Briewe van Elders/Letters from Elsewhere

Writer's block?  It was quite a sturdy block.  It was a while since I last wrote anything.  This edition doesn't really has anything to do with "elsewhere".  Nevertheless, I hope it will motivate me to continue writing. . Saturday 16 November was a very special day.   Gerhard, the youngest of my two boys, and I ran together for the first time in years.   It was the 5 km of the Valhalla Parkrun.   With that in mind, and to explain why it was such a special day, I turn the clock back to January 1994.   We had just moved to Pretoria, and the schools would start in a week or so after the Christmas recess.   Both the boys, who were still in the primary school, took part in the 1 200 m, and I thought they should make a good impression at the start of the athletics season in the new school.   I commandeered them that afternoon to go for a run. What a shock it was.   We had just started running when they left me behind.   I...

Skrywersblok?  Dit was 'n stewige blok.  Ek het lanklaas geskryf.  Hierdie aflewering het min te doen met "elders".  Maar hopelik help dit om weer te probeer. Gister, Saterdag 16 November was vir my ‘n besondere dag.   Ek en Gerhard, die jongste van my twee seuns, het vir die eerste keer in jare saam gehardloop.   Dit was die 5km van die Valhalla Parkrun.   Met dit in gedagte, en om te verduidelik waarom dit so ‘n besondere dag was, moet ek die horlosie terugdraai na Januarie 1994.   Ons het pas Pretoria toe getrek, en die skole sou oor ‘n week of so na die Kersreses weer begin.   Beide die seuns, wat toe nog in die laerskool was, het 1 200m gehardloop, en ek het gedink hulle moet darem ‘n goeie indruk maak met die begin van die atletiekseisoen in die nuwe skool.   Ek het hulle die namiddag opgekommandeer om te gaan draf.   Wat ‘n skok was dit nie vir my nie.   Ons het pas begin toe hardloop hulle vir my weg. ...

It was Saturday, March 20, 2004.  Piet Botha, the mechanic, and I were in a Samil 50 recovery vehicle, fitted with a mine protected cabin on our way from Asmara, the capital of Eritrea to Shilalo in the south-east of the country. I arrived in Asmara just before midnight on March 18, 2004.  I would work for Mechem, a South African landmine clearance organisation, which had a contract with the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), for three months, standing in for another person who was home on sick leave.  On Friday, the administrative process was completed and I became the proud owner of a UN ID card. And so my first trip to elsewhere began.  But that was not all.  Piet also had a trailer behind the vehicle with a front end loader loaded on it.  And 30 bags of cement and some other stock.  It was intended for the UN's mine action coordination centre’s office in Shilalo.  It was a tarred road for the first 50 kilometres to Men...

Dit is Saterdag, 20 Maart 2004.  Ek is saam met Piet Botha, die werktuigkundige, voor in ‘n Samil 50 herwinningsvoertuig met ‘n mynbestande kajuit op pad van Asmara, die hoofstad van Eritrea na Shilalo in die suid-ooste van die land.   Ek het pas, net voor middernag op 18 Maart 2004 in Asmara geland.  Ek sou vir Mechem, ‘n Suid-Afrikaanse landmynopruimingsorganisasie, wat ‘n kontrak met die VN se mynaksiediens gehad het, vir drie maande op aflos-basis daar gaan werk.  Die Vrydag is die administratiewe proses afgehandel, en het ek die trotse besitter van ‘n VN identiteitskaart geword. En so begin my eerste reis na elders.  Maar dit was nie al nie.  Piet moes ook ‘n sleepwa gelaai met een van daardie masjiene met ‘n laaigraaf voor en ‘n slootgrawer agter.  En nog 30 sakkies sement en ander voorraad.  Dit was bedoel vir die VN se mynaksie koördineringsentrum se kantoor in Shilalo.  Dit is teerpad vir die eerste 50 kilometer ...