Contents Issue No. 311 -- 13 December 2004

  • Editor's Message
  • Quote/s of the Week
  • Ad Hoc Article/s of the Week
  • Bits and Bobs
  • The Legal Beagle
  • Help Desk
  • Where are they now?
  • Club and Other News
  • Humour
  • Recipes
  • Sports News
  • Credits and Contact Info
  • Subscribing and Unsubscribing

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    Editor's Message TOP

    This is the last edition of SAWmail for 2004. Many thanks for all the kind words and feedback I have received over the past twelve months.

    This will be our second Christmas celebrated in the summer heat of South Africa – not quite the same as the snow-covered garden at our home in New Hampshire – but the main thing is that Captain Ken and I will be together and celebrating with family.

    Keeping with the tried and true, here is my Christmas message (as written in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003). The only difference this year is that I am not typing in the cold and snow!

    "This edition of SAWmail is the last one before Christmas. Sitting here writing this news letter, the view from my office window out across the lake is typically 'Christmassy'... it is snowing gently, the sky is grey and there is not a breath of wind on the mirror-like reflection of the lake.

    We don't all celebrate Christmas, but most of us do celebrate family time together at this time of year.

    So to all South Africans around the globe, including those still living in South Africa, I would just like to wish you all a happy holiday season... and hope that if you can't be with your family in person, then you can at least be with them in spirit."

    Have a good one... and treasure the time you get to spend with those you love.

    Quote/s of the Week TOP

    These from me...

    There is no ideal Christmas; only the one Christmas you decide to make as a reflection of your values, desires, affections, traditions. - Bill McKibben

    Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. - Norman Vincent Peale

    From Home to home, and heart to heart, from one place to another. The warmth and joy of Christmas, brings us closer to each other. - Emily Matthews

    Somehow, not only for Christmas, But all the long year through, The joy that you give to others, Is the joy that comes back to you. And the more you spend in blessing, The poor and lonely and sad, The more of your heart's possessing, Returns to you glad. - John Greenleaf Whittier




    These from Lean G. Apologizes realists@mycity.cl

    Well well well!

    • Concentration is the ability to think about absolutely nothing when it is absolutely necessary.

    • The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away. If I owe Smith ten dollars and God forgives me, that doesn't pay Smith.

    • We cease loving ourselves if no one loves us.

    • It is not he who gains the exact point in dispute who scores most in controversy -- but he who has shown the better temper.

    • The course of everything goes to teach us faith.

    • He who leaves nothing to chance will do few things poorly, but he will do few things.

    • It is better to create than to learn! Creating is the essence of life.

    • Trust no friend without faults, and love a woman, but no angel.

    • Education is the fire-proofer of emotions. Home is where the heart is.

    • The hardest task of a girl's life, nowadays, is to prove to a man that his intentions are serious.

    • People are much more willing to lend you books than bookcases.

    • Our greatest foes, and whom we must chiefly combat, are within.

    • Never shall I forget the time I spent with you. Please continue to be my friend, as you will always find me yours.

    • The quantity of books in a person's library, is often a cloud of witnesses to the ignorance of the owner.

    • We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.

    • To live with fear and not be afraid is the final test of maturity.

    • Two friends, two bodies with one soul inspired. Liberty is the only thing you cannot have unless you are willing to give it to others.

    • How sweet it is to love, and to be dissolved, and as it were to bathe myself in thy love.

    • We movie stars all end up by ourselves. Who knows? Maybe we want to.

    • Modesty is the conscience of the body.

    • The most serious charge that can be brought against New England is not Puritanism but February.

    • 'Tis God gives skill, but not without men's hand: He could not make Antonio Stradivarius's violins without Antonio.


    Send in any quotes you love... that have some special meaning for you... and I will use at least one every week. Usual address! editor@saw.co.za

    Ad Hoc Article/s of the Week TOP


    Volunteers in SA & A Happy Festive Season

    This from Patricia Koekemoer peknz1@xtra.co.nz

    Hi there

    It was wonderful to see your banner for volunteers at the top of SAWMail. Here in New Zealand so many welfare agencies run on volunteers. Our Volunteers have asked me to send a special message to those in South Africa from them, so if you could that would be most appreciated.

    Here in New Zealand we have volunteers in the Victim Support, Women's Refuges, Children's Safe Houses, Children's camps, police community offices, Legal, Immigration, & Counselling clinics, Aged Concerns, Food Banks, Beneficiaries Unions, Gamblers Aid, Drug & Alcohol Clinics & Counsellors, Xmas Aid Groups, Hospital volunteers and interpreters, SPCA, JP's, Budgeting Services and of course those in the Citizens Advice Bureau. They estimated a while ago that the value of the volunteer's time even in a small country like ours, runs way into the millions. There are volunteers in various ethnic groups, and in almost every area of social welfare, far too many to count each area they serve in. Most are not fully Government funded, some are local Government funded and sometimes the battle is a hard one to keep going. But, somehow and I am sure by sheer willpower we all do.

    December 5th was International Volunteers Day, and I have been asked by my Bureau here at Mangere, to wish all volunteers in South Africa a wonderful, special and very blessed Festive Season, and long may you have the energy and strength to "keep on keeping on". Without volunteers the world would be a much poorer place for us all.

    Kia Ora, and alles van die beste.
    Patricia Koekemoer
    Citizens Advice Bureau - Mangere New Zealand
    peknz1@xtra.co.nz


    The Good News - Business Confidence hits a new 23-year high

    While doomsdayers will continue to refuse to accept that South Africa's improving economy can go much further, the signs just keep getting better. The latest in a string of good news on the economic front is a jump of 9 index points in the business confidence index (BCI) during the fourth quarter of 2004. This takes the business confidence index, compiled by Rand Merchant Bank and the Bureau for Economic Research, to 88 points, the highest it has been in 23 years.

    The highest BCI on record, at 91 points, was in the third quarter of 1980, around the time when gold was at its highest levels ever and shortly before South Africa was isolated by the rest of the world.

    The index is compiled by surveying almost 3000 businesses on a quarterly basis. The index level of 50 represents a breakeven point where there are as many business "optimists" as "pessimists". Anything less than 50 indicates overall pessimism, and anything more indicates optimism.

    Rand Merchant Bank chief economist Rudolf Gouws said that although another rise in business confidence was expected, the size of it came as a pleasant surprise. During the fourth quarter confidence rose in all sectors covered by the survey, namely manufacturing, building, retail, wholesale and motor trade. The biggest jump in confidence was amongst building contractors, who moved from 79 to 93 points. Many contractors reported shortages of skilled labour and resources in their sector because of the amount of activity. Vehicle dealers are sitting on an incredible 98points, after a record breaking year for the motor industry.

    Much of the confidence has been driven by news of solid economic growth, low and stable inflation, low and stable interest rates and a strong Rand. The only sector to be relatively less happy with the strength of the Rand - because of the negative effect on exports and the difficulty of competing locally against cheap imports - is the manufacturing sector, which is sitting at 67 points, up from 63 points in the third quarter.

    Other positive related news is that all sectors also reported net employment growth during the fourth quarter. This is important as economic growth and confidence growth must be accompanied by growth in employment for the majority of South Africans to benefit from its effects. Inflation is also expected by most to remain low, despite the most positive growth in domestic demand in many years.

    Most businesses, especially those in the retail sector, expect the festive season to be very bubbly, but the general consensus is that the current frenetic activity should slow to a more sustainable pace in the first quarter of 2005. This may be a good thing in that it will give the economy time to reconsolidate before pushing forward again later in the year.

    For more interesting and exciting news about developments in South Africa, subscribe to the International Marketing Council's regular BrandSA newsletter by visiting www.imc.org.za/goodstuff.htm or www.imc.org.za/subscribe.asp. You can also visit the South African gateway website at www.southafrica.info.

    Bits and Bobs TOP


    Mind Massage

    What matters most--our intentions or our actions?

    I believe we should be mindful of what we want for our human family, and this is a perfect day to examine our good intentions.

    Here is an edited version of a piece I wrote last year in honor of the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

    I hope it inspires you to be mindful of our collective hopes and dreams for the world.

    Universally yours,

    Maya ;-)


    Good, Good, Good, Good Intentions

    I always do a lot of thinking about good intentions in December.
    It's not because I'm inspired by the holidays. I'm simply observing the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Each year, around December 10th, I reread that incredible document just to remind myself that, as humans, we can all agree on what it means to have basic rights and to be treated fairly. It's a simple list of statements that fills my heart with hope--that is, until I remember that we don't seem to be making much progress on the goals we set for ourselves 56 years ago.

    In about five pages, the UDHR offers a clear and bold blueprint for the equality of all members of the human family. There are the expected proclamations--freedom of religion and peaceful assembly, and freedom from slavery. Some address hot topics of today, such as the description of the right to marriage. And there are a few startling statements, like "No one shall...be denied the right to change his nationality."

    With four teenage daughters, I've got a clear favorite among the articles: "Higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit." Clearly, some nations are a bit behind in their good intentions.

    From the time we're very young, we learn that there is a difference between what we mean to do and what actually happens. After a scuffle, your mother asked, "Did you do it on purpose or by accident?" It was sometimes okay to kick your brother in the teeth as long as you didn't mean to do it--like, say, if you were reaching a toy for him on the top shelf and stepped back wildly on your way down. You were trying to help, you caused pain accidentally, you felt bad about it, so it was excused.

    As adults, are our accidents excused? Do good intentions serve as a sort of "Get out of jail free" card? Not exactly.

    Democritus, the Greek philosopher and physicist, said: "My enemy is not the man who wrongs me, but the man who means to wrong me." Tell that to the mother of a child killed by a drunk driver. Bad things happen, even when they are completely unintentional and repulsive to the perpetrators. Negligent homicide isn't intentional, but the results are the same as if the guilty party carefully planned and carried out an attack.

    When we watch the news, we see all kinds of examples of good intentions that go terribly wrong. Whether we're talking about the results of a new Walmart or a new war, we can't always get what we want, but if we try real hard, we just might find--we screw things up royally. (apologies to the Rolling Stones)

    We use good intentions as a cloak on far too many occasions. There are times when it's necessary to recognize that where we're headed wasn't anywhere on our map when we started the journey. Just because we mean well doesn't mean it's okay to keep going in the wrong direction.

    It's fine to figure out what you want, and it's okay to ask for it. There's certainly no reason why we shouldn't think of ways to improve ourselves and our world and set out to achieve our goals.

    But it's not okay to pursue an activity once we realize that the original intention--the reason for beginning in the first place--has been lost in the flurry of activity required to pursue it.

    We know what we want for all humans on the planet. It's right there in writing, in that document which has been translated into over 300 languages. We're not even close to achieving all that we want, or all that we can. We created a beautiful promise in that proclamation, but we've become too distracted to make it our priority.

    If Mom were taking care of this, she'd sit us down and make us read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights until we knew its salient features by heart. We'd emerge from our bedroom contrite and committed to being a better citizen. We'd do our best to please her and to make things right, not because we feared her wrath but because we knew she was lovingly teaching us what it means to be an excellent human.

    O Mother, where art thou?

    A Must-Read!

    Please take a moment to read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It's not that long, and it will surely inspire you.
    Here's the link...with translations in over 300 languages...

    http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html


    **********************************
    Maya Talisman Frost is a mind masseuse offering specialized mindfulness training to individuals and groups in Portland, Oregon. Her work has inspired thinkers in over 100 countries. To subscribe to her free ezine, the Friday Mind Massage, please visit http://www.massageyourmind.com.
    **************************************
    ©Copyright 2004, Maya Talisman Frost


    52 Best Stories – My Old Watch

    I have had the same watch now for twenty four years. It was a gift from an uncle that I got when I was just fourteen. It was one of the first digital watches ever made and it weighs about two pounds.

    I have gone through about five watchbands with it so far. Some of the numbers on the display are getting hard to read as well. Still, I keep buying new batteries for it and refuse to get a new one as long as this one works. My wrist feels strange without its familiar weight on it and my heart still feels a touch of warmth from my late uncle's love when I look at it.

    A part of me too is reassured when I look down at this old timepiece still working away after all these years. It gives me hope for myself in the years ahead of me. This body of mine just turned thirty eight years old recently which means that if I live an average life span on this world then half my life is already over.

    Since a large part of the first half of my life was spent figuring out what life is all about, this only leaves me the last half to really live my life the way it was meant to be lived: in choosing and sharing love, joy, and oneness with God.

    I take hope then in seeing my old watch still working away after most watches are thrown away. It reminds me that I can keep working away too and bring a little Heaven to Earth, no matter how old I get.

    Whether you are a new clock, an old watch, or an ancient timepiece remember that you still have time to make a wonderful difference in this world. You still have time to warm some hearts with your love, touch some souls with your joy, and heal a few lives with your light.

    You still have the time to live like you were meant to, to love like you were born to, and to be one with God like you were designed to be. You still have the time to bring a little Heaven down to Earth and to ready your soul to fly from Earth back to Heaven.

    ~ Written by Joseph J. Mazzella and used with permission ~

    http://www.52best.com/watch.asp


    One Man’s Australia

    What to do about indigenous people?

    Quite a few countries in the world are faced with the seemingly intractable problem of how to accommodate indigenous people within more modern societies. They preceded the arrival of their more recently arrived modern countrymen by perhaps 100,000 years. Australia has the Aborigines, South Africa has the Koi/San. They are culturally similar - stone age hunter-gatherers who have left a hauntingly beautiful legacy of rock art across their range.

    By and large they live lives of degradation and poverty as they struggle to maintain their traditional ways of life and cultures - which are not capable of competing with those of their more modern fellow citizens.

    While many countries do not appear to care much, Australia does. We accept that we have made blunder after blunder in our attempts to improve their lives. As a successful multicultural society it is an article of political faith that there must be a way.

    So far we have not been able to find it and, as an interim measure, have shovelled large - on a per-capita basis - amounts of money, education and health care resources in their direction as welfare which at least should contribute to a situation where no-one need starve, fail to get an education or suffer through lack of medical care.

    But it is not resolving the underlying problems.

    One such incident that recently made world headlines was the riot on Palm Island, a community of some 3,000 Aborigines living amidst great natural beauty and abundant natural food resources in the Great Barrier Reef complex.

    Wile the locations could hardly be more different, there is an eerie similarity between the riot on Palm Island and the violent confrontation between police and residents in Redfern nine months ago. Palm Island, 70km off the coast of Townsville in north Queensland, and inner-Sydney Redfern represent Australia's largest Aboriginal community and its largest concentrated urban Aboriginal community, respectively. In both cases the rioters achieved nothing apart from a further deterioration in their own conditions of life. The most obvious link, of course, is tragic: both riots were sparked by the needless loss of yet another Aboriginal life and the perception by the victim's community that police were involved.

    Nothing can excuse either riot. However, Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson overstepped the mark when he said autopsy results on 36-year-old Cameron Doomadgee were consistent with police accounts that he was hurt in a scuffle after punching a policeman. With several inquests to come, community leaders must calm people down while authorities must keep an open mind. Investigations may determine police were no more culpable than in the case of Thomas "TJ" Hickey in Redfern, but we don't know that yet. Palm Island must have order immediately, and justice soon.

    The toughest questions arising out of this case could apply to any number of isolated communities. Is Palm Island viable? Will it ever have a non-welfare economy? Is there any future for its young people? A report in The Weekend Australian a fortnight ago revealed it as a cesspit of alcoholism, drug abuse and domestic violence, with an unemployment rate of 90 per cent. Important as it is, the new proposal by the Howard Government to combat passive welfare can achieve only limited results in a place as dysfunctional as Palm Island. Leaving Redfern aside, figures released by the Bureau of Statistics show that Aborigines are doing far better in cities than in isolated communities. It is in the suburbs, as well as in large towns such as Cairns and Townsville, that there are clear signs of a black middle class. Nobody proposes assimilation or the extinction of the rich Aboriginal culture any more - or should. But an integrationist model, which describes what is happening in many parts of Australia, is preferable to what is represented by "The Block" in Redfern or Palm Island, which are really nothing but hideous ghettos.

    In a new attempt to alleviate the misery in which Aboriginal people live the Australian Government is now commencing to tie welfare money to responsible behavior. The policy is known as "Mutual obligation". Whether it works any better than its predecessor(s) remains to be seen.

    Under this new policy Aboriginal parents of the Mulan Aboriginal Community in Western Australia struck a deal with the Australian Government promising to force their kids to wash in return for community petrol bowsers and to clear the accumulated garbage from the community once a week.

    Under this new policy, each morning before class, the 44 students at Mulan Catholic school wash their faces and eyes, then pat them dry with a paper towel. The children repeat the exercise after lunch. It is a simple routine that Health Department staff believe is saving children's sight in an outback community where trachoma is endemic.

    Before the school added face-washing to the daily routine 18 months ago, 80% of Mulan children aged 10 to 16 were infected with Chlamydia trachomatis bacterium -- the most common cause of preventable blindness in the world.

    But when health workers screened the Mulan children last month they were thrilled to find the incidence of trachoma among children under 16 had dropped to a seven-year low of 16%.

    School principal Rachel Smith said they explain to the kids why they need to do it and it has gradually become a habit.

    Trachoma is normally associated with Third World countries where people have limited access to water and healthcare. Children are especially susceptible to the condition.

    The bacterium spreads easily from hands, clothes or insects that have come into contact with an infected person. It affects the inner upper eyelid and the cornea.

    Repeated infection leads to scarring, corneal opacity, pain and eventually blindness.

    The success of the school face-washing program has encouraged the Mulan community to look at other ways of improving health. Residents, encouraged by the town's permanent clinic nurse and school teacher resolved that personal hygiene and rubbish were the two problems that needed to be addressed.

    Community administrator Mark Sewell said the tight-knit community -- which he described as an extended family -- recognised it had good services, but there were gaps in the system and not all residents were accessing the services, nor aware of what they needed to do to help their children.

    Mr Sewell said that it was nothing to do with government for the first several months -- it was just community people talking about things that were not happening and changes they wanted to make.

    A written action plan that would encourage people to use community infrastructure and health resources and take responsibility for personal hygiene has started to take shape.

    Mr Sewell said he approached Wayne Gibbons, a Canberra-based employee with the then Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services, who suggested the community also decide what it needed as an incentive to make the plan happen.

    He said replacing the community's corroded fuel bowsers was an ideal incentive.

    The bowsers would put an end to the 90km round trip to the nearby community of Balgo that was needed to access fuel. It would become easier for people to drive to Lake Gregory, where children swam -- helping them wash -- and elders hunted.

    Mr Sewell said those who breached agreements would be denied access to the fuel bowsers by a decision of the community, not the Government - and that it is an example of a community taking control of itself and the government departments supporting them.

    Bill Morgan, consultant ophthalmologist to the West Australian Health Department, said while nobody had gone blind from trachoma in the state since 1997, the incidence of the disease was still unacceptably high in many remote communities.

    Dr Morgan said he had seen rates of trachoma in remote Aboriginal communities fluctuate from 40 per cent in 1993 to 22 per cent this year.

    He said community-driven projects that focused on face-washing, rubbish collection and other forms of hygiene were the most effective ways to improve the health of Aboriginal people in remote communities. "In my experience, introducing expensive antibiotics didn't make a cracker of a difference -- it's all about hygiene," Dr Morgan said.

    However the policy is being as strongly resisted in some quarters as it is being supported in others.

    Former human rights commissioner Mick Dodson, brother of Patrick, said the Mulan agreement was not fair or mutual.

    "What are the obligations from government, what are they doing? All the obligation seems to be on the community. There's nothing really mutual about this -- I wonder if it is a free informed choice by the people," he said.

    "My fundamental objection to this approach is it's racially discriminatory.

    "What are they going to do about petrol sniffing now ... they have no plan anywhere for that."

    The only Aboriginal in federal parliament, NSW Democrats senator Aden Ridgeway, yesterday condemned the shared Mulan scheme.

    "It seems to me to be more about petrol sniffing at discount prices," Senator Ridgeway said.

    ACT Chief Minister John Stanhope condemned the agreements, arguing they were racist and contravened Australia's international obligations.

    "The bargaining position is so unequal that the contract is in breach of the race discrimination act," he said.

    "You can't reverse 200 years of the consequences of discrimination with more discrimination."

    But the Liberal member for the West Australian seat of Kalgoorlie, Barry Haase, said Aboriginal people should be coerced more than non-indigenous Australians because they chose to live in the "middle of nowhere".

    "We non-Aboriginal people don't get to say to the government we want to live on co-ordinates of XYZ in the middle of nowhere," he said. "If you wish to have an address that doesn't exist with no infrastructure and you demand that the taxpayer provide for you, then there ought to be some requirements placed on you."


    Northern Lighties

    This has been one of those years that have gone past in the blink of an eye.
    When I was younger I had heard about them but never really believed in them. Time had the ability to speed up and slow down at will.
    Mostly slow down I noted.
    Especially during those later months in the year when summer break and Christmas were just around the corner and being inside in a schoolroom was akin to Chinese water torture. Each second passing with an audible click of the clock up on the wall above the blackboard. Seeing as I was one of the "back row boys" it was indeed something to be able to hear that over the nasal somnambulant drone of the master trying to explain the finer points of Latin declension to us.
    As an astonishing aside here, my son went to the same boarding school and was taught Latin by the same master! Without the same result though. I was under the impression when he was teaching me that the Old Fogey had learnt it first hand, so heck alone knows how many centuries he had reached by the time my son reminded him of the lineage. Apparently, according to my son at least, with an audible sigh!
    KES seemingly being strongly of the belief that the roots of Law and medicine remained firmly within the ambit of Latin and its subsequent breakaway languages. I suppose when you have first hand experience you wish to keep the experience alive. Zombie teachers of the ancient humanities.
    In the present though I am starting to understand how he did it. Time, I believe, becomes relative as you get older and as such hours become minutes, minutes seconds and so on. Which explains the speed with which this year passed.
    Suddenly the retail stores were blaring out Jingle Bells and other jolly happy joy-joy songs destined to make us remember that 'tis the season to give our money to numerous others, most notably every greedy bastard with his hand out hoping that we will be imbued with the feeling of guilt that requires us to buy inane trinkets for every person within memory who can be classified as friend or family. Sometimes even foe.
    Bah bloody Humbug indeed!
    "What happened?" I asked myself. "Where in fact had the last 300 days disappeared? What the heck had I done? Hello is there anyone sane out there?"
    Which is when I remembered that I came to Canada last century. Doesn't that sound immensely grand? Sometime in the future when they come to write of my exploits someone will put that in. "He arrived in Canada just before the turn of the century" Sounds so posh when you think about it.
    I have now been here six years. Six very interesting years. Six extremely interesting-in-the-Chinese-curse way years.
    I once made the comment that when I strolled down the street angels would cross over when they saw me coming.
    Consider this. I came across to Canada as a single parent with three teenage children, no money and very few contacts and the belief that my qualifications, experience and ability would be an asset to any Canadian company looking for the best.
    Reality took a short while to intrude into that little belief.
    Over the last few years I have had six different jobs. Most of them being with IT companies that went broke or retail companies. Retail companies being the major employer of immigrants if for no other reason than immigrants will work for less and work harder for the less as well. A lot harder than the other staple low wage worker in retail, the youngster.
    So after having used the services of the Non Profit Housing Authorities, and those of the Employment Insurance, I was able last year to get a job with Wally-Market. There is actually a lot more toward mental stability than that simple sentence alludes.
    So this year that went past in a flash was spent on establishing myself. Successfully enough to have been promoted twice in under a year. Which means that I now am on salary at Wally-Market and running the Tire Lube Express and Automotive Departments at the new Milton store. Still not time to breathe a sigh of relief but there is some idea forming that I may have a more defined future in this country at last.
    At least in the sense that I am able to continue to be a productive member of society. If by productive you mean tax paying anyway.
    You see when it comes to so many other facets of my life I am already productive and seemingly highly involved.
    President of Mensa Toronto, Chair of the Public relations Committee of the STRIDE Board of Directors, on the MCC Board of Directors, in line for promotion to Acting Captain in the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary, Webmaster for the South Africans in Ontario website, Editor of the same Newsletter (which goes out weekly to thousands of local South Africans) and of course author of these, and other, articles.
    I even sponsored my wife, as we were only separated, to come to Canada.
    At least I am happy in the knowledge that for the last few years she has seen her children grow up and fit neatly into society here. I guess the hopes that I had for reconciliation helped in making the decision but that is merely another aspect of my life that I will learn from.
    As it is I am racking up learning curve points when it comes to relationships. This is probably one area of my life where I wouldn't mind an angel or two staying in step with me. At least for a little while anyway.
    Next year maybe.
    I wonder though whether this year and the hectic, frenetic pace that it appears to have passed in, isn't perhaps a turning point in all facets, for my future here.
    I hope so.
    I have so much left to do and see in Canada in this century still. I would prefer to do it at a leisurely pace though.
    So to all of you:
    A VERY merry and peaceful Christmas
    May you have a happy, prosperous and normal time New Year.

    Caius@allstream.net


    DollarMakers

    Christmas is Coming

    As Christmas draws nigh, those expats who live in colder climes enjoy eggnog and Christmas lights, warm clothes, possibly a white Christmas and good skiing. Our thoughts go back to watermelon and hot summer nights and Santas sweating profusely in their red outfits. I remember traveling around in 1978 in Pietersburg on the top of a Holiday Inn combi, which was decked out like Santa's sleigh, duly sweating away in 25 degree heat in my Santa outfit, generously fulfilling the Holiday Inn Food and Beverage Manager's duty, flinging candy to the children we drove past. One thing will always stand out in my mind, as a symbol of the times we lived in: when I threw candy to white kids, they ran forward to pick it up or catch it. But when I threw candy to the black kids, they ran away in fear.

    Things have changed a lot since those times, I know, but we should remember, when we see reverse apartheid in action in present day South Africa, that every choice has a consequence.

    I don't miss South Africa the way it is now, and we love our life in Canada. After seven years, this is our happy home now. But we do miss our SA family and friends tremendously at this time of the year, and even though we don't all get to South Africa to be with them for Christmas, I know most expats will join me in saying, "I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams".

    An early, "Merry Christmas" to all, from Robin and Rika Elliott in Vancouver, Canada. www.DollarMakers.com

    The Legal Beagle TOP


    Legal Beagle - UK

    Goodday

    Can you please help me. My sister and her boyfriend want to go to England for 2 years to go and work there. Can you please advice me who we can speak to about this we just want to know what all needs to be done and who she can talk to about work and accommodation in England.

    Thank you
    Regards

    Christine


    Dear Christine:

    We would firstly need to determine via which "working visa" your sister and her boyfriend would be eligible to travel to the UK on.
    We are presuming at this stage that both of them are South African Citizens living in South Africa(?)

    Options may include:-

    - 2yr Working Holiday Maker Visa
    - 4yr Ancestry Visa
    - Highly Skilled Migrant Programme
    - Work Permit Employment

    Details of the above are listed on our website. We have also recently started an employment section on our website, to assist in finding work.
    Best Regards,

    Steve Purdy.
    http://www.valuevisas.com

    Help Desk TOP

    Nobody needing help this week.

    Where are they now? TOP

    If you are looking for a lost friend... if you would like old friends to contact you... If you want to find old school friends... if you just want people who used to know you to find you again for a chat...

    Send in your info, the info of anyone you are looking for and let’s see if we can find them for you!


    I am trying to find Andre Hendrik and Leon Theo van Heerden whose father was Philippus Andrias van Heerden. He worked at 30 Edmund street, Brookmead Ext. in East London, South Africa and was married to Dorothy Edith nee Hall on 3-6-1936. His date of birth was 19-6-1930 and he died on 15-3-1982. Please contact me by e-mail at rdschroeder@hotmail.com

    Thankyou.
    Rita Schroeder

    Club and Other News TOP

    No news this week.

    Humour TOP

    Here are some Christmas riddles you can ask your children:

    • What do monkeys sing at Christmas?
      Jungle Bells, Jungle bells...


    • Why are Christmas trees like bad knitters?
      They both drop their needles

    • What's Christmas called in England?
      Yule Britannia


    • What did the bald man say when he got a comb for Christmas?
      Thanks, I'll never part with it


    • Why is a burning candle like being thirsty?
      Because a little water ends both of them


    • What do you get if you cross an apple with a Christmas tree?
      A pineapple


    • What do you give a train driver for Christmas?
      Platform shoes


    • What did the big candle say to the little candle?
      I'm going out tonight


    • Whats happens to you at Christmas?
      Yule be happy


    • How long does it take to burn a candle down?
      About a wick

    Recipes TOP

    Here is a nice quick recipe to make for yourself or as a gift:

    Marzipan chocolates

    This recipe from Parsley Soup (www.parsleysoup.co.uk)

    Ingredients
    80g (3 oz) dark chocolate, melted
    300g (12 oz) marzipan
    20 whole blanched almonds or glace cherries
    2 tbsp amaretto or brandy (optional)

    Instructions
    1) Soak the cherries or almonds in the brandy or amaretto.
    2) Wrap individual cherries or almonds in a small piece of marzipan and roll into a ball.
    3) Skewer with a cocktail stick and dip into the chocolate.
    4) Leave to set on a plate, or you could stick the cocktail sticks into a potato wrapped in foil until the chocolate has set.

    Sports News TOP

  • England thumped in warm-up match [Super Sport]
    Neither lightning nor rain were able to save England from defeat on the third day of their warm-up match against South Africa A at Sedgars Park in Potchefstroom on Monday.
    http://www.supercricket.co.za/default.asp?id=133538&des=arti...


  • More of the same for Schalk in 2005 [iafrica.com]
    Schalk Burger is currently taking a well-deserved break away from the rigours of the international and domestic fields, as well as the eagle eyes and yellow cards of referees. But before his departure the 21-year-old Springbok flanker left an ominous parting shot to his rivals.
    http://sport.iafrica.com/rugby/news/399030.htm


  • Dusi entries pour in as deadline approaches [IOL]
    Entries are coming in thick and fast for the Hansa Powerade Dusi Canoe Marathon, which takes place from Pietermaritzburg to Durban in January next year.
    http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=6&click_id=39&art_id=vn2004121...

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