Vusi Mahlasela (no, not Vusi Nicholson) is touring America with Bela Fleck (a "banjo virtuoso," apparently) and is going to be performing near you soon! Vusi Mahlasela is one of South Africa's great musicians and singer/songwriters. His music is generally in a folk style - his guitar and his amazing voice singing together in a number of South African languages - and is worth making an effort to hear.
Oh - and d/l the latest episode of the ServLife Africa podcast... should be up now, or very shortly. While you're at it, d/l the first two episodes that you didn't listen to yet. :)
When one blogs as sporadically as I do, one is bound to have tons of ideas for blog posts that never made it online. Lucky you, I've decided to post again - but the cheap and easy way by clearing out my blog idea folder. It is a very big folder that only grows and never shrinks... here is one small step toward the shrink.
It has been a month and seven days since my last post on this lonely blog. In case you were wondering, based on my last post, I'm actually back from Zimbabwe. Have been for a while.
Back to Zimbabwe tomorrow for the second time in as many months. The crisis there deepens daily, and we are fortunate to have some new friends making the trip with me, as they have raised a nice chunk of money to help out the kids in the church home for orphans with whom we partner.
The brother and family arrive in a few hours. I haven't been grocery shopping, haven't cleaned the house, and generally haven't prepared anything at all. So instead of posting, I'm passing on four "must-read" links. Take a minute between glasses of champagne to read and remember Zimbabwe - there is no celebration there tonight.
I'm used to celebrating warm Christmases. After all, for 29 consecutive years, I spent Christmas day in the American South - specifically in Florida, Georgia, or (I think maybe once or twice) in South Carolina. It was possible for Christmas to be cold in Georgia, but not that cold, and in Florida, a cold Christmas was rare at best. I never dreamt of a white Christmas, I never heard sleigh bells in the snow, I never roasted chestnuts on an open fire, and I certainly never understood why any old man would wear such a thick fur-lined velvet suit in a Florida mall. I remember that it dipped below freezing one year on Christmas and we ran the garden hose over the deck the night before to make icicles. That happened once. I remember several years when the neighborhood kids quit playing outside with our new toys because it was too hot and went swimming instead. I suppose that to some that wouldn't seem like Christmas, but it does to me - that was Christmas in the South.
This is Gugulethu (Goo-goo-lay-too), or Gugu for short. At least that's what he is called at Musha Wevana children's home in Zimbabwe where he now lives. Gugu has got to be one of the cutest little two year olds I've met - he loves attention, climbing up into my lap and perching himself there for the duration of each of my visits to his home.
I returned home today from a quick trip up to Zimbabwe - so many sad stories to tell - but I am in desperate need of a shower and warm bed.
