Sanibonani!

I finally made it to a computer, so here is a [no so brief] update. I’m living in the rural village of Bhekuzulu, which is a tiny village about 20k outside of Estcourt (a really small town which basically consists of a crossroads and a couple of stores north of Durban). I work every day at the Bhekuzulu Self Sufficient Project (Bhekuzulu.wordpress.com if you’re interested, it would take too long to explain everything that goes on here). I live in a bedroom out back of Nozipho’s, the project’s finance manager, house. Musa, the program manager, lives next door to me, and Therese, the American Peace Corps volunteer lives inside. They’re all pretty cool. I think we’re the only house in the village that has running water (there are things visibly swimming in it and I got really sick the first weekend from drinking it, but hey, its running water nonetheless). So all in all it’s a pretty great place to live.

I have a Zulu name- it is Mbali Hadebe. Mbali means rose or flower, and two of the little girls who live here picked it out for me. Hadebe is a joke, because like 2/3 of our village have the surname Hadebe, although they are not related. No one can remember American names here, because they sound so strange, so everybody but Therese calls me Mbali or Mbali Rose. The director’s sister’s name also happens to be Mbali Hadebe, which is rather inconvenient, but whatever.

BSSP is doing pretty well by South African standards- they accomplish things, no one is stealing money as far as I can tell. They employ as many people as they can afford to, because unemployment is 89% in this municipality and the HIV prevalence is 43%. If that means nothing to you, let me interpret- that’s almost as bad as it could possibly be. However, lots of people means not much for me to do, which is actually probably good. I mostly hang out at the crèche, which is like a pre-school/day-care for kids too young to go to school. Picture 45 really cute zulu children kept in a small pen and excited about anyone who wants to play with them. Sad, but absolutely adorable. I’ve taken more pictures than any of you will ever want to look at, trust me. Last week, schools were on Easter break, so Therese and I wrote a little over 100 letters to local and international funders, trying to get grants for the center. This week, schools are back in session, so they’re starting up the afterschool youth program again, which I’m excited for.

To make a long story short, most land except inside towns and cities in South Africa since 1994 is tribal, which means it can’t be bought and sold, the chief has to give it to you. Which creates a number of issues, including the fact that since you can’t count your house as an asset, you can’t get loans. The chief of this area’s daughter is kind of petty, supposedly, and kicked BSSP off its land last year behind her father’s back. So, now we have new land, which is bigger, and we’re in the process of building all new buildings, which will ultimately be way better, but at the moment is hugely inconvenient. The office is currently in a stick and mud building (typical here), which is fine, except its freezing and the mud falls off the walls and jams the printers and computers on a regular basis. So, I’m mostly learning why its really hard to accomplish anything in rural South Africa, but also a lot about NGO’s, the peace corps, funding, and HIV. And cute kids, of course.

Life is really slow in rural villages- pretty much nothing happens. On the weekends, for instance, literally nothing happens. Maybe, you might do your laundry if you were feeling really crazy, or possibly even ride a minibus into town. But, I kind of enjoy it. Also, everyone wakes up at the crack of dawn, literally (probably because that’s when the chickens get up). I decided to go running at 6 am the other day (if Zulus see you running, they either think you’re running away from something and get concerned, or just think you’re crazy), and literally the entire village was not only awake, but also standing in the one and only dirt road here, and staring at me. I quit after about 2 minutes. Also, we burn our trash, and goats and stray dogs come and eat it, usually while its still burning.

I made friends with one of the local dogs, who Musa named Madlebe (zulu for ears- she has huge ears), who is really cute. But, it’s a problem, because South Africans do not befriend animals ever, even though there are crazy half-starved wolf-dogs everywhere. Madlebe now follows me around. She came to the crèche today, and tried to get in, which was bad.

For Easter, I went to the Drakensburg (big mountains in the middle of SA) with 3 other girls from SIT who are working about 30k way from me in Ladysmith. We got to hike, and ride horses in the mountains, and we met a bunch of other Americans at the hostel, which is weird, because that’s the first time I’ve bet another American here beside Therese.

So all in all, expect pictures of cute kids and beautiful mountains when I eventually make it back to real internet.

Also, I’m coming home in three weeks, which I alternately dread and get very excited about. It feels like I’ve been in Africa forever, but also like I just left America. Its also definitely autumn/winter? now, which means it drops to like 60 at night, which feels freezing. Sad to think that will be about the temperature of NY/Boston when I get back, and everyone else will think its downright hot out.