My Graced Journey: 2009

Sunday, 27 December 2009

Discover rural Transkei

Learnthings Africa software installation project

Transkei

December 2009

Mishwell and I installed Learnthings and MS Encarta software at poor rural schools in the Transkei. We drove with my red Toyota Corolla across the Transkei, going off-road at times where off-roaders dare not go. We stayed at a guest house in Matatiele and drove around the area to rural schools to install software solutions at these schools who were sponsored by MTN with PC labs.

Towns and villages of note include Matatiele, Qhobosheaneng Village, Mt Fletcher, Mt Frere, Mt Ayliff, and Qumbu.

Transkei

Photo highlights

Grazing sheep in remote mountains - Transkei

About Transkei

The Transkei (meaning the area beyond [the river] Kei), officially the Republic of Transkei, was a Bantustan—an area set aside for members of a specific ethnicity—and nominal parliamentary democracy in the south-eastern region of South Africa. Its capital was Umtata, which was renamed Mthatha in 2004.

Transkei represented a significant precedent and historic turning point in South Africa's policy of apartheid and "separate development"; it was the first of four territories to be declared independent of South Africa. Throughout its existence, it remained an internationally unrecognized, diplomatically isolated, politically unstable de facto one-party state, which at one point broke relations with South Africa, the only country that acknowledged it as a legal entity. In 1994, it was reintegrated into its larger neighbor and became part of the Eastern Cape Province.

Mountain Huts

Mountain scenery

'Bush Taxi'

Kids playing next to an outhouse

Public phone - Transkei mountains

African toilets

Old farmhouse

Transkei hut

Mt Ayliff

Transkei hair salon - Mt Ayliff

Rural Baby-Sitter

African dog

Rural scene

Sheepherder & rainbow - Qhobosheaneng Village

Mishwell - Qhobosheaneng Village

Maluti

Dirt road - Transkei

Rural scenery - Transkei

Maluti

Church on a hill - Maluti

Polile Tshisa

Monday, 23 November 2009

Al Sawadi - Holiday hot spot in Oman

English Teacher in Oman

Al Sawadi 2008 - 2009

Al Sawadi was one of my favorite places in Oman. There was a three-star Beach resort (recently closed) that had chalets close to the beach. It had a great beach with luke-warm pristine water. One could rent a boat to take you to the Sawadi islands to snorkel. A bunch of teachers at the Ibri College also camped out on the beach for a weekend.

Al Sawadi

About Oman

Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is an Arab country on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Holding a strategically important position at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, the country shares land borders with the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest, and shares marine borders with Iran and Pakistan. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the southeast and the Gulf of Oman on the northeast. The Madha and Musandam exclaves are surrounded by the UAE on their land borders, with the Strait of Hormuz (which it shares with Iran) and Gulf of Oman forming Musandam's coastal boundaries.

From the late 17th century, the Omani Sultanate was a powerful empire, vying with Portugal and Britain for influence in the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. At its peak in the 19th century, Omani influence or control extended across the Strait of Hormuz to modern-day Iran and Pakistan, and as far south as Zanzibar (today part of Tanzania, also former capital). As its power declined in the 20th century, the sultanate came under the influence of the United Kingdom. Historically, Muscat was the principal trading port of the Persian Gulf region. Muscat was also among the most important trading ports of the Indian Ocean. Oman is an absolute monarchy. The Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said has been the hereditary leader of the country since 1970. Sultan Qaboos is the longest-serving current ruler in the Middle East, and sixth-longest current reigning monarch in the world.

Oman has modest oil reserves, ranking 25th globally. Nevertheless, in 2010 the UNDP ranked Oman as the most improved nation in the world in terms of development during the preceding 40 years. A significant portion of its economy is tourism and trade of fish, dates, and certain agricultural produce. This sets it apart from its neighbors’ solely oil-dependent economies. Oman is categorized as a high-income economy (Wikipedia).

About Al Sawadi

Al Sawadi (or simply Sawadi) is a resort town near Muscat, Oman. It is one of the most famous places in Oman. It has a beautiful beach. Many people like to spend their holiday in this place (Wikipedia).

Beach Camping at Al Sawadi (2008)

Fishermen - Al Sawadi

Our tents - Teachers from Ibri COAS who camped out on the beach for a weekend

Blair (Australia), still fast asleep in the early morning hours

Our Tent

Salim, an Omani kid, who came to speak to us. I asked him what one
calls chocolate in Arabic, to which he answered Galaxy...
which is a brand of chocolate you find in Oman.

The fishing boat that took a bunch of us over to the island to do some snorkeling

The boat 'captain'

Some of the teachers enjoying the sun and snorkeling on the little island.
We stayed here for a couple of hours before we were fetched again to return to the mainland