Africa at last

Christchurch airport

South Africa at last….

It seems surreal that we are at last here in South Africa.

We are perched high above the Knysna Lagoon with spectacular views of the town and the hussle of activity there and on the lagoon. Kayaks carve through the blue water and kite surfers are hurtled along on a puff of white foam with their colourful parasols suspended above. The powerboats spread their intricate ripple designs and children on bright bouncing tubes scream their delight. The sun is bright and warm and for the first time in weeks we feel truly relaxed.

Our last few weeks in NZ have been hectic. We tidied up and sold the car; got rid of a whole lot of stuff on TradeMe; cleaned up and repaired the house and garden; found awesome tenants to look after the house, including the chooks and cat; moved all our belongings into the garage; packed our bags and boxes for 2 and half years but making sure we staid within the baggage allowance! Also we wrapped up both our jobs and tidied up last business at work. All of this punctuated by the usual end of year flurry of activity with Christmas preparation and farewell functions. Then, just to make things more difficult, and perhaps to maintain a firmer foothold in NZ, we purchased a scrap of land at Castle Hill Village so needed an attorney and, while we were about it, reviewed our will and legal and financial affairs. Moving onto a new chapter in life provides a perfect impetus and focus to get a lot of stuff done. I can highly recommend it but I can see why most folk prefer to stay put!
So the luxury of leisure now is much appreciated and as I clutch my icy South African beer and lazily watch the “boerewors” sizzling on the “braai” the feeling is truly good. And now that the fun of a family Christmas is over we can start preparing for our first adventure which will be a road trip up the coast of SA from Cape Town to Durban.

A Tortoise at "Chandelier" Breakfast. Spot the Zebra! Our luxury tent!!

On our way back to Cape Town we travelled via the Karoo, a semi-arid wilderness famous for ostrich farms, beautiful mountains and passes and the world famous Cango Caves which we visited and Zara and Margot wriggled through all the tiny gaps. We spent an incredible night in a luxury tented camp and fed on ostrich egg omlette and were woken by the dramatic dawn chorus.

Then an early morning game drive to see Bontebok, zebra and impala to name a few followed by an hearty breakfast.

The Ostrich farm tour was incredible with the highlights being standing on eggs and then each of us getting a ride which was challenging.

Now back in Cape Town and joining friends at a beach side cottage for new year.

Wishing you all a very peaceful and happy one.

Visas pour l'Afrique du Sud

Les visas sont enfin arrives ce matin de Canberra (Australie). Apres 3 mois de preparation pour collecter tous les documents necessaires (et la liste est longue), nous avons droit de residence pour 36 mois en Afrique du Sud avec acceptation d'un ticket d'avion aller simple. Youpiiiiiii!
Nous serons dans l'avion dans 12 jours.
Sandy est sans travail a partir d'aujourd'hui.

Visas have finally arrived today from the SA High Commission in Canberra in Australia...just 12 days before we depart.3 Months of gathering paperwork after paperwork, some completely random,in order to tick all the boxes to get a work permit for Sandy and Visitor's Visa for the rest of us. We are allowed into SA for 36 Months (multiple entry) on a one way ticket. On our arrival, Sandy should be able to apply to get his SA citizenship back.
Sandy is officially unemployed as from today.

Christchurch Hospital CEO's newsletter

Article published in the CDHB CEO newsletter in Nov 09.

Dr Sandy Inglis is swapping the high tech setting of the Emergency Department at Christchurch Hospital for a small remote hospital in rural South Africa.
He has resigned his position as Emergency Medicine Specialist for the role of Chief Medical Officer at Mseleni Hospital in Northern Zululand. There he will do everything from carry out caesarean sections and general surgery to working in an HIV clinic and administering anaesthetics.
South African born Sandy will be “home” by Christmas to celebrate with family before moving on to Mseleni Hospital.
He and his French wife Ilda plan to be away from Christchurch for about two years, spending the first 12 months in South Africa and the second year in France. They hope to return in time for the eldest of their two children to start high school here.
Sandy, who left South Africa 20 years ago, says he has always hoped to have the opportunity to work in a different environment.
“It’s very remote, there is no town, just a hospital in the bush. There isn’t even a CT scanner. The nearest town is half an hour away.”
Despite this he says it will be a good experience to go back to basics.
While living in South Africa the he has plans to visit some of the nearby big game reserves and the spectacular coastline.
The family would be living in staff accommodation on the hospital site. Ilda, a Food Technologist, will homeschool their two children and may get involved in a large Aids orphanage which is nearby.
“It’s going to be different. There are no restaurants or movie theatres,” he says.

Sandy Césars

Un commentaire a partager sur les 15 jours que Sandy va passer a s'entrainer aux cesariennes a Pietermaritzburg (4/12/09):

"Le Grand Saigneur-Accoucheur va donc jouer les Césars et apprendre a affuter ses couteaux pour trancher dans le vif du Sujet? Oh!Oh! ça fait peur! ". Joelle Evrard (4/12/09)

Literature in preparation for Africa

Some of the books that we have read to "prepare"and inspire us for Africa are:

- Cry,The beloved Country by Alan Paton: a beautiful novel, rich, firm and moving; a great raiser of popular awareness of life in apartheid South Africa.
- Twenty Chickens for a Saddle: The story of an African childhood by Robyn Scott: an inspiring story and the one that made us believe that we can home school our children while at Mseleni.
- A Dry White Season by Andre Brink: A realistic and captivating story. A Dry White Season is an unflinching and unforgettable look at racial intolerance, the human condition and the heavy price of morality during the apartheid era in South Africa.
- Shattered Dreams? An oral history of the South African AIDS epidemic by GeraldM. Oppenheimer and Ronald Bayer. The voices of doctors and nurses that capture the extraordinary drama of the unfolding AIDS epidemic.
- Un Leopard sur le Garrot, Chroniques d'un medecin nomade par Jean-Christophe Rufin. Medecin des hopitaux, pionnier de l'humanitaire "sans frontieres", ecrivain, prix Goncourt 2001, aujourd'hui ambassadeur de France au Senegal. Jean-Christophe Rufin nous fait voyager dans sa vie au grand galot.
- Dark Star Safari. Overland from Cairo to Cape Town by Paul Theroux. A wonderful, powerful book, a loving letter to the continent of Africa.
- Communication with the African Patient by Dr Chris Ellis. Learning the language and the culture in a medical consultation. Examples are: Unabantwana abangaki? (How many children do you have) or Amakaka abemahle? (Have you passed stools normally?).
- English-Zulu phrases and dictionary.Illman's. A basic guide of useful English-Zulu phrases and vocabulary, What to say and how the words are pronounced phonetically.
- An Instant in the Wind by Andre Brink. A gut wrenching journey through South Africa in 1749; a white woman and a black man; a savage symbiosis that holds you spellbound.
- The No.1 ladies' detective agency (and others) by Alexander Mcall Smith. An hilarious account of a large female detective in Gabarone, Botswana.

1st blog: a brief introduction

This is the first attempt. Just posting some photos to show you what we are about to see from our backyard in Africa. Voici mon premier essai. Juste pour vous mettre l'eau a la bouche avec ces images.

We are frantically packing our house in NZ. The departure is planed for 23rd of Dec and Christmas celebration will be in Cape Town, South Africa. Nous sommes en plein rangement de la maison en Nouvelle Zelande. Le depart pour l'Afrique est prevu pour le 23 Dec. Nous passerons Noel a la ville du Cap.