Die Meerkat

Ek het die boek vandag raakgeloop. Dis die mees oulikste kinderboek boek wat ek lanklaas gesien het. Die tou – wat lyk soos rêrige tou – is deel van die boekomslag. Jy kry die idee dat dit ‘n regte stukkie tou is wat om die boek gebind is as jy op ‘n afstand daarna kyk. Meerkatte is een van my gunsteling Afrika-diere…My gunsteling voël is die Tarentaal.

Voorin is allerlei humoristiese sê-goetjies en interessanthede oor die Meerkat-familie, o.a. hulle motto: Stay Safe, Stay Together.

Sunny Meerkat decided to find the perfect place to stay – and then sent postcards home about his travels and experiences. The Meerkat motto is: Stay Safe, Stay Together. [and sleep together!] Click photos for a larger view, especially the photo following the next photo, so you can read the message.

Binne in die boek is verskeie poskaarte wat deur die Meerkat – wat besluit het om te travel om die perfekte plek te soek om te bly,  huistoe gestuur is. Hier kan jy een so ‘n poskaart sien. Die volgende foto is die agterkant met die boodskap. Klik die foto sodat jy die boodskap kan lees.

Die einde van die storie. Soort van ‘n foto-album.  Sunny Meerkat het besluit om terug te keer huistoe – slegs na ‘n week!  ‘n Baie oulike idee van die skryfster, Emily Gravett. Ek kyk graag Meerkat Manor, dit word nou weer op Channel 5 uitgesaai, episode 2 was gister en jy kan die video’s op hul webbladsy kry tot ‘n maand nadat dit uitgesaai is. Wel, terwyl ek heerlik kuier, onthou die Meerkat motto: Stay Safe, Stay Together! [and sleep together!] Ek sal nou nie soos Sunny Meerkat kan belowe dat ek gaan ‘skryf’ nie, dus, hou die blink kant bo en moenie vergeet: 14 Augustus is Afrikaans-dag nie! Die dag waarop die GRA gestig is. [14/8/1875] O ja, Vrouedag is 9 Augustus.

Hierdie volgende gedig het ek op laerskool geleer [moes!] en ek kon nie die hele gedig onthou nie. Baie dankie aan Koos van Rensburg wat die gedig vir my op die blog in ‘n boodskap kom plaas het!

Die Meerkat

Die Meerkat deur C.F. Hofmeyer

Spitse snoetjies, donker ogies
stertjie lank en kaal
lange naels, skerp soos naalde
en ‘n jassie vaal.

In die moreson se strale
in die oggenddou,
penorent sien jy die meerkat,
sy kinders en sy vrou.

Spoedig loop hul heen en weertjies
knibbel hier en daar,
grawe gou lekker uintjies:
oggendmaal is klaar

Sonder sorge is hul lewe
in die ope lug,
tot daar kom die wrede honde –
Ja! dan moet hul vlug.

DIE MEERKAT

Regop sit die meerkat teen die bult, sy koppie roerloos,
fyn gesny en slim met die ogies soos vonke daarin;
hy staar na die verdorde velde en die slingerloop van die paaie
en hou die bosse dop van waar die dood gou kan bespring.
Maar niks lewe of roer in die rondte en die somerson is `n bol
vlammende vuur wat ver en wyd die berge laat tril in die hitte
Dan roer hy sy kop en die omgewing, verras en ontwaak, vloei na die lewe
na wat daar beweeg het, en verstol dan weer gou in die doodsheid.
En waarom hy ook moet lewe, die rooimeerkat met penregop lyf,
dit weet niemand – hy, nog die lang ketting lewe lank voor hom.

Nou spring die omgewing in aandag; geluid het gekom oor die stilte,
`n gulsige hond met hangende tong het verskyn en sy woeste geblaf, val luid teen die lug en eggo die klowe dan in.
`n Paar draaie, vervolger en vervolgde die verskroeide aarde oor,
dat die pote dreun en gehyg van `n asem gulsig bly gaan.
Dan net `n fyn, angstige skreeu en die meerkat ril nog `n keer
en sterwe met sy tandjies wit na die sonlig daarbo.
Die hond gaan dan snuffelend verder en daar hoog kras `n
kraai –
was hy nodig – die meerkat – en wie van ons sal dit raai?

CM van den Heever

Ek is uiteindelik oppad, ongelukkig slegs vir ‘n baie kort tydjie. Gelukkig kon ek die tydjie afknyp om weer bietjie in Suid-Afrika te gaan kuier, anders sou nog ‘n jaar verby gegaan het sonder dat ek die familie gesien het.

Hierdie liedjie is baie mooi – met veral die mooi tonele uit SA.

Halala Afrika

Toe die wêreld hier nog jong was en die horison wyd en oop
Was dit groen hier in die halfrond, suid van die ewenaar
En in die skemer as die son sak en die beeste huis toe loop
Klink die roepstem van die vroue oor die heuwels van die land:
Halala, ewig is ons Afrika.
Tula tula mtanami, tula tula sanaboni, tula tula mtanami,
Ubab uzobuya sihlale naye, ubab uzobuya sihlale sonke, Hmmm-Hmmm

Toe kom die skepe uit die weste, wit seile oor die see
Om te vra vir koos en water en te bly vir so veel meer.
En die land wat een tyd oop was, die land het ons verruil
Vir die ghetto’s van die stede is ons koperdraad gegee.
Halala, ewig is ons Afrika
Halala, sasiphila, kamnandi, halala, mayibuye Afrika
Tula tula mtanami, tula tula sanaboni, tula tula mtanami,
Ubab uzobuya sihlale naye, ubab uzobuya sihlale sonke, Hmmm-Hmmm

Daar was rykdom in die maag van ons moeder Afrika
Diamante en ook steenkool, goud, edel metaal
En die mense word die slawe hier want die mense word betaal
Om te tonnel in die aarde elke greintjie uit te haal
En die groot en oop grasvlaktes span dit toe met doringdraad
En van die olifant tot die gemsbok al die diere moes kom buig
Voor die mag van die grootwildjagter voor die mag van sy groot geweer
Totdat net die stilte oorbly, totdat net die stilte heers.

Halala, ewig is ons Afrika.
Halala, sasiphila, kamnandi, halala, mayibuye Afrika
Sasidjapolutjoloythina
Halala, sasiphila, kamnandi, halala, mayibuye Afrika
Source: southafrica.com/forums/language/5041-zulu-translation-request.html  Krediet vir foto met Tafelberg: Suid-Afrikaanse Lugdiens

Read Full Post »

Fiela’s Child and other books

Read here about the book :”Circles in the Forest” and about “Big Foot”…

Afrikaans…scroll down….
Dalene Matthee was one of South Africa’s most talented authors, the best popular novelist that I know….. She wrote mainly in Afrikaans, but many of her books were translated into 14 other lanuages, such as Italian, Hebrew, Spanish, German, French, English, Icelandic, etc. Two of her books were filmed, “Fiela’s Child” and “Circles in the forest”…  Her first children’s novel…”Die Twaalfuur stokkie”… “The Twelve o’clock stick” was written in 1970. I LOVE this story and used to read the story to children in London-schools! They loved to listen to the Afrikaans Language and I explained the story via the pictures to them. It’s the best children’s story I’ve come across to explain to little children – age about 5-8 – the concept about time and the earth spinning around the sun… by using a stick in the sun. Read also about the memorial that was unveiled in Feb 2008 in honour of her!
Click HERE to read about Fiela’s Child, the movie.

Please click HERE to read about Dalene Matthee.

SA writers mourn Dalene Matthee
20/02/2005 21:20 – (SA)

Dalene Matthee – 1938-2005

Dalene Matthee dies 

Laetitia Pople , Die Burger

Cape Town – “Maybe she just held out until her new book, Die Uitgespoeldes, and its translation was done,” Dalene Matthee’s daughter Amanda said on Sunday after the author died in her sleep. The 66-year-old Matthee died in the Bayview clinic, Mossel Bay, early on Sunday morning. She was admitted to the clinic for heart failure on Thursday.

The death of Matthee – who was especially well known for her forest trilogy, of which the first, Kringe in ‘n Bos (Circles in a Forest, first appeared in 1984 and was reprinted 22 times – is being described as a huge loss for the Afrikaans reading public. “She was one of the most well-loved popular novelists in Afrikaans. “With her books such as Kringe, Fiela se Kind (Fiela’s Child), Pieternella van die Kaap and, more recently, Toorbos, she got the general Afrikaans public reading again, and she successfully bridged the gap between quality and popular literature,” said Eloise Wessels, chief executive of NB Publishers, on Sunday.

Novelist Elsa Joubert agrees. “She succeeded in getting people who never read Afrikaans to read in the language, and that’s been a wonderful contribution,” she says. The literary expert Wium van Zyl believes she was like Langenhoven.

“Like him, she had something to offer the intellectual reader and for the everyday reader. “She exposed the reader to various challenges. She was an ecologist and a mild feminist who considered the poor with attention and respect.”

If there’s someone whom the entire South African writers’ community mourns today, it would be Matthee, said Abraham H de Vries. “The voice of one of the best storytellers has fallen silent.“Only she could have written those forest stories – no one else could.”

Film-maker Katinka Heyns, who directed the movie based on the book Fiela se Kind, remembers how she spent two hours with Matthee in the Knysna forest. “The forest would tell Dalene if I may make the movie. She did not say a word and only sat listening. “And then I had to wait an enitre night before she gave the answer.”

Matthee was famous for the rigorous research she did for her books. She researched only her forest trilogy (Kringe, Fiela and Moerbeibos) for seven years, and Pieternella took three years’ research.

Matthee’s books were translated into 14 languages, including French, German, Spanish, Italian, Hebrew and Icelandic. She won the ATKV prize for good popular fiction four times and was honoured with a Swiss literature prize for her “energetic literary work and her passionate interest in nature conservation” in Zurich in 1993. Die Uitgespoeldes is the story of Moses Swart, a foundling raised by an Afrikaans family after being found under a jacket on the beach. Matthee is survived by her three daughters, Amanda and Hilary Matthee and Toni van der Walt. Her husband, Larius, died two years ago.
Origninal news article HERE as it was reported in 2005.
The forest novels
Kringe in ‘n bos (Circles in a forest) (1984)
Fiela se Kind (Fiela’s Child) (1985)
Moerbeibos (The Mulberry Forest) (1987)
Toorbos (Dream Forest) (2003)

Other published works
Die twaalfuurstokkie (The twelve-o’-clock stick) (1970)
’n Huis vir Nadia (A House for Nadia) (1982)
Petronella van Aarde, burgemeester (Petronella van Aarde,Mayor) (1983)
Brug van die esels (The Day The Swallows Spoke) (1993)
Susters van Eva (Sisters of Eve) (1995)
Pieternella van die Kaap (Pieternella from the Cape) (2000)
Die Uitgespoeldes (Driftwood) (2005)

 Dalene Matthee Memorial

Wow! I was sent SANPARKS-link by a blogger-friend, Chris after he’s read my post about Dalene Matthee and I want to thank him as this is really fantastic!
Dalene Matthee Memorial Unveiled at Wilderness National Park
On Saturday, 23 February 2008, close family, a few selected SANParks officials and the press witnessed the unveiling of a memorial in honour of the late writer, Dalene Matthee. It was Matthee ’s fervent wish to have her ashes scattered in the Knysna Forest and her three daughters saw it as a fitting remembrance to their mom, to have a special memorial erected in the place Matthee so loved.

“After three years this project has fallen into place and the family will be eternally grateful to the Wilderness National Park staff for making it all happen”, says Hillary Matthee, the writer’s youngest daughter.

SANParks contribution included the building of a boardwalk around the memorial, the renaming the big tree to the Dalene Matthee Big Tree and the marking of a circular hiking trail to the “Circles in a Forest” trail. The memorial, tree and trail will now form part of the park’s cultural heritage programme.

Matthee based many of her books, especially Fiela’s Child, Circles in a Forest and Moerbeibos on the life and people of the forest. Her books have been translated into 14 languages.

Dignitaries at the unveiling ceremony included Mvusy Songelwa (Regional Manager of the Garden Route National Parks) who unveiled the memorial, Edgar Nevuvhalani (People and Conservation Cultural Heritage Manager) and Dr. Razeena Omar (Executive Director: People and Conservation), who befittingly mentioned what an honour it is for SANParks to house a memorial for a woman who has done so much to bring nature and the forests to the hearts of all people who read her books.

The memorial, Big Tree and the Circles in a Forest Trail is situated at the Krisjan se Nek picnic site in the Goudveld Forest (close to Knysna), which now forms part of the Wilderness National Park. Jill Gordon, Park Manager, encourages all and especially school groups to come and pay homage to Matthee and explore the beauty of the forests

(Circles in the forest)

(Pieternella from the Cape)

(The Mulberry forest)

Nou wil ek meer oor van haar boeke – en ander skrywers se boeke –  in Afrikaans se… omdat ek van dit self gelees het en self ook ‘n blibioteek-onderwyseres is – Ja, ek het vir 9 jaar uit 2 skole se mediasentrums klas gegee. Honderde boeke is aangekoop – wat ‘n voorreg om die skole se mediasentrum-begroting by Uitgewers te gaan spandeer! Dit was gewoonlik ‘n daguitstappie! 

So is die volgende  boeke dan van my  gunstelinge vir kinders ouderdom 11-15/16…dalk ouer ook! Die Sakmense – Deur Maretha Maartens.  Wat ‘n fantastiese boek. Miriam was ‘n meisie  met’n donker gelaatskleur wie se familie onder “sakke” agter die landdroskantoor gebly het en hulle het groente en vrugte verkoop het om aan die lewe te bly. Thea was ‘n meisie met slegs een nier. Sy moet leer om met haar dialise-sakkie te leef, maar dis nog moeiliker om met haar skuldgevoel oor die weg te kom: sy weet sy is self daarvoor verantwoordelik dat haar ma se nier, wat kleintyd in haar oorgeplant is, heeltemal opgehou funksioneer het. Tog kan sy dit nie sê nie en intussen hou haar ma haar oupa daarvoor verantwoordelik.
Miriam is minderjarig en het nie die waarheid gepraat oor haar ouderdom nie. Dit was omdat sy haar familie wou help om onder die ‘sakke’ uit te kom en ‘n goeie lewe te he. Hulle het nie geld gehad vir skoolgaan nie en haar pa was slegs ‘n leegle-er en het niks gedoen om die familie te ondersteun nie.
Uiteindelik sou Thea en Miriam mekaar help, sodat elkeen kon leer hoe om haar sak weg te leef. Die boek is ‘n boek wat selfs die volwasse leser sal waardeer en geniet.

Sommige ander baie gewilde boeke onder die kinders: Die Boemelaars, Plek van die dolfyne,   ‘n Pakkie mieliepitte, Die Inkvoel en Geagte mej Snob.

Marilee McCallighan se boek- Wedloop teen die wind” – is ‘n boek vir kinders so 12-15 jaar. Arno is die seun-karakter in die storie  en sy pa was ‘n prokureur. Hy was ‘n puik atleet en toe skielik begin hy toe epileptiese aanvalle kry en moes hy na ‘n spesiale skool gaan, wat ‘n groot vernedering vir die pa en ma was – veral die ma! Hulle was gesiene mense in die omgewing en sy kon nie verwerk of aanvaar dat haar talentvolle seun dit moes oorkom en na so ‘n skool moes gaan nie.  

 

Read Full Post »

Madness Visible…123

Please don’t miss the author of this book HERE where you can view a video by her about the book! Janine di Giovanni is a journalist and she was a war reporter during this war.
“This riveting, enlightening and passionate book tells the story of the descent into madness that afflicted the land that used to be Yugoslavia at the end of the 20th century.”

I was tagged by Kop-op-‘n-blog  to do a 123-Story… so here’s mine today!
This tag works like this..you take the nearest book- which has to have at least 123 pages or more…and then you open your book on page 123 and count 6 lines from the top and copy down lines 6, 7 and 8.

I’ve chosen Madness Visible, as it was the fattest book near me! Also,  the book brings back memories when you follow the news about the independence of Kosovo! I’m still busy reading this book though! I do love reading books when I have time and like to read books about wars too… WWI/WWII …. the war in Combodia/Kosovo…etc…
On THIS LINK you can read what I said about the Khmer Rouge and  books I’ve read about the war in Combodia…. “First they killed my father”… and “Lucky Child”… fantastic writing by Loung Ung!

Here’s my tag….lines 6,7 and 8 on page 123!
“The Americans, who had been unable to control the situation and had been caught in a skirmish along with Russian KFOR troops a few days earlier, were deeply embarrassed.
The front line, a village called Lucane, had the two sides, Albanians and Serbs, separated by sandbagged positions only 100 yards apart.

I have to tag another blogger or two! So, I want the following bloggers to do their 123-Story!
First blogger… Bookstoysgames!  a newly discovered blogger whose blog I find very interesting and stimulating, Meghna because I know she loves books and she’s got some great talent when it comes to stories/poetry! and lastly… Jasper a very talented Afrikaans blogger…he’s a great song writer/poet/story writer..but unfortunately for the English readers…he’s blogging only in Afrikaans, which is a wonderful language I love too!!

Overview of the book… ….here on this link.
The Balkan crises of the 1990’s with its “ethnic cleansings,” have become ancient history or worse. In the aftermath of 9/11 the sin of historical amnesia has blotted out the travails of the Bosnians, the Serbs, the Croats, and the Kosovars who killed and died, perhaps 200,000 of them, during the last decade of the twentieth century. In Madness Visible: A Memoir of War, Janine di Giovanni, a journalist for The Times of London and the author of other books on the Balkans, relates in horrific detail her reportorial experiences. Di Giovanni writes mainly of the several weeks in early 1999 when the province of Kosovo was the site of conflict. Mostly Muslim and Albanian speaking, the Kosovars were the victims of the last attempt by Serbian nationalists to maintain control over Kosovo, a place sacred to Serbs ever since the fourteenth century. During those weeks, NATO was engaged in a bombing campaign to force the Serbs and their president, Slobodan Milosevic, to end their decade- long aggression. Di Giovanni admits her sympathies lay with the Kosovars, although she is not unsympathetic to the plight of the Serbs and Croats. From her personal experiences, she also incorporates other vignettes from the early 1990’s to 2002, including reflections upon the fall of Milosevic and his subsequent trial in The Hague. Particularly appalling is the story of Serbian middle-class academics caught up in the passions of ethno-religious nationalism and who readily abandoned their rationalism and their humanity, devoting themselves to the brutal destruction of former colleagues and neighbors. Madness Visible is a difficult book to read because of the detailed portrayal of such inhumanity but it is an important book, a reminder that terror and genocide fueled by religious convictions and historical memories are not restricted to today’s Middle East.

Read Full Post »

Lift your spirits!

I’ve said before that I love the story about JLS….well, today I want to blog this book because I’ve found this self-explained video on You Tube… there are others about JLS too, (Part I, II and the End), which I blogged before, but this one has got some text to support the pictures/music which I like. I’ve read this book a couple of years ago in South Africa. I googled for the cover of my first book, but couldn’t find it. It is a hard cover, peach colour and the pictures of Jonathan Seagull are printed on some tracing paper, so if you turn the pages, the seagull is “flying” in the opposite direction than the previous page…beautiful! I came across the book again – in London- bought it to read….again! I feel this is really an inspiring book to read…! Richard Bach has written many books, he was a USAF Fighter Pilot and I can truely recommend his books if you’re a book-lover like me!  “This is a story for people who follow their dreams and make their own rules: a story that has inspired people for decades”….

This book inspired me even more to be the person I am, not to be a sheep and follow others…. on page 5 … 2nd paragraph… “Jonathan nodded obediently. For the next few days he tried to behave like the other gulls; he really tried, screeching and fighting with the flock around the piers and fishing boats, diving on scraps of fish and bread. But he couldn’t make it work. It’s pointless, he thought, deliberately dropping a hard won anchovy to a hungry old gull chasing him.”…. Well, that’s one message I want to send to anyone reading here… do what you want to do, don’t follow others, you have a dream and live your dream… don’t be a sheep, be an individual and reach for your dreams! Be like Jonathan, try your best and don’t be satisfied with the second best! — well, that’s me… you might have a different view…
On THIS LINK you can see all the books he’s written … in the “Novel” section, you can see all his books which I’ve read, the most recent book was “Illusions….”! and…on THIS link you can read more about him…

 

Read Full Post »