Chapter 10
Door: Sarajan Graanoogst
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Sarajan
10 November 2014 | Zuid-Afrika, Bloemfontein
"More newbies, conflict resolution and new working tasks"
A lot of new people showed up the day Hector and Taru left. There were 2 couples: Hans and Theresa and Andreas and Ann. With the new group there also came a Danish girl Cecilie, 3 Norwegian girls Toné, Marie and Janine and an American guy Timothy. Later on they were joined by another Danish girl Mette. Including all these new people the grand total of volunteers was increased to a record high of around 24.
Straight from the beginning there seemed to be frictions between the couples and the Norwegians from the old gang. There were also a lot of complaints due to the fact that in those days the winter was stricter than it had been in years. The freezing temperatures caused bursting water pipes, cancelling any warm water plans. The heaters also didn’t work as good as they should, so all the private rooms were not really up to the standards that were expected.
All the sounds of discontent urged me to start another suggestions list to help people vent and get input that might help improve Zanchieta’s wild cat farm. The list revealed a lot of tensions and discontent, but we (Janne and I) hopefully managed to smooth things over a bit and work it out with Jeanna and I sincerely hope that it will improve the situations for future volunteers.
With so many people basics were done in at least an hour and projects started soon after. Collectively we cleaned the garage, cut and raked hay, built a dam for a water hole and started destroying a lookout that had been built as an earlier project. The lookout needed to be destroyed because the poles used needed to be reused as poles for a new lions’ enclosure.
As for the animals I must confess that I haven’t seen them a lot in the days after the new volunteers arrived. I have noticed that Casper was sulking and seemed to have less of an appetite. Miekie explained that his big-lions’ teeth were probably growing in. Alzu’s wounds have gotten a bit worse. Regrettably my position as the longest staying volunteer at that moment and diplomat with Jeanna saw me running from meetings to normal worker to the platform that was being destroyed to the kitchen to give directions as to which animal gets what for the afternoon feeding. I was sad to not see the animals as much during my last days.
In all honesty I had mixed feelings about leaving in all cases. I was curious to see what my next project would be, but I got sad just thinking about leaving my friends (human and animal). I was going to miss cuddling with Alzu, running with Casper and Sultan and listening to the big lions’ roaring at night and in the morning. But enough time for sentimentality later. I still have some days and I plan to make the most of them.
Tonight we will go out again to the same place I went with Celione, Emma and Sirin and I was looking forward to see how the locals would react to an invasion of volunteers from Zanchieta’s.
A lot of new people showed up the day Hector and Taru left. There were 2 couples: Hans and Theresa and Andreas and Ann. With the new group there also came a Danish girl Cecilie, 3 Norwegian girls Toné, Marie and Janine and an American guy Timothy. Later on they were joined by another Danish girl Mette. Including all these new people the grand total of volunteers was increased to a record high of around 24.
Straight from the beginning there seemed to be frictions between the couples and the Norwegians from the old gang. There were also a lot of complaints due to the fact that in those days the winter was stricter than it had been in years. The freezing temperatures caused bursting water pipes, cancelling any warm water plans. The heaters also didn’t work as good as they should, so all the private rooms were not really up to the standards that were expected.
All the sounds of discontent urged me to start another suggestions list to help people vent and get input that might help improve Zanchieta’s wild cat farm. The list revealed a lot of tensions and discontent, but we (Janne and I) hopefully managed to smooth things over a bit and work it out with Jeanna and I sincerely hope that it will improve the situations for future volunteers.
With so many people basics were done in at least an hour and projects started soon after. Collectively we cleaned the garage, cut and raked hay, built a dam for a water hole and started destroying a lookout that had been built as an earlier project. The lookout needed to be destroyed because the poles used needed to be reused as poles for a new lions’ enclosure.
As for the animals I must confess that I haven’t seen them a lot in the days after the new volunteers arrived. I have noticed that Casper was sulking and seemed to have less of an appetite. Miekie explained that his big-lions’ teeth were probably growing in. Alzu’s wounds have gotten a bit worse. Regrettably my position as the longest staying volunteer at that moment and diplomat with Jeanna saw me running from meetings to normal worker to the platform that was being destroyed to the kitchen to give directions as to which animal gets what for the afternoon feeding. I was sad to not see the animals as much during my last days.
In all honesty I had mixed feelings about leaving in all cases. I was curious to see what my next project would be, but I got sad just thinking about leaving my friends (human and animal). I was going to miss cuddling with Alzu, running with Casper and Sultan and listening to the big lions’ roaring at night and in the morning. But enough time for sentimentality later. I still have some days and I plan to make the most of them.
Tonight we will go out again to the same place I went with Celione, Emma and Sirin and I was looking forward to see how the locals would react to an invasion of volunteers from Zanchieta’s.
Reageer op dit reisverslag
Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
