Prayer

I teach because I want to change lives.
I am involved in a school because I teach.
At school there are often issues that are frustrating and problematic. Some of then caused by me!

The question I want to ask myself is why don't we submit all our frustrations and problems to God in prayer.

Why don't we pray more for our children?
Why don't we pray more for our leadership?
Why don't we pray more for ourselves?

I do moan about our children. And I bet they moan about me!
I do moan about our leadership. And I know they moan about me!
I do wish to be more effective!

Why don't I pray more and moan less.

This is my promise to myself. I will pray about my frustrations and not moan about them.
I will do this for one month and evaluate.

I will let you know.......

It's just not cricket.

Got to find a way to change this.....

I went yesterday to a cricket match between two schools. It was a hopelessly one-sided affair.
It was a twenty over match in which one team scored 216 runs. Even had their best player act as umpire and retired some of their batsmen. The other team was bowled out for 17 runs.

To an outside observer it would seam that the beaten team should hang their heads in shame. That they would have left the game depressed and contemplate never playing again. But they did not. To their credit this team of young men were full of stories about their own courage, efforts and attempts. They were smiling and laughing and talking about "next time I will......"

For me the most upsetting thing about the day was not the scores, or the dropped catches, or the number of extras. No way

The most upsetting thing about the day was the sledging done by the better side. I watched them mocking the lack of uniform or cricket clothes of the weaker team. I watched them mock the bravado of the weaker team who chose to take off their batting helmets. I wanted to shout at them and say...

I wanted to say things like

• Do you know that the boys whose shoes you are mocking has lost both his mother and father. Do you know that he may not be able to afford cricket shoes.
• Do you know we are playing this game at your home field (as all our games are away games) because we don't have a field of our own.
• Do you know we were not transported here in a school bus, but in a taxi.
• Do you know the helmets are cracked and cut into the boys heads - so better risk it.
• Do you know that we do not have enough boys for age group teams - we have one team, grade 8-11 that's it.
• Do you know that our number 10 batsman is blind in the eye that is facing the bowler, yet he has the courage to face even your fastest bowler.
• Do you know that we only have two protective boxes. Its is either swap on the field or go without.
• Do you know that we have only the two bats you see (they belong to two of the boys) and one is cracked.
• Do you know that the young men you are mocking have been through so much and have faced so much, and that your mocking hurts.

I wanted to say that there is almost no chance you can lose this game so why mock the bravery and sportsmanship of a team who face bigger obstacles that your bowling and yet still turn out to enjoy the challenge of sharing an afternoon of (not quite) competitive sport with you.

To the young men I was with. Your courage, attitude and enjoyment was an inspiration. I give you this promise, that if I can find a way, I will try to get sponsorship so that the opposition can forget about the lack of equipment you have and rather focus their eyes on the heart and passion you put into your cricket and your lives. I promise you that is you carry on with this heart and determination your play will improve and one day soon you will find yourselves winning a game.

I know then, that the lessons you have learned will enable you to treat your opponents with dignity and sportsmanship. 

ESSEN

In much the same way as every faithful muslim dreams of undertaking a pilgrimage to Mecca, I think that everybody who loves board games dreams of visiting the Spiel in Essen.

It is here that the world of board games meets to evaluate, play and trade the latest and the greatest games and ideas in our hobby. This weekend is the Spiel 2012. I will be watching closely on Boardgamegeek to learn what is hot, and what is not. Many, many great games are introduced at Essen

I too dream of one day being able to attend this convention. I would love to show SpyMaster at Essen. Who Knows, maybe in a year or two my dream will come true....

Maybe.

in the woods

SpyMaster
Those who were paying attention on my last past would have read that the player boards include forested areas. Yet on the picture of the map there are no forested areas.

This is because the forests are on tiles that are added later as they are a resource that can be depleted through being cut down to be harvested as a resource. This also clears land to be used for growing crops or for cattle. These activities generate money and also resources that can be used to feed people and also products like wood that can later become paper for media and schools.

When the forests are on the map it looks like this:

Personally, I think it looks nice...

SpyMaster

SpyMaster

My game is comming on well. It has been over four years since the genesis of this project. Ideas have come, been applied, tested, modified, adapted, changed and even rejected. Things have been fine tuned and now I feel that we are ready for testing.

Basically SpyMaster is a board game in which each player plays the leader of the nations inteligence agency. Each nation is trying to become the dominant nation in the area. this is done through conventianal development and also through covert activities.

The work of your spies is vital, but developing your nation is also vital. It is an undeclared war for national survival. The question I have often asked myself is whether we develop in order to fund our battle or do we battle to protect our development?

SpyMaster player board. Kalamitov

Each nation has a player board that looks like this. The central hexagon is the country that is made up of areas that are cities, fields, wastelands, forests, mountains and lakes. There are seven provinces within each nation.

Both your own agents and civilians and those of the enemies move around the various player boards, developing businesses, making money, earning the confidence of the public, national prestige, environmental status and most importantly fulfilling National Objectives (Victory Points).

In this game each player gets a certain number of actions each turn, although buying, playing or selling cards can happen at any time and their effects are instant. This means that this game has potentially no down time.

Cards look like these:

More info next time....

Racism:

I live in a country with a history of racism. In fact, we are still locked into a mindset where racist viewpoints are prevalent everywhere. Our polititians may deny it, but our politics is still dominated by race - although coruption and self enrichment are sadly a growing reality. Even the church that most people attend would be chosen according to a racial profile. The same can be said for the schools we send our children to.

On this holiday, that my family and I have just returned from I overheared a man saying that it is the first time that he has encountered lifeguards that are black. His comment was that if his daughter drowned and was in need of mouth to mouth in order to save her life, he thinks he would prefer that his daughter die than to be touched by a black man.

I am still dismayed (but not surprized) by this attitude. The history of our country is filled with hatred, violence, propaganda and injustice. White people are still many, many times richer on average than black people. The majority of our country has waited patiently formany years for the situation to change - and very little has.

The truth is that there is a growing anger and frustration amongst those who are unable to reap any benefits from the New South Africa. In my opinion this anger is justified and understandable. the question we need to ask ourselves is who is to blame for this problem.

In my opinion there is no doubt that aparthied carries a lot of the blame, but the failure of the government to adequately and efficiently redistribute land and the other means of production must also carry part of the blame.

Almost 20 years into the rule of the ANC and the average South African has made very little socio-economic progress. ANC leaders and the few in their circle of friends have made millions for themselves, but the poor have gotten even poorer.

Yet, I believe, because of ignorant racism people like the father I overheard, it will always be easy for the masses of this country to blame the attitudes of the whites for our continuing problems. When the anger does translate into action and those perceived to be the root of the problem are targeted, then those who cling to their imagined racial superiority will have brought upon themselves and their families the wrath that could have been shared by those who have perpetuated the poverty of the masses.

I pray that God would guide us to a better and more Jesus like understanding of meeting each others needs in order to build a better society.

With my girls, having a wonderful holiday at the beach. I am so blessed. Only two months till my sons come out for Christmas.

Family is so important. God gives us people around us who brighten up our lives and share our lives.

My board game has undergone so many changes and matured into something I am very excited about. Can't wait to playtest with my sons.