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