Two halves to any story....

...so as I left you, I had just been to see Thabang in Ntemere. Well soon after that, Jill returned to Pulane and it was time to put the Christmas presents together!

Its quite an involved process, involving lists, bags, presents and making sure that everyone got something! However, Jill, Bernard and myself waxed it in a mere afternoon, which meant that the next day we could hightail it off to Semonkong at 6am to visit Tara and Patrick (Jill's daughter and Son-in-Law) who run the centre there. It was quite a journey, and took me across parts of the country that I had not seen before, and down roads that had not seen tarmac before...

After a spine-shattering 3 hrs of unmade roads ( on top of goodness knows how many miles of tar roads) we finally arrived at the centre in Semonkong. It is an impressive site (and sight), much bigger than Pulane and obviously more established. I think it's been going for 3-4 years and has had lots of missions teams going up there. It's a good indication of where Pulane could be in the future though...

The top picture is the chapel and the bottom picture shows the view from Tara and Patrick's house looking across the centre to a couple of the bunk houses, the dining room and kitchen are just off the picture to the left, the chapel is to the right of the picture and Semonkong itself is way off to the left. It's one of those places that's really hard to photograph completely!

So we arrived and got settled in- met Tara and Patrick, and had a good ol' cup o'tea! for the next couple of days I was helping Tara to pack the Christmas gifts for the Orphans- 79 this time! Then to Church on Sunday, Patrick led the service, Jill did the talk and I asked 10 Christmas questions for the children to answer. It was good fun and there was some awesome singing led by one of the girls- all achepello African songs- it sounded fantastic.

Whilst I was in Semonkong, a murder was committed. It was terrible- The victim wasn't harming anyone, just minding his own business. He was set upon, hog-tied, had his testicles cut off and then had his throat slit, and head cut off. Here is a picture of the victim-

and after the assault...

I must admit that I was then involved in destroying the evidence...the hind quarters made their way to Patrick's freezer for later, and the er...front(?) quarters were taken to the kitchen and Patrick and I butchered the meat, Two lovely racks of ribs, and lots of diced pork. Oh and a head...and the fat...and the trotters...that erm...all got eaten...by someone...

Another job that needed doing was to deliver Christmas presents to various local people, community leaders or people who had shown particular kindness and helped out with the project as it went along. This involved me getting back in the saddle so to speak and taking a horse out for the fourth time...ever...but it was all good fun and went off without a hitch. Ironically the chief who we were delivering to wasn't at home...but it's the thought that counts...

Before we knew it, Christmas had arrived! It was at one and the same time the most and the least Christmassy Christmas that I've ever experienced....it was completely...COMPLETELY lacking in commercialism, pomp and tradition. It was fantastic, simple, homey and very genuine. We had a Christmas service in the chapel followed by some lunch with all the orphans..and then...THE PRESENTS!

But unfortunately the excitement was all too much for some...

After the excitement of Christmas was over, we made a trip up to see the tallest Free fall waterfall in Southern Africa- Its an amazing sight! We had a pick nick and relaxed in the sun- it was a fantastic end to my time in Lesotho.

All too soon it was time to leave. I said my goodbyes and caught a lift with Patrick across the border to Ladybrand where I met up with Didi and Jappie who were randomly having a road trip in that area! After a quick breakfast at Whimpy's we went to kill a dog. No really. Didi, being a Vet Student, did an internship at a vets in Ladybrand and went to help out. And had to put a dog down. I had to hold it's head as she killed it. I didn't realise what was going on. Traumatised.

After washing my hands clean of the poor dog's blood, we drove up to Bloem and I hopped onto my bus ready for the journey home. Except that the bus had electrical issues and ended up setting off 4 hrs late. All was well though and I eventually got back to Cape Town.

I had Emailed Shaun from Lesotho to tell him not to bother picking me up from Cape Town itself as he'd have to set off at about 5am. My plan being to brave the South African rail network and get myself as far as Simons Town. This was very fortunate as I had left my phone in Grant's house and couldn't have told Shaun about the 4hr delay...he may have been understandably grumpy...So I bought my ticket and meandered across to my train and before long was chugging merrily homeward...

I'd love to say that was where the story ended. I got picked up at the station and went home for a cup of tea. Unfortunately, Shaun had been down to the station twice already and with me incommunicado he had no idea when I would arrive and had better things to do with his day than sit at Simons Town Station. So I arrived after setting off at 5am the previous morning, not a taxi to be seen and a long walk ahead of me, no telephone, no telephone numbers...I stopped in at the video shop on the way home after a stroke of genius thinking that Shaun and Vyan's number would be on the system there and I could ring for a lift. If only Vyan used her mobile...

I arrived bedraggled and sweaty but alive and with a lot to think about no doubt wont be too long before I'm back in Lesotho...always for the last time...