Arrested!

As we said in our post on Tuesday 16th 'Interesting Afternoon', Dina's husband, Donovan has been arrested for allegedly assaulting two young men in CNP. Unfortunately, one of the alleged victims is the son of another church member; Aletta, who until this incident was good friends with Dina. Sadly, things are very tense between them now with Dina refusing to speak to Aletta. We really need you to join with us in prayer over this situation. We want to see Dina & Aletta maintain their friendship and to be able to support each other through this messy situation.

Table Mountain

We finally made it up Table Mountain on Sunday afternoon, we were on our way to Stellenbosch when we saw the the mountain was clear of cloud even though the weather was wet and cold. A quick detour home to get some waterproofs and we shot into Cape Town and up the mountain. There were very few people around which was great as it can get quite crowded on the top. Afterwards we decamped to the Mount Nelson for High Tea which was very civlillised, although Joel isn't quite ready for such activities!

Table Mountain

Paula & Joel in the cable car on our way up Table Mountain.

Cape Town

On Friday we arranged for Joel to be looked after and headed of to Cape Town. Unfortunately the cloud was hanging around Table Mountain so we weren't able to go up, but we managed to have some fun before heading off over Chapman's Peak to Simon's Town to see the penguins at Boulders Beach.

This photo is of Paula & Susannah in front of Table Mountain. As you can see the 'tablecloth' is obscuring the top of the mountain.

Hermanus

A delayed second part of the 'Cape Agulhas' post:

On our way home from Cape Agulhas we drove along the coast road to Hermanus in the hope of seeing some whales. There were a few in the bay but due to the grim weather they were quite a way out and certainly not performing for us. Never mind, we continued on the coast road and as we got to Gordon's Bay we saw several whales enjoying themselves and they were very close to the shore. As you can see from the photos below, we had a great view of the whales.

Cape Agulhas

We've just been to Cape Agulhas and then Hermanus with Susannah. When we arrived at Cape Agulhas the weather was truly appalling and the guy we got to take the photo of us nearly got blown off his feet, hence the lack of focus in the picture!

Interesting Afternoon

Dean had one of his more interesting afternoons in CNP today. Initially he took Tyrone and his mother to Hottentots Holland hospital and then returned to CNP for a meeting with the Social Worker from ACVV the Afrikaans Christian social service. Whilst Dean & Dina waited for the social worker Dina received news that her husband Donovan had been arrested. As the social worker was late we decided to go to the police station but passed the social worker on the way so had the meeting. This was a constructive session and although Dina has some issues with the social worker, she calmed down towards the end of the meeting and hopefully we can start working together a bit more.

CNP

Susannah went into Chris Nissen yesterday afternoon with Dean but unfortunately the weather was gross so they couldn't stay for very long. Susannah met Henna, mama Jane and Rosie who are members of Paula's cell and then had a brief guided tour of the community before being accosted by the kids to push them on the roundabout (see photo below). In the evening we went to Lorna's for an Indian which was very nice! 

Susannah Arrived

As you can see from the photo above, Susannah has arrived safe & sound, we appreciate your prayers in getting her through, it sounds like Heathrow was still in chaos as she left. Sadly the weather has been horrific since Susannah's arrival and the forecast is not looking too good for the rest of the week. We're really hoping for good weather on Wed and Thur as we're traveling to Cape Agulhas (the Southern most point of Africa) and the driving back through Hermanus in the hope of seeing some more whales (see post: Whale Watching below).

Joel Drumming

Well the good news is that Susannah is due to fly out tonight so we'll pick her up from the airport in the morning. We can't wait to see her as we've got quite an itinerary lined up including going back to Hermanus to see more whales!

As you can see from the whale photos we've had a great day. Over lunch we wandered around the craft market in Hermanus and Joel had a drum with some of the guys there. Joel enjoyed this and the guys were really accommodating!

Whale Watching

We drove out to Hermanus this morning as the weather was so bad (it's been raining for days!) thinking we'd just have a nice drive, but as you can see from the photos below we were blessed with an amazing morning! Joel was so excited to see the whales and exclaimed: "I can see it, whale" on several occasions. These whales are all 'Southern Right Whales' so called as they were regarded as the 'right' whale to catch back in the bad days of whaling.