Leaving.

Hey, heading off for Spashy Fen (woodstock for Africa) and really excited. Said goodbye to the fam today. I will really miss them and intend to visit them during my independent study which is just down the road.

Education in South Africa.

Where do I stand now? Well I returned to my homestay family last Friday and it felt like I was returning home. This week we have split into focus groups that are related to our independent research paper(ISP). I picked education, and have spent the week with a small group of students and Professor Johann Wasserman. I picked the group because my ISP is related to education, and because Johann is the man, and a great lecturer. He is Africaans, grew up on a farm, and teaches history to to-be teachers.

We spent Monday looking at a private boarding school in the hills of KZN called Kearsney College. It really blew me away. 50 acres, with multiple playing fields, state of the art class rooms with “smart boards” (computer screen black boards), and a menu that would put Beloit to shame. It was a very odd place-it was all about the Kearnsey club and we got the feeling they were creating little prototypes, or as one student said, “little capitalists.” I got the feeling that the school was more about the business then teaching; our tour guide called the head master the “ceo.” It was really weird: every student that walked by had to greet us all saying “sir” or “mam.” We must of heard sir and mam 1000 times.

Tuesday, we went to Johann’s college, KZN Edgewood which is a college for to-be teachers. Spent the first half talking economics with one professor, and then the rest of the day hanging out with students. I got a much different picture of white South African students. The first school I went to a couple weeks back I was slapped in the face with blatant racism that left me feeling ill, but these student were much more open to change. Johann said he had trouble getting students to tour us because a large amount of anti-American sentiment. It definitely started to come out with the Iraq war and Bush, and I tried to tell them that sometimes I was anti-America too.

Wednesday. Johann lecture in the morning about the history of education, the new “outcome based education” failures (Interesting topic because i went to an OBE school in Project Learn), and the debate surrounding the proposed pledge for all students. He set us up well for a discussion at a youth center in Chatsworth, an Indian township, later in the day which was about the proposed pledge. I sat back for a while listening to why youth need a pledge before I made a comment which went something like this:

“I have problems with putting blame on students when alot of the real problems lies with schools, teachers, school administration, and the government. Why are we talking about a pledge when the real issues is the lack of textbooks and computers, school fees, basic infrastructure, lack of qualified teachers ect. It seems like the government has failed students and and this is a last and sorry attempt to fix the problem. And, i'm wondering why the students should say this pledge when the government and teachers aren’t upholding these values.

While I don’t believe the pledge is necessary, it must say something about the current injustices that are happening in the country because this document makes it seem like everything is alright when it is definitely not.”

I got some applaud from the students. We then headed home. Tomorrow is my last day in Bonella.

Thursday update-Last day studying education with a professor of social justice. Interesting stuff-looking into class, race and culture, religion, and gender in relation to education.

Game Park.

Went to a game park.
Was told me weren't going to see much wild life-happy they were wrong.


The Lion. We also went on a Hippo tour.

Catching up to Speed.

Some picsMama Joyce really wanted a picture feeding Nick breakfast.
Mama Joyce and me with her beloved "Minky"


I want to continue to talk about the rual area experience but i want to catch up with what i am doing now. We had a Zulu test on the friday we were in Oldwebede, and then headed off to the beach. When we got home,people were in our kitcthen drinking some Zulu beer(utchwala isiZulu) which Mama Joyce made the day before. We had a great time together with Spiwe, Mama Joyce and others. I woke up in the morning with some sort of virus that gave me a rash over my entire stomach and arms. Nick and Brian went to buy a chicken for dinner which we later saw die by the knife of Mama Joyce.
On Sunday we went to some sort of celebration where we chowed with the man of the house who was drinking beer, Zulu beer, and vodka. We eat the sacrificed goat and some steamed bread.
Sunday night, we went to the pool hall. Woman are not supposed to go out at night which means that there were about 20 boys dancing together to very loud house music. We again were forced to attempt traditional Zulu dance. The boys told us how much they were going to miss us, and i felt really sad about leaving the following morning.
We got home, and took pictures with Mama Joyce.

Spiwe, Brian, Nick, and Me. Mama Joyce with her fat boys.

Rural Education

The day was spent examining the school system in the rural areas. The first part was talking with the principle in Olwebede Primary School. The school did not have running water, but did have electricity. There was a pit toilet, though no toilet paper, and a water tap for the kids to drink from. There were no school fees, which is highly unusual in South Africa, and some sort of free lunch. We didn’t sit in any classes so it was hard for me to really gage the learning, but the infrastructure and the amount of teachers/staff was lacking.

We then headed to the High School where I saw some of my soccer buddies form the day before. Knowing the boys spoke limited English at best, I asked the principle what language the classes were taught in, and she said in English but in Zulu if necessary. The English-home language debate is interesting: the kids need to learn English to go to college and excel in the major cities, but at the same time, they might be getting taught in English but not understanding it which means they are lacking the skills. The balance between learning the material and learning English needs to be closely examined. We talked to the principle and some of the excelling students. I found the principle had to run the school, teach, and act as the disciplinarian and security. I thought that a security guard would not be too much money and possibly make the kids feel safer. I also found it interesting how the principle and the students knew nothing of scholarship opportunities.

After lunch, we were told the school had a performance for us. I thought it was going to be a play or something, but about 20 girls came into the room in traditional Zulu outfits, which means a small skirt and some beads, and danced for us. It was an amazing performance, but I was shocked at how comfortable these girls were topless infornt of their peers and us. I asked Langa if girls from Durban would do such a performance in high school, and he replied “no way”, which gave me the sense of the divide between the rural and the urban.

After the high school, he headed back and got ready for soccer practice. I was very sore from the day before. As we attempting to play, I realized that in the kid’s world everyone plays soccer. I got the feeling that they thought we played soccer everyday like them, but just weren’t that good. It did feel good to get back into the game which I really miss playing. Bathed in a water tap and headed home to Mama Joyce.

Tuesday: Traditional court and soccer practice

Woke up at 5:58 which seemed like the exact time Mama Joyce woke us up. We ate, and bathed again in the bathhouse with our basins which was weirdly becoming some what of a routine. Mama Joyce let Raymond’s sister take us to school, which meant that we arrived a lot quicker. We then headed for the traditional Zulu court. The traditional court was really interesting to see, and being interested in law, made it more exciting to see the differences between western and traditional law. In the traditional system, the Induna’s, the community leaders which are passed down through generation, sit on either side of the wall, while the Inkosi(chief) sits in a higher chair like a judge. The Inkosi is only present on extremely important matters. The crowd sits behind, but have the ability to ask questions and help with the procedure.

We got to see a hearing of sorts: a woman was coming for advise about her daughter in-law who she claimed was stealing from her. Her testimony was in Zulu and somewhat complicated. The problem was over lobola which is the traditional bride price. While lobolo sounds like putting a price on woman, I have learned the tradition is more about connecting two families and thanking and acknowledging the bride’s family for raising the woman. The story was that her son died before the entire lobola was paid, which was some cows and some furniture. The cows were given, but not the furniture. After his death, his wife took the kids, food, and furniture. The old woman said the kids were rightly hers, and the food was necessary for the kids, but since her son never gave the furniture, it was still hers. The Indunas argued that the first step for the woman was to go to the woman’s family. They also acknowledged that in current times furniture can be used instead of cows but agreed that it was necessary for the men who made out the lobola contract to come together to discuss the details of the agreement. I asked if there was anyway to speed up the process, since the old woman felt like she was being robbed, and she very well might have been. In the end, her Induna said he could call her and go to the woman’s family’s house with her. The system seemed like a really interesting and interactive way of law. In the van home, Sdu, our driver and friend, told me about the problems of the traditional system. In cases such as rape, the system many times fails with the woman’s family being paid off.

After arriving home, I decided to stay home and study while Nick and Bryan went to the beach. At 5 O’clock, Spiwe came over to take me to soccer practice. He felt it necessary that we drink a couple beers before the practice for energy. We walked to the soccer field and met up with about 30 kids. The soccer field had a large hill on one side of the field, and high uncut grass on the other. We played intense soccer for about two hours which consisted of people running circles around me, and the occasional cow crossing. We headed home under the stars, and I felt completely comfortable and relaxed in the community. We ate dumbolo(dumplings) with potatoes and mutton for dinner which was amazing.

Some pics: South Coast.

South Coast: Set for "Blood Diamond"

Rural Area: Monday

The long weekend took its toll on me, and i had trouble waking up. This was the picture after we attempted to dance Zulu. I found it interesting the range of ages that could sit around together and hang out.

In the morning, took about 30 minutes to walk to school with Mama Joyce. Once we arrived we learned that Mama Joyce had called Langa, a SIT staff members, at 4 30 in the morning to tell him that we were having a good time and she was making us porridge for breakfast. We sat around in the morning studying Zulu, getting ready for the test we had on Friday. At around 9, we headed out to examine health in the community. First, we went to see a Inyama/Sangoma. He spoke to us about his ability to understand ones problems, while also having the capability to proscribe medicine. He had a P.H.D of sorts. We then headed to a clinic.
We arrived home and went into the room to sleep. Before we could sleep, some drunk men insisted we come out and teach us traditional Zulu warfare. We picked up plastic bottles, two for the shield, one for the spear, and fought each other like Shaka Zulu. After they explained multiple times to us that they were black and we were white, they left, we ate and slept early. We were told by Spiwe that soccer practice would be held at 5 the next day.

Sunday in Olwebede.

Mama Joyce woke us up at 6 to feed us porridge, coke, and candy bars. Sister Cindi works at the supermarket Spar so I assumed they bought a lot of food that they thought we would like. (When she was saying she worked at Spar, I thought she was saying “Spa” and asked her if they gave massages-she was somewhat confused.) After breakfast, we bathed. Bathing and using the bathroom need some explaining. There was an outhouse (that looked to be almost filled) with a stone seat that you could squat over. Next to the toilet was where we were told to bath. We were each given basins to wash/splash with according to size, which meant I got the little small basin while Brian got the big one, and nick the middle. I knew the three of us would become closer to each other as we squeezed into the outhouse and squatted naked over our basins and splashed ourselves. After a truly hilarious bathing experience, we headed out to go hiking with Spiwe. He took us over the clay cliffs which were beautiful, and then around the community to meet people. I found it fascinating that he knew everyone, and even if he didn’t, “Sawbona?” and “Unjani?(how are you)” were said to everyone. People continually stopped us and talked to us in Zulu. We were a big hit, and I felt Zulu beginning to click slightly. After a couple hours with Spiwe we were dropped off home to go to a funeral with Mama Joyce.

We walked about a half a mile to the funeral. How do Zulu funerals and weddings work? Well, there are no invites and you don’t need to know the family. You hear about something from somebody and you go; all are welcomed. After the walk, we arrived and Nick promptly brushed by a car and set off its alarm. We were ushered in and sat next to the priest. A lot of people were there, and the priest talked in Zulu, but definitely mentioned us at certain times. After people made speeches, and donations, there was a lot of beautiful singing. After singing, and walking past the body, we headed outside where we walked, singing, with the casket. There was a lot of crying. A woman would start to wail, and then be taken by someone into a house. We stood around the grave singing as the old man was taken from his casket and laid in the grave. After the priest said some things, the men took turns shoveling dirt onto the hole. We were told to take part, and we picked up shovels to help. Taking part in the ceremony made me feel like they were welcoming me into their community.

After the service, everyone sat down around the homestead, and woman come around with trays and feed everyone. For the most part, the men sat outside the tent, drinking beer, and “chowing.” Chowing is when food, usually a chicken or goat meat, is put on a wooden tray for men to sit around and share. They also pass around beers in a similar communal manner. After eating, and battling with Zulu, we left, exhausted, with Mama Joyce.

When we arrived home, we were ready to sleep. While I wanted to nap, little girls were outside playing. The three of us came from our room, and jumped into a game which involved using your feet to toss rusty cans into a basin. After an hour or so of playing, some men came over to meet us and we went and grabbed a few beers. We sat in the living room passing around the beer. They then made us dance the traditional Zulu dance and take pictures with them. Dinner was delicious imfino(spinach) and again too much.

Arriving at the rural homestay.

To Zululand and ready for an experience. As we turned onto the dirt road and passed different traditional houses, I felt nervous but exited knowing this would be one of the best experiences in South Africa. As I, Brian and Nick, pulled up to our homestead, a large woman came to the door to greet us. As the door open, her booming voice welcomed us and she gave us hugs and brought us to our room. We had a traditional hut to ourselves and the homestead overlooked the ocean and a beautiful red clay cliff. Like my first day in my Bonella home stay, I/we felt awkward, but our homestay mother, Mama Joyce, was very welcoming and exited to have us. Mama Joyce is a large-and-in-charge jolly woman with one daughter, Sisi Cindi, her boyfriend Raymond, and Raymond’s little sister. As the sun began to go down, some boys came into our hut to meet us. I was very happy to meet them, and they were extremely exited to not only meet us, but hang out with us over the 10 days we were there. One of the boys, Spiwe, spoke the best English and promised to take us on a tour of the red cliffs the next morning. After the boys left we went into the house to eat. We were fed a feast of muttan, beef, beans, pap, and more that was delicious. Mama Joyce told us we were going to become “fat ones” like mama as she slapped each of her large arms. We ate too much and slept well awaiting a day of the unknown.

Im back

updates soon.