So I've been in South Africa for about a week and I am loving it so far. The first few days the weather was gorgeous, in the high 60's with sunny skies. Recently, however, it turned cold and rainy, which has led to piling on layers of clothing, and to an unfortunate discovery...the entire country of South Africa lacks central heating systems. So basically, every room is heated by a 2 foot long, old school metal heater. Fantastic, I know. In short, the buildings are freezing all the time and I've spent the last few days bundled in as many clothes as possible, huddled under numerous blankets in one room or another.
On Saturday, July 25th, we went on a tour of the Townships surround Grahamstown. I was surprised to learn that for the most part Grahamstown still has very segregated neighborhoods. There is a township for the Coloureds (mixed ethnicity people), a separate one for the Indians, and a township for the Black South Africans, while the white population and a few of the wealthier blacks live in the immediate residential areas within Grahamstown.
The townships were shocking to see. It was just miles and miles of tiny houses; some made of sticks and mud with corrugated iron tacked to the outside, while others (mainly government built) were sturdy albeit small houses. The Xhosa people love color, and this characteristic is readily displayed on the walls of their houses, with vivid pinks, greens, and blues being the most popular choices. It was Saturday so there were people everywhere, many just standing around visiting friends, although most of the women could be found outside their houses hand-washing the family laundry (below is a picture of a typical house in the townships).
We went to a place called Egazini field and is to honour the 10,000 Xhosa warriors that were killed by the British. Today it is also used as a sports field for the two schools across the street. It is the only form of a playground they have and everyday it’s a race to see which kids reach it first. The winners get to claim the field for their school for the day.
In the afternoon we went to the home of a Xhosa woman named Mama Dox (below is a picture of me with her). She was once of the nicest people I've ever met, and welcomed us right into her home and had a traditional meal prepared for us. It was delicious. I couldn't pronounce most of the dishes, but in American terms it was spinach, beans, mutton, and dumplings with herbal tea. After lunch Mama Dox and two other women sang and danced for us. It was a funny song about a beetle. Although, we couldn't understand anything Mama Dox or her friends said, our tour guide was a fair interpreter and we got the gist of things. We even learned a few phrases in Xhosa such as:
Nkosi- Thank you
Ujani- How are you?
Molo/Molweni-Hello
On the whole it was an excellent experience and really increased my drive to do volunteer work while I'm here.
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