Hey everyone!
Hope you are all keeping well! Sorry for being so quiet
lately!The Home's Jubilee Celebration, which was celebrated on Saturday 26th
October, has been keeping me very busy. However now that it is all over I want
to tell you ALL about it J
Although most of the staff had been preparing for the
celebration for the past month, things really started to come together Wednesday
(23rd October) when the two cows donated by the M.E.C of Health were
slaughtered on the grounds of the Home. I knew this was going to happen on that
day and I was really dreading it! Having spoken to Nkosikhona, one of Saint
Anthony’s garden and maintenance workers, about the slaughter, it was something
I definitely did NOT want to see. I was told the cows would be slaughtered at
around 2 pm so at around 4 I thought it would be safe to go and see the girls
who, at that time, are normally cleaning their clothes outside. It was only
once I had walked around the corner that I realised I had in fact arrived right
in the middle of the slaughter! Approximately 7 metres away from me, there was
one cow laying on the floor dead and another still in the trailer about to be
slaughtered.
As I arrived, some of the Child and Youth Care workers
told me to come and sit with them to watch the slaughtering... All I wanted to
do was run in the opposite direction but that would have come across very rude.
So I did the polite thing and sat with them all. The cow that was in the trailer
was then attached to a tree where it was then killed (its throat was slit using
a long knife). I didn’t watch this part, instead I looked away and blocked my
ears as I did not want to hear the cow cry... (I'm a wuss, I know!) After this, the skinning began:
That evening, some of the cow was braaied (same as being
barbecued) so that everyone could have a taste. I’m not going to lie, it tasted
delicious!
The following day (Thursday 24th October) was again
full of preparations! The two main tents were erected, Robin Williams, a parishioner
from Rayleigh, arrived at Saint Anthony (I will tell you more about his stay in
another post) and Malume and myself drove all the way to Durban and back!!!
This was to pick up the report we had professionally printed, which Malume
wanted to give out during the celebration (I have spoke about this report in my
previous post). Please feel free to download your own copy, print it and share
it:
Our contact person told us the reports would be ready by
3pm therefore Malume and I had planned to leave by latest 10am (it takes 4 hours
to get to Durban from Blaauwbosch). However Malume's morning meeting took longer
than expected meaning we only left Saint Anthony’s at 12:30pm! Nevertheless, thanks
to Malume’s excellent driving we managed to get to Durban by 3:45pm J Unfortunately as we
arrive in Durban, we received a phone call from the printing agency who tells us
that the machine which binds the report has broken down and will only be fixed
by 9pm!!! As you can imagine, we were not amused, especially when he had phoned us whilst we were on our way to tell us to arrive as quick as
possible! Very cheeky!
Once we arrived, they reassured us that the machine had
been fixed and that the reports would in fact be ready at 7:30pm. Although this
meant we wouldn’t get back to Blaauwbosch until very late, I was pleased it wasn’t
9pm... At 7:30pm, we receive a phone call from them to say that actually the
reports would be ready at 8:15pm. At 8:30pm we still haven’t heard from them
and when Malume tried to call them, it goes straight to answer phone!
Nightmare! At 9pm, they inform us the reports are ready and that they were
making their way to the place we had agreed to meet. 15 mins later, Malume and
I arrived at the car park (our meeting point) to find no sign (surprise
surprise!!!) of our contact person. At this point I was starting to lose
patience (Malume had already lost it 3 hours ago) as we still had a 4 hour car
journey ahead of us! The guy eventually arrived at 9:45pm; we quickly loaded up
the car with the 2000 booklets and made our way back to Blaauwbosch. By 3:00am,
I was tucked up in bed. Malume again drove amazingly well (with the help of 5
redbulls!).
Friday was extremely busy but although there was a lot to
be done, everyone was very calm and smiley! I was up until 3am finalising, printing,
folding and stapling the 200 programmes, which contained the hymns for the mass
as well as what will be happening throughout the day such as speeches,
entertainment, lunch etc. However those in the catering team were up all night!
That is mainly because Saint Anthony’s did everything themselves from the
decorating and music to the catering! That’s right, Saint Anthony’s fed over
500 people with a team of about 15 staff!!! They worked really hard and not
once complained! On the contrary, as I was heading to bed, I could hear them
singing J Mbongiseni
had organised for a big group of traditional dancers to come and perform at the
celebration. He picked them up from Ladysmith on Friday night which meant they
needed somewhere to stay... all 60 of them! As they only arrived at midnight, the
older children were up until very late helping set up mattresses for them all.
The whole of Saint Anthony’s came together and worked as a team to make this
day happen.
After just 4 hours sleep, the big day had arrived! The
rain had thankfully stopped and the sun came out to play! Malume had put me in
charge of taking pictures whilst Robin was in charge of filming the celebration. The day started with a mass in one of the three marquees and was said by The Bishop of Dundee, Bishop Graham
Rose, supported by other members of the local clergy. This was followed by the
unveiling of the stone, moving and heart warming testimonies from various
Board members and former residents of Saint Anthony’s as well as a speech from
the M.E.C of Health of KwaZulu Natal! These were broken up with performance
from the professional dance troop, the Saint Anthony’s children and the
staff!!! Guests were then invited to have a nice big lunch J Everyone left with
very full stomachs! All in all, it was a fantastic day filled with smiles,
tears and laughter! However it would never have been possible without the hard
work of all the Saint Anthony’s staff! They all did a tremendous job and many
of the guests commented on the amazing team spirit of Saint Anthony’s.
It will definitely be a day that many people will
remember for a long time and I feel privileged to have been part of it and
helped make it happen!
Isabel x
P.S: I am still waiting on Malume to give me a copy of
the photos. Once I have them, I will make sure to post them on here.
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