Powered by us.groups.yahoo.com
We are urgently looking for Transcriptionists and Translators with the following langauge skills: Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, and Tswana if you can assist us please send your CV to alison@tavasa.co.za.
TAVASA Tall Tale for Tavasarites
This story came about after an exercise at the writers circle I belong to. I was reading all the posts about the weather, and recipes and so on, talk about El Plonko [my name for boxed wine], and picturing all the Tavasa people, who are generally far apart and have not met, meeting for a weekend or a few days somewhere like a bush campsite with a fire and so on, and I could see it all in my mind. So, I gave the Tavasarites from Monday to Friday to send me comments, words, sentences, paragraphs, and trust me to edit and cobble them together to create a short story about us. Not everyone stepped up to the plate, but a few did, some of them normally quite shy too, and this is the result.
I was proud of those who did send a contribution. Corinna
Tavasa’s Tall Tale
Looking around, Corinna could see everyone sitting round the roaring fire with tin plates full of aromatic stew and tin mugs full of the spiced El Plonko that had been heated up on the fire. All chattering away, enjoying meeting one another at this, the first gathering of Tavasa; conviviality, warmth from the fire, sparks jumping, seeing the faces flickering in the fire light. All were sitting on huge logs arranged around the fire; someone had brought a guitar along and was strumming and the air was redolent with that special chatter of women exchanging ideas. This was fantastic. She took another sip of the spiced wine, and set to on her plate of stew.
Seeing the firelight flickering on the tents behind the women had Annemarie thinking back to the time she went to the Kruger National Park. They were sleeping in tents too – the men on the one side and the ladies on the other. They were chatting away like this into the wee hours of the morning and then decided to go to bed. She remembered she had walked with her friend to the tent and some boys were playing tricks on them, running behind and making funny noises. It was pitch dark and very creepy, so they walked faster to get to their tent, but the next morning when they got up and stepped outside they saw their footprints and just behind them were the paw prints of two hyenas… it wasn’t the boys after all. The thought made shivers go down her spine now as she remembered. She felt quite nervous at the thought of going to bed in the tents, never mind needing to visit the trench! She picked her tin mug up off the ground thinking that maybe the spiced wine would sooth her nerves. She looked over at where Elsie was sitting chatting to someone.
Elsie and Margz had been having a discussion about camping holidays. Elsie said, I know its winter, but I know the perfect place to visit if you like this type of place. It is a small secluded bush camp on a game reserve in the Free State. It has an outside shower with a “donkey” to provide hot water, a long drop for the PPs, and a lovely braai area where you can have a huge fire, like this one, with enough wood to last the whole night. There’s no electricity though – like here. Margz said that it sounded fantastic but wondered how many beds there were, given that it was not quite a tent camp like this. Elsie told her that it had four beds, and laughingly added the comment, for those who will have had too many El Plonko’s!
They lapsed into a comfortable silence, listening to the crackle and pop of the fire and the conversational rising and falling of the different voices around them. As she sipped her spiced wine, nicknamed El Plonko by Corinna, who had brewed it on the fire earlier, Elsie was thinking of some of the things that could be done over the next couple of days. It had been suggested that everyone think of things to be made from the natural materials around them for which there would be small prizes for originality. Elsie had had a good look round earlier when it was still light and was thinking that she could gather feathers and make quill pens, or maybe even use thorns from the many thorn trees. Perhaps she could even try and make some ink by mixing ash with some of the El Plonko, and collect some of the papery white bark from the thorn trees and write some bush poetry. She had seen a small stand of eucalyptus trees as well and they shed their bark at this time of year.
As their conversation lapsed Margz was thinking how good it was to be sitting here around the warm fire drinking El Plonko. It had certainly helped her nerves to calm down! It was quite daunting meeting so many people who had spoken to each other so many times ‘virtually’ but hardly knew each other personally. She thought it was great of Corinna to organize such a meet up.
When she could see that most people were eating and more relaxed Corinna suggested maybe everyone should introduce themselves properly, which area they lived in, what areas of virtual business they worked in, or hoped to work in, where they felt they had progressed over the last year and so on, so that a lot of the newer members could see where they might be down the line.
As Margz sat and listened to each of the ladies introducing themselves and giving little potted histories, she felt it was amazing to see how little the Tavasa members actually knew about each other, but how each person had a common goal, how ambitious everyone was. Margz realised how motivating it was.
Once the introductions were over it was time to have second helpings of delicious stew, and maybe because of the fresh air everyone seemed hungry, so it was that the evening air became somewhat quieter and more peaceful while everyone ate. The stew was delicious, Margz thought, but Corinna had promised dessert and if the stew was anything to go by she could hardly wait. She hoped she had left enough room for it!
It was a very mild night and the full moon rose high in the sky. The small grove of pine trees they were surrounded by, totally out of place in these surroundings, threw shadows out around the area and created a feeling of security and shelter. As people finished their food, a few people threw large logs onto the fire, whilst others refilled the group’s mugs with the mulled wine, and then they settled down with jackets and blankets around the fire. It was story time and the story telling began…. whilst Elsie was laughingly thinking that it would have been fun to bring along the “Naked Chef” to cook the rest of the meals…
With images of the Naked Chef in her mind, Joan, AKA Lewinia (so dubbed by friends, because she liked a bit more of the El Plonko than her friends) sighed and took another slurp of the last dregs in her mug, only to spit it out in disgust – a huge fly or something had dropped into the warm spicy wine, probably looking for a place to warm up. Spppppttttfffff, spppppttttfffff. Joan’s face was a picture, and then she dissolved into a fit of laughter, which started a coughing fit that was not helped by the laughter and mimicking sound effects from the others around the fire. Their combined laughter echoed out and around the clearing like hyena cackles and giggles in the night. Everyone was in stitches as they tried to recreate the look on her face when she spat out the wine.
Geez guys, no more spitting you are killing the fire, Joan said, wiping her eyes and getting up to get a fresh refill of the very moreish spiced wine, which, by now, had become El Plonko to everyone.
Meanwhile Gaynor’s mind had been rather preoccupied by the thought of a sick hubby and two crazy kids left at home; thinking that perhaps she was really the chief maniac in the zoo taking time out like this, or maybe that was just the effects of the El Plonko, which, as the night wore on, was tasting more and more like fine wine! She began to sing and the rest of the group joined in. Soon the group were all drunkenly singing a song by the name of Kookaburra; Kookaburra sings in the old gum tree… after which, amidst much laughing, they broke into 10 green bottles, hanging on the wall. Should one green bottle accidentally fall, there’ll be 9 green bottles hanging on the wall….
Ali started to join in and sing along, but soon found herself lost in introspection about the week she had had and how these few days away would help her unwind! 10 green bottles hanging on a wall; good job they had not been hanging there when she found herself losing her temper when Tom had come in from school on Thursday, having been beaten up on the bus by older boys! She gave a small snort at the memory of the bus driver’s face when she told him off, and what the School Principals face must have looked like when she got stuck into him. She somehow thought neither of them had any idea what ‘stuck in’ meant when she used that expression to describe what had happened on the bus. She had been really fuming! That had really been the culmination of a week that consisted of internet problems, power problems – damn Eskom, clients dumping last minute work on her, typing assignments galore, coming out of her ears in fact, nothing working properly, frustration, high blood pressure, headache! Phew, those sherries had certainly gone down well during the evenings, even in the soup. Gosh, it had been a soup week too, goddam it, soup, soup and more soup. It was hard to believe that she and Dries had been enjoying watching cricket in the evenings, as the weather had been cold and wet in Johannesburg most of the week. Watching cricket with a glass or two or three of sherry to fortify her had helped her calm down in the evenings, and made her smile now. She was glad that SA was winning at the cricket, at least, hip, hip hooray! Her reverie was interrupted by a nudge in the ribs from the person sitting next to her.
And so their few days away together went on. The weather remained unseasonably warm, for which they were all grateful, especially those from further north who had been suffering with the cold and wet. And during the days they had time to exchange ideas and information, recipes too in some cases, and have fun as well. It was just a shame that more people, especially the few male members of Tavasa, had been unable to make it. It was with a mix of sadness and bonhomie that they all piled into their transport to start their journey home
Maybe the next time; after all what is a think pot without all the shared information that goes into it?
Corinna Turner http://capewindsvirtual.weebly.com/ Global Virtual Transcription, Writing & Editing Services [for more information on available services please visit my website] http://westcoastwriterssa.weebly.com/ Skype: binarycape Messenger: binarycape Cell: +27 (0) 76 594 4001 Landline: +27 (0) 21 559 0101 corinna.turner@btinternet.com Read and Release your books into the wild! http://www.bookcrossing.com/
NOW IS A GOOD TIME TO START UP YOUR WORK AT HOME BUSINESS
By
Gaynor Paynter
Owner: Typewrite Transcription and Typing Services CC.
gpaynter@telkomsa.net / www.typewritetranscription.co.za
Gaynor Paynter is a writer and transcriptionist living in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Many people will ask how it can be true that now is a good time to start up a work at home business from home, given the fact that there is a world wide global economic crisis, and jobs are beginning to be lost both in South Africa and internationally.
Let’s take a closer look at the scenario. From the employer’s perspective, they can no longer afford to keep full time staff. That means that many support staff will have to be let go. However, the employer still has a business to run. He is busy trying to keep his clients happy – but he has let his secretary and all his support staff go, and now he is sitting with all his administrative tasks on his lap and no time to do his core business. He has bookkeeping that needs to be done, typing that has to get out, his reports need to be transcribed or lunch to be prepared for his client – and there is nobody to do it. The answer lies in outsourcing his work. This is one reason why now is a good time to start up your work at home business.
From the employee’s perspective, he is not sitting in a pretty position at all currently. Companies are downsizing, short time is being brought in country wide, staff are sitting idle at companies doing nothing. Futures are very uncertain. All the while there is the employer above who needs his administrative tasks done. There’s a variety of options for the employee. Businesses can be started up on a part time basis – I began mine at nights while working full time during the day. Employees could sit down with their bosses and discuss potentialities – if there is going to be short time implemented, then you could start your business on the days that you are not going to be at the office, or if the boss foresees retrenchment in a month or two’s time, then wheels must be put into motion to start your business now.
Decide carefully what type of industry you want to get into. We’ve discussed briefly above what services employers are going to require. I believe that some services are more essential than others and that these are the ones which businesses will flourish in. For example, everybody needs their accounts done, but while flower arranging may be nice, it’s perhaps not the most necessary of services. Depending on your experience and what you wish to do, fields that you can start businesses in include:
I have written an ebook, “Working From Home in South Africa as a Transcriptionist” which retails for R90, and explains the ins and outs of how I started my transcription business.
Gaynor Paynter Typewrite Transcription and Typing Services CC Cell: +27834424689 Web: www.typewritetranscription.co.za TAVASA Cofounder and Moderator http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/tavasa/ ASK ME ABOUT BUYING MY EBOOK ‘WORKING FROM HOME AS A TRANSCRIPTIONIST IN SA”
WORKING AT HOME AS A TRANSCRIPTIONIST – DURING SCHOOL HOLIDAYS
I have two sons aged 8 and 10, and I work from home as a transcriptionist. It’s now school holidays … so I thought it would be fun to tell you about a day in our lives. I’m hoping to dispel the notion that we work at home moms don’t actually work, and all the other rumours out there that just make me laugh!
Now I don’t know about all of you but when its school holidays I tend to relax routine a little bit for the kids – and since I’m a night owl I find I naturally slip back into my work all night, get up a tad late routine. This also works quite well since I have clients in Australia. Anyway, after working until 11pm last night, at 07:30 am I am still asleep. … not for long.
Two missed calls on my cell phone have me awake. Well with no message left there’s nothing much I can do, but I drearily stumbled out of bed. Immediately, I feel something is wrong. It’s very quiet … why? Where are the kids? I make my way through to the kitchen and find them playing with the dogs, one has his hand in the dog’s water bowl and is trailing water around my kitchen making it look as though snails had been there all night, and the other is gleefully looking on, no doubt relishing the trouble his little brother would get into.
I make them breakfast, stumble through to the office and turn on the computer .. now I’m never at my best in the morning but when a client is trying to explain a complicated computer system to a fuzzy brained me, well – we progress to the point where we realize that it was their client who hadn’t set the system up correctly. This took us two hours, in between interruptions, my son running in yelling “There’s a big yellow van at the door!” and since I’m still in my nightie, I leave my client hanging on Skype, run through and dress faster than I ever have before, while sending my 10 year old out to appease the delivery man … run out there, sign for CDs (the story of their arrival is a whole other one, but suffice to say the lady who has sent them to me is very relieved about their arrival – and people get very angry with you when they are trying to deliver something to you and your doorbell is not working) – to pick up my client on Skype.
Phone rings, it’s my son’s friend.
20 minutes later, bellow at son to get off phone as he’s blocking potential business calls.
10:30 am – a skype from one of our TAVASA ladies asking me if she should start up in medical transcription, general transcription or if it doesn’t matter. I’ve answered the same question from the same lady three times over – and the answer always remains the same, if you want to do MT great, but you have to study for it … and if you want to be a general transcriber you don’t need to study a medical course … (all of these details are available in my book, “Working from Home as a Transcriptionist in South Africa)
Phone rings. It’s Damian – trying to help me set up the system. Client skyping continually – and we decide, okay, we’ll do it the old way for today until we can get their client to sort it out. So I log into the old system. Only to discover that this is going to be ultra confusing as the client is dictating in the NEW way, and I’m transcribing in the OLD way … all the while at the back of my mind is, “I’ve got to start on those CVs, and I’ve got to market my business more … “ (Until a few months ago I was using a free website host and the host took it over, thereby directing all of my traffic to a bunch of garbage … anyway that’s nearly sorted out but in any case marketing is something that should be done on a daily basis in this field).
2pm – file spell checked and uploaded. I’ve promised to take my kids for milkshake and nobody’s had lunch yet –so off we go to KFC about 6 – 7 blocks down the road. (we walk as we only have the one car and Damian uses it for work). This is a thing the boys and I do every school holidays – our tradition and we love it.
3pm, back home to 3 emails and 2 skypes that need answering … so, I settle the kids down to their various activities – Andrew wants to play his new computer game and Brandon is playing with the toy KFC kindly just gave him – and I answer them – actually as the moderator of TAVASA I’m feeling a bit guilty that I can’t always get to the questions as quick as I’d like – but still, we keep on trying and will keep on trying to support others in our field.
The boys begin to fight – I’m always hoping my oldest will find a pastime different to that of making his little brother scream by taking his toys away, and that Brandon will learn to ignore him and not play up to him – so I develop my lung capacity by screaming the full length of the house at them (heaven knows what the tenant must think). All is calm for about five minutes, and then the same again. There comes a time in every school holiday when any siblings even if they are the best of friends have had enough of each other’s company. I go to remove the oldest from the youngest’s room. This only works on dire threat that he will be made to wash the dishes the whole week if he does not desist.
After that, eventually get to make a start on the four CDs I have to transcribe before Wednesday, guess what it’s terrible audio and the kids are being noisy too (but not fighting), and I soldier on and will proofread at the end of it …
Which gets us to 16:30 – Damian’s home, and since we need to eat and have no food in the house, and the kids need meds, I’m off out to buy those things while he starts supper – unfortunately, it’s been raining and it takes me half an hour to travel 3km, and the queue in the chemist is just as long … I don’t particularly like driving in the dark so I’m getting more and more antsy, but eventually I get out of there.
So kids are fed and bathed, and it’s 18:50, and here I am ready to carry on working for another hour or so! And that’s a day in the life of a working general transcriptionist mom, when her kids are on school holiday! And let that dispel any notion anybody may have that
a) Work at home moms get to spend more time with their kids than other moms
b) Work at home moms spend all day going to shops or having their hair done
c) Work at home moms watch TV all day.
d) Work at home moms have it easy.
So then you may ask, why do we keep on doing this? There are many reasons. We like to be in control of our own destiny. We like to provide our clients with quality service. We like that we are own bosses and that the work we put in becomes what we get out. We like the idea that somewhere down the line we will have something to provide our children with. I like to think that for children with an uncertain future in an uncertain political environment, this is something invaluable for them. And yes, although it’s hardly ever possible, I like that I can have an hour off to take my children for lunch, even though it means I must work until the small hours to make up for it sometimes. That small investment in quality time with them is worth more than the things I could give them if I was a highly powered corporate. And as for TAVASA, yes it can be demanding and questions and issues come up at times when we find it hard to answer them timeously. But try we always do, and we always will, because I’d like to feel that for that one moment, that one email, that one second where we are advising somebody or giving assistance where we can, we are making a difference in the life of that one person. And that’s worth more than money can buy.
