Maria Mogane, Martina Makua, and Simon Mokgalwane model two of their official T-shirts, part of a 4-piece sports outfit given to each.

This past November, two of our gogos and one mkhulu were chosen to represent all of Thaba Chweu municipality, which includes Sabie and several other surrounding towns, to attend the Golden Games (Seniors) in Port Elizabeth. I wanted a photo of the group but Maria wasn’t there – she was home with her 40-something son who’s had a good job the past 25 years, but has become “mentally ill” (her words) in the past four months. If someone doesn’t stay with him he will wander the streets and get lost.

So Martina, Simon and I walked to her house. Maria was mopping the cement floor with her year old granddaughter wrapped on her back. Her daughter, the child’s mother, was at work. They all beamed, recounting the 1300 km bus trip to the south coast, enabling them to see much of the country. The women raved about staying in a hotel for five days (“they cook for us, make our beds, clean our rooms!”). They received team jackets, T-shirts, track pants and running shoes. They were elated about seeing the ocean for the first time ever (“and swimming, too”). Imagine a comparable once-in-a-lifetime experience for you, what would it be?

Just to clarify, this was a government funded event and we Cdn. grannies can take no direct credit, but . . . these three were the only representatives from Thaba Chweu, and they all are part of Sitabogogo. I’d like to think it has something to do with renewed zest for life and feeling up to challenges. 

Martina, by the way, is the grandmother of the baby, Mimi, seen on the back of Ainah, our poster Gogo used on our pamphlets. Mimi goes to the crèche directly across the street, so here is a photo of her now at age four with her crèche teacher – and some star-struck little boy who would not listen to the teacher trying to shoo him away from a photo op (next generation’s Eddie Murphy?)

There’s been a lot of rain lately in this area and we’re talking often 20-35 mm. per day, but yesterday morning was sunny, hot and humid for my first visit to Sitabogogo. Good thing, because officials were set up under a tree in St. Augustine’s church yard for pension renewal day. All over the age of 60 have to go through the annual red tape of proving they exist in order to keep receiving their meager pensions. It was a tedious, all-morning process, but the wonderful thing is that now, because Sitabogogo has become an institution in Simile, the mountain (the officials) came to Mohammed, and the gogos and mkhulus no longer have to traipse into Sabie and queue all day for the process.

Mable Makhathini, one of the gogos who is a retired nursing assistant, was set up outside doing twice weekly blood pressure and blood sugar testing. A Home Based Care lady assisted by recording the results on each gogo’s separate page, keeping track.

So the big exercise session I was anticipating was much smaller – only those gogos who had already been pension-processed. Their abilities ranged from very energized (note 84 year old Ainah 4th from left at top of photo!) to a few who sat and did what they could. I followed along with them for their abbreviated session of 20 minutes, taught by a young physiotherapist – a good workout.

Monthly food supplement parcels were being handed out, too. Definitely ‘Good for You’!

For those of you who participated in our Kitchen Safari in October, you may remember the S. African bean curry appetizer with the unlikely name of Bunny Chow. So as I flipped through the movie listings of the in-flight magazine on South Africa Airlines, I was struck with a fit of giggles when I came across a movie called “Bunny Chow”, described as a story about three guys on a road trip to a South African rock festival. (No, I didn’t watch it.)

Last night I unexpectedly ran into Ruth Magagula (see Sitabogogo page of this website) and her husband at the restaurant we went to. They were set up with paper work alongside their coffees, and said electricity and water were off throughout the township of Simile where they (and all the gogos) live, and won’t be fixed until Monday. Apparently the same situation exists in some parts of the main town of Sabie. The problem seems to be that the municipality’s coffers are completely empty due to corruption of the municipal directors (note the civil unrest mentioned in my last blog – corruption was what the protest was all about), and therefore no money for replacement parts to the systems. The good news that I heard is that all those municipal directors were dismissed and a provincial interim administrator has been sent in to clean up the mess.

I am missing Anne Clarke, our Chairperson. Some of you who are closely associated with Grannies à Gogo know she was planning to be here with me for the first several days before she and her husband were to do a 3-week tour of South Africa. In fact I was going to twist her arm to do a few of these blog postings. But in Dec. she badly broke that arm, requiring surgery, pins, and more surgery and, heavy-heartedly, had to cancel the trip. I was so eager to share this little piece of Africa with her, but it’s not to be . . . this time. Maybe next year 🙂

Tomorrow I will finally see the gogos. I’m told they start off Mondays with a rousing exercise session and I’m raring to join in.

Today is all about pulling together and cramming. After five weeks of R&R in a Buenos Aires, I’m referring to pulling together all my belongings and souvenirs that have increasingly drifted into little nooks and crannies of this maze-like apartment, and cramming them into the same size suitcase that I arrived with. It could be a bit of a Houdini trick. Because tonight my husband, Ken, and I say adios to Argentina, and fly to South Africa to say sanibonani (Zulu for ‘hello’) for the next month.

There’s been another kind of ‘pulling together’ on my mind, too. It’s what Sitabogogo has been doing the past six months since they faced confusion and disheartening set-backs. The gogos we support in Sabie were caught in civil unrest that saw some municipal buildings burned and their (municipality sponsored) Ubuntu Centre vandalized. Fortunately they lost very little. They carted things to the nearby church and an adjoining small house which has now become their temporary base. They have pulled together under the unflagging leadership of our volunteer administrator, Rev. Ginny, whose vision is to build their own centre!

Then more cramming for me . . . to squeeze in as much time as I can with Sitabogogo to catch up on their activities and hear their personal stories. For the next three weeks I’ll report on their activities and my insights: gardening, literacy, physical activity, sewing & crafts, an orphan youth support group that’s attempting to form and, of course, a lot that I don’t know yet and am about to find out. Stay tuned!

Thanks to the enthusiastic support of so many people, the 2009 Christmas cards are sold out.  Thank you to all who generously contributed to this project.  The sale of the Christmas cards raised just under $700, the total of which, along with other funds raised to assist the Sabie grandmothers (gogos), will be sent to South Africa in the next few weeks.

Interested members and potential members of Grannies à Gogo are invited to an informal coffee party on November 30 at 2 p.m.  With the hosts, the past chair and the first vice chair of the Steering Committe, you will have an opportunity to chat about past and planned activities for both the Sitabogogo in Sabie, South Africa and Vernon’s Grannies à Gogo. You will also be able to meet other Grannies à Gogo members, always fun and very interesting. We are a diverse and active group of women dedicated to making a difference, locally and internationally.

For more information, directions and contacts, please email us at granniesagogo@gmail.com.

As a teaser, visit our photo albums to see recent photos of the gogos in South Africa.  And, then, please join us at the coffee party to learn more about what we are doing to assist them in their raising of their AIDS-orphaned grandchildren.

A group of Sitabogogo meet on Thursday mornings to create African bead and wire jewelry. To see more photos, click on the picture; then, to return to this web page, click on the back arrow at the top of your browser page.

You’ll be a member of the LIONS or CHEETAHS prowling the Savannah of our town, or the GIRAFFES munching daintily along city treetops, or the ELEPHANTS browsing through the Vernon veldt!

The Fall Fundraiser for Grannies à Gogo: the Vernon – South Africa Connection is set for Saturday, November 7th. Each of our 4 host homes will offer a course of AFRICAN CUISINE for up to 10 guests, with each group moving on to a different host home for the next course. (Unlike the leopard, we WILL change our spots.)

5:00 Appetizer
6:00 Soup
7:00 Main course
8:00 Dessert

So get a group of friends together to carpool, and set out on a unique, delicious, and entertaining evening’s trek through South Africa’s cuisine.

You’ll experience dishes such as:

• Afrikaans Bean Curry appetizer known as Bunny Chow along with a Biltong Quiche
• followed by a scrumptious Sweet Potato Soup accompanied by African Corn Bread
• a main dish of ground beef and tea-soaked fruit known all over South Africa as Bobotie served with two vegetables and a glass of South African wine
• all topped off with, what else but, Tipsy Tart for dessert!

Registration

Until Friday, October 16th registration will be open only to members of Grannies à Gogo and their friends.

After that, registration will be opened to the general public. We will use a first-come registration process. As there are only 40 spaces available, please register as soon as possible to reserve your place for you and your friends. A fantastic deal at $40.00 per person!

Please email your registration to joaniedavidson@shaw.ca and include your phone number, too, or call Joan Davidson at (250) 545-7021

To Confirm Your Registration please make a cheque payable to Grannies à Gogo and, in the memo line, write Kitchen Safari. Then mail it to:

Grannies à Gogo
c/o Joan Davidson
6451 Southwind Rd.
Vernon, BC V1H 1B7

The Kitchen Safari is SOLD OUT.  Just in case spaces open up, please call Joan at the number above, to be placed on the waiting list.