Rural Excursion, Take Two

Our rural excursion was much more successful than the last! Only five of us got sick this time, and the recovery time was much faster. I was one of those five, go figure, but hey, even if the rural areas don’t like me, I still like them! I think a little Cipro action might be in order though....

We started off spending a couple days in the Drakensburg Mountains. Once again, the scenery was absolutely gorgeous, and the cool weather was a nice break from the Durban heat. The first day we hiked up to see so Koi San Paintings on rocks, which was really cool. The San people were nomadic hunters and gatherers and are considered one of the oldest groups of people in the world and used to live in this area, now the small number living more traditionally mostly live in the Kalahari desert: http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761561208/San_(people).html
Here’s a picture of one of the paintings:



The next day we set off to find the waterfall/stream our AD, Zed, had told us about. The ground was muddy due to the recent rain and there wasn’t much of a path, but we were determined. As we started getting close we looked up the mountain and saw at least 10 baboons. A few of them ran away, but most of them just sat there watching us. Not knowing much about baboons except that they are territorial and definitely bigger, stronger, and faster than we are, this made us a little nervous. Yet, we prevailed, and finally reached the freezing cold but clear waters of what we named Baboon Lagoon. We didn’t see any more of the baboons, but as you can see from this picture, we definitely would have been able to fight them off!



A side note about our all girls program- although it can be a little much at time, it's actually working out ok! We've all gotten pretty close and I think because we're an all female group we feel like we can talk about anything we want anytime. I imagine we might drive our AD a little crazy, but it's a good group overall and we support each other well and have a lot of fun.

Later that day we set off for Impendle, the village where we would be staying. Impendle is a very rural area, although there is a town center with stores and a clinic.

We lived with families and spent the day learning about community health initiatives in the area. My friend Sara and I stayed with a really nice couple in a cozy house with electricity but no running water. They spoke some English and we spoke a little Zulu, so we were able to communicate pretty well. Here's a picture of me w/ my Impendle mama and baba:



My baba had such an interesting stories to tell us. In the late 80s and early 90s he worked for the ANC as part of the anti-apartheid movement. He was in great danger because of this, and the ANC sent him to Poland and England to tell people about what was going on in South Africa and try to mobilize foreign aid. Now neither he nor his wife have a job though, and I find it really sad and ironic that he worked so hard for the freedom struggle, going on strike from his original job with the ANC, yet the ANC hasn’t really taken care of him beyond that. Don’t get me wrong, he was quick to tell us home much better life was after 1994, but this is just another example of the long way there is to go.


Which brings me back to my other homestay! We are leaving our home stay families this Saturday, which makes me really sad. We will be spending another week traveling and then we will live in some apartments near the beach for the couple weeks before our ISP starts. It will be really nice to have some alone time again, and it will certainly be fun to live with my friends on the beach, but I’m really going to miss my family. They are such wonderful people, so open to bringing me into their lives. I’m going to miss my sisters especially; I feel like we’ve become friends this past month. It’s uncomfortable leaving as well; when going in we were told to leave our privilege and power behind and really embrace the community with an open mind. I’ve certainly tried to do this, but our privilege and power becomes all the more apparent when we move out to live in beach condos. I suppose it’s good to feel uncomfortable about this- I’d be concerned if I didn’t. But it’s going to be hard to negotiate this with myself. I guess the best thing we all can do is remember the challenges people in Cato and places like it face and keep these in mind in our work in future careers and policies we advocate for or support. And I’m going to try my very best to keep in touch with my family after I leave!

As a final note, I think have a new direction for my ISP- pediatric diarrheal disease in rural areas. My interest may have been sparked by my personal experience, but this is a major cause of child and infant morbidity and mortality in South Africa and hence a vital area of study. Right now I’m trying to get in touch with a hospital in the Eastern Cape that I could be based at; hopefully this will work out!