Dear sponsors, dear friends!

A few weeks ago my husband and I arrived at Ikhaya Loxolo to visit and volunteer with the project and we thought it would be nice to share some of our experiences and the latest news of the project with you, the supporters and friends of Ikhaya Loxolo, who are part of this beautiful community.
A few days ago, the borehole for the “Farm”, a recent addition of land given by the village to the project for agricultural development, materialized through the generous help of the Rotary Club Mthatha and the Hand-in-Hands Fond in Germany. Having this save source of water the work on the land can fully commence now.

Drilling the borehole

A dairy building that was sponsored by the Thabo Mbeki Trust for Disabled People is already halfway up, and Michael is busy completing the ploughing of the land which is the garden-to-be. This major extension of the farm and garden will help the project tremendously to raise a significant amount of their funding needs by themselves. Personally, I find the striving towards self-sustainability one of the most intriguing aspects about Ikhaya Loxolo. It will help them to help so many more people of the area, and it shows their long-term vision.

The new dairy building

On Friday the drilling company arrived with their huge trucks and caravans for the first sight visit, while the entire village watched with growing curiosity. Shortly afterwards the first neighbours trickled in at Ikhaya Loxolo, figuring that the heavy machinery must somehow translate into more work, thus jobs, at the project. Unfortunately, Alex and Mike had to turn them down for now, but it is good to see the interest and there will definitely come up some more work opportunities, once the gardening and farming at the new land is fully operational.
Meanwhile, back the original Ikhaya Loxolo site, the local women volunteers are still busy finishing up the floor plaster in the new flat that contains additional bedrooms for more residents to come. I find it still unbelievable to see the traditional way of plastering floors. The ladies neatly spread a paste of mainly cow dung on the ground in several layers, and it does not –as I had anticipated initially- smell uncomfortably, but much rather nice and fresh, a bit like a freshly cut lawn. It also seems to help avoiding dust gathering on the floor. Quite fascinating indeed!

Making the floor in the new flat
The building is being sponsored by another project for disabled people, the Solheimar Community in Iceland, who came to know and love Ikhaya Loxolo by chance a few years ago. Very soon, dear Solheimars, the last doors will be hanged in the frames, the outside roof and cooking area finished up, and the flat about ready to welcome more residents! The interior furnishings have kindly been donated by the Rotary Club Aschaffenburg, Germany, and the Ikhaya Loxolo team will soon be able to set it up in its new home.



The new flat, 1st door in!

My husband Alec is making a beautiful kitchen cupboard for Ikhaya Loxolo. He enjoys having the freedom to be creative with the material and tools available.
Alec making the kitchen cupboard
Alex has quite a job to do, with taking care of baby Salome and running the office, and Michael is busy running up and down between the new farm and the ‘old’ one, and there always seems to be some machine that needs fixing. Luckily, he finally found two more guys from the village to join him and Thandisizwe with the “men’s work” and Mapantsula, the son of one of the women volunteers, is helping out during his school holidays right now.

Mike and Thandisizwe fixing the grass cutter

Sicelo, the 13 years old boy, who is the youngest of the residents, enjoys going out with the guys and helping with their work if he doesn’t have classes or kitchen chores to do.
The first morning after we arrived at Ikhaya Loxolo, Sicelo proudly showed us around the place and introduced us to all the farm animals. He is very open and talkative to everyone and loves attention, especially by Alec who sometimes lets him spend time in the workshop with him.

Sicelo plays cars with a friend

His resident sisters Nosiphenathi and Nandi and me have become friends by now, too. We often meet in the morning when brushing teeth and exchange big smiles. We cannot really communicate beyond the odd greeting formulas, but we try hard with body language which is usually big fun for all involved.

Nandi fetching water

Being at Ikhaya Loxolo is a very interesting experience for us. This place seems like one of the most far off corner of the earth in some ways, and people live life according to a very different set of rules here. For example, time works very different here. The rhythm of the day is still guided by sun and weather. When the sun rises, people get up and start their work. When it sets, there is not much to be done anymore and bedtime arrives very early.

Lunchtime in the big rondavel

Another aspect of life in a rural area is the much greater importance of customs and tradition. The other day there was a funeral in the neighbourhood, and according to custom no one may do any work involving soil, such as gardening and farming, until the deceased has been buried. At first I considered this to be very inefficient and disturbing the daily work. At a second glance, though, I realised that it is actually a very beautiful custom, which shows great respect to a neighbour and friend.

On the other hand it is true that it is sometimes difficult to understand the very laid-back attitude of many, who could so easily take matters into their own hands and create their own farming enterprise instead of waiting the whole month for social grants. Ikhaya Loxolo tries to encourage the local community to do more farming and improve the common diet by all means, but such work is tedious and takes a long time.
Nevertheless, we really enjoy being here and there is progress to be seen almost every day. There are new chicken stables and a freezer donated by Kindertraeume e.V. from Germany, and the Ikhaya Loxolo Entwicklungshilfe e.V. helps with all the bits and pieces of funding the daily operations.

The new chicken houses

I would like to thank all of you for making Ikhaya Loxolo possible, and Alex and Michael for taking so good care of us and everyone else at Ikhaya Loxolo!
Hope you had fun reading this update and stay with Ikhaya Loxolo for a very very long time!
Cheers,
Verena