Today I made a long awaited visit to one of my closest friend Zodwa's homes. I've visited before, but in 2008, and hadn't made a new trip since. The walk is about 40 minutes (my village is so rural that the houses are very spread out), in which I have to pass 3 shabeens (bars). This means lots of drunk men hollering at me and asking for money, and because I try to avoid that at all costs, I don't visit too often. This is probably the worst part of my time in South Africa and keeps me from being social as I wish. I cannot stand being hollered at or feeling unsafe, so it is difficult for me to walk freely around deep in the village. In my immediate area everyone knows me, but when I venture out of that radius and run into people from parts of the village who ride different taxi lines or simply drunk jerks, I get into trouble. Don't worry, it's nothing more than harassment, I am safe, but these days I can't seem to put up with any of this type of aggravation and dread it all of the time.
Aaaaanyways...
Zodwa lives with her husband and a large family (somewhere in the mid teens). I spent most of the visit playing with her son who just turned 1. I feel like I have a special connection to him, since he is the only person I know here who has been in this country a shorter time than I have. His mom came back from maternity leave 3 days after I joined BSSP.
Other than that I worked on Zodwa's homework with her--she is being certified as a Child and Youth Care Worker by their National Foundation. Her work is a bit difficult for a non-native English speaker so I am always happy to help. Her real dream is to become a certified teacher so that she can go back to teaching, which she did for 7 years at a farm school about 40 KM away. It was too far to travel every day so she had to stop. Unfortunately, school costs way too much money, and since she is the only one in her family working, she doesn't have any to spare.
One thing that always wows me when I visit a coworker is how well I am treated. Obviously, Zulu hospitality dictates that I am fed when visiting. However, every time I receive a meal I am always impressed. It is my experience in this country that people who have little will share everything with you.
Zodwa's 3 children (including Kwando the 1 year old) danced for me for about half an hour. Watching a 1 year old try to seriously dance while he is still learning to walk is hilarious. He can even switch from pop to Zulu dancing. Great.
On my walk over:
Transport deeper in the village...
Kwandokuhle, the cutest baby ever! In Zulu tradition you keep the front tuft of hair (as pictured) after your first haircut, which he just had a couple of days ago.
Some of Zodwa's relatives and 3 other village boys
Zodwa didn't want me to take her picture, but I secretly took some of her on the walk home (Kwando is on her back).
New pictures from the craft club:
We are teaching the kids sewing with the added bonus of them getting bags to take home. I am pleased. They are loving the project, improving every day, and even the boys are getting into it! When we first started none of them wanted anything to do with sewing.
We are teaching the kids sewing with the added bonus of them getting bags to take home. I am pleased. They are loving the project, improving every day, and even the boys are getting into it! When we first started none of them wanted anything to do with sewing.
Check out the Nike Swoosh
We are very crowded since moving to the new centre. I can't wait until the buldings are done so that we can finally have some space. It stinks, but I find myself feeling lucky when some kids don't show up. We just don't have enough room. On this day about 60% of the kids were there because it was pouring outside and was freeeeeeeeezing.
I took this picture to show how much wind and cold is coming through the walls (we haven't really finished these buildings yet because we had to move in immediately. They will be fixed after we move to the new, complete buildings).
Progress of the new buildings:
This is the building the club will be held in as well as the bakery.
Administration building which will house offices along with the computer centre
1 comment:
I know I sound dumb when I keep saying this, over and over, but these pictures are truly great!
I am so grateful for these pictures because they give us such a clear and concise portrait of your landscape, you friends, your buildings, your life, etc.
With regard to the buildings, the new buildings look quite fine, substantial, solid, serviceable, etc. Your project seems quite blessed to have the money to construct these. Who is paying for them? Is this funding the work of the local chief, or village head, or the Bhekuzulu Self Sufficient Project director, who got funding from somewhere? Please enlighten us about the source of funding for what seem to be such substantial ( and therefore very useful and vitally important) buildings.
In reference to the bakery, what kind of oven(s) will you be using? Wood burning stoves, gas? electric? What else will be happening in that building? How will the bakery schedule mesh with whatever else is happening in the building?
It was very generous of you to give your time (40 minutes walk each way) and shoe leather and extreme patience with the (male) environment to go to visit Zodwa.
The landscape looks like that which we saw in the film "Thing With No Name," which makes sense since it was filmed in your (somewhat) immediate neighborhood.
Keep on keeping on. And thanks for these blog posts. You are very informative and give us a sense of "being there" while not really being there.
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