January 2008
Quaker Gathering in Grahamstown
Heidi and I flew into Durban on New Year's Day, staying at Alice's before the long drive to Grahamstown.
Eastern Cape provided amazing land- and cloudscapes as usual.
After a very damp night at Chintsa, it was good to be back in the oddness of Grahamstown.
I didn't take many pictures at Yearly Meeting - was preoccupied with news from the region and developments in Kenya.
It was good to have some breaks playing with Young Friends.
Not as innocent as they looked! These apprentice hooligans soaked me in the fountain before throwing me in the pool...
One really lovely aspect of attending Yearly Meeting is catching up with the little ones, as they become progressively less little.
I took the photo of Bashi on the left in November 2003.
See how much he's grown below
but also stayed the same.
Little Pelo being read the riot act.
A trip to an atmospheric local beach was really fun.
On the way back to Durban, we watched the sun set over the bay at East London, with dolphins hunting in the waves while cormorants dive-bombed from above.
Our second stay at Chintsa started far more promisingly...
An early morning walk and swim was followed by some restful canoeing, before the long drive back to Durban.
It was good we'd had a restful morning, as it was a long drive punctuated by drama.
A truck in front of us swerved sickeningly - to show a man lying bleeding on the road.
He'd leapt in front of it - probably a suicide attempt.
Luckily the truck driver's alertness left him with a glancing blow.
We blocked oncoming traffic and called for help, while Alice gave emergency first aid.
It was great meeting Rob and Wintys' daughter Alice on this visit - a lovely new friend for our collection!
Passing Mount Kilimanjaro on the flight back to Nairobi.
It was good to have a short break from the chaos in Kenya and enjoy the beauty of South Africa again
but also time to be getting back.
⥢
⥤