Magnanimity In Victory - Not A South African Quality

To all the south African rugby fans out there.. you won! Not only did you win the World Cup but you deserved to win it. You played a great tournament and were generally entertaining to watch.

You won, live with it!

Friends & Weekend

On Thursday we picked Richard, Sal, Josh' & Isaac from the airport for their eagerly anticipated three week holiday here in sunny SA. Their staying in a cottage in Gordon's Bay just a couple of minutes walk from the beach, ice cream parlour and chippy so they're well set for a good time. It's really great to see them again and Joel is especially delighted to see Sal whom he adores!

Fire On The Helderberg - Again

Some idiot/s started a fire on the Helderberg late in the afternoon and firefighters have been battling all night to put it out. From our house it looks like their just about getting the upperhand, but their not being helped by a very strong Southeast wind. I'm not into corporal punishment, but when these arsonists are caught each resident of Somerset West should be able to beat the c**p out of them for 5 minutes, that would deter them.

Hardship In Zimbabwe - In Pictures

It's not often these days that Christian's get good publicity, admittedly we tend to solicit bad press (such as the whole fiasco surrounding the ordination of homosexual clergy) by failing to handle situations well. Anyway this post isn't a rant & rave about that but rather to draw your attention to some very positive press regarding Tearfund and the work they're doing in Zimbabwe.

ENGLAND!

3-nil in the Euro 2008 qualifier and we stuffed the French 14-9 in Paris, oh what a sweet weekend!

My favourite quote of the whole weekend comes from Matt Dawson 72 minutes into the RWC semi-final:

"If the game carries on this way, England will steal it, I'm telling you, they will steal it. Stay patient England, stay patient."

Nomzamo Fire - Unsung Heroes

Following last weeks fire in Nomzamo, our local rag the District Mail ran the above article on the ladies who have been working tirelessly for the community, co-ordinating donations and sorting them out ready for distribution. Sindi (back row 2nd from right) is a former church member of ours and we still work very closely with her, she's worth her weight in gold!

Last Snow Of Winter?

After a good week of warm and mostly sunny weather on Sunday a cold front rolled in with a vengeance and sprinkled the Hottentots Holland mountains with a generous coating of snow. We usually have one last cold snap in Spring before the weather really turns for the better, so hopefully this was it. However, it is unusual to see this much snow on the Hotties.

Lourensford Classic MTB Race

On Saturday I rode the Lourensford Classic MTB race, a tough 60k's around the stunning Lourensford wine estate at the foot of the Hottentots Holland mountains. The weather was almost perfect apart from a brief spell of rain, with the sun remaining firmly behind the clouds.

Shack Fire In Nomzamo – The Church Responds

A large fire swept through an area in Nomzamo completely destroying nearly 500 shacks, home to approximately 2,000 people.

The fire started at around 4 a.m. and was difficult to control due to the strong winds. Firemen from Strand worked for many hours to dampen down the smoke and flames.

The shacks were packed tightly together causing the fire to spread rapidly. Many homes use parrafin stoves which added fuel to the fire.

Fire In Nomzamo

After church on Sunday morning we received news that there had been a big fire in Nomzamo which had swept through the informal settlement part of the community destroying almost 600 shacks leaving upto 3000 people homeless. We immediately spoke to our church leaders and the cell group leaders with a view to obtaining as many donations as possible of blankets, clothing food and money. In the short term these things will really help.

Family Life

After seeing the penguins Joel asked if we could have pizza for tea so we decided to bring Dean's Birthday tea forward from Tuesday to Saturday evening. We had a lovely time together and Joel was really excited when he saw one of his friends at the restaurant. Another reason Joel enjoys this particular restaurant is one of the waiters plays with him and Joel calls him the "Silly Man". On Saturday we asked Silly Man his real name which turned out to be Silla, Joel thought that was very funny.