I made it through our rural adventure! It was definitely an amazing week, and got better every day. Here’s a little summary of what happened:
Monday
We moved out of Cato early Monday morning- it was a little sad but I was ready to move out. It gets pretty tiring being a guest in someone’s house for over a month. We drove about an hour and a half north to Amatikulu/Wangu and spent the morning listening about Community Health Workers. We then had a quick lunch at Steers (SA’s McDonald’s equivalent) and then drove all over Wangu to our homestays. My friend Alexa and I were the last ones to be dropped off, so we spent 2 hours in the van while everyone else got to their homestays- all of the houses were about 20 minutes apart. Our home was definitely the most rural of all the ones I’ve been in- it had just 3 tiny rooms with 7 people living in it! Our mama lived there with her two sons, Mthoko (11), and Bongani (7), and her two nieces, Noxolo (12), and Anele (6). Noxolo and Anele’s parents had both died five years ago, and lived permanently with our mama. There were also 3 other kids that spent the night with us, Banele (3), Nonto (3), and Wandile (4). Needless to say, it was pretty crowded! That night, we all packed into the bedroom that had three beds, and we ended up sharing one with Anele (and quickly found out that she punches in her sleep….). Here's a picture of our house:
Tuesday
We woke up around 5:30 on Tuesday morning; everyone else was getting up and since we were all in the same room, that means we got up too. After the kids headed off to school, we went with mama to visit some houses in the community. We visited all kinds of people with all kids of ailments- from arthritis to TB to diabetes. The last woman had to have her leg amputated from diabetes and had a large necrotic patch on her other foot. Unfortunately, there weren’t too many people to see that day, so we ended up heading back to the house around 11. Since it was pretty rainy and gross out, me and Alexa ended up spending the rest of the day in the house and got bored pretty quickly. Although we had electricity and a TV, we didn’t want to waste it so we spent most of the day reading in bed. I’ve already made it though 5 books since I’ve been here- we’ll see how many I get through by December! After the kids got home it was a little bit more entertaining, but we were both ready for the day to be over.
Wednesday
We got picked up in the morning and headed straight to Umthwalume, about 45 minutes south of Durban right on the coast. We first visited a school, which was absolutely amazing. They were very focused on teaching life skills, and incorporated gardening and recycling projects into their lessons. They were all so welcoming and we all wanted to go back! In the afternoon, we visited a Love Life center. Love Life was started in 1999, and was South Africa’s largest HIV/AIDS prevention program in the country. It targets teenagers, and has a range of programs and centers focused on improving their lives and keeping them from contracting HIV/AIDS. Apparently a few years back, Love Life was a huge presence in SA, but due to lack of funding, their impact has dropped a little bit. We were all a little unimpressed at the current state of this center, but could tell the impact it must have had in the past ten years. We then were dropped off at our homestays, and it was by far my favourite one yet. Our family was super welcoming and fun, and spoke great English which made communication a whole lot easier. My friend Sally and I spent the evening hanging out with the family (which included 4 aunts, an uncle, a gogo, and 5 kids) and watching Rhythm City and Generations (the soapies of choice for most Zulu families).
Kids in front of Bongibizo school:
Thursday
Our first stop of the day was visiting another traditional healer, which was pretty much the same as the other ones we’ve seen. We were all a little anxious for the rest of the day- it was definitely the most fun rural day we’ve had. For lunch, we went to a restaurant right on the beach, and got to spend a few hours taking pictures and hanging out. Even though it was super windy, we were all so happy that it wasn’t raining for once! We then went to an arts center, and learned how to do Zulu beading! Zulu beads are HUGE here, every Zulu woman has lots of necklaces, bracelets, belts, and skirts worn for traditional events, and we’ve all been stocking up at the little markets around Durban. At the center, we were taught how to make AIDS ribbon pins, and even though they were pretty small, it took us about 3 hours to make. Everyone was teasing me about my camp counselor arts and crafts skills, and challenged me to finish first. I’m proud to say that I upheld my title . We headed back that afternoon and had another fun and relaxing evening and got ready to head to the Drakensberg the next day!
Me and Sally's family in Umthwalume:
Friday
Before heading north, we stopped by at a TB hospital- I’m not too interested in TB, but it was interesting to see. We then had a 4 hour drive inland to Underberg, and then another short drive to Cobham, where our campsite was. Because it was pretty rainy, most of us chose to sleep in the hut that was right next to our site, it had tons of bunk beds and even a flushing toilet (but no electricity…). There was still a little sun when we first got there, so we got to see our beautiful surroundings. I’ve seen lots of mountains in my life, but these were by far the coolest and most epic ones. We spent the rest of the day hanging out, making some dinner, and got to bed early for our big hike the next day.
Saturday
We were all a little nervous for our big hike… we were told that it was rare the whole group made it to the top! The first hour of the hike was completely flat and followed along a stream- and because there were very few trees, we had amazing views the whole way. After the first hour, we started heading up. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this was the hardest hike that most of us had ever been on. It was incredibly steep, but luckily the view was incredible. A few of us (including me) were feeling the altitude, and had to take a pretty long break before we didn’t feel so dizzy. Luckily, it was easy to continue at our own pace so we ended up splitting up. After what seemed like an endless climb, we finally reached the bushman paintings almost at the top. Even though they were only a few hundred years old, they were still pretty cool! After that, the trail seemed to end, and we couldn’t see the rest of the group, so we kind of had to figure out our own way to the top. My friend Kelsey and I thought we found a relatively easy way, until we were trying to traverse a near vertical drop to get to the top. It was pretty scary, and made me realize that I actually do have a fear of heights…. We finally reached the top, but had to scale a rock face (and almost died again) to reach the rest of the group. It was definitely worth it when we got to the top! All of us made it up, and Zed, our director, was pretty impressed. Clouds looked to be rolling in, so we started heading down pretty quick, but luckily we got tons of pictures. By the time we got to the base our feet were killing and we were exhausted, but Zed pointed out a pool in the stream that we could swim in! It was pretty cold but super refreshing after our long hike, and we had an amazing time cooling off. We then had to walk the hour back to the site- a 6 hour hike in all! We were all sooo tired by the time we got back, and spent the afternoon relaxing and eating.
View from the top of the mountain!
Sunday
Today we packed up early and began the trip back to Durban. After stopping at the house quick to pick up our extra luggage, we got to move into our penthouse at Windemere! This definitely one of the nicest places I’ve ever lived- our apartment is HUGE and we even have DSTV (which means Sportscenter every morning!!). Right now, we’re all enjoying the view and laying in our own beds for the first time in a week.
This week was definitely an adventure, but I’m happy to be settled again. I’ll be here for another two and a half weeks before we start our project!
Also, I just added a TON of pictures to facebook, here's the link to the album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070757&id=1084770080&l=efa4e94fe3
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