Hi Everyone,

We’re facing a small problem (actually two small, cute, furry problems). Our current cat-sitting arrangement has to end in the spring for various reasons, and now we need a Plan B starting in May (or sooner, if possible). If we can’t find somewhere for Penny & Kung Fu to live, we might have to cut short our volunteer work–and that would suck!

SO: would you (or a responsible friend) be willing to take one or both of our cats any time between January – May until mid-September 2009? We can cover vets bills (generally zilch, they’re young and healthy!), food bills (around $25/month for both of them), etc.

About the cats:
Penny is a fluffy calico, a bit overweight, who like to sleep on the end of your bed, eat when no one’s looking, and have her tummy rubbed.

Penny's got a soft tummy!

Kung Fu is a handsome tuxedo who loves to stretch, cuddle, and has an alarming fetish for feathery cat toys.

Kung Fu stuck in some pants.

They’re both huge Obama fans, both spayed/neutered, healthy, and happily house trained. They eat dry cat food and have a water fountain that keeps them going for a few days at a time. All it would take to look after them is:

1. A place to keep a litter tray (not so gross!) and time to clean it every few days (or weeks).
2. A friend/neighbor who can stop by and feed them every day or two if you go away.
3. Food once or twice a day, plus extra water every few days (be prepared to get some lovin’ in return!).

P & KF loungin' on the sofa

This is what they looked like when they were teeny tiny babies!

Happy Thanksgiving! And we’ll have another Africa related blog post soon.

Love, Alex & Andy

Group pic w/ Nyanga gogos

Priscilla hired this woman named Gloria Simoneaux, who’s working/living in Nairobi on a Fullbright scholarship, to come to Cape Town and do several art projects with the gogos in Nyanga and Kayalitcha. It was exhausting and frustrating at times, but ultimately incredible. I got lost every single day, drumming in the fact that I have the worlds most terrible sense of direction (yes, we were going to and from the same exact place every time). The gogos were too old and feeble for some of the projects we had them doing, so there was a lot of trial and error and on-the-fly thinking. Even though the space was way too small, and the gogos weren’t always physically capable of doing every activity, we had such a blast! I learned so much cool stuff that I can’t wait to take back to Mount Frere with me. Gloria has a great repertoire of fun, relaxing, self-exploration projects, and I even got to throw in some of my own ideas. We were a pretty good team, I think!

One of our most rewarding projects was “Body Mapping.” Basically, you lie on a big sheet of paper, trace your body, and then fill in bits and pieces with different things, like: what is your strongest place (ie, your heart, arms, brain, eyes…); outline your body using your favorite color; write the names of people who have helped you in your life, etc. Anyway, it was incredible, especially to see the looks on their faces when they saw what they had created! They were all so self conscious at first, and insisted they were terrible artists, but they were all fantastic. Some of them seemed SO stubborn at first, grumpy and refusing to paint—but by the end of the workshop they had totally opened up and were smiling, laughing, crying. It was tumultuous and unforgettable.

The workshop was split into 2 groups. The first 2 days were the gogos from Kayalitcha, and the last 2 days were the gogos from Nyanga. I only have pics of Nyanga gogos right now, but will get more pics from Gloria later. We had a great time. I think it was a real learning experience for everyone!

I'm trying to help this gogo think of something she loves about herself.

Gloria helped this ancient blind gogo draw a picture of her "happy place." (Her church, of course!)

I absolutely loved this woman, Elizabeth. She was the leader, I think, and on the first day she got the group to do some singing and dancing when they were getting a bit tired. It was beautiful. At the end of the workshop she said, "I feel so healthy. I am alive again!" Breaks your heart!

Everyone is hard at work, exploring their creativity!

HUGE thanks to Priscilla, Gloria, and everyone at Baphumelele for letting me be a part of such an awesome workshop!

Village health workers waiting to get their nutrition parcels outside the Hlomelikusasa container.

Nutrition day at Hlomelikusasa happens once a month. Here’s how it goes: Nokulunga goes into town and buys the nutrition which consists of dried beans, mealie meal, sugar, semp, dried soy mince, and oil. Handing out nutrition is a two day process with a line out the door, waiting to talk to Nokulunga and tell her how many orphans & vulnerable children (OVC) they are cooking for, or how many Child Headed Families (CHF) they have (the child headed families are kids being looked after by an older sibling, & in addition to food, they also get soap, candles, and matches). Each Village Health Worker (VHW) cooks for anywhere from 5-50 kids, so the nutrition is distributed accordingly. And then they have to carry it back to whatever bus or taxi they are taking to get home—and home could be up to 60km away. If they can, they get someone from home to help them carry everything, and whatever they can’t carry they balance on top of their heads! The nutrition they are given is supposed to last for 1 month, but we have heard many accounts of it only lasting 3 weeks. There are a lot of stories of “extra kids” coming to eat the nutrition so it doesn’t stretch the month. The meals are always the same, but they are very hearty, and mixed with vegetables, if the village health workers have their own gardens, which many of them do.

…. And speaking of nutrition… Last night I decided to make a celebratory Obama cake. Here’s the recipe, for those interested:

First of all, look around the kitchen. What do you have? Not much? Perfect!

I melted a candy bar w/ a tablespoon of low-fat margarine; separated 2 eggs and beat the whites until I got bored (about 45 seconds); mixed the egg yolks with some sugar, and hey, why not a little diet coke, too?; some flour (even though I decided to make a flourless cake, it seemed wrong not to put flour in); a splash of Amarulah; a pinch of ginger; and some coffee. Mix it all together, bake it just shy of smelling burnt candy throughout the house (about 45 minutes at 190c), and then voila!

Celebratory Obama cake. Mmmm... tastes like CHANGE!

GO OBAMA!!!!!