Cape Town, Day 7 (yesterday), Kirstenbosch

Hi Ruth!

Yesterday, since we'd all had a very long week of meetings (I'm here to help everyone get ready to talk to the people who give us our money about what we have been doing with it to help people in the past year), we all went on a trip to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens for a hike and lunch (that's Mr. Paul taking a picture in the edge of my picture).

But I actually woke up a while before that. In my hotel, there were a lot of boys (older than you, like maybe in 6th or 7th grade) staying in rooms on either side of me, with their families (I think). They woke up about 5 in the morning (even earlier than you!) and they did not play quietly - they were running up and down the halls. I couldn't sleep through it, so I got up and worked for a little while on trying to find us a nice place to live near to your school.

The first "team-building" thing we did at work (team-building is like the activities that you might do in school to make sure that everyone in your class knows each other and you can start making friends) was to watch a movie made by Ali Mazrui, who was an African historian who died a few weeks ago (and who some of the people I work with, like Dr. Ade, knew), and had a discussion about it. And I got there early, so Dr. Kudrat and I talked for a little while about how we might be able to use some computer programs to better figure out if we're helping people as much as we can.

Then we got on a bus to the gardens. I will have to take you here when you come! It's very beautiful. Also, during the summer - which is our winter, so around Christmas time - they have lots of concerts here, and I'm told that people bring their little boys and girls to listen and run around.

Here are a few of the pictures I took:

This was near the entrance while we were listening to guide. He was pretty funny and told lots of jokes about the plants, like how one would make you so crazy if you ate it that you'd run all the way up the mountain. In the picture here, you can see some of the people I work with - all the way on the left, partly cut off, is Ms. Jill, then Dr. Kudrat, who is the other person with the same job I have, and Dr. Netsai, who runs the training cluster.

This part of the mountain is called "Devil's Rock."

This is a special yellow bird-of-paradise flower that was planted in honor of Nelson Mandela (who was the first President of South Africa after they finally allowed equal rights for people with white skin, brown skin, and black skin here - and who worked very hard and spent a long time in prison as one of the people trying to get those rights). Most bird-of-paradise flowers are orange - I don't know if you remember the ones in the courtyard of the flat in Ghana, but they were orange.

One of the statues in the sculpture garden, from Zimbabwe.

This is part of the "Garden of Extinction," where they grow a lot of plants that are extinct, or almost extinct in the wild, so that scientists can come study them, and try to figure out how to make them grow again.

This tree is one of the oldest in the park - it's a wild almond tree over 300 years old!

Baby owls!

Part of the park has a bridge that you can walk across at the level of the treetops. It swings a little bit, but it's fun!

This is a cactus so big it spreads its branches over you like a tree!

After our walk, we had a big lunch together at the restaurant - it was so big that I didn't even want any dinner last night! One of the fancy things this restaurant does is come around offer everyone face painting. Most of the boys didn't get any, but I knew you'd want a picture.

It's hard to see because it's white paint and my skin is so pale - I tried! Ask mommy to make the picture big for you and you should be able to see some white exclamation point-like designs right near my eye.

After lunch, we went back to the office and I had some work to do, and I tried to get in touch with some people who are renting apartments near your school. Then Dr. Kudrat took me back to the hotel, and on the way she took me on a nice drive around the city, including up to a place where people come to have picnics and watch the sun set over the ocean and the city below.

Then, it was getting late, so I came back to the hotel, took a picture in my mask for you for Halloween, and went to bed. I have some more work today, but every day is closer to when I get home to see you and Mommy! I'm glad that you had fun at the Halloween party - but you make a very scary vampire, I think I might have been too scared to eat candy with you!

Love,

Dad

Cape Town, Day 4: School

Hi Ruth!

I am really tired. Because, this morning, I went to check out the school that you'll be going to when you get here (we are almost sure), Pinelands North.

I talked a lot with Dr. Ann, who will be your principal. She told me all about the art that they do in the school - everyone has art class twice a week, and then there's an art club after school, too, that you can go to if you like. She seemed very nice, and happy to have you coming. She said that they love having students from other countries there, and that right now they have students from Korea, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Germany!

We also talked about how they teach classes, and how they teach teachers, and what you'll learn. Besides all the art, there's music, and drama (plays - I know you have stage fright some times, but every two years, the whole school does a play, with children and teachers and parents so maybe Mommy or I could be in it with you!). And you'll learn two new languages - Afrikaans and Xhosa (but you won't start Xhosa until you're in third grade). And she told me that their school works really hard to take in students who might have problems in other schools, like some students who don't have enough money to pay the fees, or have more trouble learning things than usual (everyone has trouble learning things some times). She gave me copies of the school magazine, that I can show you when I get home.

After talking with Dr. Ann, Ms. Avrell took me to see one of the first grade classrooms, Ms. Debbie's. Ms. Debbie was nice, and very welcoming, but I didn't talk to her much because she was starting to teach and I didn't want to interrupt her class too much.

I didn't know if all her students would like me taking pictures of them, but I took some other pictures of the inside of the school, and the art on the walls.

After that, she showed me the library. You can see the cage for the pet rats, but the rats themselves were hanging out on the shoulder of one of the women who works in the office when I was there.

After that, I had to go to work. I took one more photo of the outside of the school, and a couple more after work - Ms. Raygana, who is helping me find a place for us to live, drove me around the neighborhood a bit. The park in the picture isn't right near the school, but there are lots of parks and open spaces in Pinelands, so I hope we'll find a nice place to live.

I hope you'll like it here! I know I'll like it here a lot more when you and Mommy get here and we're all together to stay.

Love,

Dad

Cape Town, Day 3? My New Office

Hi Ruth,

(I'm not sure what day I should say this is. I left you and Mommy four days ago, but then I was on a plane for a whole day. So I've only been here for three days, I guess, but I miss you four days' worth.)

I'm here in Cape Town now, and I got to see my new office! It's smaller than my old one, but it's pretty nice. I didn't know that they were going to have an office ready for me already, so I didn't bring any pictures of you to put up. But fortunately, I always carry some pictures of you an Mommy in my wallet. I'm not sure if you can really see them, but I set them up near my computer monitor.

Yesterday, I think Mommy told you, I took some time to stop being so tired from the plane, and also walked around the neighborhood a little. It was pretty nice! And I saw some other people biking. I think Mommy showed you the picture of the street that I took. And of the big mountain from my window - when you get here, I hope we can go walking around on it some time.

Today was a work day. This morning, I got to meet a lot of people I'll be working with that I didn't meet when I was here before - Miss Jill, Miss Liliane, Miss Dawn (who I've been working on the book with). And I saw some people I'd met already. Mr. Paul gave me a big hug and asked if we'd found a school for you to go to, and said he'd heard nice things about the place I'm going to check out for you tomorrow (I'll send a picture, of course). Dr. Ade, Dr. Kudrat, and I, along with other people in the group I'm working with (it's sort of like centers - we're the book-writing center) talked about what books we might write when we're done with the ones that we're working on right now. We're going to talk to some of the people who give us money about what we want to write, but right now it looks like we're going to write four books. One about why some people in Africa believe that fighting is good. One on how people and countries in Africa can work together more. One on some of the good and bad things that have been happening near the Congo (where I went when you were little). And one about how African countries can work with some of the countries that used to be poor, but are now getting richer, like Brazil and China. And I might go give a talk with some of the people who work in a different center about how wars and diseases like Ebola (probably like Ebola, but not Ebola) are connected. I'm pretty excited about the work!

In the afternoon, things were a little more boring. The reason I have to be here is that a lot of the people who give the place I work money to pay me are coming to check up on what we're doing, so we were getting ready a big presentation for them. That meant a lot of making charts and stuff. I asked if I could just draw them on a chalkboard, but, nope.

Then I had dinner with Dr. Kudrat, and Miss Dawn, who are the people I'll be working the most with here. They're both pretty nice. Miss Dawn has four daughters (but they're all grown up now)! And now I'm missing you and Mommy, and writing to you. I hear you're reading Mathilda! I've never read it. Maybe we can read it again together some time. Please give Mommy a big hug from me.

Love, Dad.