Category Archives: South Africa

Returning to (relative) Normalcy

The girls made it safely home a couple of weeks ago.  We’ve had a steady stream of friends and relatives coming to stay at our house.  This weekend is the first in six months that we are home, just the … Continue reading

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God Bless America!

April Fools Day seems an appropriate time to post this.  This country never fails to disappoint.  We just received the following in the mail: Clea Sgewntu, of course, is Thania Clio Sgwentu, one of the South African girls staying with … Continue reading

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Amazing Race 2 in Cape Town

Last Wednesday, CBS broadcast an episode of Amazing Race 2 that had the participants fly to Cape Town, South Africa and perform a number of activities.  I had never heard of this show before until some people at work asked … Continue reading

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Pictures of the (Big) Fishes

On December 30th, I went out on a boat to see Great White Sharks.  That night, I posted my original story, Swimming With the (Big) Fishes .  I’ve finally got all my hard-copy pictures developed and scanned, so I can … Continue reading

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Tetile (Boy) Sgwentu

Boy Sgwentu (Tetile is his Xhosa name, but his friends and family call him Boy or Maboy ) is the patriarch of this beautiful family.  He’s a warm and loving father, a sharp and insightful thinker, a puller of legs, and … Continue reading

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The Sgwentus

Meet the Sgwentu family.  From left to right, they are Boy, Evelyn, Sipho, Nonswakazi, Teresa (my wife, or Auntie T as they call her), and Thania.  They are a new breed of South African – the middle-class black South African. … Continue reading

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South Africa Statistics Comparison

I’ve been telling many people stories today about our trip and I found that I needed to look up some geographic and demographic statistics about the country to help people understand it in comparison to the U.S.  The geographic ones … Continue reading

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Home and Rested and Happy

We’re home safe, well-rested, the girls are with us, and we’re having fun.  I took an extra day of vacation, remembering that Teresa slept for 15 hours straight when she came back last time.  But I work up this morning … Continue reading

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Heading Home

It’s our last few hours before climbing on a plane for 24 hours of travel back to Cleveland.  We are all packed and ready (physically and mentally).  The girls are very excited – Thania especially. For the next few weeks, … Continue reading

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Winding Down

Just a couple more days and we’ll be headed back to Cleveland, with the girls in tow.  The trip to Kruger and the Eastern Cape was amazing and exhausting.  This is a big country!  We drove 1800 km to Kruger … Continue reading

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