The little storyteller

Denzel’s mother came to class yesterday. She has a little baby called Valentina who is about 3 months ago. A real cutie. It seems that Denzel is a little storyteller. A bit like my nephew, Oliver. He is always telling long stories with a big grin on his face. Obviously I didn’t understand Denzel. I thought it was just baby babbling. It was great fun to have his mother translate for me. She said he came home from the afternoon tracking cheetah by the river and told her what fun he had had and how he had fallen in the water. I’m happy to hear the kiddies had as much fun as I did.

Stoffle (the assistant manager) got stung by a wasp this afternoon. We rummage through three different first aid kits that are kept on the farm trying desperately to find an antihistamine. No such luck. His whole neck has swollen up in lumps. Since we are 20kms from the road and 50kms from the nearest medical help, we can only hope that whatever reaction he is having is self-

limiting. If it does get worse, there are plenty of farm vehicles to take him into town. He seems to be okay now. I found out what the enormous scars on the owner’s dog are from. The dog is huge – about the size of a St. Bernard. I guess it’s a hunting dog and is a mixed breed of some sort. Apparently he got in a fight with a warthog. The warthog was probably half his size, but the tusks did quite a bit of damage. But they are old scars and “Bully” is actually a total sweety. That’s a good thing considering he’s probably bigger than me. I was worried that all these late dinners of wildebeest steak and oryx ragu were going to make me fat. Not so. I seem to be disappearing with the old Africa diet. It works every time.