Sorry for not writing

Not having internet at the new apartment, combined with lack of camera batteries, has really tripped up my blipfoto routine this week. With two major exceptions, things are rolling along as before at SAEP. On Friday almost all of us went out to the townships for "Do It Day," a national initiative that encourages people to take a day off from work to support the work of nonprofits. Armed with a small bus load of students and friends who wanted to volunteer through us, we formed small groups and assigned each to an SAEP-supported creche in the townships. Mine was Qhamani, and our task was to tear up a rotting cement pad next to the building, build a fence around it, and cover everything with clean new sand and a jungle gym. With nothing but shovels and one pick-axe, I was amazed at how quickly the ten of use smashed through all that concrete, and by the end of the day (although the fence never got delivered) we had the lot very nicely cleared and looking like a pristine beach.

The bad news for the week, which is the worst of my trip so far, is that Jozef has dropped out of the GY program. He completely disappeared two weeks ago, and when we got in touch with him last week we learned that he had been in a car accident, had been robbed, and had given up on us in favor of driving a cockroach, or township taxi. As we all care for him deeply, this was heartbreaking news, but we have to move on and do our best to support the other interns who are still committed to the program.