Dear Members Clive and I have returned from Lesotho on Saturday evening after a very successful trip to the orphanage and surrounding villages. Our Lesotho adventure was a little different this time as there were 24 people, of which the majority were teenagers. Clive offered his services as Chef and maintenance man and together we made a positive difference. Clive's cooking is really something else and he informed everyone at the initial meeting that they would not go hungry and that "I do cook better than your mother!" which was proved true when he received a standing ovation from the team on more than one occasion for his gastronomic delights. While he has cooking I hung doors on the toilets and shower room and built two big blackboards. After two days we loaded up the two cruisers and followed a trail to get to a village called HaBati where we were to build a classroom. The trip was uneventful and we were given a village hut as our base. The village is at almost 3700 meters and we were out of breath all the time and together with the 4 degree temperature we decided to pull out all stops and get finished as quickly as possible. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon and started work on the classroom immediately. The classroom was to be 4m x 10m and the local community had dug the holes for the columns in anticipation. Poles were planted, concrete cast and soon we were bolting the horizontal beams in place. We never had a ladder and so my Cruiser was the scaffolding. By evening the frame was up and by Monday evening the whole structure was finished and was ready for the roof. Due to the high winds he had to fix everything with hurricane clips, which involves 8 nails per plate which equates to almost 1500 nails hammered in in two days. The construction team consisted on Clive, Greg and an interesting chap called Graham who had offered to help. Monday evening the weather started changing and we decided to get the roof sheets on as soon as possible and get out of the village before the roads were impassable. Tueday morning we started fixing the roof sheets and by lunch time the roof was on and we were ready to depart for Semonkong. In Semonkong we experienced a heavy rainstorm which generated black slippery mud and this saw Cliva and I sliding down the mountain. Anyway the cruisers are lifted and have rocksliders and so we came to no harm. We are all looking forward to the next trip in April 2010. Since I returned, I have received excellent reports on the Koeberg day as well as the Shipwreck trail and it sounds like everything went well. When summer finally arrives we have some interesting outings planned so until then! Have a great month and remember it is only a few weeks until Christmas. Greg Members Page Come on members....send your details and a family photo to Russell for inclusion on the members page. Russell also adds everyone to the birthday list, so send these as well. russdewet@icon.co.za   Website Sponsors. Please support the website sponsors. The sponsors have all been selected by us and give great service