One week, a thousand changes

Simon signing in:

Well, it has been a little while (again) since I wrote here but I guess the reason for that is clarified below.

This past week Rein and I have been in a whirlwind. Since our arrival at my parents' house in Western Australia we have been awaiting our next 'mission'. We knew when leaving The Kimberley that we did not have anything lined up to go onto so this is where we still are, waiting.

When you are not working and have nothing 'shored up', it really does play with your mind as to who you are, what you're 'doing with your life' and we both kind of went into panic mode.

We both started sending messages and going online to send word to the world that here we are, in Perth, ready to go further. No response. Rein attempted this again two days later. No response. It felt as though the world had stopped wanting us, as if we were had, spent, unwanted.

When these emotions start appearing, it is then that you start turning on each other, and this is what we started to do. We started to get angry with each other over the smallest of things. Every morning was a struggle. Rein has to get out of the house and I, I just revert to my book or the History channel.

Within the last week Rein had recommenced communication with his employers and we were within a hair's breath of finalising our sabbatical and going 'back to work'. I will not go into details on this front but can say that we are now still continuing on our sabbatical for a little while still.

Struggling through a week like this can make you go insane. We started to again panic that we do not have a home, so we have no where really to run or return. You can only stay with your parents for so long before they and you go insane and need you to go so we have been wanting to know what next! Also, this year we have been living of our savings so anytime spent where we are not keeping busy is money being spent without any return and living in Australia, well, for anyone not living here, Australia (especially Perth!) is bloody expensive! More expensive than Europe hands down! Rein and I cannot believe it.

But this past week, starting around Tuesday last, all things started to look brighter. Firstly, we got our first real bite on selling our 4wd. The new owner called quietly on a Tuesday morning and after a visit, and my and his negotiating a price, we shook hands and sold the car. This was the first real great news we had had since returning from the North. They came down that evening carrying cash and drove away. Both parties were happy. :-) It was a great car albeit we owned it for only 7 weeks.

On top of this, by Wednesday, Rein and I had made a decision on where we would go to recommence our lives and Rein sent off an email confirming we had made up our mind and stated which date would suit us. This also meant contacting Rein's parents and let them know how we were, what we were doing and well, whether we could kindly stay at their place for a little while. Finally that night we would sleep a little better. Sleep in the knowledge that this void in which we were living was closing up.

Sitting watching a movie that evening Rein walks in to announce that the organisation in which we registered in September last year had finally come back to us to offer an opportunity in Mozambique! And more incredible was that they wanted both Rein and ME! Me? Wow. I completely forgot that I too had given them my CV though I did not think I fitted the description of the people they hire. I was a little shell shocked at first, then happy.

This news certainly could not have come at a more bizarre time. One, we had only just three hours prior confirmed an option which meant stopping our sabbatical. Two, Rein's parents had been told to expect us earlier rather than later. THREE, we did not need to stop our sabbatical, but end it on this great note! So, that evening we would not be sleeping too well. Not just yet.

We now had to set up skype interviews and commence the paper work side of this opportunity. They understood our urgency, so the interview was set up for the following day afternoon (being on the far-end of the world means we have to wait for the afternoon for the rest of the world to wake up). It was successful so then Rein had the audacious task of calling up his employer to defer his start date by a few months. That too went down without too much trouble.

So now, once complete all the paperwork is complete, Rein and I will be off to Mozambique! More specifically, the Inhambane Province. The organisation we are going with is TechnoServe. They are a US organisation which has been active since 1968. Rein and I have been wanting to work with them the entire time though nothing had come up (strictly speaking, one opportunity in Morocco did come forward though we had committed to our work at The Kimberley, so therefore had to decline the offer, much to Rein's plea to go).

Nothing much to tell on the whole project as yet, but it would mean Rein and I are the 'team' working on this particular project and they will be taking care of us with their other permanent teams on the ground! As I state, when we know more we will let all know.

I have never been to Africa (except Morocco) and the prospect of visiting South Africa and Mozambique is amazing! This project too would mean spending our entire sabbatical year around the Indian ocean, which was not planned, but it just worked out that way.

Now Rein and I prepare for the departure which is still to be confirmed, but we are both very excited to again feel 'wanted' and to be heading somewhere to again give back, the purpose of what we started this year.

In looking back on this posting, and the past week, I guess we should learn that we need to be patient, that we need to look within ourself when these feelings start and to think about the other people we have worked with this past year, and remember the lessons learnt from them. We all live in this world and although it does not always go your way, it always works out in the end. One way or another.

Type you soon,

Simon