Hey, everyone. I have been back in SA since Jan. 8th. I paid a visit to Zambia and my old haunts and now-grown-up kids (our youth group), especially, and it was a delight.
     I also spent a weekend with a family whose male head (there is also a female head) I worked with at J&P in Pretoria some years back. I was shocked when he said that he would send his daughter, Paleng, to fetch me from the airport. I think that the last time I saw Paleng, she must have been about 7 yrs. old and now she is not only driving her own car but has also earned herself a Master's degree. Does that make you feel old or what? But, that too was a delight, to see the kids growing up and being involved in making this a better society for all through the application of their gifts and talents. Hooray!
     I remember with deep satisfaction the time I spent at home with my family, reconnecting after many years of absence, as well as a kind of smug satisfaction to be able to say I went to school again and " I passed!" Never too late.
     I am back at my old job of being the project manager for our now-29 flats. Whenever there is a problem, water, electricity, bad smell, rubbish, broken pipes, leaking faucets, etc. etc. etc. , that's me!
    I also look after our Abbot Francis Home, where a few of us live here permanently, and others come and go looking for hospitality (a bed, a meal, a chance to chill out, etc. ).
     Now they want to make me the postulant master, e.g. to lay the foundations, at least thinking wise, for those who think they may have a vocation to the religious life. Talk about a full schedule. Although this will be a team effort, it will revolve around my being present and organizing. It should be interesting if it doesn't kill me.
     I will also start teaching at Khanyisa High School. Two classes of seniors, mostly non-catholic, but we all have a stake in the society we live in and help to shape and not only be shapen by. We shall see how that goes. I am really looking forward to that.
     I gained about 10 pounds (4 kgs.) while I was home and an trying, not too successfully, to shed some of it. I am not used to looking like this. Ahem!
    Well, enough for now. I will be preparing my Xhosa sermon now. Till be meet here again. Love and peace, Cas.