I have been requested to be First Counsellor to the Branch President at the Port Durnford branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
This is a really challengeing calling and I am really enjoying being Counsellor on the Presidency. I know that taditionally Port Durnford is a black branch, but that does not really matter. I love the members there and feel that they respond with love!
It is an interesting experiment. The chapel is a really large wooden shed and this is being improved the whole time. The Physical Facilities authority has installed electric connction and is busy with paving outside the chapel door.
Our nearest branch (Esikhawini) is a short trip down a really badly erroded dirt track and they have a prefabricated chapel, imported from the USA. We were originally assigned one of these and it arrived in Cape Town. There was a delay in acquiring the land we have the chapel on, and the Area Office reassigned "our" portable chapel elsewhere. This actually turned out to be no problem as Physical Facilities relocated the chapel we were using, added to the size and we have a fairly decent structure.
I used some bricks left over from the installation, to pave a small area outside the door, so no dirt was tracked in! Our Helping Hands project was where the members replaced the door (+ frame) and 2 complete windows in the home of a destitute family. Taking the one window out, the wall colapsed. I collected all the surplus bricks on the Church lot and with a bit of effort, 15 adults rebuilt the wall and replaced the door and windows.
The whole effort - whilst not nearly professional - added significantly to the quality of life for this family. It amazed me the speed that the "Homes for Humanity" projects in the USA are completed, but even so, they are built at a comparative snails pace! Sure we did not achieve a high quality finish, but it was at least as good as it was before - and it had stood for a while!
Next door to the chapel, in a week, someone has built a tiny 1 roomed shack. This was done in a week. Sure it is not fancy, but is far better than the shacks that are regularly burnt down in Soweto township fires! It is patently obvious that need is not as imperative as housing!
What kind of stuns me is that the house of concrete blocks on the same plot, that was started after I was assigned to Port Durnford, has electric lights, and the Church was advised that it would take anything from 4 to 6 months for our electricity to be connected. We have paid so how come the delay? For sure if we dont pay the bills 2 weeks after they arrive, Eskom will discontinue the power supply! Why do we have to wait 6 months and they will not wait longer than 2 weeks? That kind of reeks of double standards.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
Developments
I was recently struck by how modern photos make it into print! When I was given my first camera (12th birthday) it was a Kodak Instamatic. Our family was not cash flush although my parents were able to provide the best of what we needed! We did not suffer not having the latest of toys, but were able to really enjoy the privilege of unrestricted life!
We saved up our pocket money and traded the canoe that we were given as a combined christmas present, for our first sailing dingy - a tiny red wooden boat with a sail size smaller than the nearest popular option, the Optimist.
We owned Mike (short for Microscopic!) for a few years until we upgraded it to a Goblin dinghy - we were looking for a Dabchick, kind of a large windsurfer, with a Mainsail, a Jib and sometimes a spinnaker. That was before Windsurfers were popular.
When we left Zimbabwe, we came to Zululand and here we bought 2 Windsurfers. We occasionally went (2 brothers and I) up to Midmar Dam (outside of Howick) in my Mini with 2 windsurfers strapped to the roof!
Nowadays, all you need do is click the shutter and the photo can be viewed on a screen as a digital photo. Then you can do a multitude of things:-
You can download them to the computer then:-
Burn them to disc
Poblish them to the Net
Print them off
Delete them if you change your mind - or can even delete them before you download them.
Gone are the days when you have to wait for months until the film is full and can be developed. The computer age is really an instant gratification thing! Modern kids have gotten into the habit of instant gratification.
So - age creeps up on you - not so very long ago, when I was in the Pay Corps at the death of Rhodesia, there were only around 3 computers in the entire country - 1 for the army, that was on the 10th and 11th floors of the Earl Grey building downtown. I was a full corporal and even with dizzying rank, I was not considered to have enough rank to even look at it! Now I have 3 laptops, in my small home!
I dont often feel older than 21, but there are days when I feel every inch my age! Having a leg that is not fully recovered yet, does not help much! Until I am assured that the bone that was broken when they fused my heel, has completely regrown, will I stop using my moon boot if I need to be out and about for a while. I am more confident walking, and can manage to get around without my one crutch. I CAN move around without my precious moon boot, but find that after 4 months, if I dont support my heel, I get really tired, and my heel tends to swell - no biggie since I CAN cope.
We saved up our pocket money and traded the canoe that we were given as a combined christmas present, for our first sailing dingy - a tiny red wooden boat with a sail size smaller than the nearest popular option, the Optimist.
We owned Mike (short for Microscopic!) for a few years until we upgraded it to a Goblin dinghy - we were looking for a Dabchick, kind of a large windsurfer, with a Mainsail, a Jib and sometimes a spinnaker. That was before Windsurfers were popular.
When we left Zimbabwe, we came to Zululand and here we bought 2 Windsurfers. We occasionally went (2 brothers and I) up to Midmar Dam (outside of Howick) in my Mini with 2 windsurfers strapped to the roof!
Nowadays, all you need do is click the shutter and the photo can be viewed on a screen as a digital photo. Then you can do a multitude of things:-
You can download them to the computer then:-
Burn them to disc
Poblish them to the Net
Print them off
Delete them if you change your mind - or can even delete them before you download them.
Gone are the days when you have to wait for months until the film is full and can be developed. The computer age is really an instant gratification thing! Modern kids have gotten into the habit of instant gratification.
So - age creeps up on you - not so very long ago, when I was in the Pay Corps at the death of Rhodesia, there were only around 3 computers in the entire country - 1 for the army, that was on the 10th and 11th floors of the Earl Grey building downtown. I was a full corporal and even with dizzying rank, I was not considered to have enough rank to even look at it! Now I have 3 laptops, in my small home!
I dont often feel older than 21, but there are days when I feel every inch my age! Having a leg that is not fully recovered yet, does not help much! Until I am assured that the bone that was broken when they fused my heel, has completely regrown, will I stop using my moon boot if I need to be out and about for a while. I am more confident walking, and can manage to get around without my one crutch. I CAN move around without my precious moon boot, but find that after 4 months, if I dont support my heel, I get really tired, and my heel tends to swell - no biggie since I CAN cope.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Expectations
It is hard enough to live life, without always trying to live up to expectations:-
I expect that I will be able to progress from my moon boot back to my Nike Trainers. I recently went from 2 crutches to one crutch and I can cope with my moon boot and 1 crutch! I have the ability to walk without my moon boot, but this is only in my house and I dare not go outside.
I have a spoilt daughter who expects me to maintain the car that she drives.
I have an ex wife who expects that I maintain the car registered in my name, even though I dont drive it!
She - and my daughter - dont expect to survive without access to others wealth!
On the Branch Presidency, I know that I am extremely blessed - I have cars registered in my name that I am unable to have the room in my garden to house them all! I have enough to feed myself in a manner that frankly embarrasses me when I can see that there are others who live in circumstances that I would not put up with. Does that make me a snob? Maybe, but I am grateful that I have enough to live extremely comfortably on.
I expect that I will be able to progress from my moon boot back to my Nike Trainers. I recently went from 2 crutches to one crutch and I can cope with my moon boot and 1 crutch! I have the ability to walk without my moon boot, but this is only in my house and I dare not go outside.
I have a spoilt daughter who expects me to maintain the car that she drives.
I have an ex wife who expects that I maintain the car registered in my name, even though I dont drive it!
She - and my daughter - dont expect to survive without access to others wealth!
On the Branch Presidency, I know that I am extremely blessed - I have cars registered in my name that I am unable to have the room in my garden to house them all! I have enough to feed myself in a manner that frankly embarrasses me when I can see that there are others who live in circumstances that I would not put up with. Does that make me a snob? Maybe, but I am grateful that I have enough to live extremely comfortably on.
Monday, July 23, 2012
FREEDOM
My GP has advised that now - if comfortable - I can move around with only 1 crutch - in my right arm! I have found that I can manage with only my moon boot for support, but am only confident to do this around the house.
Tomorrow I can move back to the freedom of my own home - where I have DSTV and am not beholden to anyone! There have been times where I have had ti bite my tongue because my Dad is so violently a racialist in his behavior! He rants at the TV about how bad the blacks are at everything - including speech,but he omits to accept thar a singer can - at her own agency - be called "Sharday" (Sade) instead of how he thinks it should be pronounced! He is like many old British - really set in his ways and dont you DARE to go against the way he thinks! Suddenly he is a fully qualified orthopaedic surgeon and has ben offering "helpful" advice on how I should treat my recovery!
That brings to mind how my ex behaved! When I was in a coma, she was THE BEST neurosurgeon, then when I was recovering, she was a fully trained psycologist - and physiotherapist, and going through divorce, she knew more about the law than did lawyers or judges. I freely admit though that when I was in my coma, she was the best wife I could have hoped for, but after she insisted on divorce, she fell from grace rather fast! I also think now that she is onto her third marriage, so has more life experience than I do! Whether this will be of any use when she passes through the vail is anyones guess!
Tomorrow I can move back to the freedom of my own home - where I have DSTV and am not beholden to anyone! There have been times where I have had ti bite my tongue because my Dad is so violently a racialist in his behavior! He rants at the TV about how bad the blacks are at everything - including speech,but he omits to accept thar a singer can - at her own agency - be called "Sharday" (Sade) instead of how he thinks it should be pronounced! He is like many old British - really set in his ways and dont you DARE to go against the way he thinks! Suddenly he is a fully qualified orthopaedic surgeon and has ben offering "helpful" advice on how I should treat my recovery!
That brings to mind how my ex behaved! When I was in a coma, she was THE BEST neurosurgeon, then when I was recovering, she was a fully trained psycologist - and physiotherapist, and going through divorce, she knew more about the law than did lawyers or judges. I freely admit though that when I was in my coma, she was the best wife I could have hoped for, but after she insisted on divorce, she fell from grace rather fast! I also think now that she is onto her third marriage, so has more life experience than I do! Whether this will be of any use when she passes through the vail is anyones guess!
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Light at the end of the tunnel
My GP today suggested that I would be able to use just my right hand crutch together with the moon boot, to walk. This is again a HUGE step forward as handling 2 crutches - and my car keys - was a bit tiresome. I can easily manage the one crutch. Luckily he recommended that I still retain the use of my right hand crutch, opposite to my injured foot! That way I can still keep pressure off of my heel, but still reserve the right to one of my Weapons of Mass Destruction, to maintain my balance!
As it is, I can walk for short distances without using my crutches, and this is - I believe - a good thing! Once I no longer need the moon boot, I definitely will need to be able to walk without crutches or moon boots!
Handling one crutch is far easier than handling 2 crutches, especially as my left hand crutch is so bulky - designed for me specifically since I cannot straighten my left arm!
So, I query, "Is this light at the end of the tunnel, or is it the headlight of an oncoming express train?" - time will tell!
Since I was maybe 2 or 3, I have been able to rely on my legs to get me around. At nearly 52, it rather grates to have to rely on 2 tubes of aluminium to get me around! I loathed being in hospital where I was confined, by circumstance, to the hospital bed! Then the only way I could get around to start with was in a wheelchair, and even once I started walking again, I had to push my wheelchair in front of me, hanging onto that for stability! Boy have I improved since then!
The only bright point about my hospital bed when I emerged from my coma was that from that, I could look out over the valley and see the spires of the Temple in Parktown. I distinctly imagined - before I walked - that I had gone downstairs, climbed over the wall, into the Temple Grounds. Practically this was not possible, but I felt a huge sense of love from Heavenly Father - kind of "Welcome home!"
As it is, I can walk for short distances without using my crutches, and this is - I believe - a good thing! Once I no longer need the moon boot, I definitely will need to be able to walk without crutches or moon boots!
Handling one crutch is far easier than handling 2 crutches, especially as my left hand crutch is so bulky - designed for me specifically since I cannot straighten my left arm!
So, I query, "Is this light at the end of the tunnel, or is it the headlight of an oncoming express train?" - time will tell!
Since I was maybe 2 or 3, I have been able to rely on my legs to get me around. At nearly 52, it rather grates to have to rely on 2 tubes of aluminium to get me around! I loathed being in hospital where I was confined, by circumstance, to the hospital bed! Then the only way I could get around to start with was in a wheelchair, and even once I started walking again, I had to push my wheelchair in front of me, hanging onto that for stability! Boy have I improved since then!
The only bright point about my hospital bed when I emerged from my coma was that from that, I could look out over the valley and see the spires of the Temple in Parktown. I distinctly imagined - before I walked - that I had gone downstairs, climbed over the wall, into the Temple Grounds. Practically this was not possible, but I felt a huge sense of love from Heavenly Father - kind of "Welcome home!"
Monday, July 16, 2012
Efficency
Eskom, the ONLY provider of power in the whole of SA, should be more on-the-ball than they are! There is huge outcry for the impoverished to get power supplied - that they cannot afford to pay for - but when the Church pays for connection - a week later, nothing has been done!
We had to hold our branch conference without power - that we had paid for! Surely in even the Third World, if someone pays the deposit, he should be first on the list of those who get connected? I went there with my Branch President, who is black, so it was not a colour thing where Mhlungu's pay then wait forever for connection.
Luckily we did not actually need power as the conference did not need power to get lights on (there was plenty of sunlight streaming through the windows. Even I - with a strained vocal chords - can project my voice to the back of the room.
What does need doing is that the uneven ground needs to be smoothed over. I arrived after 2 other cars, but as I have physical keys to the property, I got out to open the gate. On my way back to the car, the uneven ground conspired with my still healing heel, and I fell over. Luckily I landed - on my back - in soft sand and thick weeds. The most damage I suffered was dirt on the palms of my hands - easily fixed at the wash basins inside!
What stunned me the most was not that I fell, but that Physical Facilities have done NOTHING further at the branch than they had achieved, the week before last! My understanding is that funds for our chapel WERE advanced, but have already been spent on other units! When are we going to get what we were provided for?
We had to hold our branch conference without power - that we had paid for! Surely in even the Third World, if someone pays the deposit, he should be first on the list of those who get connected? I went there with my Branch President, who is black, so it was not a colour thing where Mhlungu's pay then wait forever for connection.
Luckily we did not actually need power as the conference did not need power to get lights on (there was plenty of sunlight streaming through the windows. Even I - with a strained vocal chords - can project my voice to the back of the room.
What does need doing is that the uneven ground needs to be smoothed over. I arrived after 2 other cars, but as I have physical keys to the property, I got out to open the gate. On my way back to the car, the uneven ground conspired with my still healing heel, and I fell over. Luckily I landed - on my back - in soft sand and thick weeds. The most damage I suffered was dirt on the palms of my hands - easily fixed at the wash basins inside!
What stunned me the most was not that I fell, but that Physical Facilities have done NOTHING further at the branch than they had achieved, the week before last! My understanding is that funds for our chapel WERE advanced, but have already been spent on other units! When are we going to get what we were provided for?
Friday, July 13, 2012
Lazy crazy days
With my foot encased in a moon boot, it is not so very hard to have lazy days! Movement is a huge thing to achieve and it is far easier to be a vegetable in front of the TV.
What bugs me most is that the folks are super scared by government pronouncements that everyone is using too much power and threats of imminent power outages is constantly on the TV. Strikes me as really strange that under the evil of an apartheid government we had no such problems - only under ANC rule has it become a problem.
Then the current cry is that your average school leaver is eminently qualified because he/she is black, to do anything! Amazing they want to be recognised as the super power because they have a university degree - in politial science. That of course qualifies then to do ANYTHING better than the former apartheid regeime!
I am all for advancement of anyone, based on their ability to do the job! Pushing an under qualified native just he was born black is no way to run a country - or a Church! I face some agonizing decisions as to letting the average member of my branch be advanced. True there are those who can fill callings, but they have disqualified themselves by falling foul of the rules of morality!
As a general rule, I love the members of my branch - and sense that they love me back, but I am genuinely concerned that their idea of morality is not the Churches take on morality - almost as if they are saying to Heavenly Father that His rules on morality are outdated, and He must get with the current programme! I admit that I have been spoilt by the way I was brought up. I come from a family that has always believed in a high standard of morality. That is what threw me most badly when my ex was cheating on me! My ideas of morality were not those of the woman I was married to, and it worries me that I may be prejudiced in a future marriage by old fashioned standards of morality.
What bugs me most is that the folks are super scared by government pronouncements that everyone is using too much power and threats of imminent power outages is constantly on the TV. Strikes me as really strange that under the evil of an apartheid government we had no such problems - only under ANC rule has it become a problem.
Then the current cry is that your average school leaver is eminently qualified because he/she is black, to do anything! Amazing they want to be recognised as the super power because they have a university degree - in politial science. That of course qualifies then to do ANYTHING better than the former apartheid regeime!
I am all for advancement of anyone, based on their ability to do the job! Pushing an under qualified native just he was born black is no way to run a country - or a Church! I face some agonizing decisions as to letting the average member of my branch be advanced. True there are those who can fill callings, but they have disqualified themselves by falling foul of the rules of morality!
As a general rule, I love the members of my branch - and sense that they love me back, but I am genuinely concerned that their idea of morality is not the Churches take on morality - almost as if they are saying to Heavenly Father that His rules on morality are outdated, and He must get with the current programme! I admit that I have been spoilt by the way I was brought up. I come from a family that has always believed in a high standard of morality. That is what threw me most badly when my ex was cheating on me! My ideas of morality were not those of the woman I was married to, and it worries me that I may be prejudiced in a future marriage by old fashioned standards of morality.
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