I promised to write a bit more about the sisters' stay as some interesting contacts were made which we hope to take into the future weeks. One involves the Pink House which we see in the distance across some rough ground from our house. It is unusual not so much for its smart pink paint as for being a two storey house in a grassy area near the railway land. Its proper name is the Joan Wertheim House, often referred to as FASS, meaning Foetal Alchol Spectrum Syndrome. We have looked at it from the outside but it was always shut and for many weeks over the holidays nothing was happening there.
Our contact at the Rotary Club in De Aar invited us to come along to the house to meet an American Episcopalian and Rotarian, Jonathan Warner. He was visitng to fund a training programme to encourage community workers in their undertanding of alcohol abuse which is very widespread here.Jonathan is an interesting man with a great passion for South Africa. We knew his name from the Anglican Church at Richmond as along with many other ventures in this town he has helped them through a charity called "Hope in South Africa" (see "hopeinsouthafrica.com"). We found Jonathan to be a kindred spirit (Anglican, Rotarian, love of South Africa etc.) and hope that through this chance meeting we might be able to form a link that will prove beneficial to all concerned.
Along with Sarah, Nicola and Sophie, we were invited to be present at a meeting between some Rotarians and the person called Lian who runs the Pink House. She will provide the training over a 3 day period in March for community leaders in De Aar, Richmond and Colesberg, as part of a programme designed to take the message about the dangers of drinking during pregnancy and breastfeeding to the target audience of young women across the social spectrum. It was fascinating to listen in and learn about the work being done as well as to hear how the levels of damage by alcohol to newborn babies has declined significantly since the work here began. FARR is the Foundation for Alchol Related Research, based in Cape Town, and De Aar was chosen as the levels of drinking have been found to be higher here than even in a wine-growing area such as Upington.
The day to day work of the house involves bringing pregnant women there once a month, following them up after they have checked into the usual clinics. The message not to drink is put over and they are given a meal and some counselling. Lian has two assistants but has lost one who had a driving licence so she spends up to four hours a day ferrying the women there and back. Today Alastair signed up to assist with driving and I had my first afternoon session playing with children who come in after school because they are hungry and know there is a meal waiting. Then they have an hour's play and I was able to play things like picture dominoes with small groups of children. Little language is required. I was surprised how well quite small girls were at counting and simple phrases in english. They seemed to enjoy our games and I certainly did, as contact with small people is something I have missed a lot. Contact with anyone, really!
Of course what we hope to do is to interest one or two people in our church community to do it with us or at least take over helping when we leave. At the moment there seems to be no link in spite of being so close to us. One lovely couple here used to be involved in the early days of the House but have moved on.
On Friday there is to be a meeting with as many of the mainstream church leaders as Lian and Tom between them can contact. There is no such things as Churches Together in De Aar that we can discern and Lian wants to impress on church leaders the importance of trying to support young women in abstaining from alcohol. For heavy drinkers it is not an easy thing. Interestingly she has said it is easy to get the message over and women are keen to try; churches are about the only place they might get support in their efforts. Lian spoke of the common feeling of hopelessness in De Aar, very much to do with unemployment and a decline in the town's economy as the railway system collapsed.
Another thing we sisters did last week was to make contact with someone on a tourist leaflet, described as a maker of musical instruments.and African drums. Sam Mooi met us at a tin shack workshop in Nonzwakazi, the black area on the edge of De Aar. Using recycled materials he makes marimbas or more strictly karimbas, which interested Nicola as she has a grand-daughter who plays the marimba in Germany. Sam cunningly used wood from a cable drum or the struts from a bed base. His drum sticks were the rubber from car shock absorbers fixed on an old chair leg or plastic toothbrush! He was a delightful character, very keen to explain and gently demonstrate drumming to tradtional songs from his Khosa background, as well as to explain his family's and the town's history. Since the only book we have so far found is in Afrikaans I found this very helpful.Sophie proudly left with a sizeable karimba to take back to Joburg for Bongani, despite the fact that the others were doubtful they would all fit in their little hire car.
So their visit combined some lovely times together, with enjoyment of the natural environment as well as social opportunities. And of course the big treat was having them here for my birthday which made it a very happy day. They did all the catering and we celebrated with a swim and dinner at the Trans-Karoo Lodge in Britstown. We all slept there and in the morning they drove off north to Kimberley and Johannesburg and we returned home. My fragile state was helped by finding lovely things waiting in our PO Box. Thank you.
