Christmas at Dixie

Sometimes WE carry others ...

2008-12-28T11:29:37+01:00

... and on Christmas day 2008 the WildEarth Angels (WEangels) were the heroes that made a small village, of much less fortunate people, the happiest little village in the world!! WE were late getting started because of rain and a power line had broken in the storm, but the WildEarth crew woke up before dawn and after a hot cup of coffee the time had come to make a special day for the children and adults of Dixie village in Mpumulanga. First stop was to collect all the meat from Sidney's fridge, pack all the mielie pap, coleslaw, more than 400 presents and the broadcast equipment. It took three trucks to haul all the 'stuff' from Djuma to Dixie. WE couldn't have done it without the help of Djuma Game Reserve, and in particular Jimmy, Warren, Char, Jurie and Pippa. Although WE were late getting going, the kids knew what was coming and the whole village was excited at the prospect of a 'proper' Christmas celebration. Word had gotten around about these mysterious 'WEangels' and the efforts that WildEarth were going to to make sure that these special people got a taste of what we all mean by Christmas. As soon as the technical issues were behind us (a baboon had damaged our main antenna cable in the night ;-) Rexon began the task of giving 146 children their first ever Christmas presents ... something he has been looking forward to doing for a while. The excitement and happiness is difficult to describe. There are some 'seekpoints' at the end of this Blog if you missed it LIVE that will help you to understand what you did. The pictures go some way to capturing the emotions, but I need to tell those of you that have never been into a rural village in Africa and seen the poverty what it means. What the word poverty actually is ... You see poverty doesn't just mean that you have to go without clothes, food, water, education, health care and Christmas presents. It means that nobody cares. It makes you feel worthless in a way that is hard for us to imagine or relate to. It makes you feel ignored and rips away your self esteem. But when some kind hearted people from thousands of miles away, take the time to think of those that they do not know and will never meet. Reach into their pockets and give a little love. On a day like this day ... WE change the world. Not in a small way, but in a huge way. Because the impact on these children's lives was not small ... it was massive. Not because they got a toy, but because in their hearts they knew that on this big scary planet Earth they are not alone. They have not been forgotten. They matter. Well after the kids had their presents Rexon took us on a short walk around the village, which included a look at the 'stand pipe' (the tap where all the ladies collect water for their homes). Providing water to every home is going to be our new WEangel project, but much more about this over the next few days. Then it was time for the ladies to cook the mielie pap ... with a little help from Rex ... Then the men got on with the job of cooking 450 pounds of beef on several fires ... as the rain started up again. Nobody has ever done this for these people before and their appreciation is very deep. Deeper than I can express. On behalf of all the people of Dixie, all the kids, the crew of WildEarth and the viewers around the world that watched it LIVE (and those that will watch the WEarchive for years), I want to thank, from the bottom of my heart, each and every WEangel that donated to this most worthy of causes. Your money was necessary and made this possible, but it was the fact that you cared enough to do something on this day that made 600 peoples day so much brighter. You are all heroes and should be very very proud of yourselves. I am so proud of you all and I believe that our journey of helping others, educating people about wildlife, enjoying the trials and tribulations of our planet's nature and saving this WildEarth of ours, has only just begun. Merry Christmas. Some seekpoints ... http://links.wildearth.tv/christmas1 Rex starts giving out presents. http://links.wildearth.tv/christmas2 Presents continued ... http://links.wildearth.tv/christmas3 Presents continued ... http://links.wildearth.tv/christmas4 Presents continued ... http://links.wildearth.tv/christmas5 Presents continued ... http://links.wildearth.tv/christmas6 Rex thanks the WEangels and translates the headmistresses speech. There is a great deal more in the WEarchive (http://www.wildearth.tv/wearchive) please go and explore ... it really is worth it.

An update on the project.

2008-12-14T16:00:13+01:00

WE are now 11 days to Christmas and the WEangels have raised almost $5000.00!! Emily and I have bought most of the presents for 143 kids, Rex has organised the tent, music, two cows, three sheep, almost 100 chickens and a team of cooks. Emily has organised all the other food and drink, which will be delivered to WE just before Christmas. WE appreciate all your donations, please keep spreading the word as the more WE raise the more we will be able to feed. But you can help the WEangels raise $5000.00 simply by registering at www.amazee.com for FREE and then joining the Christmas at Dixie project. The project that has the most members (with photo avatars, so don't forget to upload a photo) by the 29th January 2009 will win $5000.00 dollars! This will be too late for Christmas, but WE will think of something that will benefit the people of Dixie and you can make it happen. It will only take a few minutes out of your day, but could end up making a real difference in the lives of some poor and super deserving people. Currently the lead project has 190 members ... WEangels can certainly beat that ... it's in our nature. I would also like to thank Stacy Manfredi for all her assistance so far on this project. She has very kindly been helping to start the WEangels Blog, the WEangels Facebook Group and the WEangels "Christmas at Dixie" Facebook cause. I would also like to thank Karen, Aquila, Valorie and Bev for their massive contribution to running the WE social network and for creating the WEangels group. Please join up and help promote all these different places. The WEangels project is growing from strength to strength, and I suspect that it is going to be around for a very long time and make a very big difference in a lot of peoples lives.

Wrapping the presents!!!

2008-12-24T11:14:32+01:00

Crew Wrapping the Presents for Dixie Kids

Christmas at Dixie Update

2008-12-21T10:35:38+01:00

With only three days to go, things seem to be falling into place nicely. The food and drink from La Bamba will be delivered on Tuesday 23rd along with all of the meat from the butcher. We are no longer going with a whole cow, but rather 200kg of beef cut up into steaks by the local butcher. This should be more than enough to feed everyone. Sydney Frankel has a neighboring lodge and he has very kindly agreed to allow us to store all of the food there so that it remains cold and fresh for the big day. Lieschen has got together a team of volunteers from the village and they will be organizing chairs, tables, cooking pots and water. They plan to have a "kitchen" area under some trees on the edge of the field with the tent and fire to cook the meat more towards the middle. The serving of the food will take place in the tent. The team plan to fetch the food from Sydney Frankel's lodge at 05h00 CAT (Central African Time) on Christmas day and head out to Dixie to set-up (with the help of the volunteers). This will enable them to be ready for the present giving around 07h00 CAT (don't miss this). The choir from the community will also sing at this point. Shortly after this the lighting of the fires and cooking will commence. As you know all of this will be filmed LIVE on the day, so make sure you log in to http://www.wildearth.tv. I understand that for our American audience that means staying up very late, but I promise it will be worth it. For those who really can't make it then it will all be recorded in the WEarchive so you can watch it at a slightly more reasonable hour. Once again thank you so much to our wonderful WEangels for making all of this possible. It really is promising to be an amazing day, and one that the people of Dixie will remember forever. I have some more angels to mention and thank those who have donated since the last Blog. They are: Ronnie S, Tony Barnett, Caroline Fraser, Tom and Lynley Thomas, Amanda Tobin, Nancy Klassen, Constance Jaynes, Harold Yielding, Lily Flanagan, Barbara Broomell and Beth Brothman. Beth was donating on behalf of the Students in Ms Brothmans SAIL classes at Frontier Central Schools, the Students in Mrs Sentz's 4th grade class at Cloverbank Elementary School and Frontier Central Schools Dimensions of Learning Facilitators. Many Thanks to all of you, you are all amazing. I hope you enjoy the day. Emily Wallington

Dixie Christmas Update

2008-12-21T10:33:47+01:00

Well its 8 days until Christmas and the WEteam have been frantically organizing what promises to be the best Christmas day ever in Dixie and all thanks to our truly generous WEangels. I am shocked that it is nearly the end of the year already, it has flown by. We have achieved so much in WildEarth this year and we are only at the the foot of the mountain. On a personal note I got married and had a baby this year, so it has been pretty amazing for me as well. This blog is primarily to thank all of our WEangels. You guys have once again made it possible for a village of disadvantaged people to have a day that they will never forget. You should all be very proud because you have made a difference in peoples lives. However, before I list the names I want to let you all know where we are up to with the organizations. Most of the food has been ordered from La Bamba who are our local food suppliers for the bush. I have ordered 75 cooked chickens, enough cabbage, carrots and mayonnaise to cook coleslaw for 400 people and maize meal and sauce for the same amount. One hundred litres of orange drink concentrate has also been ordered along with 500 plastic cups and 500 plates. We are getting 220 kilograms (about 500 pounds) of beef from the local Hoedspruit butcher, all of which will be cooked on the day. We are in deep discussions as to how to cook all the meat at the moment so I will keep you posted as to what is decided. Lieschen has arrived at just the right time because although I can do all the phone ordering, getting to the bush to actually help on the ground is impossible due to a certain small addition to my family. However, Lieschen has it firmly under control at the camp and is getting a team of ten ladies from the community together to cook and prepare on the day. Storage of all this food prior to Christmas remains a problem unsolved but we are working on it. A huge tent has been booked and this will be erected the night before and I have booked a DJ who will arrive on the day at lunch time and play 'tunes' until the last person goes to bed. This apparently is the most important thing to have at the party (Rexon has been adamant about this) people love to dance. Last week Graham and I headed for Johannesburg Town Centre to buy gifts for 143 kids. It was utter chaos but a lot of fun.We made a list of all the children and bought presents that were age and gender specific. Whilst Graham sourced tool sets, water pistols, racing cars and action men, I found barbie sets, cosmetic kits and colouring books. We managed to get three of four gifts for each child and in that was included an item of clothing. We managed to get all of these home in two car loads filled to the brim. Pippa Moolman happened to be staying at our house during all of this and she has taken a load already to the bush so that the team can start wrapping and labelling. Pete Braat arrived yesterday in Johannesburg and in return for the best home cooked meal we can muster, he is transporting the rest of the presents back to Djuma today. I'd like to say good luck to the crew when it comes to the wrapping, it is one huge job!! As you know WE are broadcasting the events LIVE on the day which should really be something to watch. Apparently the people in Dixie know how to party so please join them on Christmas day. WE have done a test to check that the LIVE signal can be beamed to you from the village and that all went very well, so WE are ready. Now for the people who have all made this possible. What can I say, you are truly amazing. I never dreamt that we would be able to raise this much money. The final amount stands at $4830 but every now and again money is still coming in. I will keep you posted as to the final amount. WildEarth would like to say a sincere thank you to:- Kirsty Lynas, Simon Dilts, Kathy Theobald, Kerry and Walter Kosky, Valorie Berry, Aquila, Michael Moss, KCMary, Marty and Daniel Benke, Beverly Bailey, Patricia Mulligan, Snow LEApard, Patti German, David Keen, Nora Olguin, Mary Schooley, Dorothy Mulligan, Joyce Fuller, Lela and Marvin Criswell, Marie Taoukdjian, Sueso, Sharon Mcdorman, Christine Connor, Sandra Walton, Fabienne van Wunnik, Jenny Bell, Cathy Glenney-Munro, Cheri & Troy Pryor, Jeanne M, RavenLunatic, Margo Green, Barbara Ellington, Dawn Palmer, Susan Turner, Tina Yee, Terry Bliss, Patty Kelly, Patricia Hobson, Debbie Hanson, Charlie Kerr, Louis Leger, Randy Hacker, Kay Schmid, Pat from Nebraska, Kathy Lambert, Linda Blankenship, Judit Orozki, Faye Newman, J Braat, Diane Machita, Pamela Bell, Doris Walker, Pam Parton, sabdha, Karen Thacker, Anita Clark, Helen Richardson, Mike Williamson, Joan Jackson, Christine Munro, Gabrielle Walter, Peter Braat, Gail Bauckham, Lana Leeger, Minyard Family, Jaqueline Fenby, Michelle Sundeen, June Bonds, Lynn and Rick Barker, Stacey Manfredi and logan and lacey, Sue Bastiani, Roseann Coon, Barbara macleod, Barbara Tomasovic, Donna Pearl, Lylia Bennet, Leanna Muir, Chris Falk, Allison perras, Carol Smith, Sally Hubbert, Sylvia Wendelin, Julie Woods, Marian Noakes, mothernature/linda, Beth and Eliza Cunningham, Beverly Perkins, Sabine Blackburn,Janine Noble, Harold and Abby Yeilding, Jeanette Prefontaine, Sabine Luhrig, Dr Terry Jackson D.D.S, Aunty Lyn, Lisa and her daughter Selby, Dean Rohrs, Audrey Kepka, Anne K, Walter Gordon, Monika Shamblin, Rebecca Brinlee, John Kilpatrick, Lisa Laurencio, G A Meckmann, Gayle Anderson, Caroline Fraser, Constance Jaynes. Written by Emily Wallington

Dixie Children

2008-12-03T18:07:26+01:00

Christmas is coming ...

2008-12-03T14:41:04+01:00

Our generous and kind hearted WEangels have already made a huge dent in the money needed to give the people and children of Dixie a wonderful Christmas. While you guys have been reaching into your pockets the WE team have been organizing and planning the best possible event for this village. As you all probably know by now Dixie is a poor rural village in Africa which borders on the Sabi Sands Game Reserve. These people never have enough money to have a good celebration at Xmas and the kids certainly never get presents. This year things are going to be different. WildEarth with the help of our WEangels will give them a Christmasmas to remember. WE will get two cows, two sheep and seventy chickens to eat at the event. There will be spit braais to cook them on, and a whole lot of maize meal for everyone to eat their meat with. A committee of people in the community will get together to make salads and chilli sauce to go with the meat and maize meal. A large tent will be rented so that the food can be served away from the flies and cool drink will be in great supply so that no one gets de-hydrated. Rexon has informed us that in his culture people like to dance the day away at events like this. Therefore it is very important for us here at WildEarth to source a DJ and some music. I think that this will be one of the most important things to get the party going. Christmas day means presents for children. Rexon (or should I say 'Father Christmas') will be handing out presents for each and every child in the village. At the moment he is getting the name, age and gender of each child from the school and once he has done this he will email it through to me. Graham and I will then buy specific presents for each age group depending on whether they are male or female. Each present will be wrapped and have the child's name marked on it. WE will be broadcasting all the events of the day LIVE so that you, our viewers can be with us every step of the way. I expect that their will be many smiley children's faces thoughout the day but especially at the present handing out time. Finally it is time to thank all of our wonderful WEangels. (I will be colatting a list of all of you that don't mind having your names published) Thank you so much for all of your unbelievable generosity. You should be proud of yourselves, you have contributed to what should be the best Christmas these people have ever had. So far the WEangels have raised $3800.00. WE are busy costing everything, but ask that you continue to donate, not a cent will go to waste. WE have invited the staff, and their families, of Djuma (that don't already live at Dixie), and Rexon has warned us that it would not be in the spirit of Christmas to turn away those from other villages. This means that WE could face far more than the 400 adults and the 80 children for Christmas lunch that we have planned. So if the donations continue to role in, and WE are able to get all the presents done, we will order up a lot more food, to be held in reserve and cater for bigger numbers if they arrive. If they don't arrive the food will be distributed fairly and evenly to the people of Dixie for after Christmas. Thank you WEangels ... to share is in your nature. :) Emily Wallington

And the donations begin to roll in ...

2008-12-03T14:39:55+01:00

A huge thank you to all the WEangels that have already donated over $1000.00. WE still have a couple thousand to go, but i am sure that WE will get there. Today, I was interviewed about WildEarth on a local talk radio and i have asked them to help promote our project to give the village of Dixie a Christmas to remember. I wonder if you would try and get us radio interviews with your local radio stations so that I can promote this project all over the world. You never know maybe WE can turn this into a really big lunch. I am happy to phone the radio stations from here in South Africa, any time of day or night, no matter where they are in the world. If you need to contact me in order to set this up please use dixie@wildearth.tv which is also the email address to quote when donating to this very worthy cause via PayPal. So far the following people have donated to the cause and become WEangels: (there are some who have asked to remain annonymous) Kirsty Lynas, Simon Dilts, Kathy Theobald, Kerry and Walter Kosky, Valorie Berry, Aquila, Michael Moss, KCMary, Marty and Dan Benke, Beverly Bailey, Patricia Mulligan, Snow LEApard, Patti German, David Keen, Nora Olguin, Mary Schooley, Dorothy Mulligan, Joyce Fuller, Marie Taoukdjian, Sueso, Sharon Mcdorman, Christine Connor, Sandra Walton and Fabienne van Wunnik.

Calling all WEangels.

2008-12-03T14:38:33+01:00

Christmas is coming and WE need your help. Not every child in Dixie will get a Christmas present this year. You see most of their parents will struggle to put food on the table let alone get a present for their kids. Lets help them out and make sure that no child is forgotten this year. The WEangels managed to take all the youngest kids to the movies last month, lets see if WE can get enough money together so that every child in the little village of Dixie gets a present from the WildEarth Angels. Please make your donations via PayPal (www.paypal.com ) to dixie@wildearth.tv Rexon is making a list of all the kids (we think about 80) under the age of 14. Then we will make an age appropriate hamper of gifts for each child. WE will buy the gifts here in Johannesburg South Africa and then transport them down to Dixie in time for Christmas day. But thats not all WE want to do ... Every Christmas Rex, and the other Dixie folk with jobs, help out those who have no money. They buy them food for their families so they can also have a Christmas. This year that won't be necessary, because the WEangels are coming ... WE are going to buy 3 cattle, rent a tent, buy a lot of mielie pap, salad makings, soda and put on a Christmas lunch that will feed everyone in the village properly. And WE are going to be there LIVE. Thats right, all of us at WildEarth have decided to cancel our normal activities on Christmas day and WE will be taking the Jiga to Dixie so that you can watch as each child gets their gift hamper. You will be there for the festivities and dancing. You will be a part of the party.Lets make Christmas at Dixie special this year. Lets make it the beginning of a tradition to ensure that the residents of this far away little village in the middle of Africa knows that the world cares. Please make your donations via PayPal (www.paypal.com ) to dixie@wildearth.tv If you cannot afford to donate money, thats OK, but maybe you could help out in other ways. Please help promote this project. Join our Facebook cause, get your friends to join. Get your parents involved. Talk about this project with everyone you know. WE don't need much money ... maybe about $3000.00. I am sure if all of us get the word out we will get the money ... to once again change the lives of those less fortunate. Come on lets make a difference ... it's in our nature. I would also like to thank all of you that wrote such special words about us on the "sometimes we forget" forum. I know that I speak for the whole crew when I say that: "this is why WE do what WE do. WE do it for you." A special thank you to Patty for starting this outpouring of love. You are all part of our family now, and its great to know that we matter to you. As you know, the WildEarth team work very hard, with very little. It is the knowledge that you are out there, relying on us to keep broadcasting no matter what, that motivates us when things break, and when we are tired. It is your appreciation that gets us up when we fall. WE feel that you are there all the time and it keeps us going when there sometimes seems to be no other reason. Thank you.