My New Home

So we have officially started our homestays! There are actually more people in the house than I was expecting. There’s my host mom, mama, three sisters, Nono, 13, Slindile (Slie), 21, and Sithembile, 24, a cousin, Thendla who is 18, and Sithembile’s 10 month old baby. Very packed! They speak Zulu as well as English, some better than others (Nono speaks perfect English). I am able to practice my limited Zulu, although I am really struggling with this.

Cato Manor is a township right outside of Durban. It has a really interesting history. It is described as have being a really diverse area with lots of friendliness and cultural richness. During apartheid it was illegal for Africans to buy European liquor, and Cato Manor was a hub for homemade beer. It experienced frequent raids by the police after it was made illegal as the government wanted the rights to sell it. With this, and along with the fact that areas where people of different races being able to happily live together definitely went against the ideals of apartheid, people were systematically removed from Cato Manor around 1959-64 and relocated to racially designated places. People started moving back around 1990, and even more so after 1994 when apartheid ended. My mama said she moved to Cato Manor in 1993, so right about this time.

Cato Manor is still a really friendly place. There are always neighbor kids over at our house, people are always walking around the street, everyone says hi to one another, and there are sooo many kids everywhere! There are always neighbor kids over at our house, and I can’t walk anywhere without little kids running over to me and asking me to pick them up or play a game. They are all so cute! On Friday I spent some time playing with a group of kids with some other SIT kids. We did lots of singing/dancing games that were funny, and some will help me practice my Zulu! We played a version of duck duck goose, soccer, and this game they taught us that’s kind of like dodge ball, except you’re running around. I taught them ‘Bubble gum bubble gum in a dish,’ mostly because I was absolutely exhausted and wanted to sit down. I don’t have enough stamina to play that hard anymore! They don’t have many things to play with; they made a ball out of paper and a plastic bag I think, and the soccer ball was pretty flat, and they have some happy meal toys. Even so, they are very creative in what they do to occupy themselves and really like singing/dancing games.

My house is painted a bright orange on the outside, and my room is blue. The house is probably about the size of my kitchen and living room. The floors are cement/linoleum and really clean. The walls don’t go all the way to the ceiling so you can hear the TV and people talking wherever you are. The TV is always on- the favorite show around here is called Generations and it’s a soap opera in half Zulu, half English. I’m having a hard time catching up, but there’s a girl with her face bandaged because her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend stabbed her with a piece of glass. Nono loves pop music, which is pretty much the same as in the US, and she knows all the words and sings and dances along to that. There is indoor plumbing in the house but no hot water, so I boil water for my bath. We're really careful not to waste anything- water, food, everything else.

My mama works during the week cleaning at a hospital and Nono is in high school. Slie is planning to go to college next year to study model engineering, and right now she and Sithembile are starting jobs. My family is very warm and welcoming and I’m enjoying getting to know them. I went with Nono, Mama, and Thendla to do errands in Durban this weekend and it was fun to walk around in all the business of downtown. We rode mini-bus taxis around- they drive super fast and blast techno-music! I got a lot of stares being the only white person there. People were a bit confused when Nono would tell them that I'm her sister! My mama told me that most of the people who have cars will go to the malls to shop instead, and she said that "mostly Africans and poor Indians shop downtown" where you can get to by taxi. This seemed to be true by my observations, but on the other hand a lecturer told us that most of the people in homeless shelters are white people and migrant workers. Obviously socio-economic issues and peoples perceptions of race and ethnicity are complicated. I'm struck with how bluntly people talk about 'race' here though; really different than the concern about being politically correct that is my experience in the US.

There are clearly very different worlds within South Africa. Many people here avoid the poverty, as most tourists do and we did the first few days where we stayed in hostels and visited museums and beaches. And there’s certainly poverty beyond the townships that we are living in- we pass homemade shacks built of scraps of metal and plastic, and there are those without homes at all. I am living in one of the nicer homes in Cato! As students we have access to some of the best health care available, but many people do not have access to health care at all and South Africa as a whole is home to so many health problems.

I’m adjusting well to living with my family in Cato, although it’s certainly a reality check. It’s uncomfortable having my own room when the others in the family are sharing the two others, and having my bag of medication, my i-pod, my camera, etc. when I’m living in a place with potential food security issues. They all seem to enjoy each other's company though, and it's fun becoming friends with my sisters!

This week I am visiting a school for children with disabilities, and next Friday the SIT group has a night out in Durban which should be fun. I’ll let you know how the week goes! Sala kahle!