09 JULY 2020
The last week has been a topsy turvy one. I felt like my whole world flipped right upside down. Luckily we have landed back on our feet and ready to go again.
Our lockdown has been filled with exciting adventures and lots of silliness. I trust that there will be many more of these moments to come.
The last week has been quite hard, as we've had somewhat of a reality check. We have made some life changing decisions, which as hard as it is for now, we know they are for the best.
A few weeks ago we put our house in Bloemfontein on the rental market. As the house was fully furnished, we didn't think we would easily find a tenant. Early last week, our agent mailed to say he had found tenants, and they wanted to move in by Friday. With the borders still closed, Michael's parents and brother took on the mammoth task of packing up our belongings for us. Words cannot express our gratitude. They only had 2 days to do so and worked long hours packing our belongings into boxes and stacking them meticulously into storage.
We have been communicating with the schools our children go to, since lockdown started. We thought we could reassess when the borders opened, and possibly send them back later in the year. With no home to go to now, we don't have that option, and boarding school is not an option for us at this stage. Having homeschooled in the past, I was starting to look at several different packages, but nothing really gripped my attention, and it would be very difficult to get the materials we needed sent to us. On Saturday night I was browsing through a Covid-19 Facebook group and saw a mom had registered her children in Think Digital College. I had a quick look, and was immediately drawn to it. I think I know my children well enough to know what would work for them. I signed Gemma and Bryce up for a trial, and after spending Sunday afternoon going through the site, we were all sold on it, and by that evening I had registered them officially. I thought I would just "wing it" with Thabo, but after looking through what the Grade R course had to offer, I signed him up on Tuesday.
They've only done 3 days of it, but all 3 children love it. Gemma and Bryce actually wake up early and start work - completely independently. They don't need me anymore (sad face emoji), but it's so wonderful seeing them enjoying their work.
Both schools have been extremely supportive to us as a family, present and past, and for that we have been truly grateful. The thing about Bloemfontein is that it's a small enough city to feel like you're part of a bigger family. We truly miss everyone that we came into contact with - family, teachers, coaches, and all of our friends. We are extremely grateful for WiFI here, so we can still be in touch. The children have been amazing and have adapted so well to their new life. I can't imagine how I would have dealt with a situation such as this when I was their age.
Michael and I had been getting itchy feet and had been thinking of ways to open the lodge again. We met up with one of our most valued staff members on one of our evening walks. She told us how frightened people are becoming as the Covid numbers are rising in Lesotho. The trouble with our village is that we are very remote and there is very limited access to medical care. In our Malealea valley we only have 1 clinic that can treat the basic needs. If patients have high temperatures they are sent to hospital in one of the major cities - Mafeteng, Morija or Maseru.
We had an informal chat early last week with Bokang, our lodge manager, to hear his thoughts. The last thing we want to do is to make decisions on behalf of the community, and put people’s lives at risk. He has been amazing in his effort to spread awareness of the virus. He said he was at the police station recently - 10km away from the lodge, and not even the law enforcement in the village understand the implications of the virus,
Bokang mentioned to us that he had recently heard a rumour going around that when the lodge eventually reopens we would be not be re-employing our existing staff members. We decided the best would be to have a staff meeting and sent word out. We met on Friday and all 26 staff members arrived for the meeting.
It was great to see everybody again. It was a lovely sunny day, so we met in a big circle on the lawn. After receiving feedback from everyone, we decided as a team that we would not be rushing back into re-opening. It was brought to our attention another rumour was going around that the lodge was up for sale. We clarified that neither of these rumours were true.
My intention for this blog was never for any other purpose than to share my story, but we did promise our staff members that we would spread the Malealea Development Trust page as far and wide as we could. As I mentioned previously, funds can be donated to www.malealeadevelopmenttrust.org. A R500 donation can provide a family with basics for a month.
We slipped away to the Makhaleng River for the day on Sunday, while the weather was still nice and warm. The boys spent last week making a sandpit and we collected some sand from the river for their sandpit while we were there. Gemma takes after her techno Granny, and has developed a love for photography. I'll leave you with some of her beautiful photographs.
The last week has been a topsy turvy one. I felt like my whole world flipped right upside down. Luckily we have landed back on our feet and ready to go again.
Our lockdown has been filled with exciting adventures and lots of silliness. I trust that there will be many more of these moments to come.
The last week has been quite hard, as we've had somewhat of a reality check. We have made some life changing decisions, which as hard as it is for now, we know they are for the best.
A few weeks ago we put our house in Bloemfontein on the rental market. As the house was fully furnished, we didn't think we would easily find a tenant. Early last week, our agent mailed to say he had found tenants, and they wanted to move in by Friday. With the borders still closed, Michael's parents and brother took on the mammoth task of packing up our belongings for us. Words cannot express our gratitude. They only had 2 days to do so and worked long hours packing our belongings into boxes and stacking them meticulously into storage.
We have been communicating with the schools our children go to, since lockdown started. We thought we could reassess when the borders opened, and possibly send them back later in the year. With no home to go to now, we don't have that option, and boarding school is not an option for us at this stage. Having homeschooled in the past, I was starting to look at several different packages, but nothing really gripped my attention, and it would be very difficult to get the materials we needed sent to us. On Saturday night I was browsing through a Covid-19 Facebook group and saw a mom had registered her children in Think Digital College. I had a quick look, and was immediately drawn to it. I think I know my children well enough to know what would work for them. I signed Gemma and Bryce up for a trial, and after spending Sunday afternoon going through the site, we were all sold on it, and by that evening I had registered them officially. I thought I would just "wing it" with Thabo, but after looking through what the Grade R course had to offer, I signed him up on Tuesday.
They've only done 3 days of it, but all 3 children love it. Gemma and Bryce actually wake up early and start work - completely independently. They don't need me anymore (sad face emoji), but it's so wonderful seeing them enjoying their work.
Both schools have been extremely supportive to us as a family, present and past, and for that we have been truly grateful. The thing about Bloemfontein is that it's a small enough city to feel like you're part of a bigger family. We truly miss everyone that we came into contact with - family, teachers, coaches, and all of our friends. We are extremely grateful for WiFI here, so we can still be in touch. The children have been amazing and have adapted so well to their new life. I can't imagine how I would have dealt with a situation such as this when I was their age.
Michael and I had been getting itchy feet and had been thinking of ways to open the lodge again. We met up with one of our most valued staff members on one of our evening walks. She told us how frightened people are becoming as the Covid numbers are rising in Lesotho. The trouble with our village is that we are very remote and there is very limited access to medical care. In our Malealea valley we only have 1 clinic that can treat the basic needs. If patients have high temperatures they are sent to hospital in one of the major cities - Mafeteng, Morija or Maseru.
We had an informal chat early last week with Bokang, our lodge manager, to hear his thoughts. The last thing we want to do is to make decisions on behalf of the community, and put people’s lives at risk. He has been amazing in his effort to spread awareness of the virus. He said he was at the police station recently - 10km away from the lodge, and not even the law enforcement in the village understand the implications of the virus,
Bokang mentioned to us that he had recently heard a rumour going around that when the lodge eventually reopens we would be not be re-employing our existing staff members. We decided the best would be to have a staff meeting and sent word out. We met on Friday and all 26 staff members arrived for the meeting.
It was great to see everybody again. It was a lovely sunny day, so we met in a big circle on the lawn. After receiving feedback from everyone, we decided as a team that we would not be rushing back into re-opening. It was brought to our attention another rumour was going around that the lodge was up for sale. We clarified that neither of these rumours were true.
My intention for this blog was never for any other purpose than to share my story, but we did promise our staff members that we would spread the Malealea Development Trust page as far and wide as we could. As I mentioned previously, funds can be donated to www.malealeadevelopmenttrust.org. A R500 donation can provide a family with basics for a month.
We slipped away to the Makhaleng River for the day on Sunday, while the weather was still nice and warm. The boys spent last week making a sandpit and we collected some sand from the river for their sandpit while we were there. Gemma takes after her techno Granny, and has developed a love for photography. I'll leave you with some of her beautiful photographs.