So I thought I'd start a blog for anyone who's interested to keep upto date with my move to the sunny Southern Hemisphere. Here are my plans so far...
Sometime in January 2009 I plan to relocate to Clarens, South Africa. I lived in this beautiful village for six months in 2007 which makes it a little less daunting.
Clarens is a tiny village in South Africa on the border of the kingdom of Lesotho. It's on the edge of the Maluti and Drakensburg mountain ranges, and sits at a height of 6207 feet (compared with Ben Nevis at 4409 feet). This is high enough to take a few days to acclimatise to the thinner air. There are around 400 permanent white residents in Clarens, and around 2000 permanent Basotho residents. There are 3 main languages spoken; English, Southern Sesotho and Afrikaans. Clarens is beautiful, and attracts many tourists in high season, mainly from Johannesburg.
I will be working on a voluntary basis for Dihlabeng Christian Church (part of the Newfrontiers family of churches), probably looking at how the church can care for vulnerable children. It is estimated that 1 in 3 of the local population are HIV positive. This obviously has a huge effect, particularly on children.
I have many jobs to do before I can leave, but at the moment I'm focusing on getting my visa application in. This requires a police check, medical report and a TB report. So far I have only got my police clearance. I'm off to the hospital sometime this week to get my x-ray for the TB report taken. Once that's done I can book my medical report.
Sometime in January 2009 I plan to relocate to Clarens, South Africa. I lived in this beautiful village for six months in 2007 which makes it a little less daunting.
Clarens is a tiny village in South Africa on the border of the kingdom of Lesotho. It's on the edge of the Maluti and Drakensburg mountain ranges, and sits at a height of 6207 feet (compared with Ben Nevis at 4409 feet). This is high enough to take a few days to acclimatise to the thinner air. There are around 400 permanent white residents in Clarens, and around 2000 permanent Basotho residents. There are 3 main languages spoken; English, Southern Sesotho and Afrikaans. Clarens is beautiful, and attracts many tourists in high season, mainly from Johannesburg.
I will be working on a voluntary basis for Dihlabeng Christian Church (part of the Newfrontiers family of churches), probably looking at how the church can care for vulnerable children. It is estimated that 1 in 3 of the local population are HIV positive. This obviously has a huge effect, particularly on children.
I have many jobs to do before I can leave, but at the moment I'm focusing on getting my visa application in. This requires a police check, medical report and a TB report. So far I have only got my police clearance. I'm off to the hospital sometime this week to get my x-ray for the TB report taken. Once that's done I can book my medical report.
