Four Months Fly...

WE MADE IT!

We survived the stress of our independent study projects (ISPs) and successfully completed our papers and presentations! It was 7 days spent of endless typing in a hostel where the six of us sat in our room of bunk beds for hours working. Most of us finished our papers right around 50-60 pages...I thought it used to be stressful getting assigned a 25 page term paper- a lot of things have been put into perspective! It was a bittersweet feeling that Friday after we finished our presentations...our semester was really over which meant we would be leaving South Africa so soon! However, it was a huge stress relief to be finished with the assignments and we were all looking forward to heading to St. Lucia to go on safari for two days.

Overall the Community Health & Social Policy study program exceeded my expectations for a study abroad experience. It was really amazing to expand our knowledge on Public Health related issues through field studies, talking with experts, and through our very own day to day experiences living in several different communities. I would really recommend this program to any students who are interested in studying abroad....for both an amazing adventure and high quality learning experience in the field of our major (Public Health).

*and no we are not getting paid to testify for the program by our SIT professors and advisors.

More than anything from this experience I feel I have a much deeper understanding of the burden of HIV/AIDS on South Africa's health care system. I've read and studied the AIDS epidemic for years...but nothing puts the disease into perspective than working in the clinics supplying ARVs (antiretroviral drugs for people who are HIV positive), living in the communities that have been hit the hardest, and caring for the children who have been orphaned due to this devastating disease. The scary part is that there does not appear to be any signs of the disease rates declining and children will continue to be left parent-less for many years to come. It brought me to the realization that AIDS is not an event, or a series of events, instead it is an ongoing struggle that communities will continue to face for decades to come. The pandemic, and how we respond to it, forces us to confront the difficult issues of sex, drugs, and inequity. The spread of this one virus raises difficult questions about why we do the things we do, why we believe what we believe, and finally who we are and what we value.

That’s all for now…thanks to everyone who actually followed and read our blog, we hope that you enjoyed it J

I’ll leave you with some photos from our safari…

Zebra

Mama and Baby Zebra

Mama and Baby Antelope

A Herd of about 100 Elephants Crossing

Still More Coming!

White Rhino...that nearly charged our car

I loved the Giraffes!

Hippos

Hippo Yawning

Sunset on the River

Also, I (Alyssa) will be doing some more traveling throughout South Africa to visit Cape Town as well as the countries of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, and possibly Kenya. I’ll continue to use this same blog to post some experiences (although they may not be Public Health related) and pictures since many of my friends and family have this website address already.

Sala Kahle

Back From ISP!

It’s so hard to believe that our time spent in our ISP locations is already over! Saying good-bye to the kids and the staff at the Clouds of Hope orphanage was really hard, however, I have a feeling that I’ll go back to the organization to volunteer for a much longer period of time after graduation. For now, we are all back in Durban and hard at work on our Independent Study Projects. Our papers will be quite long (I’m already at 30 pages single spaced and have a lot more to go…yikes!), and then we must prepare a 15 minute presentation on our experience and findings to our academic directors, advisors, and fellow students. Our papers and presentations are due this upcoming Friday….but then we are free!!! It will feel really great to get this project finished, but at the same time that means our program will be coming to an end…which is unreal just how fast this time has gone by.

After Friday we will have a free Saturday here in Durban to say goodbye to our host families and friends and then as a group we will head to St. Lucia. We stayed there for one night after the Reed Dance and it was really beautiful so we are all excited to go back as a reward for all of our hard work. There we will get the chance to go on safari for two days and relax on the beach before heading back to the states on December 2^nd.

Until then I just wanted to share some pictures from my ISP time spent in Underberg for the past three and half weeks where I lived and worked at the Clouds of Hope orphanage.

On the Clouds of Hope grounds in Underberg, South Africa

Clouds of Hope

Clouds of Hope cottages...where I lived for the past 3 1/2 weeks

Anele and I, it was hard not to bring her home with me!!

Syamthanda

Graduation Day from Playgroup :)

Apiwe

Playing Soccer After School

Anele

Babies, babies, and more babies

Life here in Eshowe is both uneventful and eventful at the same time... while my days all pretty much consist of the same thing, I'm learning a ton every single day.

We get up early to have breakfast at 6:45, take a 20 minute walk to the hospital and head to the doctors meeting at 7:30. From there, I head up to the labor ward and spend the day talking with and learning from the sisters. Some days are a lot more exciting than others, there have been a few that there haven't been any deliveries, but for the most part I've seen a lot! Each delivery is a little bit different, and I'm starting to learn about all the circumstances and complications the sisters have to handle. I'm so impressed about how much they know.

Last Friday I was invited down to theater (the operating rooms) to scrub in on some C-sections (or Caesers as they call them here)! I thought I would just get to see one, but the doctor who was performing them let me come to his next two as well. I was a little nervous, especially after one of the doctors said the last student passed out and needed 6 stitches when he observed a Caeser....

I was totally fine though, and thought the whole procedure was SO interesting. I never thought I'd be that interested in surgery, but it really was so cool. Each one took about 45 minutes or so, but the actual extraction of the baby took only 5 to 10, the rest of the time spent suturing. After being in theatre for 3 and a half hours on my feet I was definitely tired... I don't know how the doctors on call do it all night!

Every Wednesday Sally and I have been helping out in the pharmacy, and while it doesn't exactly relate to our projects, it's our little way of giving back and we are learning a ton. Wednesdays are diabetes day in the chronic outpatient clinic, so literally hundreds of people come to collect their meds. It's super hectic, but we got the hang of it pretty quickly. We're both confident that we could fill a diabetes scrip in our sleep at this point.

Weekends haven't been too eventful (Eshowe is a pretty residential town)but we're going to check out the George Hotel and brewery sometime and hopefully find the old fort we've heard about....

It's hard to believe that I only have one more week in Eshowe, and only about 3 weeks left in South Africa! It's been such an incredible experience so far, and even though I'm soooo excited to get home, I'll definitely miss everything here.

Khotso, Pula, Nala

Updates from Underberg!!!

Saturday

Telise and I moved out of the Pile Inn Bed and Breakfast and moved into Clouds of Hope cottage # 11. It’s really convenient living on the Clouds property now, which makes the commute to work every day just about 1 minute. It’s also quite nice to walk outside of your front door everyday and get ambushed by a million hugs from the kids! They are all so adorable and so sweet. After we moved in on Saturday we went and hiked the mountain that is right behind the orphanage grounds, it’s called “the place of echoes” (I forgot the Zulu name for it). We saw tons of geckos and lizards while we were climbing and then had a nice lunch at the top on a big boulder. After our hike we walked into the town of Underberg to run to the grocery store and to hang out at this local café called “The Lemon Tree.” We’ve already become regulars here, it’s such a great place to hang out, write post cards, read, type up our ISPs, and drink delicious smoothies while enjoying the back patio. Town is just about a mile from the orphanage, but it is a really nice walk through the forest, we’ve ended up coming into town just about every day since we arrived. When we got back to the orphanage we set up a movie for all of the kids to watch in the lounge of the big house and then passed out from a long day!

Sunday

The next morning, Sunday, was also quite an adventurous day! Telise and I signed up to travel the Sani Pass (a long stretch of winding roads that crosses over into Lesotho). We left around 9:30 a.m. and traveled by 4x4 about 50 km until we reached the very top. At the top is where “The Highest Pub in Africa” is located so we stopped there for lunch and drinks. Afterwards we visited a traditional Lesotho village where the Basotho people live. The other people in our car were in quite a bit of shock when we arrived and kept talking about how poor these people must be. This was a bit awkward, especially since Telise and I have lived in similar villages throughout the course of our rural home stays, which makes us realize just how lucky we are to have the opportunities that we’ve had throughout this program. Lesotho is called the “Kingdom in the Sky,” and the Lesotho people are known as the “People of the Blanket” because everyone is always wrapped up in big wool blankets to stay warm. We saw lots of shepherds who are dressed especially warm…and one Afrikaans lady in our car kept talking about how scary they looked…which was also awkward…especially since the lady lives in Johannesburg and there are way scarier things going on over there…But it was a really cool experience. We also got to go into one lady’s round house to learn a little bit more about their culture. The traditional greeting that the Basotho people say is “Khotso, Pula, Nala,” which means that you wish that person peace, rain, and prosperity. Then we tasted some Basotho beer…it was a sour taste that reminded me of the traditional Zulu dish, Maas (which is just soured milk and mealy meal), and THEN we tasted some homemade fresh bread…it was so delicious…I thought steam bread was good….but this gave it a run for its money that’s for sure. We all bought a few more pieces and then headed back to Underberg. It was a long day of driving on the side of steep cliffs but it was so much fun, and a really awesome opportunity to have while we are staying out here in the Drakensberg Mountains.

P.S. I apologize in advance, I thought I would be able to upload updates daily but I have no cell phone reception out here on the orphanage grounds, so I can only post once I’m in town and have a bit more service in my modem!

This past week has gone by waayyy too fast! Telise and I have been busy working in the manager’s office that was recently redone. The manager is a really nice man who lives on the orphanage grounds with his wife and daughter in one of the cottages. He’s very soft spoken and has two little Jack Russell terriers that follow him around all day long. One of the dogs, Lilly, snuck into the playgroup with the little kids today and come out covered in pink marker…it looks like she got attacked by the kids. We’ve been working on re-filing the children’s documents and report cards, which is also where we have been gathering the majority of our data. We spend most mornings collecting our data and doing some small jobs around the orphanage whenever we’re asked to. At times it can get depressing reading the kids files and seeing into their unhappy pasts…many of the children lost their parents due to AIDS, or were simply abandoned after they were born. One girl was dumped in a garbage can after birth until a police officer found her in a plastic bag still attached to the placenta. Many of the other children have been physically or sexually abused by other family members that were supposed to be looking after them, or the kids ended up in households to raise themselves.

In the afternoon we head back to our cottage for lunch, play with the kids outside for a while and then walk the mile into town to get some work done on the Internet. On Tuesday nights we are invited to eat dinner with Gogo Abi in the big house with about 10 other children living there. It’s great to get some more Zulu cooking when we can…and it was a really great way for us to bond with some of the older kids as well. Gogo Abi is really one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. It’s great just to be around her…I don’t think she ever really gets tired, she’s always in her white tennis shoes running from place to place and still caring for small children as young as 2 in addition to all of the other children she has adopted from babies and are now in their late teens. You would never guess that’s she’s actually 76 years old…she drives a big 4x4 pick-up truck to take the kids to school and pick them up in the afternoon. She’s so witty she always keeps everyone laughing and smiling!

Alrighty, well that’s all I’m going to post for now…hopefully I will get a chance to upload pictures at some point…I’ll work on that for the next post!

Sala Kahle

Alyssa

Eshowe update

My first few days at Eshowe have certainly been exciting! To explain everything would take forever, but here's some highlights:

-I got to see my first delivery on Friday! Two girls came in at the same time around 9 in the morning, so I got to see the whole process from admission to delivery. It was pretty exciting, and the nurses were great at answering questions for me and explaining how charting works. Yes, the baby was pretty adorable, and no, I wasn't grossed out at all! I guess my career choice of being an obstetric & gynecology PA won't have to change :)

-Saturday was my 21st birthday! Not quite as exciting as many 21sts are in the states, but we had a good day including seeing some zebras, taking a walk on the beach (I've officially spent more time at the Indian Ocean than the Atlantic...), and having a braai (South African's bbq... delicious).

-Today we checked out the Dlinza forest, a 20 minute walk from the B&B. There's a cool aerial boardwalk, a viewing tower, and some trails that wind through the forest. It was beautiful, and our tour guide/security guy took pictures of us and let us climb some 600 year old trees in the forest (according to him, all the trees were "too old")

Tomorrow starts our first full week at the hospital. I'll be spending the majority of the time on the labor ward, but we're planning on helping out in the pharmacy for a day as well. This unlimited wi-fi is definitely a luxury, which means lots more posts in the next few weeks :)

-Kristen

Independent Study Projects Begin!

After our hectic week of traveling in rural South Africa and hiking in the Drakensberg Mountains we returned to a busy week of classes and lectures. Our proposals for our independent studies took up quite a bit of our time as we worked through all of the necessary steps to provide human subject consent forms and completed confidentiality and privacy requirements for each of our research projects. From there we worked on finalizing our placement sites, found housing locations, and contacted local advisors for our projects who are experts in the field we wish to study. We enjoyed our weekend in Durban and relaxed on the beach in the time we had off over the weekend. The next week jumped right back into intensive work as we each completed our Community Health Seminar final papers which ended up being upwards of 30 pages. By the time we turned in our papers it was already time to get started on our independent study projects. The next day we moved out of our flats on the beach and had drop offs all over…depending on where students decided to pursue their projects.

Kristen and another student were dropped off in a rural village, Eshowe where she will be working at a local hospital.

Myself and another student ended up heading back to the Drakensberg area in an area known as Underberg. The small town is located in the foothills of the mountains and we are both working at the local orphanage, “Clouds of Hope AIDS Project.” Today was only our second day at our site but we already love it! The children and the staff are truly amazing. The founder of the organization Gogo Abi, is pretty much a modern day Mother Theresa. Her father never believed in schooling for women so she wasn’t able to start her education until she was 14 and decided to enter 1^st grade. She finished her schooling and went on to become a nurse and midwife. She traveled throughout South Africa as a nurse until the AIDS epidemic broke out and she started adopting orphans in the area. At one point she had 6 adopted children and 6 foster children all living with her in her tiny 2 bedroom home. She wrote several articles for the local paper talking about the needs of these orphaned children in the community. The community responded and ended up raising enough funds to start the Clouds of Hope project. The orphanage has been quite successful and currently has 12 “cottages” on their property which each house up to 8 children with a house Mama living in each one of the cottages. Gogo Abi was recently presented with an award in San Francisco by the Dalai Lama. As we settled in Gogo told us about a few of the little kids as we sat down for tea. One little girl who looks to be about the size of 2 year old is actually over 4 years old. She was born very premature at 24 weeks, the nurses in the hospital thought the woman was having an abortion until they saw the fetus breathing. The mother was extremely sick at the time she gave birth with complications from AIDS and ended up dying of pneumonia 3 days after giving birth. Gogo Abi was called into the hospital and the nurses told her that the little girl was paralyzed, deaf, blind, and mentally retarded and would probably die soon. They asked Gogo Abi to take her in so that she could at least die in loving arms. Today, the little girl is 4 years old, she’s not mentally retarded, and able to see and hear just fine. She’s mobile but is still working to build up muscle in her legs to start walking…other than that she is quite healthy and speaks English quite well as I noticed when she crawled over to me and told me she wanted to sit in my lap. She’s quite adorable and I know already that she will be one of the children that I will grow to be attached to.

I thought that the kids would be afraid of us at first from previous experiences in rural villages with children having little exposure to white people. But I was more than happy to be greeted by a swarm of hugs from the entire pre-school class. There seem to be a million things to write about the organization so I will try to consistently update the blog on interesting stories and experiences that I have throughout the next three weeks here at Clouds.

Until then…Sala Kahle

Alyssa

Umthwalume to Drakensberg!!!

The next morning before heading north, we stopped by at a TB hospital. It was interesting to see the facilities and talk with some of the patients who were currently receiving treatment while living in the hospital. There were a lot of empty beds (a good thing!) and only one child living there during the time of our visit.

Outside of the TB Hospital in Umthwalume

After our hospital visit we said good-bye to Umthwalume and 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 most amazing. We spent the rest of the day hanging out, enjoying a group 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 to make 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.

In the Drakensberg Mountains

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.

On our way up the mountain

A few of us (including the two of us) 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. We thought we had 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 some of us realize that we 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 all 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.

Drakensberg to....our Penthouse apartment!?

The next morning we packed up early and began the trip back to Durban. After stopping at the SIT house quick to pick up our extra luggage, we got to move into our penthouse apartment at Windemere (an apartment complex right on the Indian Ocean)! Our apartment is HUGE, I think we all went through a little bit of reverse culture shock of our new living conditions. The six of us in our apartment settled into our own beds, enjoyed our first hot shower in a good 10 days, and got prepared for a new week of lectures and classes back in Durban.

This week was quite an adventure, but we're happy to be settled again. We'll be here for another week and a half before we start our independent study projects!

Hope you enjoyed all the updates!

Sala Kahle

Alyssa & Kristen

Amatikulu to Umthwalume...

Kids waving good-bye to us at the Bangabizo Primary School

On 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, called the Bangabizo Primary School, which was absolutely amazing. They were very focused on teaching life skills, and incorporated gardening and recycling projects into their lessons. The students recited poems they had written on a variety of different issues in their community from sexual violence to traditional Zulu dancing. After the poems a group of girls came in and did traditional Zulu dancing for us. By now we've seen a LOT of Zulu dancing but it still doesn't get old, it's still so amazing to watch! 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 hundreds of different 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 home stays to spend the rest of the evening with them.

Kristin

My 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).

Alyssa

My family was also really friendly and excited to have us stay in their home. The family we stayed with had a really nice house, there was no running water but the inside of the house was furnished nicer than my apartment in Syracuse! There were a total of about 9 kids living with us in the home who were all really adorable and a lot of fun to play with. We hung out with them and played a few different card games that I had brought along with me. Our Mama made us a delicious Zulu dinner and then we were off to bed!

Thursday:

Our first stop of the day was visiting another traditional healer, considered to be a "spiritual healer" which was pretty much the same as the other sangomas and traditional healers 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!

Kristen & Alyssa at the beach in Umthwalume

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 Kristen about her camp counselor arts and crafts skills, and challenged her to finish first. Not surprisingly, she was able to uphold her title J.

Kristen and her AIDS ribbon

We headed back that afternoon and had another fun and relaxing evening and got ready to head to the Drakensberg the next day!

Cato Manor to Amatikulu...

Sanibona Everyone!

We apologize for the lack of posting in the past week; we have been spending a lot of time in the rural areas of South Africa and with no plumbing and electricity there is obviously also no internet access…

However, we still want to share our experiences from the past week with you all because we truly have had some amazing experiences.

On Monday we moved out of our home stays in Cato Manor (the five weeks we spent living there really flew by!) and then we were off to Amatikulu! Both of us wanted to share our different experiences in each of our rural home stays so provided both of our notes for each location…enjoy!

Kristen’s Amatikulu Adventure…

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 home stays. 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 home stays- 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….). 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 kinds 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 through 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.

Alyssa in Amatikulu…

After we were paired up with our Mamas at the local Amatikulu clinic (they are all also community health workers) then we piled in the van and were off to our new homes. My friend Sally and I were the first ones to be dropped off at the bottom of a giant hill that we climbed to get to our home. Our home was really nice it was about three rooms in total with no plumbing or electricity but it was still a comfortable place to stay. The house was in a grouping with several other small homes and round houses (huts) where the rest of our Mama’s family lived. It essentially was like living on a family compound which is quite a common practice here in South Africa. We helped our Mama with dinner (for all 15 people living on the compound) stayed up and chatted for a while with our family and then headed to bed. Once the sun goes down around 7:30 there isn’t much else to do without electricity so bedtime is pretty early. Unfortunately it stormed the entire night, and sleeping under a tin roof was quite noisy. There were also a lot of leaks in the roof but luckily my sleeping bag was waterproof, otherwise I would have been soaking wet by the morning. In the morning we got up around 6 with our Mama ate breakfast and left with her on her rounds as a community health worker. We first visited a man with TB who had already defaulted on his first round of treatment tablets. Our Mama checks in with him a few days a week as a part of the DOT strategy. After we left his home we went to a few of his neighbors to see if they would agree to be the man’s DOT person for the days of the week when our Mama was unable to make it to his home. Then we checked in on a grandmother with two little girls to see if they were up-to-date with their immunizations. Next, we visited a man who was sick with AIDS…he was extremely thin and was suffering from a severe cough. Our Mama encouraged him to go to the clinic for medicine and told him that she would come back the next day to check in and bring him some porridge as well. Rounds ended around noon and then we headed back to our home. We hung out with our siblings for a little while playing soccer. Sally and I also started picking mangos off the trees and eating them like all of the other children were doing…unfortunately we both broke out in a super itchy rash similar to poison ivy after a few days all over our necks! We got back and ate dinner and once again went to bed pretty early.

The next morning we were up early and got picked up by our driver and were off to our next rural home stay in Umthwalume!!!

October Already!? Time to hit the beach...

Good-Bye to Cato Manor

Sanibona!

It's hard to believe that October is here already, September flew by too fast!! Last Friday was Heritage day here in South Africa. Everyone is off of school and work that day so we all took our families to the beach for the day. Lots of people like to dress in traditional Zulu clothing and there were lots of Zulu dances going on along the beach to watch. It was a windy day in the 70's which means it's time to get on the winter coats for most of the locals. We all enjoyed the warm weather though and didn't hesitate to go for a swim in the ocean. It was my two-year-old sister's first time to see the ocean, but she was too scared to get in the water! Later that evening when we got home my little sister got really sick and was vomiting non-stop. My older sister told me that she was "sea-sick." She explained that it's Zulu culture that if the first time you see the ocean and don't go under the water that you'll end up sick later that day. I felt bad for my little sister, fortunately she was fine the next morning when she woke up! It was quite an interesting Zulu cultural experience for me!

Last weekend we all stayed at a backpackers hostel in town and got a chance to go out with our study abroad group and de-stress which was really great.

This past week we were busy attending classes at the Red Cross here in South Africa. The week long course and final exam certified us each in International First Aid. It was interesting to learn about things like shark and crocodile attacks and how to treat those wounds...things we don't quite cover in the United States. After our exam we celebrated by going to the beach for the rest of the afternoon to relax. It seems strange going to the beach in October...it definitely doesn't resemble fall here as we are just about to enter the summer season!

Yesterday, Friday, we had a farewell dinner with our families in Cato Manor. I can't believe that I will be leaving my host family on Monday, I'll definitely be sad to say good-bye to my family and the Cato Manor community. We had a great dinner and enjoyed a lot of dancing to Shakira's "Waka Waka," with all of the little kids from Cato.

My Zulu Family and I

Kristen & I at our Cato Manor Farewell Party

Monday morning we move out and head for another busy week. We're first driving to Amatikulu, another rural home stay followed by another rural homestay in Umthwalume. From there we will be driving to Underberg, a town in the Drakensberg Mountains (where I hope to be living during the time of my independent study in November). There, we will go out on an all day hike through the mountains followed by camping over night. I'm not quite sure when our next shower opportunity will be... but I think that it will be a great week!

I'll be sure to post pictures when we return!

Until then sala kahle :)

Back From Impendle!

Sanibona!

Yesterday we arrived back in eThekwini (Durban) after our first rural home stay in the village of Impendle. It was quite an experience to live with a new family in a very different location. Our group of 24 students was divided in half so that 12 visited Impendle and the other 12 students went to Amatikulu (we will switch locations in a few weeks). For this short home stay we were paired up with another student, so that we were not totally on our own, which was really nice. The family I stayed with consisted of a Gogo (Grandmother) and her two grandchildren. The little girl was 5 and the little boy was 2, they were both really cute and fun to play with. Also, a friend of the Gogo’s was a 15 year old student who was quite fluent in English which made communication a whole lot easier since no one else spoke any English in our home.

My home in Impendle

We arrived in Impendle in the early afternoon on Monday. We picked up our program director in Impendle and then headed to a primary school. We sat in on a Zulu class just to recap some of the important phrases we should know. A group of students in grade 7 sat in the class with us to help us with our Zulu as we helped them with their English. The students were incredibly kind to us and we really had a good time getting to know them.

Primary School in Impendle

After the school visit we headed to the Gomani Clinic, which was one of two clinics in the town of Impendle. The nearest hospital was an hour drive away. For emergency situations, specialized care, complications in child birth, etc. patients are referred onto the clinic’s larger sister hospital. A problem with this is that the ambulance takes a minimum of 3 hours just to arrive at the clinic so many patients end up dying while waiting for the care that they need. Overall, the clinic was extremely clean…I was very impressed with the resources available and the overall cleanliness of the entire facility.

From the clinic we went to go and visit a Sangoma (a traditional Zulu healer). This was the highlight of our trip to Impendle for me. We all entered the Sangoma’s round house and had the opportunity to ask her questions about traditional medicine and what types of problems people have who come to see her. What was really interesting was the role that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) played in the role of certifying Sangomas. Every Sangoma must be certified by attending workshops that teach the importance of cleanliness and referring patients on to receive medical treatment when needed (especially in the cases of HIV/AIDS and/or TB infection). I found it interesting that the CDC and PEPFAR were the ones who were the driving factor in the certification process with the Sangomas. The Sangoma then showed us the routine of what she typically does with a patient. It was a pretty intense experience of burning incense and the Sangoma speaking with our ancestors…at one point it sounded like she was having an exorcism. It was a really awesome experience to have this opportunity to look into how traditional healers and traditional medicine is used in South Africa.

Mama Sangoma in her roundhouse where she practices traditional medicine

After our Sangoma visit we were dropped off at our home stays for the rest of the evening. We played with the kids outside for a while until the sun went down. Our Gogo cared for not only her two grandchildren but also for the many cows and chickens that lived on her property. Her photo is at the very top of the page in the front yard (she was actually saving me from the cow that had cornered me). For dinner we had “mystery meat” it looked similar to a fetus…but I think it was just a strange cut of beef. Neither of us ate much of that but luckily Gogo made us steam bread (my favorite thing I’ve had since we got here) and that filled us right up. Then the 15 year old girl who was staying with us offered to braid my hair….little did I know how much of a commitment this was. It took two days to finish all of my hair and probably a total of 6 hours. However, there really wasn’t much else to do once the sun went down and the next day it was mostly a sandstorm outside so we were once again stuck inside. So 6 hours of pain later…my hair was finished!

My little buhti and some newborn chicks in our yard

Our "bathroom" really just a bucket in a shack, the first time I used it one of the cows ran head first into the side of it. I think the biggest struggle for me in rural living was no running water, I think I would take running water over electricity.

Day two in Impendle we visited the clinic again and went on a tour with one of the nurses of the facility and met more staff members. All of the staff seemed to be incredibly tired and overworked. At one point the nurse mentioned that she doesn’t even know where the key to the front door of the clinic is, but it doesn’t matter because they are just always open. After seeing how full the waiting room was I can understand why that is the case. We also visited another school where the students sang for us…they were incredibly talented and we all really enjoyed it.

Afterwards we headed back to the home stays to spend more time with our families. That night Kelsey and I were asked to make dinner….we made pasta with the limited resources we had accessible to us…it was probably the worst meal I have ever made but Gogo was so nice to us and everyone said that they loved it (personally, I thought it tasted awful). For breakfast each morning we had porridge… that was also a struggle to get down, very sticky and glue-like texture…but we managed. After breakfast we packed up and headed back to Cato Manor (about a 3 hour drive). However, we will return to rural living in a few weeks to stay in two more villages along with a hiking and camping trip in the Drakensberg Mountains which we are all looking forward to!

Another shot of Impendle

It was really great to get back to my host family in Cato. I missed my little sisi Moo so much, I’m not sure what I will do when we have to move out of our home stays in two weeks! The time is flying by here…today we had a full day of classes and guest lectures on primary health care in South Africa. Friday we have off because it is Heritage Day, everyone gets the day off so we are each taking our host families to the beach for the day. I’m looking forward to a day out in the sun and enjoying more of the Indian Ocean.

Enjoy the ngempelesonto (weekend)!

Sala Kahle

A few more glimpses of South Africa

Just wanted to share a few pictures from our adventures so far:

Kristen in Cato Manor, the township that we are staying in...all of the homes are the same size and layout because they were built by the South African government after apartheid.

My little sister and I before leaving for the Zulu Reed Dance.

We were encouraged to dress traditionally, however I don't think that by any means we "blended in with the crowd." Out of over 70,000 people we were the only white people that I noticed. Many of the people there were from very rural villages and it seemed like we may have been the first white people that had ever seen. A lot of the girls wanted to take pictures with us, hug us, and touch our skin and hair. It was quite interesting that out of over 50,000 topless girls, our small group of 24 white American students seemed to be more of a spectacle. Living in a country where we are the minority is quite an experience, it can be trying at times, but these are the times when I feel I am learning the most and will be experiences that we will never forget.

At the Zulu Reed Dance, after the girls presented themselves to the Zulu king and dropped off their reeds.

More girls from the Zulu Reed Dance

their intricate bead work is incredible and so beautiful. You can find most of the beads in markets all around town...a necklace is somewhere around 50 Rand (about $8 U.S. dollars).

The beach in St. Lucia, where we stayed after the Reed Dance.

My adorable little sister

All of the kids in Cato Manor are so cute. A lot of the students like to go for runs in the morning before we leave for class...and typically there is a group of little kids waiting who join in to run alongside us barefoot.

Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Hospital, NGO, School Visits... and preparing to go rural!

Sanibona! Unjani? (how are you?)

This past week has been great (not as exciting as elephants crossing the road, but still good). Classes were mixed up a bit and instead of sitting through lectures and learning Zulu for most of the day we instead got to begin our field studies. Each day different groups of students (depending on interests) went to different hospitals, clinics, NGOs, and schools. I visited a hospital not far from where we are staying that was partially privatized...so care is not free there like it is in the large government hospitals. However, visits can be scheduled ahead of time (instead of waiting for up to 7 hours in line) and most services are not very expensive, especially compared to prices back home in the United States. Also, the hospital I visited had a wonderful program for children who are living with HIV/AIDS and are really known for their effective child treatment programs.

For my ISP (Independent Study Project) which occurs the last month of our semester I have decided that I want to work with orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) since I feel that I have had little exposure to this age group in a public health context. As of now, my plan is to conduct a needs assessment of a rural orphanage. On Wednesday I headed to an orphanage a little bit outside of town to visit and collect information. The orphanage was for children under the age of 6 who were mostly orphaned due to AIDS, with many of the children living with HIV/AIDS currently. I also learned that what we consider to be an orphanage in the United States is not necessarily the same concept here in South Africa. The organization takes care of children from 6am until 3pm. The children all have a place to go home to...but most are living either with parents who are sick with HIV/AIDS and unable to care for them or with relatives who have taken them in after their parents passed. Most families prefer to always take in relatives rather than leaving them with a live-in orphanage with strangers caring for them. However, this means that these children are living in extreme poverty, mostly shacks.

The little kids were a bit afraid of us at first...not used to seeing mlungus (white people) very often... but they warmed up quickly and the older kids had no hesitation to play with us. The facility was severely underfunded and is currently only able to provide 2 meals a day. The first meal only consisted of bowls of porage and the second consisting of half a sandwich (two pieces of white bread with apricot jam). There are a total of 91 children and 5 volunteers who are in charge of taking care of all the children. One volunteer told us how these are typically the only two meals the children get all day (Monday-Friday) since food is extremely limited where the children stay at night. The volunteer Faith, told us how this is a major problem since so many of these kids have HIV/AIDS and need to have access to a variety of nutrient rich foods. The organization has a beautiful garden outside where many vegetables grow...however we were told that they cannot continue to maintain the garden due to a lack of money for new seeds. When I asked Faith what they would do first if they received more funding she simply said that she, "would buy more food for the children."

Thursday we visited a local high school and sat in on classes and talked with students. I sat in on a life orientation class, a math course, and a Zulu class. Classes were very different with students mostly just talking to each other and ignoring the teacher. In life orientations class students just copied notes out of a text book. Math class there was one problem written on the chalkboard that the students were supposed to work on throughout the class period (nearly 1 hour). Then, the teacher solved the problem on the board...although the answer she provided was incorrect. Zulu class was the only course I attended that was taught by a black teacher. All other teachers and staff members were either Indian or white. The school used to be an all white school prior to apartheid, however now it is known as a primarily black school. It was an interesting visit.

Friday was a big exam day. We had our final written Zulu exam and our Zulu oral exam...it was tough and a bit intimidating to walk into the room of our 4 Zulu teachers firing questions away! However, we were well-prepared and we are all happy that it is over now! It's hard to believe how much Zulu we actually have learned since arriving here just a little less than a month ago!

The weekend we had free with our families in Cato Manor to relax after a busy week. On Saturday we took a group trip to the beach. Some friends and I went to Victoria Market to pick up some longer traditional African skirts for next week when we stay in a small rural town (it's not typical for women to wear pants or shorts). Then, we visited the Moses Mabhida world cup soccer stadium in Durban where a sky car takes you over the giant arch, it was really cool. At the top you can get out and enjoy the view of downtown Durban (second picture below). Then, we relaxed on the beach watching all of the surfers catching big waves out in the Indian Ocean.

Next week we leave for our first rural home stay. Kristen and I are both going to Impendle, a small rural village where we will stay with families...this time no running water or electricity, however we do have bug spray! We have a full schedule including a visit to a rural hospital to see how it runs and then a visit to a Sangoma (someone who practices traditional medicine). It should make for some interesting experiences!!

More to come once we get back to Durban!

Sala Kahle

Zulu Reed Dance, Elephants, Zebras, Hippos, and more!

This past weekend was absolutely one of the most incredible experiences in my life. We left for the Zulu Reed Dance early Saturday morning, it was about a four hour drive from our Durban home-stays to the Zulu king's traditional palace which is farther inland and in a very rural area. In total there were over 50,000 girls taking part in the traditional Zulu Reed Dance ceremony. Each girl goes through virginity testing before they are given a reed to bring to the king. At the palace they present themselves to the king in their traditional outfits consisting of beautiful beaded skirts, necklaces, bracelets and head pieces. It was an amazing to be a part of the traditional Zulu culture. The picture above shows the girls with their reeds in line to approach the king's home. They all looked incredibly nervous on their way in, but once they dropped off their reeds they were all smiling singing and dancing in celebration.

After the Reed Dance we left for St. Lucia, an area on the east coast of South Africa. The drive was about two hours in total, with about a 20 minute drive through a wildlife game reserve. We weren't expecting to see any animals since we were really just cutting through the park a short distance. However, about 10 seconds after entering the park we saw an elephant right next to the road. We stopped and watched the elephant cross the road in front of us. It was unreal! (Even in the picture below it still looks fake!) Then, we went on to see zebras, rhinos, springbok, and water buffalo all within our short drive! We arrived in beautiful St. Lucia and enjoyed a group dinner with one of our community health professors. In the morning we went to the beach to see a family of hippos laying out in the sand.

Seeing all of the animals in addition to the Reed Dance was really amazing....a weekend I absolutely will never forget!

More to come soon...

Sala Kahle