It happened

In the last blog article I mentioned that
on Saturday the 5th, we would be going
out to a lodge with the San Culture Group
to perform.
Well, it happened and it all went better
than expected.
Let me tell you how it all went down.
I went by David's (Cultural group leader)
house in the morning about 8 o'clock, just
before I went to the old airstrip to do some
jogging.
He was stepping out and I said I'd come by
after the run. This took about 40 minutes
and he was there with about half the kids.
They were stringing a few more necklaces
of beads and David and his brother Paulus
were going over the clothes to make sure
there were all the ties ... etc.
The kids were already antsy and saying that
the time was going by too slow.
So after a few hours I went back to my room
and just waited till the arranged pre-departure
get together time of two in the afternoon.
We were planned to leave at three thirty and
maybe two was too early and the kids were
just lounging around. We bought some fat cakes
and the kids ate and had some sweeto which
is equivalent to cool-aid.
At three thirty we met the transport (the school's
assistant principal) and after loading up fourteen
kids and four adults in a small pickup truck, we
were off.
This was actually kind of a big event for these kids
so I was hoping that during the 75 kilometer ride
to the lodge that we would be lucky enough to see
some animals. I felt that this would just make the
experience even better.
We were lucky and within 30 kilometers we saw
a large male elephant right on the side of the
road. To make it even better, in another 20 km
we saw a group of at least 80 elephants
crossing the road. There had to be at least 20
babies within the group. The babies were sur-
rounded by the adults.
We arrived in the small town (gas station, store,
maybe two other small shops ... that's it) and
went to the store to buy the kids some bread
and peanut butter for some sandwiches. We
killed about an hour getting that sorted and then
headed out to the lodge.
The lodge that we went to is situated along the
Okavango River. There are about 6 lodges along
a strip of about 15 kilometers.
We arrived, met the owners and were given
the first basic once over and shown where the
kids could get ready.
It was about 45 minutes before they were to per-
form. The owners wanted the group to arrive
a few minutes earlier to be able to get acquainted
with the layout. Seeing as it was our first time there.
Finally at 6:45 p.m. the kids began.
There were approximately 30 people from Germany,
England and the Netherlands there to watch.
I have seen the kids do their songs many, many times
and I have to say that this time the kids were on.
It kind of amazed me as it was their first time ever
at any lodge or in front of a group that wasn't San.
These kids are ages from 9 to 16 so to me it was
even more amazing how well they just went about
dancing.
But I must say that they took about 4 songs before
they started to interact with the crowd.
It started in the animal dance when the girl that was
impersonating the monkey went up to an older man
and emulated picking bugs out of his hair.
Man, that was funny and he turned red and his wife
had a good laugh.
The picture above shows the group during their
second song.
All in all it was a great night and a great memory.
On the way back home we saw a bunch of animals
such as elans, buffalo, kudu and elephants. So
even till the end it was eventful.
Also, the kids were excited and sang in the back
of the truck all the way home. Usually they sing
for about 5 minutes after leaving and 5 minutes
before arriving. So they were animated.
Another big point was that the group was the first
San group to ever perform at any one of those
lodges.
So maybe we have opened the door for other San
groups.
The owner told David that he thinks that we'll be
back again and as for me, after a year of trying
to get this to go ... I am content.
Yeah, sometimes this volunteer gig has it's good
moments.