WEATHER DATA FOR JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

MUST READ: News On Volunteer House Building In Cape Town

This is just incredible! I have been reading tons of new about Africa over the last couple years but what I read today is just over the top. This article is about an Irish volunteer group that just sent 2,000 volunteers this past Friday to Cape Town, South Africa to build 250 homes this week. We have got to contact these folks and study, partner, and learn. Read the stories below:

Volunteers Build In Cape Town Slum - December 01 2008

Building Blitz In Khayelitsha - November 30 2008

Ireland gives R50m to build more homes - January 15 2008

Volunteers Build 200 Homes - November 09 2007

Its A Solid Home - December 09 2007

SA Housing Developers Failing The Poor - November 08 2007

Irish "Smile With God" - At Denting Backlog-November 21 2006

There are tons and tons more articles like those above about this amazing project. Have I said we have got to get a hold of these guys!!!

Scotty

NEWS: Delta Has Direct Flight From US to South Africa

Delta Air began its first flight between Cape Town and New York yesterday, the airline said. Spokesman Sue Brewitt said the new service would be from Cape Town International Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, via Dakar. "This service uses a Boeing 767-300 ER aircraft and will operate 4 times a week. Delta remains the only US carrier to service South Africa, already offering a direct flight between Johannesburg and Atlanta," she said. The Citizen- June 5, 2008

Kimberly, South Africa Mine Is Caving In

The Citizen newspaper today in South Africa stated today that the "Big Hole" diamond mine in Kimberley is "threatening to swallow a busy road as its sides slowly erode." Kimberley is the city we are building our first homes in South Africa this March and the "Big Hole" is still a very visible artifact of this city. This mine has historical significance as it its considered the "largest hand-dug mine in the world".

The road that is threatened runs about 24 feet(8 metres) from the edge of the 1.6 kilometre-wide open mine. Five businesses, including a roadhouse, a garage and a greengrocer and also threatened. A observer stated that it is not possible to predict timing of when the edge of the pit may collapse. That being said, the general consensus is that the loss of the relevant section of this road is inevitable. Continued rainfall and heavy traffic could hasten the anticipated demise of the areas adjacent to this mine.

NEWS: Housing For All 'By 2014'

Government aims to speed up delivery of housing for the poor, and have all persons accommodated in formally planned settlements by 2014, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said yesterday.

“To achieve this objective, government and its partners seek to increase the deliver rate of 300,000 homes a year. “Our target is the deliver of 500,000 housing units a years,” she told a social cluster media briefing in Parliament. “With the implementation of the Social Housing Act, we will be subsidizing the creation of various forms of rental accommodations, and thus contribute to our goal of the elimination of slums by 2014.”

This year would also see the introduction of the Housing Development Agency Bill. Establishing such an agency would enable government to “finally redress apartheid spatial planning”. A key instrument of the agency would be the “release of well-located land and serviced sites for human settlement programmes”, she said.

Citizen- Feb. 15, 2008

UK To Require South Africans to Have Visas in Future

Currently South Africans can travel to the UK without a Visa for six months at a time. The British High Commission has confirmed that it is reviewing the relaxed visa requirements it has with South Africa. For more information about this go to the South Africa House website at www.southafricahouse.com.

NEWS: CDMA Cell Phone Service to Arrive In South Africa

I read in a South African newspaper, Finweek January 12, 2008, today that a company called Neotel was introducing CDMA cell phone service in South Africa in just a couple months. That could be an interesting development for us since Sprint/Nextel is CDMA and up til now not compatible with the GSM network used in Europe and Africa. In the best of worlds, maybe our Sprint/Nextel phones will work roam someday in South Africa!! What if the direct connect would work too? WOW!