Garnetts go

Apologies for the long silence. I have had to share my computer with Arthur... and we ran out of bandwidth...

We saw the Garnetts off at the wharf. It will be strange not having them around anymore. Pam's guitar playing and singing will be missed at our church services. The new customs building is coming along nicely. It is being built with cement blocks, and then covered with stonework to keep up the appearance of old buildings.
See the netting that was secured over the hill behind the customs area. This is to help prevent rocks falling on passengers as they arrive on St Helena

Cancellations

Wednesday Bible study at Deadwood was cancelled due to the bad weather - people do not like going out when it is windy and wet and cold. (Only the stalwart Sandy Bay folk happily brave the weather) So, while Arthur went with Graeme to Half Tree Hollow (Arthur's first study on the Island) I spent the evening with the Garnetts. We visited the Oriental Restaurant as it was their "eat as much as you can" buffet evening. Yummy food.

Thursday evening. Lace class was cancelled, so I went with Graeme to the Sandy Bay and Blue Hill studies. Arthur met with the 2 Thorpes brothers to discuss atheism versus Christianity. The discussion did not go as Arthur had hoped, but he is still friends with Ed and Henry. They are the first strongly atheist friends that he has made, and he is the first Christian friend that they have made. It could end up being a challenging friendship for all 3 of them.

Farewell

The weather has turned rather nasty - cold, windy and wet. We received a phone call to say that the folks at Cape Villa felt that they would rather cancel this evening's meeting, and snuggle up in their warm beds. We phoned all the other people that attend with us, and thought that was that. BUT to my great "upsetness" I found out that the message had not reached Mama Lizzie in time. She had asked to join us from this week, and I was supposed to pick her up along the way - because her legs could not manage the steep hills so well any more (she is only 91 years old!) She was left standing in the rain and wind for 30 minutes before she gathered that we were not coming!


This was the last Tuesday that the Garnetts would spend with us on St Helena. Instead of the usual Bible study, we had a "bring and share" kind of supper - although Jean and Trevor did most of the hard work of cooking and arranging the whole evening. We had loads of excellent food, and home made ginger beer - delicious!!

Pam will be missed with her sharp sense of humour, and good singing voice and guitar playing. Although Geoff and Madison were not part of the church, we often met with them, and enjoyed their company. They will be boarding the RMS on Friday on their way to Ascension Island, then on to the UK for about 4 weeks with family and friends before starting a new life in Cairo, Egypt.

Past week

Besides the usual routines of house cleaning, Bible studies, Good News club, Sunday school and chapel services, nothing too exciting happened this past week.

Arthur applied for a position as a cashier at a petrol station - he will only be considered if no Saint applies for the job. He will be notified after the 14th of this month. It does not pay much, but will help cover his expenses. Should he get the job, he would still be able to cope with the church work that has been assigned to him. i.e. take over the Bible studies at Cape Villa and Half Tree Hollow - Graeme and I will continue to attend these studies with him.
Friday evenings he meets casually with a group of about 6 young adults. He tells me that the conversation often drifts towards spiritual matters. He will also start a teenagers group on Saturday afternoons. Hopefully, the one young man that actively attends the Salvation Army, Nicholas Yon, will join him in running this group.

There has been quite a bit of wind and rain over the past few days. It was chilly enough for me to wear long sleeves for 2 whole days in a row!

Arthur

Bad news : Our Arthur discovered that the correspondence course that he wanted to enroll in, has not yet been finalised and will only be available in 2012. Also that there has been a clamp down by the SA government concerning the entrance qualifications to all terteriary education - a minimum of matric, which he does not have.
Good news : There is an Adult Education Centre on St Helena (2 doors down from the manse). It looks as if Arthur will be able to enroll for 2 "O" level subjects and one "A" level, over the course of the next academic year. If he passes these 3 subjects with at least a "C", this will be accepted in lieu of a SA matric, and he should be able to return to SA and enroll in the institution of his choice in SA in 2012.
Although nothing has been finalised yet, the planned course of action for the coming year looks hopeful.

Arthur led his first St Helenian Bible study (Cape Villa). As it was also Anthony's birthday, it was a shorter study to allow time for cake and tea afterwards.
Later in the evening, it was Pam Garnett's last actual Bible study with us - they leave for Egypt in 10 day's time. She will be missed on the Island. She is a very good maths teacher, sings and plays the guitar. We will be holding a farewell supper for her, Geoff and Madison next Tues evening instead of our regular Bible study.

Sunday School

Another 2 new boys showed up for Sunday School. Ma-Kyle attends Good News Club, but it was his first visit to Sunday School. (I am sure that the jig saw puzzle was the attraction for him.) So we now have 10 children that attend. This Sunday, 2 of the regulars (Regan and Tiffany) attended a country chapel with their family instead of Sunday School in Jamestown. The children are quite caught up in the competition for prizes, (to be handed out in 2 weeks' time) and learn their memory verses quite conscientiously.

After Sunday School the children split up to play with whatever interested them the most. I had my camera with me, and took some photos.

Megan and Ma-Kyle in the back row, Sunna, Karla, Josh, Vontray and Archit in the middle row, and Renee in the front.

The attendance register.

Ma-Kyle and Sunna concentrating on finding pieces that fit in the jig saw puzzle. Renee, Karla and Megan shaping plasticine.

Vontray and Josh playing their version of "ping pong" in the now-empty baptistry.

The children are collecting money to send to some AIDS orphans in South Africa. They are proud that there is no "brown money" (small pennies) in their money box.

Arthur has taken on the task of promoting the lending library that we are building up. He must have sounded convincing, because 3 books were taken out after the evening service in Jamestown - one was a children's book and was taken out by Sunna and Vontray (brother and sister). Let's hope that they are read before they are returned.

Settling in

This past week has been a blurr of unpacking, tidying up, washing and ironing, and Bible studies. Arthur discovered that the correspondence course that he wanted to enroll in, might only start next year. He took this week off to try and settle in, but next week we will try and work out some sort of routine/time table for him. There are a number of possibilities that he is considering pursuing while on St Helena.

Yesterday evening Arthur invited 5 Saints over to play non gambling poker. Although he enjoyed the evening, he is having to come to terms with the fact that having English as a common language does not mean that one has much else in common. This is the second time in my life that I have "immigrated" and I believe that the only way to become part of your new community is to consciously put aside your old way of life, and concentrate on absorbing/learning the new one that you have entered. Not always easy.

Graeme stayed in his study, and I spent the evening with the Garnetts.

Today was Good News Club again. I opened a jig saw puzzle for the children to work on after the lesson, which they seemed to enjoy. In the afternoon, I turned one of the Sandy Bay ladies' practice piece of embroidery into a pin cushion, that can go on the craft table at our upcoming BWA coffee morning. Later on Graeme, Arthur and I went for a picnic on Blue Hill. It was VERY windy and chilly, but we enjoyed the outing and the fresh air. Some photos follow :

A twisted bit of tree hanging over an arum lily

Flax in the foreground, then hills, then sea and sky Arthur contemplating