The Reason We Are Here

Even though the weather is about perfect, the flat is cute, the nature incredible, and the office is modern and comfortable... the real reason that we left employment, sold our home and said goodbye to our family for a while, was to come to Africa to assist the young people here. Through the marvelous program of the Perpetual Education Fund, we are able to administer low-low interest loans to ambitious, needy, mostly black, young adults... and the program is bearing wonderful results. The PEF has been available for 4 years in South Africa, and below you will meet some of the recipients and graduates. Our role here is to expand the program here in ZA (currently 837 students) and to help establish PEF in other countries in the southern half of the continent of Africa.

Come meet these great kids!

This is Reenie at her desk with her 'computer trainer' Thabo Motaung, who helps in the office part time and is going to school on a PEF loan to become Microsoft cetified and achieve a certificate in IT.





This is my trusted counterpart in the office, also named Thabo (which means joy in Zulu) last name Lebathoa. He grew up in Johannesburg during apartheid but was originally from Botswana. He is 33, has degrees in law and business and is full time with us in the office to administer much of the day to day detail of the finance end of things. Jim is grateful for his knowledge of the country, the schools and the banks.




This is Caliphonia Jefange Mnisi. She works in our travel office at the Area office making the arrangements for our travel in and out of South Africa (ZA). She is a PEF graduate from Bedfordview who is now married and expecting her second baby. Her husband is on the PEF program and they hope to buy a house closer to Jo-burg someday. She takes two buses and a taxi every morning, requiring 60 minutes to get to the office. She is always there by 7:30 am. The same routine follows at the end of her day.





Currently in the second year of a three year marketing program, Xolani Lubisi is recently engaged to be married and serving part time in the office. He is from Cape Town, which you can often tell by his first name beginning with an X. The language is Xosa, which you may recall is the native language of Nelson Mandella. Xolani's name is pronounced by clicking the tongue inside the cheek while saying -olani. Quite something to try and get used to. Great guy with a great smile.





Here is Didier, pointing to his home city of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He came to ZA on a temporary visa to begin a PEF program in survey engineering. He has completed the first year of three. The program is very similar to a civil engineering degree. We hope to open the PEF program by June in the DRC, so that many of these folks can stay at home and study in Kinshasa. The holdup has been the banking end. You just would not believe the state of banking in some of these developing nations and people do not generally use banks because they do not have checking, savings and VISA/MC's. We are attempting to find banks that are affiliated with England, Begium or France. They at least have some reserves and some stability. Big challenges when trying to provide big opportunities.




Here are three lovely ladies! From the left is Kagiso Segkatlo who is taking communications courses hoping to get into a TV job, then is Khanysila Sibanyango, a recent book-keeping /accounting graduate who has now gotten a job with a large insurance company. She was making R500/month before her schooling (about $50) and now she earns approx R3000/month (about $300). This is very good earnings for a young person here in ZA. It is part of the PEF program to assist in getting 'better work' following the education. We are mostly successful with this (about 92%) but unemployment is high here, inflation is running at 14%, and I'm sure you in the US are all aware of the global economic situation. You all know the other "girl".




Here is our 'helper" in the office, Thabo, with his wife Ntuthu (pronounced nTootoo) and their 20 month old Thabile. Thabo's family came to SA from the Kingdom of Lesotho and he served a mission for the church in Durban, and his wife is from Cape Town and served a mission in Kenya. As mentioned, Thabo is a PEF student and comes 45 minutes by bus each day to the office and school. They live in Protea Glen, which is one of the many sections of Soweto. Their home is VERY humble by any standards, but they are determined to improve their lot. He is in the Elder's Quorum Presidency and she is the YW President in the Protea Glen Ward. We attended there last Sunday and it was really hot and very, very friendly.




If any of you have studied economics, you may be familiar with the term 'hyper-inflation'. It's what Germany felt in the 20's and 30's, and it is what Zimbabwe is undergoing right now. Here is a photo of someone purchasing three eggs at a price of one hundred billion Zimbabwe dollars. The inflation factor is currently at 250% per month. The money is basically worthless but the government keeps printing higher denominations so it's a joke. However, the people are in a jam because they are paid in this worthless currency and it buys little. They mostly trade and barter now. Sadly, we have had to suspend PEF there because the instructors in the schools have stopped coming to classes, the schools have vitually shut down and the students are trying to repay the loans in their nations currency, only to have worthless dollars to use. What was a $5 payment six months ago, now requires hundreds of millions and to us the exchange amounts to about 30 cents. As a result of this situation in Zimbabwe, there is quite an influx of their people into ZA. We have several in PEF already.





Reenie with Zinhle Masilela, who is a graduate of PEF and is now working in the office in the finance department.




Here is Tafadzwa Tanjani (TJ), with his wife, Brenda. He is from Zimbabwe studying marketing and she is from Cape Town and works as a procurment clerk. Really fun and active young couple.




The students will often come into our office, even once they have gotten their loans approved and are studying, just to check on things or to bring us in their grades. Here is one of our stop in students, Tetslive Lobuongelo (far right). He is very bright and studying engineering at UNISA (University of South Africa). He lives in a tiny flat in Pretoria (soon to be renamed Tswane) with his brother and two other students from their home country of DRC. They all came from a village there that had no electricity, they all served FTM's in the DRC and are now getting educated through PEF in ZA, and all hope to return to help build up the home country and the church there.




This is Vuyokazi Kisten (Marsha). She is our receptionist at the Area Offices. She is really a sweet girl who grew up in Kwa-Zulu Natal, an area which is all Zulu people next to Swaziland. She is married to an "Asian", which over here is anyone with roots from India. Her husband is half East Indian and half Zulu. She is an absolute joy to be around and does an amazing job of keeping guests, appointments and phone calls directed for all 75 people who work in the Africa Southeast Area Office complex.


This is only the beginning. So far, in our first month, we have assisted is processing PEF applications for 31 students with many, many more to come. Reenie and I are headed off to Botswana tomorrow. We hope you will stay tuned to our blog and please leave comments. We love hearing from you however lengthy or brief.


Happy New Year to all we know and miss.

Merry Christmas from Africa

Even though there are no Christmas trees here in SA, and this is officially the first day of Summer here, (81 degrees) we want to let you know that we are observing the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ all the same. Since we needed to get into the season just a bit, we went to an African market last week and bought a hand carved ebony nativity from a carver who was from Zimbabwe. If you are not aware of the sadness in Zimbabwe, you must read up. Anyway, this pretty nativity serves our little flat very well. Throw in a little garland and we are ready for the season. Really and truly, we want you all to know that with or without the usual traditions and trappings of the season, Christ is in our heart and his message truly was the inspiration for our coming to Africa to assist in this great work. (more on the work in our next posting...)

Merry Christmas to you all!

This is an incedible land. For the next few moments we would like to share with you an experience we had yesterday at the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve located on 1400 acres within the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. It is a wonderful way to see nature up close, but in its own habitat. The new Olympus camera with the 18X optical zoom lens helped considerably. You drive slowly through the reserve, but DO NOT get out of your car. I repeat, you DO NOT get out of the car. You are permitted to open the windows of your vehicle 33%, but do so at your own risk. Folks have had tires chewed, bumpers knocked off by Rhino's and last year a Japanese tourist got out of his car for that "perfect shot" and was killed AND eaten by a pride of lions. We played by the rules and had a fantastic day. Please remember that if you want to see enlarged versions of any of the photos, just double click the picture and 'voila!'...big!

Genesis: Chaper One

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth...and God said let the earth bring forth the grasses...and God said let the earth bring forth the living creatures...and God made the beasts of the earth...and every living thing...and God saw that it was good..."

A mother Warthog and her four babies...remember that Spring has just ended and the animal kingdom is alive with offspring! Even the ugliest of animals has cute babies.

A handsome male Sable Antelope keeping a wary eye out. He stood up and was about six feet to his ears, but added another 24" with his horns.

This endangered species is called the Wild Dog. There are only about 4000 left in the world. These three are feasting on the carcass of what probably was a Springbuck. Their sound was nothing like the bark of a dog however, but more of a high pitched squeel and they had very much of the 'pack mentality'.

This is a female Cape Buffalo that was not happy with us as we were being observed as a threat to her young. We were convinced by her size and eyebrows, and we quickly drove on.

Here is a family of Gemsbock catching the cool shade of the Kraal Spike Thorn tree. They are strikingly beautiful and their horns grow up to 4 feet on both the male and female. I have bought 'biltong' at the market, which is like jerky from this animal, and it is very good.

Not much description needed here. A female Ostrich that has laid 15-20 eggs somewhere nearby, each weighing 3lbs and she can really run. You can't help but laugh when you see them take off running.

There are three prides of White Lions on the reserve. They are a very scarce type of lion, although not albino. They are the result of a recessive gene and have blue eyes. They are really a beautiful animal. Here they are tearing into an aged Rhino on the grassy plains of the Krugersdorp area in the Gauteng province of South Africa.

One of my favorite shots of the day. This is a female Cheetah, also quite endangered, and she is catching some shade during the mid day sun.

...and this is one of the juvenile males that is not putting out the welcome mat for us!

This is a shot of a female White Rhinoceros on the move. They have two prominant horns on their face and can weigh up to 2300kg (for you Americans, that's about 6000 lbs). They are very territorial and are not to be treated as big, fat and slow!

This, of course, is a pair of beautiful Hartmann Zebras. Comouflage is not their strength. They are concerned as well, as there were several of their young nearby, but even though they all have stripes, no two are ever exactly the same, so Mom can easily tell her own from the rest. (they could anyway)

This is also one of my favorites. In six hours of shooting 165 photos it's hard to pick one favorite picture since the animals were so plentiful and so very photogenic, however this magestic male Brown Lion was a real 'poser'. He got up from his laying down position, stood as though he were really "the king", gave me a wonderful 5 second side shot, and then he stared us down (see picture below) as if to say..... 'get going!'

"Don't make me chew up your Firestone's!"

Clearly one of the high-lites for Reenie was to go to the baby animal creche and for a small fee, she got to play with the 1-3 month old baby lions and black leopards. Here is Reenie rubbing the nose of this 3 month old female brown lion and she got it so relaxed, I believe it went to sleep. They are already enjoying a diet of red meat, so there is a trained volunteer nearby, should these furry little fuzzballs decide that an afternoon snack of your finger would be tasty.

Here is the happy Reenie with the two identical twin sisters.

Merry Christmas Reenie...

We'll gradually post more of the pictures we took at the game park, but for now we'll just say

Merry Christmas to all. We love you and miss you.

Our New Home-Africa

Reenie on the grounds of the Johannesburg Temple. Our office is on the same compound and we are literally a 5 minute walk from our office to being in the temple. It is a beautiful building which meets the needs of members from Somalia/Kenya all the way down to Jo-burg/CapeTown.

This is our gold/green Nissan Tiida. It gets about 50 miles/gallon and petrol costs us about $3.50/gallon. Notice the steering wheel on the right side. We are doing very well with driving on the left. Only a few 'close calls'. The church intentionally buys ugly cars so they will be less attractive to the carjackers. We keep nothing in the front or back seats and everthing in the 'boot' (trunk) because if you are seen to have something of value you are put at risk of a 'smash and grab'. We are following the rules!

This is a shot of the outside of our flat. We are the bottom unit with the double doors and the patio looking out on a beautiful English garden. It is small but quite comfortable. The flats are within a walled compound and a security guard is there to open the gate 24/7. Very safe.

Here is a view from our patio looking out at the courtyard. Beautiful looking and smelling, as well as a home to at least 13 varieties of birds (so far), including the African Yellow Weaver. (more on them later). The birds start singing at 4:30-4:45 AM.

This is a view looking from the kitchen out the patio doors. Our desk to the left where we will be 'Skyping' with family and friends now that we have a good internet connection in the flat.

Our little kitchen- which contains the fridge, sink, washing machine, dryer, range, stove and microwave. No wasted space for sure, but Reenie has made it home and she has cooked up some great food already. Food shopping is quite different here. People shop frequently due to the size of the fridge, regular power outages and limited space for storing much. The fresh fruits and veggies are very nice. Eating out is also very affordable with a nice dinner for 2 costing only about $10-12 with the current rate of exchange.

One more view of the gardens. We have lemon trees with fruit for the picking along with herbs of every sort and several varieties of roses and other native plants.

The work in the office goes better everyday as we learn our duties and the processes that are required. It is really quite involved as we deal with so many different countries and many languages. Three of our countries speak French, two speak Portuguese, eight speak English and all of the students have VERY strong accents, since they speak a tribal tongue at home. Any one of 210 tribal tongues! The young people are excited about the opportunities we can afford them. They are a very bright lot of folks. I am really impressed! They must be worthy, ambitious and needy, and there are a lot who will qualify.

We will be going to the country of Botswana next week to help get the PEF established there. After the first of the year, which amazingly is only three weeks away, we will travel to the Kingdoms of Lethoto and Swaziland and then in February we have a trip planned to Windhoek, Namibia. We hope to get the program available in Zambia and the DRC by June. The rest of the time we will spend in South Africa where the PEF program is going strong.

We are grateful for your thoughts, prayers and all who helped make Reenie's birthday a special one. With all of the turmoil in the world, we are very happy to be here doing what we are doing.

All the best...