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Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Winding down in Mwadui
After fourteen weeks on the trot on site, we're finally going out on a month's leave this Saturday. We're going "home" to South Africa.
Living as we do, becomes quite confusing to readers following this blog. Never mind, it becomes quite confusing at times to us as well! We have a permanent home in Marquard in the Free State Province, South Africa.
In the middle of the map (which is also called Central South Africa) is the orange bit called Free State. Approximately between the second "e" in Free and the capital S (in State) is Marquard. That's home to the Hedges of Tanzania. Strange but true, because...
... on the above map, is a county to the north-east - colored dusty pink. It's called Tanzania. This is home to the Marquard Hedges as well! We live in Tanzania for ten weeks at a stretch.
For the most part of thirty years, Grant and I have been expats living in several countries across the African continent. It all started at the beginning of 1990 when we moved from our country of birth, South Africa to live in Namibia. We lived on a diamond mine for five years. We moved back to South Africa where we worked privately for five years.
In the beginning of 2000, we left our home in Marquard in the care of our wonderful house-lady Emily and went to live as expats in on a gold mine in Mali, West Africa. Mali is the home of Timbuktu the town which we were brought up to believe was a fictitious place! A year later we moved to Guinea, just below Mali on the map and stayed there until 2007.
Grant joined a private civil engineering company and worked all over Guinea while I remained in South Africa. In 2008, Grant worked briefly in Zambia but before I could join him, he procured a position in Sudan. From August 2009 I lived in a two story apartment with him in a city called Omdurman. This was part of Khartoum which is a tri-city. We lived on the banks of the Nile River.
When Grant's contract finished in Khartoum at the end of 2010, we returned to South Africa thinking that this was the beginning of our retirement years.
Not so.
A voice from the past beckoned.
An expat who had worked with Grant in Guinea offered him a job on a Fluorspar Mine in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya. Many of my blogger friends will remember how I loved the year we spent in Kenya. We lived on a remote camp in a valley within the GRV. I know this is where my love of birding and photographing birds was really born.
A year later a project manager for whom Grant had worked in Guinea, contacted him. He was not operations manager of an earthmoving company operating on a diamond mine in Tanzania; he offered Grant the position of Contract's (Project) Manager in this company.
And here we are, living in Mwadui in North-western Tanzania.
We've come a full circle...
For more posts on other people's worlds, please click here
Living as we do, becomes quite confusing to readers following this blog. Never mind, it becomes quite confusing at times to us as well! We have a permanent home in Marquard in the Free State Province, South Africa.
... on the above map, is a county to the north-east - colored dusty pink. It's called Tanzania. This is home to the Marquard Hedges as well! We live in Tanzania for ten weeks at a stretch.
For the most part of thirty years, Grant and I have been expats living in several countries across the African continent. It all started at the beginning of 1990 when we moved from our country of birth, South Africa to live in Namibia. We lived on a diamond mine for five years. We moved back to South Africa where we worked privately for five years.
In the beginning of 2000, we left our home in Marquard in the care of our wonderful house-lady Emily and went to live as expats in on a gold mine in Mali, West Africa. Mali is the home of Timbuktu the town which we were brought up to believe was a fictitious place! A year later we moved to Guinea, just below Mali on the map and stayed there until 2007.
Grant joined a private civil engineering company and worked all over Guinea while I remained in South Africa. In 2008, Grant worked briefly in Zambia but before I could join him, he procured a position in Sudan. From August 2009 I lived in a two story apartment with him in a city called Omdurman. This was part of Khartoum which is a tri-city. We lived on the banks of the Nile River.
When Grant's contract finished in Khartoum at the end of 2010, we returned to South Africa thinking that this was the beginning of our retirement years.
Not so.
A voice from the past beckoned.
An expat who had worked with Grant in Guinea offered him a job on a Fluorspar Mine in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya. Many of my blogger friends will remember how I loved the year we spent in Kenya. We lived on a remote camp in a valley within the GRV. I know this is where my love of birding and photographing birds was really born.
A year later a project manager for whom Grant had worked in Guinea, contacted him. He was not operations manager of an earthmoving company operating on a diamond mine in Tanzania; he offered Grant the position of Contract's (Project) Manager in this company.
And here we are, living in Mwadui in North-western Tanzania.
At the top of the map is Lake Victoria. Just below it is Mwanza - we live 160km from here in the Shinyanga area in a diamond mining town called Mwadui!
We've come a full circle...
For more posts on other people's worlds, please click here
Monday, January 6, 2014
Daktari visits the Hedges Kitty Household
Hi Bozo and mum's blogger friends. This is Ambrose. As usual the week was restful but then yesterday we kitties had a big fright. We were sleeping on our day bed, all minding our own business, dreaming our dreams, when Michael askari (he's also our friend) to mum. He said: "Bibi, daktari is here." We kitties didn't know what he meant but we soon found out!
After asking Michael and daktari to wait mum quickly lifted Unca Shadow from the bed and carried him into the house. She returned and carried me and Dad Ginger inside as well. Now we could see where was taking us: the bathroom, which is were she had Unca Shadow closed in already.
As she placed us on the floor, she left the bathroom and closed the door. Dad Ginger walked around the large box on the floor. I think he remembers this box as he arrived in it from Kenya
L O N G ago.
Soon mum returned and entered the bathroom with Michael and *gasp* with a strange man. After this things got a bit hazy: Dad Ginger and I were put inside the cage and the door locked on us. We heard a scuffle as Michael and mum wrapped Unca Shadow in a towel and then the door opening and closing again. Then nothing.
Next mum's hand came into the cage and pulled Dad Ginger out. Another scuffle and then the door opening and closing. Again nothing.
I heard mum tell the daktari: "Ambrose is an easy cat, he won't be a problem"
Then her hand came into the cage and I meowed and pressed myself against the far side. But she was too clever for me and pulled me out. I saw Michael come towards me with a towel, and he and mum wrapped me in it. Then they put me down on the cupboard and as mum tried to expose my neck, I hissed, wriggled and broke loose. Again, Michael and mum caught me with a wrapped towel and carried me to the cupboard.
All the while I could see the daktari standing there with a very sharp item in his hand.
Mum held me down firmly this time and the daktari plunged the sharp item under the skin of my neck. Next he plunged another sharp item into my rear end. This was the end for me and I growled fiercely and lashed out with all my claws.
After asking Michael and daktari to wait mum quickly lifted Unca Shadow from the bed and carried him into the house. She returned and carried me and Dad Ginger inside as well. Now we could see where was taking us: the bathroom, which is were she had Unca Shadow closed in already.
As she placed us on the floor, she left the bathroom and closed the door. Dad Ginger walked around the large box on the floor. I think he remembers this box as he arrived in it from Kenya
L O N G ago.
Dad Ginger inspects his travel cage
Soon mum returned and entered the bathroom with Michael and *gasp* with a strange man. After this things got a bit hazy: Dad Ginger and I were put inside the cage and the door locked on us. We heard a scuffle as Michael and mum wrapped Unca Shadow in a towel and then the door opening and closing again. Then nothing.
Next mum's hand came into the cage and pulled Dad Ginger out. Another scuffle and then the door opening and closing. Again nothing.
I heard mum tell the daktari: "Ambrose is an easy cat, he won't be a problem"
Then her hand came into the cage and I meowed and pressed myself against the far side. But she was too clever for me and pulled me out. I saw Michael come towards me with a towel, and he and mum wrapped me in it. Then they put me down on the cupboard and as mum tried to expose my neck, I hissed, wriggled and broke loose. Again, Michael and mum caught me with a wrapped towel and carried me to the cupboard.
All the while I could see the daktari standing there with a very sharp item in his hand.
Mum held me down firmly this time and the daktari plunged the sharp item under the skin of my neck. Next he plunged another sharp item into my rear end. This was the end for me and I growled fiercely and lashed out with all my claws.
Sorry mum !
I can't remember having these injections before but Unca Shadow and Dad Ginger assured me that this is a yearly occurrence. They say it's necessary so that we don't get kitty illnesses, the worst one being rabies. (I wonder what is rabies?) Another reason for this pain, is so that our kitty passports are always up to date.
The Hedges Kitty passports which had to always be kept up to date
Above you can see our kitty passports: Unca Shadow, Dad Ginger and little ole me, Ambrose. And no, the doggy passport to the side doesn't belong to Princess. It's the first passport Unca Shadow had in a F A R place called Khartoum. There he was treated by a daktari who ran the Dog School. Mum says she has a blank passport for Princess and will use this when the daktari visits her next week. Ooh, I think she's going to meow louder than I did!
For more posts about cute pets like us, please click here
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