The college brings in the New Year with a BANG!

A neighbor who had it the worst, but he was away and is ok.



School on Monday?  Maybe not...



wind strong enough to bend a steel security fence

A BANG to the drum of a a terrible, terrible storm.

At one point in my South African career, I erroneously believed tornadoes only occurred in North America: NOT TRUE, NOT TRUE, NOT TRUE! Tornadoes most certainly occur in South Africa and if a tornado didn’t blow through my village on New Year’s Eve, then tornado-force winds certainly did! My trailer fared very well, considering my neighbors’ damage (as you can see)—mine only suffered only a broken window. And I am more than a bit grateful I was not here for the bringing in of the New Year!

As you can see from the top photo, my furthest neighbor, Mr. J, had his trailer flipped: the good news is that he wasn’t home either! School is supposed to resume on Monday (the 10th) but with all of the power wires down, I’m somewhat doubtful. Thorn trees were snapped at the trunk, huge pepper trees were uprooted, steel fences were twisted, and roofs were blown off of several of the educators’ houses

.I’ve not heard of anyone being hurt—if this is the case, my village is lucky indeed! Eish!

In this awful aftermath, I have developed an emergency evacuation plan: run for the most secure structure, and in my case, the students’ toilets—a stinky but much more protected spot for waiting out the fierce African winds!

Soon,
Karen




another neighbor's home shifted about 5 feet--note former staircase into home



trees down everywhere





But Ounaii is ok!