South African Seminar Report: From Vaalwater, South Africa

Despite difficulties with transportation, illness, rescheduling, rerouting, and other general disruptions, the third and final seminar of this trip was successfully completed last week. This group was a bit different from the other two seminars for several reasons. First, the audience was, on average, the youngest we have had yet – most of the participants were around college age. Second, the seminar was in English, but it was a second language for most of the participants, who largely came from South African tribal groups, and their tribal language is their first language. Third, the seminar was remote—all participants stayed on site the entire week, so there were far fewer personal interruptions. It is remarkable how many fewer “emergencies” arise when you are unable to address the day-to-day details of your normal routine. Finally, it was the only seminar without Al and Velma (both were in Johannesburg due to Velma's illness—see my previous post for more information).

The seminar started with a preliminary session on Sunday that, unfortunately, was disrupted when we learned that about half our participants had not received the transportation we had arranged for them. As a result, we had to go pick them up, which caused substantial delays. Fortunately, this was easily managed, once we determined the problem. In addition, some of the students had difficulty with the vocabulary—not everyone had the same level of English ability or literacy. This is an issue that has arisen in more than one seminar, and one which we plan to address—we need to be able to communicate to all audiences, and mixing strong and weak scholastic backgrounds tends to leave those who are not as well-educated behind. Since we are trying to develop everyone, we are looking into ways to plan seminars according to more strict demographics. This may not be necessary in all cases, but for certain groups, I think it will benefit everyone involved. The rest of the seminar went smoothly, and the participants all indicated that the seminar was beneficial in helping them learn new ideas and think about their future.

We have now had three seminars, and three positive responses. Coming out of the past several weeks, there are a few items we have noted all the seminars had in common that we think we can improve, and some clear areas of strength that we should continue to develop. This information is very valuable as it allows us to refine and improve the seminars as we planned. I may address these at greater length in the future, if it doesn't create copyright or participant security issues.

To update, Velma Corson, one of our coordinators, is still in the hospital. Between the initial illness (cerebral malaria) and ensuing complications, it is likely she will have to remain in the hospital for at least seven weeks. Al (her husband) and I have found accommodations in the Johannesburg area for the duration of her stay, though I will probably need to head back to the U.S. before she gets out of the hospital. It is a mark of her dedication that she is already thinking of things we need to do with the seminar while we are in South Africa. There is a great opportunity for development here as well as Mozambique, so we expect that our long-term plans, while modified, remain consistent with our vision: bringing development to the lives of people in Africa and around the world.

Travels and Troubles

I apologize for the late update - this was supposed to go out before the last seminar, but was delayed because of some of the issues described below.

I have just arrived in Vaalwater, South Africa, the site of our third (and final) seminar of my trip. Under normal circumstances, this would mean a two-day trip to our seminar site here. Of course, we were not planning to make a normal trip in. The car we are using is in need of extensive repair—the shocks and struts are both completely non-functional—so we planned to stop in the town of Nelspruit to get repairs done on the car. We had ordered the needed parts in advance (they had to be shipped in from Japan), and were planning to reach Nelspruit about a day after the parts arrived. We would spend about a day there fixing the car, then drive on up to Vaalwater. All in all, the trip would take about four days (one day to get to southern Mozambique, one day to cross the border and reach Nelspruit, one day for repairs, and one day to reach Vaalwater.

Things, of course, have not gone according to plan.

Things went as planned the first day of the trip (Sunday). We left Chimoio early (around 4:00 am), and made as good a time as possible, considering that the main highway between Chimoio and southern Mozambique is comprised of about 40% potholes. We traveled around 800km, stopping for the night around 100km outside Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. The car ride was a bit rough—riding in a car without functioning shocks or struts on a pothole-filled road can be likened to riding in a washing machine mounted on the back of a bad-tempered mule. By the end of the day, we were all stiff and sore, and ready for bed. Al and Velma, who have been coordinating the seminars and were traveling with me, were in a bit worse shape than me, as they are a bit older. Still, the first day went well.

The second day (Monday) also went pretty much according to plan. We crossed the border into South Africa in what I am told is a very short time (less than an hour!), and made it to Nelspruit just before the car shop closed. We confirmed that the parts had arrived, and checked into a local hotel. Al and I were doing a bit better, but Velma thought she might be coming down with something, as she was still a bit out of sorts. Still, the car ride was extremely rough, and she was sitting in the back, so we thought she might just have gotten tossed around a bit more than we did. Still, all's well that ends well—and so ended the second day.

The third day (Tuesday) dawned well, but ended with news that the parts the shop received from Japan were, in fact, the wrong parts. They were going to get new parts from Pretoria, South Africa, but it would take between two and four days for the parts to arrive. Now we had our first significant setback. We decided that we would stay another night, then Velma and I would take a bus to Johannesburg, where we would stay with a friend of ours, Cathie, and her family until we were able to catch a bus up to Vaalwater (Cathie thought it might take until Friday to get a bus). Ok, so we had a setback, but we were still on track—after all, the seminar didn't start until next week. Velma was still feeling a bit under the weather, but felt she could make the trip to Johannesburg. So much for our best-laid plans. Thus ends day three.

Day four (Wednesday) we took a bus to Johannesburg. The trip was about seven hours or so. The bus was, fortunately, quite comfortable, so we had a pretty decent trip down. We arrived at Cathie's house and spent a pleasant evening with her family and another guest who was going to attend the seminar the next week. So we were set back, but we got to meet one of our participants before the seminar started—not a terrible trade-off. We had dinner, watched a movie, and generally enjoyed ourselves. Velma thought she might be coming down with the flu, so she went to bed early. Our fourth day ended with a comfortable night's sleep.

The fifth day (Thursday) afforded us an opportunity to rest. Velma and I stayed at Cathie's and spent some time with her family. Unfortunately, Velma was still feeling unwell. She used a malaria test kit, but the results came back negative, so we will still unsure what the cause of her discomfort was.

Day six (Friday) opened with Velma in a dazed, confused, and generally unresponsive state. She could sit, stand, and move around, but otherwise had a very hard time moving, communicating, or remembering much beyond her own name. Cathie and I took her to an emergency clinic in the morning. The doctor spent about 20 minutes examining her before sending us off to the hospital. He was good enough to call ahead to reserve us a room and get a doctor ready to assist. It turned out Velma's blood pressure was dangerously low. That, coupled with her mental confusion, led him to think she might be suffering from a stroke or other serious ailment. We rushed to the hospital, where I needed to put up the balance of my credit card as collateral until they could confirm Velma's medical insurance. We got her checked in and they began running tests on her within an hour. Once the doctor arrived and they got to work on her, we headed back to the house—sure my partner may be horribly sick, but I still had to get to Vaalwater. Cathie made reservations for a bus trip, contacted Al and everyone else she thought would want to know, and contact the people in Vaalwater to let them know when I would arrive. By the end of the day, we were all worried, exhausted and ready for more news on how Vel was doing. Unfortunately, they were still conducting tests, and we would have to wait until morning.

Still on the sixth day, I also needed to get to Vaalwater. With Al in Nelspruit and Velma sick, I had to go on alone. I got all my things together to head up without Velma. Cathie's sister took me to a bus station in Pretoria where I caught the bus out of town; the bus trip took about four and a half hours. My new host, Marilyn, took me to a farm outside of town (the lodge where the seminar would be held was not ready yet). By this time, the news was that Velma had probably contracted cerebral malaria, a very dangerous strain of malaria that attacks the brain instead of the liver. Al, who was still in Nelspruit with the car decided to forgo waiting for the parts and drove on down to Johannesburg to be with Velma, arriving late that evening. Unable to do much from my position, I went to bed.

This story ends on the seventh day of our adventure (Saturday). The current news is that Velma has a particularly bad case of cerebral malaria—the doctors say she is responding well, but will probably need several weeks of hospitalization and around six months to fully recover. She is still pretty dazed, but is more coherent now. In addition, she has gone into renal failure and is on dialysis. Given her condition, we are conducting the seminar without her or Al. Whatever happens to Velma, she would not forgive me if I didn't get the seminar done. I do not know what our plans after the seminar will be—it depends largely on Velma's status by the end of the week.

Now, on top of all the delays and difficulties, we have one additional problem. Being a non-profit supported by contributions means that we have a very limited amount of funds to work from—and Velma's treatments will most likely exceed our current budgetary limits. Our fundraisers in the states are trying to raise emergency funds, but we don't have much time to waste, as Velma's treatments need to happen as soon as possible. Add to that the cost of transportation and housing (bus rides, hotel bills, etc.) and the cost of the repairs (which may run even higher now that new parts needed to be ordered), and we are in a very tight spot. On the up side, we have made several contacts on this trip which may lead to professional seminars that will generate revenue. Best case, however, is that we get those started within the next year, and even then, we would need both Al and Velma to coordinate activities here in South Africa and in Mozambique. In short, at the time when we have opportunities opening up all over, we a hampered by breakdowns, illness, and a shortage of funds. Please understand, this is not a complaint, just a realistic portrayal of our current situation. Starting up an organization, even one meant to improve the lives of people throughout a country (or two), is not easy.

That's all I had as of just before the seminar. The seminar itself went extremely well, and I plan to post more on that later. Velma is still in critical condition. The over the last week she has suffered (and marginally recovered from) liver, kidney, and lung failure. The doctors say she will have to remain in the hospital for at least 6 weeks, and even then, they are not calculating any chances for survival - it is an hour-by-hour situation. If she makes it, she will need to remain in South Africa for several months - at least until the end of the year. We are revising our plans to accommodate the new situation, but we are not giving up or planning in any way to quit.

Life can be exciting, yes? I will update again as soon as the situation allows.