We are so sorry we didn’t post for a while. We’ve been very busy and have experienced so much past 2 weeks! Since our last blog post we went to Botshabelo community and met a lot of awesome people, we went on safari, we did all our productions, went back to Holland and we’ve started with our documentations and with the sorting of all our pictures for the deadline next friday.
Well lets start at the beginning. After we arrived in Africa and went to a very nice hotel for one day of relaxing we found out that the last minute car rental was so much more expensive as expected. For about €600 we got a wonderful Kia Picanto with navigation system etc, Almost all the cars at the rental where white, probably because of the heat in Africa. But ours got a beautiful color, I think I can call it: lime. Next problem “how do we put our baggage in that car!?” That’s what I immediately started thinking, the first time I saw the car. Well take a look yourself and imagine 3 people, 3 big suitcases, 1 small suitcase+2 bags and our video stuff
Well it was a kind of miracle because all our stuff did fit in that car! Than it was Baukes time for a big challenge, driving on the left side of the road and ofcourse (sitting on the left side in the car+doing some actions like shifting gears with the left hand instead of right.)
In the early afternoon we arrived safely in Botshabelo. We met Con Cloete and had a very nice talk with him about life, issues etc. After that talk we got the keys of our wonderful volunteer home and went to the supermarket. The first time in the supermarket was a kind of crazy. I got the feeling that the ‘Apartheid’ still exists. Most of the shopping people in the market were white and the people who were fulfilling the lower functions were colored. It did not feel totally right and it gave me a kind of bad feeling.
The first days in the community we were just walking around to see how it worked there. The people had to get used to us. Leigh Cloete showed us the whole community, from the sleeping rooms and school to the shacks where some families live. It was kind of hard to see the situation. It looked so bad at the first sight. But the longer we stayed in Botshabelo and the more people we met the better the feeling became. People in Botshabelo are very positive and full of energy. In that way we also discovered that the community is an awesome gift for them. It gives them the possibility to love, grow and learn.
Another thing I have to write about is our safari. Well lets say 2 safari trips! Our first saturday we went to national park Pilanesberg and our first sunday we went to Rhino and Lionspark. It was so amazing to see some animals in the wild. And the nature is so peaceful, I wish I could go on safari every day! Here are some of my pictures.
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After our weekend off our fulltime production week from monday till monday started. It is way to much to write about, that’s why I try to put it in a very small recap and show it in a small slideshow. We did a lot of brainstorming, test shots, about 10 interviews and we’ve filmed a lot of situations and environments. We were daily available for filming from 9:00 till 17:30. Yes only till 17:30 because that was the time when it got quite dark (we don’t like unnecessary noise in our productions). Most of the evenings we had a tea moment with Nicole and Leigh Cloete. That was the moment where we spoke about our day, what we needed for our documentary/planning and of course sometimes about some nice less formal subjects as well.
Well I can just say we had so much nice and inspiring impressions during our trip and we met so much amazing people. We all wish to go back soon. Now we’re back in Holland again and we have to finish documentations for our deadline next friday. And tomorrow we will start with the edit of the documentary as well.
Again we would love to thank all our sponsors! Without you it wasn’t possible to make this amazing trip and to make all of our material. Here a small impression of our 2 weeks in South Africa.
You will hear from us again soon!
Stephanie
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