This Global Walk Outside | Day 29: South Africa
I’m Beth Barthelemy, and I live with my husband and four daughters in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, where we’ve been working at a Bible college for the past five years. Our home is on the college campus, and we love living in close community with coworkers and students, the wide open spaces, and the natural beauty that surrounds us. We’re grateful!
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Our home is set to the back of campus, so we appreciate some quiet and privacy while still living in community. The campus is set up on a hill, and we enjoy a view down the valley below – never in my wildest dreams did I expect to have a view from my home here! This photo was taken during a recent, and very rare, snow. Yes, it does snow in Africa! ;) Last year, we planted our front garden with all indigenous plants, and it’s been such a source of joy for all of us – blooming wild irises, pincushions, birds of paradise. So much beauty!
Our main door is off our carport, which sometimes parks our car, but is also our multiuse space. The kids love it for rollerblading or chalk drawings. It often becomes an extension of our home when hosting large groups that otherwise wouldn’t fit well inside or on our back veranda.
Last year, we put together two long tables we made a few years back, and, in spite of the rain, hosted a large Thanksgiving dinner, which has become one of our traditions here and a unique way to bring together people who might not otherwise cross paths. Funny aside: there is a small hole in the roof of the carport which we have tried to patch, but inevitably finds a way to drip onto our guests.
We have an upper and lower yard space – so grateful! My parents gifted our children this swing set our first Christmas here, and it has been well loved by many children over the years. My husband recently added these bars for our 6-year-old’s birthday, and the homemade dam is pictured as well. So much play! Here you also see our two avocado trees, which give us more avos than we can eat each winter – so we often beg people to come and collect a bag. It’s a wonderful kind of problem! Can I send you some? Like, this afternoon???
One of my biggest frustrations living here in the early years was all.the.mud. In the States, yards usually have nice grass and children wear shoes everywhere. Here, we have moles in abundance and just a lot of dirt around the grassy areas, children prefer to run barefoot (keeping shoes on even for church can be a battle). For quite some time, I could not figure out how to keep my kids’ clothes clean or their feet inside our home. Some years later, it does not stress me out in the same way; we mostly use darker color clothes, and we have a firm “wash your feet” when they come inside rule. This is solidly un-South African, but we have found it necessary for our sanity. ;) What are all the tips and tricks for the mud in your outdoor spaces? I’m all ears!
South Africa is an indoor/outdoor kind of culture, as the weather is relatively mild year round and homes are not that large. Our home had a back veranda slab when we moved in, but we were gratefully able to expand it and add a roof. We have hosted so many gatherings out here! And with COVID, we have used this as a space for many meetings with students and coworkers as well. We built on a braai space for grilling and smoking meat (one my husband’s favorite hobbies) and a fire pit. As a bonus, our room has a door onto this space, so when I can, I love sneaking out here in the morning with my coffee and Bible for some quiet time in nature.
Our vegetable garden started small but has expanded nearly every year, adding on another bed or two. While it’s a lot of work to nurture a garden, I find it so rewarding to eat our own homegrown food and share it with others. Because of the relatively mild climate, we can grow year round, so there’s always something coming up in the garden! To be clear though, we’ve also had a lot of garden fails. So you know, the good and the bad! ;)
Our whole family appreciates the beautiful campus on which we live as well the space outside our home – my husband and I run and walk daily, the kids love to ride their bikes and run in the open spaces. When we first visited this campus on a vision trip, I could envision my pigtailed daughters running through the fields – and that is exactly what has transpired for our family. Though at times we wish for more privacy or freedom, we are thankful for the privilege of close neighbors for us and friends for our children.
And that’s our outdoor space! Thanks for taking a peek into our life, and next time you’re in SA, swing on by for a braai on our veranda!