What's Up with Jim and June!

2006-11-05T16:00:00.001+02:00

A dream come true for Kulani-Khale orphans (most of the parents died of Aids) -- a basketball court, plus a basketball and cap for each kid! No way would something like this have happened to them without the blood, sweat and tears and prayers of Doug, and Marie who lives with us, and all those who contributed to make it possible for these kids.

It's thrilling and makes life worth living to see the joy of those on the receiving end, and what a difference something like this makes in their little lives. -- They know somebody cares: we care, God cares, and it's wonderful ... makes everything brighter ... builds faith!

A free basketball for each child -- with their own name on it!
Angela, who works with me here, taking care of our kitchen and food supply. She is an amazing girl... really laying down her life for others. She recently went on a short missions trip to Congo as well. Marie and Doug, project managers (this is also an FCF project) and friend who helped make it all happen. Each child also received a ballcap -- blue for boys, pink for girls! A happy day for these very sweet and needy kids!

A little fellow in the slum section of a large city was induced to attend a mission Sunday School, and by-and-by became a faithful little Christian. He seemed quite settled in his Christian faith, but someone, surely in a thoughtless mood, tried to test or shake his simple faith in God, asking him, "If God loves you, why does He not take better care of you? Why doesn't He tell someone to bring you shoes and a warm coat and better food?" This little fellow thought a moment, then with tears starting in his eyes, said, "I guess He does tell somebody, but somebody forgets."

If you would like to be a part, send a financial gift through
PAYPAL to kcjimh@gmail.com

OR

June Halliday
Washington Mutual Bank
Routing number: 322271627
Account number 3870715255

2006-08-24T09:47:00.000+02:00

Jim made this most delicious lamb curry last night! We didn't have any lemons -- he was about to make it without them, and I jumped into the little Chico (one of the most common little VW's here in SA) and drove to the little shopping center to get some. We were glad I did, as that lemon made this curry exquisite! We skipped the raisins -- up to you. Try it!

2 lamb shanks, 2 lamb shoulders steaks (yielding about 2 lbs of meat without the bone)
2 large onions, chopped
3-5 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp ghee (clarified butter) or olive oil with butter
2 Tbsp curry powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 lemon sliced (with rind)
2 peeled and chopped apples (tart green granny smith if possible)
1/2 cup of raisins (my addition to Maria's recipe)
1 cup of chicken broth
8 small red potatoes, quartered
Chutney, yogurt, rice

Optional, marinate lamb pieces overnight.
Marinade: grind and mix with 2 Tbsp of olive oil
1 Tbsp of coriander seeds
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 tsp fresh rosemary leaves
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. On stove, brown the meat in a little bit of olive oil in an oven safe pan. Remove meat from pan. Add ghee (or olive oil with a little bit of butter) to pan, add curry powder, cook gently for a minute or two. Add onions and garlic and cook 5 minutes. Return meat to pan. Add sliced lemon, apples, raisins, chicken broth, salt and pepper. Put pan in oven and cook for 3 hours. In the last 45 minutes, remove from oven and put in potatoes. Return to oven. Serve with chutney and yogurt over rice.

Serves 6.

2006-07-23T16:41:00.000+02:00

Safari up near Mozambique!! ....two amazing days, that seemed a lot longer than that! The dear safari lodge manager graciously donated five cabins to the nine of us, and we spent two days of heaven on earth in that beatiful creation! ...many of these animals came right up to the porches of our little zulu-style huts (Rondoval).

OUR GREETING COMMITTEE!

THESE ARE FOR MY BROTHER WHO "LIKED THE WART HOGS THE BEST"

Buffalo -- one of the "big five:" -- elephant, buffalo, leopard, lion and rhino.

We had a lovely curry dinner on the patio!

Remember the diagram of the elephant tipping the car in this photo for future reference!Wow! Baboons! Stop so we can take pictures!

Woah! Pull over!!!!! There is this huge male elephant right in front of us!!!
Remember the diagram of the Elephant tipping the car? Well, right around a corner we came across 2 huge male elephants right in the road in front of us with a mean look in their eyes coming right at our truck--hence the blurry photos below as we got out of the way!

Oh Lord! This guy is as big as a house! I've never seen anything that big!!! Angela is hanging out the window of the bakkie (pick-up truck) . "Angela, get inside!!!"
He's coming towards us! Jim move out!!!
Real Zulu huts outside the reserve. The huts are called Rondovals. The group of them is a Kraal.Till next time! We love you!

2006-07-23T16:04:00.000+02:00

...about an eight hour drive from Durban to Jo'burg ..

-- rather uneventful scenery as it's very dry. I drove off with a vanload of our own missionary kids aged 9-11, most of them the kids of my co-workers, a couple with TEN of them from six months to 15 years! God bless 'em ..... and us!! And He HAS blessed us with a nice big house, large property and lots of room for everyone to romp! It's great!

Anyway, back to Johannesburg -- I was elected to help with activities, photo-taking and all-around good ol' uncle, and the kids had three days of classes, activities, sports, food and fun. ...

won't tell a lot of stories this time, but let the photos speak for themselves.....

2006-04-09T16:04:00.000+02:00

Children's Camp in Hibberdine -- this time we participated!

We were able to spend one afternoon of the two-day children's camp. These under-priviledged kids are bussed in from Durban, and some from further out. some are orphans, others just very, very poor, and otherwise would certainly never have an opportunity like this--to enjoy three nice big meals a day, lots of activities and fun, a big swimming pool, and just lots of caring attention directed towards them.

Jim was invovled in the first part of the program, as he brought a guitar and helped with the sing-song -- which the kids just loved! (He is on the far right here)

I, June, had the blessing of teaching 20 of the younger ones, from age 6-8 or so, a little devotional class. They were so eager, attentive, and just plain wonderful! I don't know that I've ever taught such an appreciative and excited group of kids! They were just so fun, so cute, so sweet and precious! You just want to put some of them in your pocket and bring them home!

I did that true story for them of "Change the World," about the guy who was on a walking tour, and met the old man who walked everywhere planting nuts in this large deforested part of France. Villages were deserted, animals gone, no vegitation. The old man just had the faith and vision that if he just kept on planting those nuts, one day it would make a difference to someone, even if he didn't see it in his lifetime. But lo and behold, 20 years later, the young man came back to the area and it was completely changed - people had come back to the villages, there were forests, animals and birds, and life had returned--one man had changed the world just by his simple and faithful daily acts of planting seeds!

Oh, the girl on the right in the pink on the stage, and the guy next to me translated everything into Zulu, as many of the children don't speak English. They did an excellent job of translating!

Anway, so after the story, Jim was the old man (with a pool cue for a staff!) , and the kids were the nuts. He would take them one at a time, and make them curl up in a little ball on the floor. Then he would water the "ground" and the little kids would spring up and hold up their "branches" high and get real happy and excited! They were just so cute! When first asked if THEY could change the world, they said no. Then we did a little excercise where we would all smile at one child, and there was no way that one could hold back their smile! They really could change their little part of the world! Well, that was it -- it was really fun, and I do hope they remember it! I think they will.

Praying with me after the story:

I was really touched when I heard after we had left that some of the little kids had been asking for me! (wah! I wanted to go back right away!)

We actually watched the movie, "The Constant Gardener" last night, and you see those children in there, how excited and animated they get, and what beautiful big smiles they have -- their whole being just smiles! I would most certainly recommend the movie, though it's certainly not light entertainment, by any means. It's actually heartbreaking, makes you mad at the way things are, and for me, made me just want to get in there and make a difference in some way -- just do something to help people have a better life!

Ok, that was digressing a bit, but I was really impressed with that movie, and the few clips where you could see the people of Africa dancing, singing, enjyoing life, and the children just so full of enthusiasm -- that's just the way it is! I just love 'em!

These kids, one after the other, wanted us to take their pictures! They do some cute little pose, and we'd shoot, and they'd run up to see themselves in the camera. So cute!

Oh, and an interesting thing happened -- while we were there a reporter showed up from a major Durban newspaper to do a story on the Children's Home to try to raise support for some needed rennovations! In this case, for the large swimming pool:

The reporter had arranged for an 80 year old lady to come -- she had been one of the very first orphan children even to come to the Children's Home way back over 70 years ago! She was a lovely woman, and we had a very sweet time getting to know her--fascinating life! Here is her pic with our friend who manages the Children's Home:

And here is a 16-year-old fellow who is very special to all of us who come to the Children's Home. His name is Lucky, and he is an orphan. His life has changed wonderfully over the past few years and he has come to really love the Lord and wants to do something with his life. We are praying that we can somehow get a sponsor for him so that he can get a couple years of vocational job training and learn a skill that will help him to get a good job. Now that he is 16 he has to leave the Home, and he does not know where he will go yet. When we met him right after Christmas, we spent quite a bit of time with him and gave him some music to listen to. When he saw us this time he came up to me (Jim) and very sincerely said: "You know that music you gave me last time? It changed my life." Please pray for him, that he can find a good situation to live and be able to go to school.

2006-03-05T15:47:00.000+02:00

HIBBERDENE -- SOUTH COAST

Hi all! A few folks have written asking for more local photos, so here we go! This won't be in any particular order (this is, after all, not a web site, but a blog -- so lots of artistic license, right?!).

Here are a few pics of the little break we took in January to Hibberdene, which is a small town about 100 km down the coast hiway from Durban. It's a very tiny place consisting of a small crowded shopping plaza, another strip of little shops and restaraunts, and a small community. Into the hills above the beach are both residential areas, and some nice touristy places: B&Bs, resorts and all.

We had the privilege of staying at the Hibberdene Children's Holiday Home, which is run and managed by some friends of ours. They are actually quite renowned in South Africa for their work with the poor and the underpriviledged children.

They hold camps for children, who come in by the busloads from Durban, Johannesburg, etc,. and get to spend a weekend or a week at the beach, enjoying the huge swimming pool, getting special attention, Christian classes, and just generally having a nice healthly atmosphere and fun while they are there. There was a camp going on at the time. We stayed at a little apartment just next to the main dorms, so it was very quiet for us, though we were able to come in for prepared meals, and eat with the children, which was very special. These kids are just sooooooooooo cute! One little girl saw me in the hallway, kind of between things (this was a group of orphans) and I gave her a little smile -- she broke out in a huge grin, ran to me, gave me the biggest hug! (I'm so sad I didn't take more photos!) So sweet, and so hungry for love and affection. Jim and I have been invited to go and help out around Easter time--teach a class spend some time with the kids and all. I'm REALLY looking forward to that. The kids are soooo appreciative. The kind of thing that makes like worthwhile!

Anyway, back to the travelogue -- here are some pics of the area around the camp:

Our friends, whom we traveled with: Dominic, Stephy and Marie.

Friday night Happy Hour at a nearby lodge. Cheers!

SUNRISE -- 5:30 AM! Remember we're on the East Coast, on the Indian Ocean -- took me awhile to get my brain bearings around that! Sometimes I'd wake up and wonder what continent I'm on, where am I, what ocean is this..... Kinda weird!

Every morning we would sit in our little room overlooking the ocean, and watch the weaver birds outside our window. They were building their little nests literally inches from our window! It was just fascinating watching them dart about, how they socialized with one another, watching the female get on the males case to get in the nest and give her a break so she could go outside and just chill while he tended the eggs! So cute! She would squak and squak at him, and he would zip back and forth between branches, just frantic. Finally he'd climb into the nest, and she'd pop out and stretch and enjoy the fresh air! This tree was absolutely filled with the nests hanging down, clinging to the branches. And watching them build those nests was amazing also: they pluck long leaves and grass and whatever works, and weave them together with their beaks, poking and pulling. It’s a fascinating process to watch, and we spent a crazy amount of time at it, taking photos, and Jim even did a water color painting!

Well, it was certainly relaxing. The male birds build the nest, and the female birds come by, to check out the nests. If the males wanted to mate, they’d better weave, fast. The has a go at it with lightly woven materials, as if the female doesn't like the nest, he'll have to redo it till she likes it, and then she comes along and does the interior with nice soft stuff. And if he just can't get it right, the nest is ripped apart, and he has to start all over! And the tree they choose will be just full of nests! Really quite amazing creatures!

It's interesting that you see a lot of baskets in South African. Not in use so much, but for sale. Women sit on blankets on the sidewalk, or on the boardwalk by the ocean, and they sell baskets. Baskets made from reeds, and fronds and electrical wire, of different colors and shapes and patterns. Guess they learned a lot from the weaver birds, and of course expanded on that, as there are some absolutely gorgeous baskets! I'll try to take some photos of them and post them sometime.

Here are a few more pics of a daytrip we took down the coast:

Lots of women selling theirs art and wares in the shade of the big rocks. I'll try to get closeups next time -- lots of beautiful arts and crafts.

Beautiful flowers growing wild along the paths. This stretch is called Hibiscus Coast, as so many beautiful Hibiscus grow wild in the area.

Local women selling vegetables beside the parking lot. Sorry it's not a better pic, I tried to be discrete and take it out the car window. Didn't want to be rude, but they were so beautiful with their colored aprons and big smiles!