract a lot of visitors. In Germany 2006 one Fan Park attracted 500 000 spectators to watch one game. To avoid large transport infrastructure expense, training venues will also double as public viewing sites.

Fan Parks in the Western Cape

The Grand Parade Somerset West Road

Stellenbosch Bellville Velodrome

Swartklip Atlantis

Khayelitsha Nomzamo Yethu (Hout Bay)

Training Facilities in the Western Cape

Newlands Rugby Ground UCT Rugby Ground

UWC Soccer Field Bellville Rugby Ground

Stellenbosch Rugby Ground Athlone Stadium

Fan Parks in Johannesburg (list to be updated)

Mary Fitzgerald Square in the Newton precinct

Fan Parks in Soweto are to be expected.
Innes-Free Park in Sandton,

Walter Sisulu Square in Kliptown

Fan Parks in Durban (list to be updated)

The Durban Beach Front has been earmarked as one of Durban’s preferred sites for one or more Fan Parks during 2010.

3. Flights

To date no airline has released any prices or strategies for the World Cup period.

On pre and post match-days flights into and out of the venue cities will be overbooked. Due to the sheer volume of travellers, huge delays can be expected.

World Cup teams will use charter aircrafts and plan to use 2nd tier airports however their supporters will use the general airports. These airports will focus on scheduled international and domestic flights.

4. Accommodation

All the major hotel brands within South Africa have contracted with MATCH at a pre-defined room rate and therefore the normal Corporate rates will not be available during this period.

According to FIFA there is an approximate shortfall of 18 000 rooms for the World Cup. This supply and demand scenario allows B&B’s / Guesthouses to offer rooms at a premium.

5. Car Rental

It is most likely that all car rental companies will go on “stop-sale” for the period of the World Cup and rental cars will be scarce.

6. Road Closures

It is indicated that there will be limited access and in some instances complete road closures in the areas surrounding the stadium and fan parks. This will make it difficult for travellers to move freely between offsite meetings.

7. Critical Date

The next critical date for the WC2010 is the 4^th December 2009 when the Pool draw is completed. This draw will indicate where the teams will be based and where their supporters will be spending most of their time.

8. Fixtures

The match schedule will be updated after the draw on the 4^th December 2009. Games will be played at: 13h30, 16h00 and 20h30. Travellers need to allow for traffic congestion both at the stadium and the Fan Parks. It is advisable to allow 2hrs lead time if travelling to / from these areas.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TRAVEL DURING THIS PERIOD

· Do not travel during these periods unless it is critical to travel.

· Plan your trip well in advance, changes to a ticket over this period will be extremely difficult and very expensive.

· Try to make appointments at a location that is in the opposite direction of a stadium / fan park..

· Take flights during the times of when the games are being played. Games start at 13h30.

· Allow for a minimum of 2 hours to get to the airport in Cape Town and possibly 3 hours for Johannesburg. The congestion on the roads both to and from the Airports is going to be chaotic – plan for delays.

· Parking at the airport will be virtually impossible and it is advisable to get someone to drop / collect you from the airports. Transfer companies will be busy with tourists and will also be very expensive.

The excitement is building!!!!