Return of the Muppets

Last Monday we traipsed on down to BNE domestic to welcome back Bek & Dion after their year at Vana in Chivhu, Zimbabwe.

We had a great time with them, their parents, Dawn, Michael, Andrew & Nic that night at dinner; and now are enjoying having them stay with us for the next two and a bit weeks.

Christmas Tree is Up!

As hard as it is to give into temptation sometimes, I try to stick firmly to the rule of 'tree not up before December 1'. I don't even know the reason for this; I just know that's 'what you do'.

(Playing of 'Carol of the Bells' however, is perfectly acceptable no matter the time of year. This time I even downloaded it!)

Thankfully this year I had December 1 off, so after a particularly wonderful day, Brad and I started the fun but hot task of assembling our tree once more.

I always get Brad to put the beads up and the lights, because no matter how hard I try, it always looks like cat vomit by the time I finish with them. I'm quite happy to do everything else with the tree - just PLEASE keep me away from the beads and lights!

And so here it is. By day and by night.

I think this is the best job we've ever done with it. I think what helped was the fact my parents just came back from Europe and brought with them some new ornaments for us to decorate with.

For added measure, enjoy some close-ups of my favourite ornaments this year.

Purchased during my Cape Town holiday

Our African angel that adorns the top of the tree (found in OxFam two years ago)

And one that seems to embody the whole spirit of Christmas 2009 for us.

I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas season and enter 2010 with joy and happiness.

Bussing about and heading home

With the Muppets having left on Friday morning, I decided to spend the weekend utilising the Hop On/Off sightseeing bus.

It was the best idea I could have ever had. This bus goes all over the cape (Kirstenbosch, Houts Bay, Table Mountain, etc) and over the Atlantic Seaboard (Mouille Point, Bantry Bay, Camps Bay, etc) so it's a great way to get around Cape Town and see what the Cape has to offer.

On Saturday I did both buses - the one down to Houts Bay and then the one that goes through the city and up to Table Mountain. Due to the wind, the Cable Way was closed (it had been closed most of the week due to the extremely high winds), so I was praying that on Sunday the cable way would be open.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

Houts Bay

Atlantic Seaboard - the Twelve Apostles

Another shot of the Twelve Apostles

Inside District Six Museum

View from the Lower cable station of Table Mountain

Saturday night I booked myself onto a sunset champagne cruise around the bay, and had a beautiful time.

View from the sailboat

Amazing sunset!

On the Sunday I had a great sleep in and then headed down to catch the bus back up to Table Mountain. On the way I saw the gondolas going up, so thankfully I was able to go up and spend about three hours on the top of the mountain.

Yours Truly on Table Mountain

Monday was the start of my very long (24 hours) flight home via Singapore, and there was nothing better than going through the arrivals gate and seeing my husband waiting there for me.

I absolutely adored Cape Town, and I can't wait to go back. Not surprising to everyone who knows me - but I was quite mopey for the first couple of weeks I was back in Brisbane. Just like every time I leave Africa!

It was a fantastic time away, and it was such a blessing to be with Bek & Dion and just relax.

Heading out on Safari

FIGO had organised a bunch of touristy activities for us to choose from (at an additional cost), so early on I decided to book in for the day tour to the Aquila Private Game Lodge. Mum Harder had given me birthday money this year, and so I made this my 'present' from her.

After a spectacular drive down the national highway, full of vineyards and amazing alps and mountain passes, we finally made it to Aquila at 9am and indulged in an elaborate buffet breakfast before heading out on the game tour.

It was an amazing day out, and so worth the little bit of extra money to spend time with the wild animals in Africa.

Day Tour to the Cape

Whilst we were in CT, we decided to do a half day tour down to the Cape of Good Hope. Bek organised it, and we were able to get a private tour for the three of us for the same price as doing a big bus tour.

Looking back onto Chapmans Peak Drive

One of the highlights of our trip down the Cape was the chance to drive through Groot Constantia, the oldest and most historic winery in South Africa. The views of gorgeous vineyards as the clouds rolled over the mountains were just gorgeous.

Vineyards in Groot Constantia

The views as we drove around were just beautiful. Towering peaks and craggy cliffs down to brilliant blue ocean - it was just like being in Europe for a lot of the time.

Typical Scenery on the way to the Cape

Finally reaching the entrance of Cape Reserve!

Scenery inside Cape Reserve

Once we were in the Reserve, it was a very pretty drive around to Cape Point. Often mistaken as the most south-westerly point, it overlooks the Cape of Good Hope, and a short furnicular ride up the mountain later takes you to Cape Point lighthouse.

Cape Point Lighthouse

Looking down from Cape Point Lighthouse

"Exhibit A, Your Honour"

Close up of the Lighthouse (yes, Sasch loves them!)

From the Lighthouse, we headed back down and around the corner to the Cape of Good Hope - where the two oceans 'meet' and what is known as the most south-westerly point of Africa. It was absolutely CROWDED with tourists, but it was nice to at least get there and take our own photos as evidence.

Can you see me?

The oceans meeting

Due to the early hour, our tour guide Brian drove us around to Boulders to see the African Penguin parade. Like the Fairy Penguin parade on Phillip Island back home, this was lots of fun and they very cute (although loads bigger than the penguins we are used to).

They don't call the area 'Boulders' for nothing!

Nawww... so cute!

Two girls hanging out with the penguins!

As you could see from my photos, the day was mainly a very wet and windy one. However as we started heading home to Cape Town the clouds parted and the sun just came out and left us with some gorgeous shots of the Table Mountain precinct.

Just stunning!

As this was going to be our last full day together before Bek and Dion headed back to Chivhu, we headed out to the Waterfront for dinner and decided to splurge a little at Meloncino Italian Ristorante.

My best friends for ever!

Gorgeous sunset ending a perfect day

Conference - heck of a lot of knowledge in such a short period of time.

Amazingly, I did still get to a lot of conference sessions. As I'd said earlier, I developed bronchitis during my holiday, so I was sick in bed for one day of conference, but I still got to see a lot of great sessions on a plethora of different issues.

With my passion for the developing world, especially reproductive health in those countries, I sought out sessions that were specifically to do with caring for women where resources are scant; The Millennium Development Goals; and how to deal with traditional practices which are harmful to reproductive health (ie. female genital mutilation, early marriage & myths about HIV & AIDS).

It was an amazing conference. I saw people from all over Africa, as well as the Middle East, Asia, India, South America, as well as the obvious countries like the UK, US and Canada. Apparently over 8000 delegates were registered, and the Cape Town International Convention Centre was a superb venue from which to host such a massive congress.

Obviously in the realm of reproductive health, we touch on some pretty sensitive issues. And with people from areas of the world where certain topics would never be discussed (even to the point of death or at least jail if they do so), it was interesting to see the conversations that came out of such sessions. I admit that sometimes in our developed world we can look at issues through our own little lense of what happens in our developed nation, without realising that this is a life and death issue in the developing world. It was fascinating to see the differences between western and eastern viewpoints on certain topics!

One of the major perks of the conference was the fact they had free wi-fi for all the conference delegates - which meant I could use Skype to call home whenever I had a break. For free!

Cape Town Holiday - Settling in

Twenty-eight hours of flying (and one forgotten chapstick, bag of face cleaners and journal later) lead to finally getting off the plane in Cape Town and getting a sudden understanding that there is not just ONE mountain in the Cape - there is one 300km line of mountain range!

I decided to wait around until Bek and Dion's plane landed (they'd flown into Johannesburg earlier in the day, and their domestic flight was about three hours after mine); and I remember sitting there thinking 'geez I hope those two got flights here okay - it'd be just like me to sit around like an idiot for four hours for nothing!'.

But arrive they did - and after six months of having my best friend over the other side of the world (especially at the times I've probably needed her the most), there was FAR too much talking and laughing and carrying-on happening for one small African airport to handle!

The guest house we were staying in was just divine. A beautiful pool, great fish pond, amazing room and bathroom, and the cutest two dogs you'd ever meet (unless you've met my Vox, of course).

Me outside the guest house, Signal Hill behind me

It goes without saying that sleep was all but forgotten as the next six hours involved us catching up with six months of news, joys, disappointments, frustrations and forgotten titbits that hadn't been shared via the brief phone calls and newsy emails that had bounced back and forth.

Bek and Dion during our first trip to the Waterfront

The next day we were up bright and early and here was the first of many forgotten treats for Bek and Dion to enjoy. Cheese platters on the table, all the coffee you could handle and one very memorable fruit bowl - Bek actually cried when she saw the Rockmelon!

But the fun didn't stop there - one trip down to the Waterfront later (one of the more famous tourist areas of CT), and Bek was in heaven. Gloria Jeans had made it's appearance, and it would take more than one attempt to get Bek out of the place. Thus it made a daily showing during their visit, and if I couldn't find her at our allotted meeting points after the conference - GJs was the place I'd head.

Bek with her first GJs 'coffee'

One place we had all determined to visit during our stay was Robben Island - the place where so many political prisoners had been held during the Apartheid years. This tour was fantastic, and you would be mad not to go if you ever happen to be in Cape Town. We were quite fortunate in that we could go on the same day we booked our tickets - we were told by a lot of people that in peak periods there is often a three month wait list!

It was quite humbling to go through the Maximum Security Unit of the prison and observe where Nelson Mandela had been kept during his stay on the island. This tiny little cell with only a sheet of carpet to sleep on and a bowl for meals - it really hit home to me how it must have been to be kept there for over thirty years.

Nelson Mandela's Cell

This was a great start to our holiday together - and it could only get better from here!

Me on the boat, cruising past the Waterfront, Table Mountain and Lion's Rump

Welcome back Cougher!!!

So, I am home.

And I'm sad (always sad when I come back from Africa).

And I have a cough (it's now diagnosed with bronchitis, which has given me at least one more day off of work).

And - I loved it. Every single second of it. Even when I got really sick, I still thought it was the most amazing place I'd been in in a long time.

And yes - I did cry when we hit the African mainland. But, in my defense, 'Circle of Life' was on my iPod (pure fluke), I was drinking rooibos (oh how I miss it!), and it had been about 25 hours travel at that point!!!

I will eventually do a couple of posts to talk about what I did, how Bek & Dion enjoyed their break and how much fun we had together - but this post was just to say hello and to explain my lack of postage until now.

Bronchitis is a mean old thing!

T minus One Day...

I keep having to remind myself that this time tomorrow I will have just arrived in Singapore and resting before the continuing journey to Cape Town! I complained that this trip was taking ages to get here - now it just feels like the last month or so flew by without me even noticing!

It's all good though. After the stress of the weekend and having to chase my tail to make sure I got everything I needed, it's been relatively calm since. Apart from the last little bit currently being washed, everything is packed and it's just a matter of spending some quality time relaxing with my man before I leave.

The Allen's are doing really well, too. Tomorrow they leave for Harare, and have a night there before flighting out to Cape Town. They arrive about three hours after I do, so it's worked out quite well.

Did I actually go into what the conference I'm going to is for? I don't think so.

This is the World Congress of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, as run by FIGO (International Federation of Gynaecology & Obstetrics). It's purpose being to bring Obstetric and Gynaecology Health Professionals from all over the world together into one place to discuss anything and everything to do with Women's Reproductive and Sexual Health.

Some of the lectures I will be attending include:

Caesarean Section - auditing rates, VBAC, Surgical Techniques.

Human Rights in High Maternal Mortality Countries

FIGO Safe Motherhood and Newborn Health Projects Review (Pakistan, Uganda & Peru)

Amnesty International: Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Working in Defense of Human Rights

WHO: Reproductive Health in Crisis, Conflict, Disaster & Displacement Settings

WHO: Training HCPs t0 Improve Care for Women with FGM

Advancing Knowledge in Obstetric Fistula

Ethical Issues in the Prevention of HIV Transmission

That's only a very small portion of the lectures available for me to attend (and of the electives I have chosen). There's also a lot of sessions around topics such as Infertility, PCOS, Assisted Reproductive Technologies, Use of drugs in obstetrics, and other such relevant issues.

Fortunately, considering the number of lectures available to view, the majority of them will be recorded on to disc for us to purchase. I think for every lecture I chose, there were two others I was keen to attend, so this will certainly help.

Apart from that, my other plans include:

* A trek up Table Mountain

* A visit to Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned)

* A visit to Stellenbosch (gardens and wineries)

* A visit to the Cape of Good Hope (where the two oceans meet)

* A day safari to Aquila Private Game Reserve (home of 'The Big Five', as well as a Cheetah nursery)

And plenty of time to just hang out with Bek & Dion and just catch up on everything we've missed in the past six months.

I Lift My Eyes Up To The Hills... (Psalm 121)

I was originally going to title this 'In the Storm', because that's what the last two weeks have been like.

After the Taylor's died, I honestly felt like God had decided to put his combat boots on and starting kicking my backside like never before. People talk about wakeup calls, and how it motivates them to do better and be better - that's what it was like. This was the trumpet sounding before the great assault.

And then more stuff happened. Little things. Scary things. Stuff that makes you wonder where the hell is God in all of this? It's not too much longer before you realise that God is right there, even when you can't see Him. That His hand is holding you up in the midst of the fury.

I cried a lot this last fortnight. Most people assumed it was grief, and yes, that did play a part in it. But more than that, it was the Holy Spirit gently pulling away some layers from me that I never knew existed. There's pain involved whenever God does this stuff inside you, and I was feeling a lot of pain as He reached in. But this was pain due to healing, and I had to go through it in order to grow.

I've felt like I've been stuck in a holding pattern for a long time. Coming home from Rwanda, I knew I was having to wait on God before going ahead and starting the process of serving the Rwandaise. Infertility puts you in a holding pattern, as too many of my friends are well aware of. When you are considering another person in all of this, such as a spouse, holding patterns increase even more.

But I know now that the season for holding patterns has gone. That I'm being asked to activate the vision I've had for so long. That there are no more excuses to hold me back. That I have been asked to serve, and the time for serving is now.

It's hard to articulate exactly how this makes me feel. There's still a lot of unanswered prayer out there, as it's never as simple as just going. There's a lot of barriers between here and there, that noone but God is going to be able to take down.

Am I scared? Yes

Am I unsure of my next step? Yes

Does this seem impossible? Yes

I don't have any easy answers for any of this stuff. I just know that I'm being told that now is the time to get my calling to Rwanda off the ground. And I'm holding on to God to show me exactly the path that I should take to get there.

Would you pray with me?

My favourite photo

So after tagging a few friends with the 'Who am I' questionnaire, I soon found myself being tagged for another 'please post a part of your life' item.

Beck tagged me and asked for my favourite photo. I have so many 'favourites', but this one wins by a long shot.

Now I know you've all seen this photo, simply because you find it to the right of my blog, just before I do my little snapshot of who I am, and what my passions are.

But I haven't ever really shared the story behind it before.

This was taken in Rwanda back in 2008, in a tiny little village named Kayenzi perched on the side of a mountain.

Rwanda is a part of me. I can quite literally say that my first thought every morning and my last thought every night is about Rwanda and the people I met there. My whole life is directed right now towards getting back there in the near future. There are a lot of tears shed in private due to my longing to be back there. It sounds ridiculous, but Rwanda is my home and I will not rest until I am back there.

I never got to know this little girl's name, but I met her within an hour of being on the ground in Kayenzi. We arrived to a huge circle of little children all singing to us and welcoming us to their home. In her grubby little dress (probably the only 'Sunday' dress she owns) and with her cheeky little smile she made a beeline for me, grabbed my hand, and stole my heart forever.

She was such a shy little girl up until this photo. She just wanted to cuddle with me and rest her hand in mine.

But when Paul got his camera out - she was a star! She was in my arms as he came up to us and she just leant out with this massive grin and left me with a photo that summed up my whole journey in Rwanda.

This photo is my commitment to returning to Rwanda. Every time I look at it I pray over this child and make the thousandth promise to return and see her and play with her again.

Turn around and it's GONE!

Someone PLEASE tell me where June went? Oh my goodness, turn around for five seconds and a whole month passes in a blink of an eye. Now I know my mother always told me that time flew as you got older - but I didn't really think I'd reached the age where a month happens and you barely notice.

So, what was the highlight of my June?

Last Sunday we went to the Multicultural Festival at Annerley Soccer Fields. There were so many different cultures represented and so much to eat, watch and do the whole day that it seemed to fly.

Brad had great fun watching the soccer, and I was able to indulge in everything African once more.

But the highlight of my day BY FAR was meeting the people running the Rwandan Queensland Association food stall. I didn't even know there was a Rwandan association in Queensland!

So I went up to the stall (to order some delicious brochette - man I miss that from Rwanda!), and as they started serving me, out I came with Muraho (hello), Amakuru (how are you) and Nitwa Umufasha (my name is Umufasha - umufasha is a Kinyarwandan word meaning helper, which is what Sascha means).

The poor lady almost fell over! She started crying and hugging me and just couldn't believe an Australian knew her language! I was just so excited to finally talk to someone who understood kinyarwandan, and was so glad she didn't think I was an idiot. She and her male helper wanted to know who had been teaching me, so when I told them I'd visited Rwanda last year, they almost started crying again. It's amazing to me how much being aware of another person's culture can make them so emotional and thankful.

I was on a massive high for the rest of the day, and it really made my year.

Brad had great fun watching the soccer whenever he got tired of walking around stalls with me

This Rwandan girl was so tiny, yet her voice was massive!

These young girls were from the Rwandan Queensland Association, and did their nation proud with cultural dance

Now I know I talk a lot about how much I miss Rwanda and how I would go back in a heartbeat, but to just meet up with a Rwandan family and talk with them really made it so much more clear to me that Rwanda is always going to be a part of me, and will never leave me.