Of e'Pap, Whitestone School, Bullfrogs and Owls!

A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL AT WHITESTONE SCHOOL, NATIONAL FOODS, THE SMITH FAMILY AND THE WONDERFUL BULAWAYO COMMUNITY!!!

On the 12th January I posted a blog about a school just outside of Bulawayo on the road to Plumtree,  Marula Primary School.  The children of Whitestone School have responded with overwhelming generosity to the appeal to come to the aid of these impoverished children.  Stacy Smith has been running the project to collect donations from the Whitestone Primary pupils and  Bookey Peek sent a letter of thanks which just has to be shared.....

Stacey and Malcolm Smith and their two children arrived at Marula with a great load of e'Pap from Whitestone and also half a tonne of mealie meal donated by National Foods though Nigel Weller. 

 

Headmistress Danae Dube, the staff and the Marula kids are overwhelmed by your generosity and what makes it all particularly special is that your children gave up their precious tuck money to take care of other others who are not as lucky as they are.  Many of the Marula children walk long distances to school and back in all weathers - and on empty tummies - but thanks to your caring pupils, they will now get a meal at school every day - containing that magic e'Pap powder that has changed the lives of so many needy people in Africa.  

Now, we would very much like the Marula/Whitestone pupils to meet up - and one of the ways we could do that is by organising a cross country here on Stone Hills.  It would be great fun and would give the kids a chance to get to know each other.  We'll be talking much more about that soon!  

Another idea is for the Marula children to come and play marimba at Whitestone or vice versa - our kids haven't had their marimba set for long, but they love it, and are learning all the time.

Yesterday was a very good day in more ways than one.   Liam Smith found a bullfrog in the Marula School's old swimming pool.  I say old, because it just a dirty hole in the ground these days with a bit of collected rainwater.  The poor bullfrog must have fallen in - so Liam waded into the dirty water and put him into a bucket.  He then told a whole crowd of very impressed and rather frightened Marula children all about him, and what an interesting and important animal he was.   

The Smiths left at lunchtime, and I drove the Headmistress back to Plumtree, leaving the frog in the care of the matron.   When I got back a couple of hours later, I could hear the matron's screech as I got out of the car - someone had moved the top of the bucket and the frog had disappeared!   Well, by that time it was 2 pm, I'd imagined myself picking up the frog, bearing it back to a happy home on Stone Hills and having my lunch.  No such luck.

I spent the next hour or so on my hands and knees poking around under cupboards, beds, chests of drawers and through piles of the Matron's shoes to see if froggie was hiding there.  He wasn't.   Eventually, I had to leave, but the children kept searching.   And this morning, we got a call - they had the frog safely back in the bucket, at last.  I rushed up the school with a bag of sweets for the finders - Vusi, in Grade One, had seen him coming out of hole near the veggie garden, and brave Melissa had picked him up and put him in the bucket.   Frog, needless to say, was pretty fed up by this time, but he certainly cheered up later, when we took him to a lovely pool full of lilies and reeds and released him.  

Bullfrogs, of course, are now rare - where we all used to see them (so often sadly squashed on the road) during the rains, there are now hardly any around.   We used to have them on Stone Hills in that very pool, but we haven't seen them for at least the last ten years.  So this was a very special occasion and I hope by handing out the sweets, I have encouraged our kids to find some more !  You certainly have some very knowledgeable children on wildlife at Whitestone (then again, it was always renowned for that).  Liam knew all about the habits of the bullfrog and  plenty of other wildlife besides.  And so does his friend Dylan Burton - who raised an spotted eagle owl whom he then handed over to us to release.  We still have Dylan the Owl - he's a wonderful character - and we hope that by the end of the rains, he will be ready to fly away back into the wild.  

Going back to Marula School - it was built in the 1930's by local farmers who did a marvellous job of it.  So much so, that it is still looking relatively good today, despite the fact that it was built for 60 children and there are now over 430 of them!    And that is why the e'Pap that you have provided is so necessary.  Only 83 of the children are boarders - from relatively well-off families - the rest are all day scholars from underprivileged homes - and they need all the help that they can get.   Luckily, the local council has now put a limit on numbers, but there are already far too many pupils for the school, or the teachers, to manage.   There are only three real classrooms - but every room in the place and the adjoining house is now being used for classes.

But it is amazing how the teachers cope - they are very loyal indeed to their school, and to their headmistress, whom I have to say, does an incredible job under very difficult circumstances. 

Lastly, all thanks go to Stacey Smith, and of course Shelley Lasker, for the magnificent effort she made in involving the school in this project.  It's heartwarming to know that there are people like them in the Bulawayo community, who will do so much to help others.

We are going to start a Facebook page, and hopefully a blog, on the Whitestone/Marula friendship - so we'll all be able to post regular photos and updates.

Again, many, many thanks to you all

With very best wishes

Bookey and all at Marula School

PS What you can be confident about with Marula is their accountability.  They have lock up pantries and good control over supplies. So no pilfering!