Long time no speak!
A whole new year has started here in the Caprivi Namibia - as it did elsewhere - but this year is special. It's been quite a long time since I have been on the blog, after 2010 turned out to be one of the worst years of my life..... Well, its over, and I made it! Between my own health - which is sorted out now, thanks, the loss of my good friend Hans after he lost his battle with cancer, - and what a terrifying, long and hard battle it was - everything is streamlined and going again, as it always will.
Meeting KnoedelHans:
Hans Rus had been one of Katima Mulilo's residents that stayed longest - he lived here 25 years.
Born in Unter Village in Austria in 1945, Hans completed apprenticeship in Confectionary in Austria, and moved to South Africa in 1965. He got temporary work in construction, but because of his slender built, they soon found him much better in the kitchen - and from the day he stepped under the hat there, he soon had plentyful jobs to choose from.
He tired of it all later, and moved to Namibia - then South West Africa - in 1974, where he became the Jagermeister representative for Brockmann & Kriess He moved to Katima in 1984 as the head of the bakery for Enok, one of the largest companies of then, baking bread and confectionary for the town's mostly defense force residents. He ran the butchery for a long time as well, and when peace came to Namibia - and sort of to the Caprivi - he decided to stay on.
He was diagnosed with glandular cancer in August 2008, and had a long suffering battle, going into a coma for 5 days in May 2009 in Windhoek following radiation therapy and recovered sufficiently to be sent home to Katima, but he never really got better after that. From the beginning of June 2010 he needed fulltime care, though he was such a proud "ou korrelkop" he looked after himself with ablution till the end, and had all his witt and humour untill the last day.
There is not a lot of people I know with that kind of quick dry humour on this earth - even though it was just sign language and the twinkle in his eyes when the tumour took hold of his voicebox.
He received the nickname KnoedelHans from his tendency to Knobel, which is a game played with 3 dice, cast from a leather cup, with the objective to get 3X 1's (Das general), 2 X wooden plankletts and 19 round little metal rings called deckels ( some play with 17 and some with 21).
He had this strange thing of handing out imaginary "stripes" to anyone who made silly mistakes, didn't think before they said something or played out of turn. If you had 3 stripes, you had to drink a short - and no, he didn't except imaginary shorts, I did try that.
There, now you met Hans as well! He is resting soundly on an island in the Zambezi, together with two of his other friends, and said he will "spook" the river's boats every now and then, so beware when passing there! ;-)
Caprivi Promotional Project & MagazineA whole new year has started here in the Caprivi Namibia - as it did elsewhere - but this year is special. It's been quite a long time since I have been on the blog, after 2010 turned out to be one of the worst years of my life..... Well, its over, and I made it! Between my own health - which is sorted out now, thanks, the loss of my good friend Hans after he lost his battle with cancer, - and what a terrifying, long and hard battle it was - everything is streamlined and going again, as it always will.
Meeting KnoedelHans:
Hans Rus had been one of Katima Mulilo's residents that stayed longest - he lived here 25 years.
Born in Unter Village in Austria in 1945, Hans completed apprenticeship in Confectionary in Austria, and moved to South Africa in 1965. He got temporary work in construction, but because of his slender built, they soon found him much better in the kitchen - and from the day he stepped under the hat there, he soon had plentyful jobs to choose from.
He tired of it all later, and moved to Namibia - then South West Africa - in 1974, where he became the Jagermeister representative for Brockmann & Kriess He moved to Katima in 1984 as the head of the bakery for Enok, one of the largest companies of then, baking bread and confectionary for the town's mostly defense force residents. He ran the butchery for a long time as well, and when peace came to Namibia - and sort of to the Caprivi - he decided to stay on.
He was diagnosed with glandular cancer in August 2008, and had a long suffering battle, going into a coma for 5 days in May 2009 in Windhoek following radiation therapy and recovered sufficiently to be sent home to Katima, but he never really got better after that. From the beginning of June 2010 he needed fulltime care, though he was such a proud "ou korrelkop" he looked after himself with ablution till the end, and had all his witt and humour untill the last day.
There is not a lot of people I know with that kind of quick dry humour on this earth - even though it was just sign language and the twinkle in his eyes when the tumour took hold of his voicebox.
He received the nickname KnoedelHans from his tendency to Knobel, which is a game played with 3 dice, cast from a leather cup, with the objective to get 3X 1's (Das general), 2 X wooden plankletts and 19 round little metal rings called deckels ( some play with 17 and some with 21).
He had this strange thing of handing out imaginary "stripes" to anyone who made silly mistakes, didn't think before they said something or played out of turn. If you had 3 stripes, you had to drink a short - and no, he didn't except imaginary shorts, I did try that.
There, now you met Hans as well! He is resting soundly on an island in the Zambezi, together with two of his other friends, and said he will "spook" the river's boats every now and then, so beware when passing there! ;-)
I am now starting in earnest with the Caprivi Promotional Project as the Chairperson, working on the new coffeetable type Caprivi Wetlands Magazine.
I am hoping to get some nice editorials in this year again, so if any of you have something, please let me know! We are still working on advertising costs, will let you know soonest, have a lot of bookings already though.
We still have ample amounts of the 2010 magazine, together with the Caprivi Map, let me know should you want some. Magazine and map is N$ 80-00 per set, posting excluded.
Promoting the Caprivi is a hell of a business, as there is so much to be said and done, I will never stop! I also nearly finished changing the website Caprivi.biz, but there is a lot of updating to be done still. Started a new site as well, Southern Africa by Boat, and will post when this very informative site is up - what you can do and see with floating transport throughout southern central Africa. Aliboats from Botswana saw the opportunity in advertising and I thank them GREATLY for making this site possible!
Flooding season is coming again, and the Zambezi is quite high already... The Zambezi River Flood has been bad the last 3 years, and it looks like we are in for a bad one again, as the water levels is already higher than last year same time... And the rain is not stopping in the catchment areas. Between the regular-like-clockwork updates that Guido van Langenhove, from the Namibia Hidrology Department, is giving and the good satelite and planning from Namibia Weather Website (http://www.namibiaweather.info/namibiacloud.php) we have a continuous stream of info regarding the floods and what is coming...
A huge thunderstorm just started outside, so I know the Internet - and probably electricity - is going to go soon, so ending time for today!
Keep well, speak soon!
I am hoping to get some nice editorials in this year again, so if any of you have something, please let me know! We are still working on advertising costs, will let you know soonest, have a lot of bookings already though.We still have ample amounts of the 2010 magazine, together with the Caprivi Map, let me know should you want some. Magazine and map is N$ 80-00 per set, posting excluded.
Promoting the Caprivi is a hell of a business, as there is so much to be said and done, I will never stop! I also nearly finished changing the website Caprivi.biz, but there is a lot of updating to be done still. Started a new site as well, Southern Africa by Boat, and will post when this very informative site is up - what you can do and see with floating transport throughout southern central Africa. Aliboats from Botswana saw the opportunity in advertising and I thank them GREATLY for making this site possible!
Flooding season is coming again, and the Zambezi is quite high already... The Zambezi River Flood has been bad the last 3 years, and it looks like we are in for a bad one again, as the water levels is already higher than last year same time... And the rain is not stopping in the catchment areas. Between the regular-like-clockwork updates that Guido van Langenhove, from the Namibia Hidrology Department, is giving and the good satelite and planning from Namibia Weather Website (http://www.namibiaweather.info/namibiacloud.php) we have a continuous stream of info regarding the floods and what is coming...
A huge thunderstorm just started outside, so I know the Internet - and probably electricity - is going to go soon, so ending time for today!
Keep well, speak soon!
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