New season

The other day we received our first rain of
the upcoming rainy season.
It is really remarkable how the plants spring
to life with little humidity. They are what survives
and thrives in these conditions.
In the picture is one of those plants that flower
after receiving it's first watering/rain. The picture
is kind of bleached out and my first thought
was to shade it a bit to make it look a little prettier,
but I decided to leave it the way it is. The reason
being is I feel that it gives a good example of the
light and ambiance at this time of year out in the bush.

This volunteer work is something at times and it
really is simply, working with people and not much
more complicated than that. The simple and logical
way to put it is ... if the people want to, then it will go
and the chance of it being actually anywhere close
to sustainable, may happen.
This is the intro to an update concerning the work with
the San Young Cultural Group. I've mentioned it prior
blog entries that one of the underlying goals is to get
the kids out of the village and give them the opportunity
to see and experience some new things. The purpose
is to combat the tendencies of the youth to drink alcohol
out of what they call 'boredom'.
So, to get them out and about will hopefully open their
minds and give alternative visions as to which direction
they may want their lives to head to.
A year ago I met one of two owners of a lodge 80 km
or 50 miles from here.
At that time I mentioned to him that we had this San
Culture Group and is there was any way that they may
have the chance to go to his lodge and perform. He said
that he was trying to encourage San groups to come to
his lodge but hadn't had much success.
I returned to the village and told our group's leader what
I was told. Well, nothing happened and despite probably
bugging the leader once every two weeks, it took the
leader's per chance meeting of the lodge's owner to
look like ... the show may actually hit the road. As men-
tioned above ... if they want to, it will probably work out.
We have to begin to work out the details this week and
trying to keep the 'glass half full' mantra ... am hoping
that it finally will be
.
I added on one more year here and one of my main
goals before I finish is to at least ... once ... see the
kids have (as of now) probably the biggest experience
of their lives.
It could open the door to a fantastic opportunity to have
an ongoing working relationship with the lodge. If not,
it will be a life skill experience and it is a no lose
situation.

It is kind of funny but after one lives in a place for a while
we seem to get the feeling as how things are flowing.
In this village there have been some problems like
anywhere else, I guess.
Mainly alcohol, a confusion in leadership and throw in
a few tricky people ... and ... it all just adds up to a
situation that holds everything and everybody back.
This has been the circumstance almost ever since I've
arrived here but the crazy thing is ... that over the last few
weeks some of the people are beginning to stand up
and take back some control.
The place actually feels different. Maybe there is more
than one change of season going on.
As the Dalai Lama said; "the true development is the
development of the character".
I found this to be so true, as if the people have good
intentions then things work out fine. Maybe they will
even make better life choices.

This is good for me as people are coming up to me to
help them write reports, proposals and even add two
cents of my opinion to it all.

It only took two and a half years for this energy to come
to life.

I have 8 months left and I know that the rainy season is
sure to come. I just hope that the motivational season
has also just started and lasts till I am finished.