August 2016 - Up The Kalahari
Members of the Horndean & District U3A met for their AGM on Friday 5th August at Merchistoun Hall. Following the AGM they were transported to Africa by their members Richard & Carol Veitch. Richard delighted the members by inviting them to share their adventures "Up the Kalahari" and Carol updated them about her work in support of the schools and other projects Iin the Kodumela area of South Africa.
Their adventure "Up the Kalahari" started in January of this year when they visited three national parks on the western side of South Africa over a four week holiday. They visited the Augrabies Falls National Park, where they experienced a top temperature of 52 degrees Celsius, followed by the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and finally the Mokala National Park. Their trip from their base near the Kruger National Park across the width of the continent and back to Johannesburg covered approximately 3,000 miles, much of this on what we would think of as very quiet roads.
Richard showed many incredible photographs of the flora and fauna of Africa; sweeping magnificent views of the open plains and the many animals and birds which live there. The numerous photographs of lions were much admired and questions were asked like how could you get such interesting shots of lions - sunbathing prides, youngsters play-fighting and more. There were shots of giraffes, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, rhinoceros, impala etc. He had fabulous photographs of the many birds, even with some birds of prey eating their kills!
Richard showed photographs of the accommodation they stayed in at Twee Rivieren, Nossob and Mata Mata Rest Camps (which have perimeter safety fences), and the Gharagab, Urikarus and Kielie Krankie Wilderness Camp (which are not fenced). They were all very basic but all of them had en-suite toilets and showers with cooker hotplates and barbeques. Members were fascinated and couldn't wait to waylay Richard to ask him more questions.
Carol updated the members on her work with the Kodumela Area of South Africa’s Limpopo province. She works closely with a charity organisation called “CHOKO” which is based in the Oxfordshire village of Cholsey. In the past she has raised money to help start up a bakery which now provides employment for nine people which in turn feeds nine families. The bakery also provides food for a local school and caters for large events. It has been so successful that she has provided funds for a second bakery and is in the process of raising more money to support a very important educational initiative. This initiative will enable up to 17 schools in the region to send representatives to Oxfordshire to help them develop what has been dubbed ‘intervention’ classes for children who struggle to keep up in class sizes of up to 90.
The model for this initiative was set out when Carol helped to fund the visit to Oxfordshire of two head teachers, Elizabeth and Rosina, from the Masekane and Mamokalie schools in Limpopo. They obtained information and training on how to support children who couldn’t keep up with their classmates. Carol and the other fundraisers from “CHOKO” have a super relationship with the village schools in the Kodumela area, they love to see each other and the pupils danced and sang for them.
Again Carol was bombarded with questions and a collection was overwhelmingly made towards her tremendous work. She regularly runs a stall at local boot markets and is happy to accept donations which will be sold to add to her fund raising. Resounding applause followed their impressive talks which was supported by their stunning photographs.
Following this, members enjoyed listening to the singing group, enjoyed a quiz, held their breath over the raffle and finally enjoyed a strawberry cream tea.
Diane Stoner, Speaker Co-ordinator