Reading at the Shine Centre

Last week I started a new term as a 'learning partner" volunteer with two students as part of The Shine Centre educational program. Shine has a fabulous program for teaching second language learners English in grades 2 and 3. I learned about them last year because of a request they made to our Constantia Rotary Club for help with purchasing glasses for the children. After meeting the dynamic team leading the organization and reading about how effective they have been in improving the reading levels of over 700 children who come very disadvantaged backgrounds I wanted to get involved. Our club partnered with my old club from South Burlington Vermont to provide funds for the Shine Centre to get glasses for children with vision problems.

And now, I have the privilege of trying to help two sweet little African children whose first language is Xhosa to learn and understand our strange, confusing and inconsistent English language at the Zonnebloem primary school. Zonnebloem is a neighborhood between Woodstock and Observatory on one of the hillsides just outside the Cape Town city bowl. The children generally come by train and then walk up the big hill to the school. I am pictured here with Liphelo who is a lively and bright little girl who needs help with her reading and writing. The boys and girls are taught separately so there are two sessions for the children with girls in one and boys in the other. this year, Shine has needed to take many more boys into the program because many did not get the material from 1st grade. The little boy also struggles but he is working hard and I am sure we will make progress.

Have a look at the Shine website at www.theshinecentre.com or blog www.shinecentrecapetown.blogspot.com to learn more about this wonderful organization - you can even adopt a student if you want to help!

The Rubbish Bin Cello

On Saturday we enjoyed an evening of baroque music. We attended a concert at Welgemeend which is a private home that was donated to the Jan Van Riebeeck High School many years ago and is now used for private functions. The building is in a beautiful setting in central Cape Town with a lovely garden. Inside the house has an impressive collection of South African art, gorgeous old furniture and rooms that can be prepared for many uses.

Our friend Jeni who loves classical music and often knows about intimate performances around town asked us to join her. I am so glad that we took her up on this invitation. Not surprisingly, it turns out that she knew one of the musicians, a cellist named Angela. Angela was playing a cello that has been restored as a Baroque cello which means that it has real gut strings, not stainless steel.

The star instrument, if you will, was a violoncello piccolo, a five stringed smallish cello, which was rescued from a rubbish bin (thus the nickname) in Paarl, a town just 30 minutes outside Cape Town. After some research and checking, it was determined that the wood pieces of this cello were authentic and really old, dated 1707 - its likely origin traced to Bach's area of Germany -astonishing. It was obviously an honour for Hans Huyssen, the leader of the ensemble, to be playing this instrument. He adapted Bach sonatas written for the 6- stringed viola da gamba for the performance. However and whenever it arrived in South Africa, this violoncello was lovingly restored by a man who is the only one who could have done it. He was in the audience and gratefully acknowledged by Hans.Hans was a multi-talented composer, conductor and performer. For more information about him, you can check out his web site: http://www.huyssen.de/Biography.html

The real test is the sound of the music played which was incredibly rich and delicious. The trio consisted of the violoncello, a double board harpsichord and Baroque cello. The musicians performed 3 Bach sonatas and one Bach Toccata for solo harpsichord. The music was beautiful, varied and excellently played. I often note how much I enjoy live music and wonder why we do not attend more concerts. We shall correct that over the next six months in this city where concerts are plentiful, accessible and affordable.

One lingering memory of the evening is the brief conversation I shared with the harpsichordist. We spoke about the master who made his instrument and the gift it presents for him to be playing this technically amazing, beautiful harpsichord, owned by a private individual. It is an accurate reproduction of a Dutch harpsichord. The skill and delight of the musician was obvious, especially in the Toccata he performed.

So, should you have the opportunity to attend live music in Cape Town, you must take it - and savor the experience.

Aubergines, Franck and the Food Barn

This past Wednesday we went along with some friends to a restaurant called the Food Barn in Noordhoek, about 20 minutes from here near the ocean. The chef at the Food Barn is Franck Dangereux, I kid you not, and he does a wintry thing of weekly cooking demonstrations that one is welcome to attend if you are dining there. Michael and I attended one last winter: it was such fun that I've been waiting for the cool weather to return with Franck behind the cooking arena.

Franck is an award winning French chef who used to lead the kitchen at a restaurant called La Colombe, one of the best French restaurants in Cape Town. (Actually La Colombe is around the corner from us at Constantia Uitsig, an old established wine farm in Constantia and one of Michael's boyhood haunts.) A few years ago, he left there and then started up this little Bistro and deli with less formal but equally delicious food.


When I saw that Franck was demonstrating all things with eggplant I immediately thought of our new young American friend and Rotary Ambassadorial scholar Toni who is a vegetarian and loves to cook. So off we went, Toni, Michael and I as well as Lloyd and Penny (yes another one)- friends we have made in Rotary. I knew we would all enjoy watching Franck cook and learning a few tips.

Franck makes it all look so easy. He made seared tuna served on a bed of baba ganoush, an eggplant tartlet and grilled aubergine slices as part of a salad with Haloumi cheese. He even showed us how to make a basic mayonnaise which is pretty funny for we Americans who have Hellmann's. Here, all my foodie friends know how and, with some regularity, make their own mayonnaise - so far I've resisted but with Franck's helpful hints I'm now going to give it a try.

The food picture is a rather poor shot of the finished dishes taken in the mirror which hangs over the cooking area. One of the most interesting discoveries of the night were a cinnamon oil that Franck makes for drizzling on the tuna and the other was a simple balsamic syrup which he uses for many things. Franck moves quickly but fortunately Toni was there with her iPhone and took notes on her little screen which she has already sent to us.


When we sat down for dinner after the demonstration, we all ordered the exact dishes we had seen him make - they were so yummy! We left well fed and amused. We shall definitely return and we shall try out some of the recipes ourselves!

Lessons from a Lively Dog

I've realized recently that the only way to approach this blog is to simply take a few minutes frequently to note our happenings.

Today's observation is about what I learned from two dogs. On this evening's walk with Emma at one of our regular haunts she was doing the usual - standing near the cars waiting to meet other dogs and hoping one might befriend her. While this is usually not a successful endeavor for her she does not give up hope - lesson one.

While she was standing around (like a lost f_ _ t, as Michael might say) a car arrived and out of it came a couple and four assorted dogs. I use the term assorted intentionally as they were all mixed breeds and two of them were missing a limb. I noticed this immediately on the mini-dog who looked like a long haired chihuahua cross because she waddled just slightly. Nevertheless, she was swift and capable. The other dog was a sleek short haired yellow mix of perhaps a boxer and something bigger with a white blaze on her head and neck. She sped across the field so quickly and with such agility that you would never know she was missing a limb - she obviously doesn't see herself as missing anything- and had such joy to be running and chasing animals in the field - that was my second dog lesson for the day. We continued to cross paths with this lovely pack of dogs as we walked and I took heart from their joy, particularly of the speedy yellow dog.

So, that's my observation for today - let us see what tomorrow will bring!