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!
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