Good news:
The students of Sabrina Heeb in Wallisellen, Switzerland collected in their “Xmas market” CHF 3400.- for the “TOPtoTOP water project” for the Maasai school in Loiborsoit, Tanzania! – Congratulation!
We got the message from Juerg Zahnd from 3S in Lyss, Switzerland that they go to sponsor 10 solar panels for the “TOPtoTOP solar water pump” in Loiborsoit. – Thank you so much!
Durban to Port Elisabeth

In Durban we said goodbye to Bianca who joined us for more than 3 months. She did an excellent job. Thank you so much Bianca!

Thanks to the Swiss Consul in Durban, Mr. Hanspeter Graber we had the opportunity to go to some communities in the Mnweni Valley.

It is in the Northern Drakensburg Mountains where you find many peaks over 3000 m and crystal clear creeks to swim. We were travelling walking and on horses for 6 days and found some great examples:

One old man uses old batteries as weights to produce carpets.

The best was a Zulu who has build his home and workshop (helicopter) out of used cars and makes his living in transforming old tins in airplanes.
Coming back to Durban we were relaxed for the sail ahead and got a wonderful dinner at Markus Baentziger family’s place (originally from Appenzell).
At the time we left the Durban marina it was not clear if we can reach Port Elizabeth or only East London till we have to find shelter for the big waves from southwest. After 24 hours of sailing we decided to go into East-London.
Salina playing and running around in the marina of East London sadly twisted her ankle and has now a temporary stabilization bandage on her foot. It looks not very bad but she has to take care in the next couple of weeks.
After one night we already left East London. We did a very fast sail down to Port Elizabeth. We had company of several dolphins and many albatrosses out in the sea. In the middle of that journey we left the Agulhas current, who goes now more south towards Antarctica.
Tomorrow we continue towards Cape of Good Hope and will have Xmas at sea. We hope to arrive on the 26th of December in Simons Town. At Xmas day we hope to have good wind and waves around the most southerly Cape of Africa, Cape Agulhas.

That’s why we celebrated already with SY Imanja and SY Byamee in Port Elisabeth. The kids made an excellent act and even 6 month Alegra was involved. She was playing little Jesus.
We hope to have another Xmas party in Simons Town on the 26th after our arrival.
A Merry Xmas to all of you!