January Scribbles

11 in the Morning

A few months before I went off to do the Camino, Lisa gave me one of those fancy sports watches that are indestructible.

Part of the wrist band is of titanium and super doopa extra strength rubber, the face is shatterproof glass and it is so waterproof that I can dive to depths of 100m if I like. It also has nice date functions, multiple alarm settings and I can time my laps (what!!!). If I was crushed in a rock fall at least the watch would survive. I was very grateful for the watch and very pleased to see that Lisa had set it for me…it reflected the correct date, day and time.

Then of course, I started to fiddle…..you need to be a brain surgeon to work these things but I very smartly set the alarm to buzz at 11.00am and do you think I could work out how to ‘unset’ it…no, no,no. I knew the look on Lisa’s face would be too much to bear (you know how kids give you that look?) so I decided to live with it..

When I was on the Camino my 11 o’clock alarm was great. It was either time to move it along a bit, slow down or take a break – depended on where I was on the route. People walking with me also tuned into it and would comment when the alarm went off that we had better move it. One guy even set his alarm at 11h00. 11h00 is a nice mid-morning marker.

The alarm is still set and I run my days by it now. I mostly try to work my days along the lines of ‘eating the frog’ first thing in the morning – this gets all the mundane, grotty, boring jobs out the way, usually, hopefully; and then I have the time to provide a bit of real value to the job, usually, hopefully!

BTW there is a great little comedy piece on TED Talks by Rives called 4am. Link is here:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/rives_on_4_a_m.html

The Rhino Story

I am as appalled as the next person with the wholesale slaughter of our rhinos. In the last couple of weeks there have been outpourings of condemnation of the killings; the statistics for last year topped at way over 400 rhinos killed and at the beginning of the year, another 8 (and since then quite a few more) were found dead and de-horned in the Kruger Park; and if I am not mistaken, all in the same spot.

Apart from my feelings being rattled for these poor creatures, my feelings for what is being done about it are being rattled even more. I, like many others, click on the like button when something appears on facebook about this; I have signed petitions and shaken my head in horror and shame that us humans can be so stupid as to think that taking a bit or rhino horn will make big fat willies or cure cancer and AIDS.

But, and here’s the thing, we all say something must be done and I agree wholeheartedly. I, like many, many others, have contributed to various organisations that are flying the ‘Save the Rhino’ banner. And this is where I suddenly have a problem. Every uncle and his brother (maybe a slight exaggeration) and corporate and smaller companies have set up funds and NPO’s, NGO’s, to fight the scourge that is rhino poaching. And they are collecting money left right and centre for night vision goggles, WMD for fighting poachers, vehicles for tracking poachers and training course for trackers to track poachers; and it is possibly quite a s*&t load of money to fight this battle. There are billboards showing blood-soaked rhinos, there are bumper stickers, there are adverts on radio and TV advertising the campaigns to fight rhino poaching. Companies proudly say they have a Save the Rhino fund and Rx of your purchase goes towards this. Better yet: the SA Parks Board trotted out a figure of R400 million the other week that they reckon will be needed to fight the battle in Kruger…where does this figure come from? What is the plan? How did they get to this amount of money or was it just a big fat thumb suck?

Well, with tears in my eyes let’s face it: With all this support the situation is getting worse, by the week. More rhinos killed last year than ever before and 8, yes 8, in one week in one of our National Parks…good grief. So what the heck is actually happening with all these organisations and money and contributions, petitions and ‘like clicks’. And here’s another thing: Another of our most profitable natural resources (ito tourism, Big 5 etc) is being plundered by foreigners – because the big market place for this resource is outside of SA– sort of similar to the rape and plunder of our mineral resources by foreign powers in days gone by….

Moving on: Does anyone know how many organisations are out there fighting for the rhinos? Does anyone know how much money (or goods – vehicles, night goggles etc) has been raised by all these organisations? Does anyone actually know what they have done with it – I mean apart from a big advertising spend to tell everyone that they support the Rhino cause, the printing of bumper stickers and paying marketing and advertising agencies to come up with fancy logo’s and tag lines?

Is what they are doing effective……well, go figure! I certainly don’t think so – and certainly not based on last year’s results and the appalling slaughter that took place this week. Nope….whatever is happening is not doing a hell of a lot of good. It is extremely noble that people set up these things – we all feel passionate about this and are grateful that some good souls out there actually do something – but what are they doing?

We need a consolidated plan…everyone together …. with the various parks boards, private game parks, interested parties, trainee tracker schools, NPO’s, NGO’s etc etc . We need a person to take charge…just one person to take charge if this for the entire country; to put a crew together, consolidate all the efforts and come up with a proper plan, like a military campaign would be done…and then they must go for it – then I don’t mind handing over my money.

Sharing your dreams

When I was on the Camino I walked for 3 days with a young American woman. She was on her way to one of the biggish towns and had heard that I was going to turn what should be a 2 day trek into a three day trek – which suited her down to the ground and she asked if she would walk with me.

It turned out that she would then bus it from this town to the next city where she was meeting her husband and they would then walk the last 100km or so to Santiago together. Her husband was flying in from the US.

She was nice to be with, very open and not afraid to talk about herself. She had a hugely interesting job and had lived in a number of foreign countries because of it – both her and her husband work for a large Aid organisation in the US. They don’t go in just when the earthquake or disaster has happened; they go in a bit later and begin the task of rebuilding – so at times, they may be in a location for months or even years. For example this organisation is still in Haiti – which has a barrel of problems that seem to be insoluble….

However: I asked her how this affected her marriage. Because sometimes they may be posted to the same place, but other times they are in separate locations, and because the work is pretty stressful, which also takes a toll on their marriage.

What Christina said has stuck with me….she said sure, they have problems, they have to have counselling anyway because of the job but when things had got a bit

hectic with their marriage they immediately went for counselling. She says they have a really good marriage (15 years long) and they love each other and this was something neither of them wanted to give up. They had to work it out. Which they appear to have done! Part of living successfully the way they do is to always be very open with each other – especially about what they want to do. She spoke about how they deal with their dreams, their expectations, and their resolutions. She said they consciously make time to talk about what they want to do. They stick their ideas on the fridge so they know that something is brewing and the dreams/ideas are there as a reminder; then over dinner they talk about them. They talk about what they can do and how they can help each other achieve that dream. The dream becomes a team effort – not losing sight that this is one persons dream and that person is in charge of making the dream happen - but there also is someone on the sidelines encouraging, supporting, making allowances if need be. I guess you could call it a ‘dream team’.

She said The Camino had been her dream for 3 years. She had to save up her leave and also money; and she wanted to do it by herself. She said they both made sacrifices (like no long weekends or short holidays together) but she said the very best thing was, a few weeks before she left for Spain, her husband asked if he could join her for the last week - she knew then that she would be able to complete The Camino….

Happy Recipes

Happy 2012....warm wishes for a year ahead that is kind to you.

I thought that these 2 recipes would be a good start to the New Year – brightly coloured, good for you and very yummy…..real happy food!

The first comes from Deon Braun – the publisher of the new TRAIL magazine. Deon had me waiting in anticipation ever since he put out this little temptation on Facebook… “you have to have a Pawpaw Bunny”….. so when I got my Trail Magazine just before Christmas the first thing I looked for was the Pawpaw Bunny…..

Deon comes from Durban, home of the famous Bunny Chow. Trail Magazine’s variation of the infamous Bunny is as follows…and let me also confess that I have eaten quite a few in the past week or so….. Thanks to Deon and Trail magazine for this recipe

Pawpaw Bunny

Take one pawpaw – size depends on how hungry you are….

Peel it with a potato peeler

Cut it in half an scoop out the pips

Mash or finely cut up one half and fill the remaining half some of this

Spoon over heaps of plain yoghurt

Sprinkle with heaps of ground cinnamon

Sprinkle with brown caramel sugar (or honey or nothing sweet if you so desire)

Eat and enjoy….

NB: The flavour mix of pawpaw, cinnamon and yoghurt is quite magical

The second is: Happy Carrot Soup

Why is it happy soup: well, there is wine in it, chicken stock to cure all ills, a really nice colour and ginger to spice things up and you can eat it hot or cold…..

You will need:

Enough butter to sauté the onions and garlic

1 large onion chopped

About a litre and half of chicken stock – I use those new Knorr stock jelly cubes… but you can make your own

2 teaspoons of finely chopped ginger (according to taste – more if you like ginger)

1 or 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (also according to taste but not too much that it swamps the other flavors)

1 cup good dry white wine

Large bunch of carrots, cut into smallish pieces

2 tablespoons lemon juice, pinch curry powder, salt & ground pepper

Chopped fresh chives or parsley

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, ginger and garlic; sweat it with the lid on for about 15 – 20 minutes, heat down to low.

Add the stock, wine and carrots. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered over medium heat until the carrots are very tender, about 45 minutes. Make sure it is not too liquid – the soup must be thickish…..

Puree the soup in a blender. Season with lemon juice, curry powder, salt & pepper to taste. Sprinkle with chives or parsley. Serve hot or cold.

A good dollop of cream or plain yoghurt on top of the soup is wonderful!