I have been supervising and working student volunteers all week. It's Easter break and all school kids are required to perform volunteer work. Parks is here with 20 of his students, a great group of black kids. They really worked hard and got rid of a log of the sand olives. There are also nine guys from St. Stithians College who are staying at the lodge for their week of volunteerism. They too are great kids, but are as white and priviledged as the others are black and poor. I am their keeper and den mother. The groups work separately; even after 10 years of democracy there are issues. Their tasks are to eradicate invasive plant species, something Ann just can't abide. It's hard and dirty work but we try to break it up with other activities.
While I am busy with the boys trying to wipe out the lantana and queen of the night, Connie has been making huge strides on the website. By day’s end we completed both cheetah camps and released the animals. We’re all a mess of cuts and scratches from the wicked lantana but we’ve made quite a dent in it. The kids –most of them at least – are hard workers. It would be interesting to know more about their backgrounds to get an insight into their personalities. They and Parks's students are the future of South Africa.
Ann and Vanessa came out to inspect our work and thank the guys. As you might expect there was a clump of lantana we had missed, so we told Ann we left it so we could get a photo of her and the boys cutting it down. I don’t know if she bought the story but we’re sticking to it.
