Out of Touch

Back in the day, my father wrote to the London Missionary Society that our Mission HQ on Tarawa was ... inadequate as an HQ. The Society reminded my father that it was "fully equipped". My father sent them the details. Dining chairs "keep collapsing under guests". Wicker chairs "collapsed at first sitting". A trolley was "near to collapse". A bookshelf was "nearer to collapse". A wardrobe was "a tottering shell" ... OBSERVATION: My impression, looking over the correspondence, is that my father -- and my parents -- were doing a heroic work, yet this tended to be obscured by such everyday business.

Provost's Favourite

At the end of last year, I took various photos of seminary graduation -- which is the seminary where I teach. I handed a batch of photos afterwards to the Provost, the Principal -- here in a blue gown. Recently I went to see him in his office. I was pleased to see this photo displayed on his desk. Graduation 2025. OBSERVATION: Taken with an ultra-wide-angle 7.5 mm lens -- available through Amazon for Fujifilm*, Sony*, Canon*, and Nikon* cameras. I could only take in this scene from left to right because I had such a wide lens -- a full frame fisheye.

*This is an Amazon affiliate link. I earn a commission, at no cost to the buyer. 

Integration

There is a lot of talk about the integration of foreigners lately -- for example, in Europe. In South Africa, in spite of its upheavals, this has happened successfully at least twice:

1. There were the French refugees -- the Huguenots -- who were integrated into a Dutch colony. The Dutch demanded oaths of allegiance, dispersed the French among the population -- then came French language bans, and widespread intermarriage. Today, they are one people -- the Afrikaaners.

2. There were African refugees -- the Bhaca, the Bhele, Hlubi, Zizi, and Radebe -- who were integrated into the Xhosa nation. Xhosas demanded pledges of loyalty, dispersed the refugees among the population, integrated the fighting forces, and intermarried. Today, they are one people -- the Xhosas.

OBSERVATION: This is to put it very simply. My wife, incidentally, speaks the language of the Afrikaaners -- which originates with the Dutch -- and is mostly of Xhosa ancestry.

Africa Burning

It's been a cold winter in Cape Town -- far away from the world, on the southern shores of Africa. Yet relying purely on observation, one would be able to tell that there is a global crisis. The sunshine has cast a yellow hue for a long time, and a fine yellow ash has fallen over the city. A shop assistant said to me, "No doubt someone's field has gone up in flames." More likely, I should think, the world has gone up in flames. OBSERVATION: 85 million hectares burned across sub-Saharan Africa during the peak early season of 2026 -- more than half of all burned land globally in a very bad year worldwide.

Worse Than Bad

Recently I reported that someone had broken into my e-mail account. They deleted and double-deleted all my Sent mail. This was a bit of a disaster. Afterwards, I obtained the log from my ISP. I showed it to DeepSeek AI. Was it a random hacker? "No." Who was it? DeepSeek revealed who it "likely" was, and bravely gave me three names. OBSERVATION: However, here was the big surprise. The log that I showed DeepSeek AI just had a lot of numbers in it, e.g. 117.26.40.175. But DeepSeek -- commenting on why people might want to do this -- quoted from the deleted e-mails! What? Perhaps DeepSeek found my deleted e-mails in my Inbox -- which is to say, some Inbox items incorporated deleted e-mails. But then, how would DeepSeek access my Inbox? A webmaster looked it over and commented cryptically, "It's worse than I thought."

Micronesian Woman Weaving

My father took this photo in the mission in the Central Pacific, in the 1960's -- of a Micronesian woman weaving a mat. This was likely in the Southern Gilberts. The culture was characterised by joy -- as one sees in the photo. OBSERVATION: She wove into this mat the pattern of her clan. It was a symbol of ownership. The mat is woven with strips of the pandanus leaf.

⅔ of a Million

As I look back on this month, my blog has had more than two-thirds of a million views -- which is a record. By way of comparison, in the previous month it had just over 150,000 views. OBSERVATION: It remains a mystery to me, why it is so popular. Wife E says it is because my blog is not more of the same. It does not talk about the usual. Others have pointed to the ordinary-academic mix. Others have pointed to the fact that I share the trials of life, from time to time. I could also mention, photos. Or my inter-cultural life. And a policy of one post = one thought. What then is its secret to success? Really, I don't know!

Church Orchestra

Most Churches have a keyboardist or a music team. This Church had a small orchestra. It is a New Apostolic Church in Cape Town. OBSERVATION: The New Apostolic Church is led by a Chief Apostle, with a hierarchy of apostles. They have three sacraments: Baptism, Holy Communion, and Holy Sealing: the Holy Spirit transmitted through the laying-on of hands by an apostle, after water baptism. It is a thriving Church.

‘I'll Kill Him!’

This one is not for sensitive readers. A woman called me up to say that she wanted to see me. Her husband had taken to drinking again. “If he walks in drunk,” she said, “I swear I’ll kill him!” I said, “Is an hour soon enough?” Yes, she said, soon enough. Ten minutes later she called me again. She said calmly, “He’s lying downstairs in a pool of blood". I went over, and she was nowhere to be found -- but her husband was in a distressing condition, on his back -- surrounded by a pool of blood. A security guard had popped an eye back into the socket. How he knew how to do that I wouldn’t know. They kept him awake all night at the hospital, apparently to keep him from slipping into a coma. Then they operated on him for 2½ hours to save the eye. OBSERVATION: So what happened? They ran over a tape from a security camera, but it had happened just off-camera. And nobody was talking.

Motionless at the Lagoon

This one's "just a pretty picture". My father took it in the 1960's, on Beru atoll, in the Central Pacific -- where our family lived in the mission. OBSERVATION: He said about this photo that he could not comprehend how islanders could sit motionless for hours at a time, staring at the lagoon. What were they thinking about?

POSTSCRIPT: I used a Kodak SCANZA to convert this image from slide to digital.*

*This is an Amazon affiliate link. I earn a commission, at no cost to the buyer.