Lomngeletjane Update

Thoko and I went to Lomngeletjane to check on the progress of the toilets and to look at the windbreak trees and the garden area. We were pleased to see the progress John is making on the toilets. Barring a crisis, they will be finished on schedule. While looking at the windbreak trees we found about a dozen wild mango trees and a few indigenous berry bushes. We will want to clear the weeds and grass around them so that we make sure to keep them visible and not accidentally trample or cut them down. We also shook our heads at the irony of having such a great fence now (thanks to the Round Rock team last year) so now the cows and goats don't come into the school property but now the grass is so tall everywhere that we have to figure out how to cut it or bring a few cows or goats back into the school grounds to help get rid of the grass! We also discovered that only half of the maize was harvested. School starts on Tuesday, the 19th so John will have the kids finish harvesting the maize that day so we can then hire a tractor to come in plow the stalks under in preparation to plant a vegetable garden.

Thoko and I had a productive day, but more important, we had a nice day talking about all kinds of things as friends do. I finally had to hurry home because it was starting to get dark and I certainly didn't want to cross the river in the dark. (When I picked her up this morning, she walked across the river to meet me because I was hesitant to cross it again. When we came back I crossed the river to take her home and could tell that the river was not as high as it was last week and then we watched a car cross it so I could see the best path to take across it.)