**** the internet is being lame and not letting us post pictures, so we are going to post the text today and try again with the pics tomorrow....
Where do we start?!?!?!?! Spring break 2010… one month late (South African style). .While we could write for years on all of the interesting/fun/adventurous/random things that we did/saw/learned/experienced, we wont bore you with the details. Or maybe we will… we will have to see how this blog goes…
On our break we went to Swaziland, Durban and the Drakensburg Mountains via the Baz Bus- a transportation for backpackers that takes you around the country and drops you off in front of your hostel.
Chapter I: Swaziland. Or should we say, the Kingdom of Swaziland. Oh yes, that’s right. As in, there is a king. And here is our picture with him:
Swaziland looks like a lush, tropical paradise. And it is amazingly clean, no litter anywhere, and all of the public bathrooms were spotless (and if you know us, you know we know bathrooms). And the people- super nice and friendly and helpful. We did a safari on horseback, singly-handedly supported their economy for the next 5 months (damn you African crafts markets- especially the jewelry made out of elephant hair), walked a lot, and took a walking tour of a village. On the tour, we met a man who quite his job and is now dedicating his life to uplifting and empowering youth and women through the arts and music. In these villages the arts are not recognized as important, and the kids know nothing about it. This man is trying to inspire the kids to think outside of the box, open and expand their views, because he views the biggest problem in the country to be the intellectual poverty, far worse than economic poverty.
Chapter II: Durban. On the way to Durban, we heard the most disturbing radio commercial ever. The jingly went: Soloooomon, the self-sacrificing salmon!” It was for canned tuna/salmon. Unfortunately for us, the jingle was damn catchy, and a week later we are still singing it. Durban, as a city, is in shambles as the government is trying to fix every road for the world cup. Do you know it is 54 days away? Also of interest, the government is changing the name of all the roads, away from their English names and back to traditional African names, which are kind of long and hard to pronounce, and our taxi driver was less than excited about this decision. We thought it was cool, though. And after coming from clean, clean, pristine Swaziland, Durban was a landfill. There were mountains of trash building along the curbs in the streets. In Durban we went to the art museum and natural science museum. And we learned that honey bees navigate using the sun, and only female mosquitos bite you. We wandered across a strike by municipality workers demanding better wages. We met a lot of really nice people in Durban, including: the “opposition politician” who explained the strike to us, the greek man with a deli that gave us free dessert and continuously called his niece ugly to her face, and the nice Indian man who worked in the sporting goods store that filled our water bottles. Yay. We spent some time on the beach, and then ate at a cool restaurant where they paint your face in traditional Zulu style.
The next day we took a 7 hour tour that covered almost everything there is to do in the city. We saw the coast, the harbor, a market, complete with crafts next to the meat market with sheep’s head and innards, saw the Cato township, the Indian township of Chatsworth, the Hare Krishna temple of understanding, the Indian market where we had lunch at our guide’s wife’s restaurant- spicy and delicious-, drove by the largest mosque in the southern hemisphere, went to the botanical gardens, and lastly to a museum about the history of the Cato township.
Chapter III: Drakensburg mountains. They say that the mountains look like the landscape in lord of the rings. We would probably agree if it hadn’t of been the beginning of winter and the greenery was now brownish. But hey, we can use our imaginations. We saw 800 year old bushman cave paintings. Awesome. Except for the stupid tourists in the past that poured water and coke on the paintings to make them look better in pictures, and thus washed the paintings away. The history of the paintings dates back 5,000 years. The next day, Ilene took a personal day, and Ayla almost fell off a mountain. Multiple times. Ayla went on a tour to the top of a mountain that has the world’s second longest waterfall. The ledge we walked on was sometimes non-existant, there was no railing, and I am pretty sure that if I tripped I would have bounced down the mountain-side. I took comfort in thinking that it would be a quick death. I was really not prepared for the 3 and a half mile hike up, and then scaling a rock wall (without safety/security ropes) for a ¼ of a mile vertically. I know this excitement has put you on the edge of your seat, but fear not, Ayla is alive and typing this blog (with Ilene’s imput who is sitting next to her).
Chapter IV: two nice jewish boys in Jo-burg. We had to stay one night in Jo-burg because we got in too late for the orphanage to pick us up, and lucky for us, our friends have the hookup with two nice jewish boys who live there. They took us out to dinner and drinks, and then we got to stay at one of their houses. Stand-up shower and free internet. Need I say more?
We finally arrived back at Botshabelo today, and while it was nice to travel and experience something new, we are glad to be back home. The End.
ps- if you are wondering about the title of this blog... the only mode of public transportation in South Africa is "taxis," which are little mini vans that cram the people in and follow a route. In Durban we discovered that they had tricked out their taxis, and given them wild names such as "dont bump if you cant grind," X-convict, Seducer, sexy attitude, souljah, g-thing, etc. And some of the taxis are like traveling dance clubs... you can hear their music blaring a mile away, or should we say kilometer away.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Easter Extravaganza
Our first ever easter baskets!!
It all began on 5:30 Friday morning. We were going up to the cemetery to participate in the annual cleaning/clearing of the graves. Technically you are supposed to go to the cemetery, clean the graves, and return home, all before sunrise… but we have all learned about “Botshabelo time” this semester. So at 5:30 in the morning, turns out we were the only ones awake. Around 6:45 we finally started our trek to the cemetery, which is about a mile away from botshabelo, on the other side of the village. We made it about five steps out of botshabelo before someone from the village came running to Marion with a problem. Crisis Intervention Case #421. A young man in the village got drunk last night and severely beat his wife because she took money out of his bank account without telling him. Ayla and Ilene got into social worker mode quickly when Marion assigned Ayla to watch the husband so he didn’t run away from the cops, and Ilene to the wife to console and provide safety and security for the time being. The atmosphere in Ayla’s corner versus Ilene’s corner was miles apart. Ilene and the wife were solemn and the wife was in a lot of physical and emotional pain. Ayla was fending off ridiculous and inappropriate comments from the husband and his friends, which was actually really funny and her corner inappropriately laughed the whole time. About an hour later the cops showed up, took a statement, and took the husband away.
Finally the trek to the cemetery could begin. At the graves, we encountered Marion with an entourage of little ones. She was leading each child to the grave of their family members, and we would all sit down together and support the child in talking to their deceased love one. Then we would all give blessings to the deceased person and blow them kisses. A sample of the conversation the children were having with their dead parents looked like this: “Mom/dad, I am not ready to die yet because I have my life to live, but don’t forget to fetch me when I am ready to die.” Needless to say, it was really touching and really sad. It was hard to watch a child walk from their mother’s grave to their father’s grave, and then to their sibling’s grave. While we were up there, the weather turned, and it got cooold and rainy. No one was wearing appropriate attire, and we got soaked down to our skivvies (which were somehow muddy by the end of the trek). A lot of the kids didn’t even have shoes on or a jacket.
A few graves at the cemetery:
After that kind of morning, there is only one thing a person can do. Watch a movie. Luckily Shanna has a half couch, it is kind of disgusting, but we sit on it anyways. We watched a bad movie and ate popcorn. It was good times. Then Ilene took a pair of siblings and had a counseling session with them while Ayla read a book on the nasty couch. That evening was spent like most evenings these days, our friends Thami (pronounced tommy) and David came over to visit. It seems that the main motivation for these visits is the serious condition of puppy love David, who is 15, has for Ayla.
Saturday. In the morning Ayla took her client and had a really productive session with him. Our sessions consist a lot of art therapy, and we are both anxiously awaiting Marion for our promised lecture on interpreting art. Then we went to help with the ENORMOUS amount of preparations for easter. There was the bajillion bars of chocolate to melt down and spoon onto tin foil and then individually wrap. Then there was the easter egg painting station, which turned into color wars by the end of the night. And there was the ever-popular basket making.
(the kids were so anxious to make their easter baskets, that they were searching high and low for anything they could use. we found ourselves donating everything and anything we possibly could... including this matzah box-turned easter basket. it made us happy)
Sunday. Still more easter preparation. But lucky for us we skipped out and went to a local church service with our old roommate Pauline, who is head of the kitchen here. Apparently the church shares between two congregations: the white Afrikaners and the blacks. When we arrived the Afrikaner service had just ended, and they swooped upon us like vultures to rotting meat in hopes of recruiting us to their congregation. It was uncomfortable to say the least, and when asked for our emails Ayla gave a fake and Ilene gave an account she doesn’t check. The service begins. The building is one small room with 50 fold out chairs. The service started with harmonious singing and then went into a lecture by the pastor. Everyone had their heads bowed and eyes closed, but Ayla was sneaking peaks and saw that the pastor was crying throughout his first sermon. For the following sermons, we got vip treatment, and congregation members stood up next to the pastor to translate for us. The topic of the sermon seemed to center upon the two lives that we have: our human life and our spiritual life. There was much talk of rebirth, and having a choice of which kind of life you want to live. At one point, they even seemed to be telling the Passover story, but the accents of our interpreters were thick, and it was hard to know exactly what was being said. The service concluded with everyone taking communion. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone. Interestingly enough, the host was matzah! As everyone lined up to receive it, we sheepishly stood back, but everyone’s intense staring at us and gentle nudging made it clear that we weren’t about to skip out on this one. For the first time ever, and the last time ever, Ayla and Ilene took communion. Amen.
After church we returned home to help with the continuing easter shenanigang/extravaganza. We were there aaaaall night tying little strings to the easter eggs and then to the trees. It kind of looked like Christmas with all the egg ornaments hanging from the trees.
Monday. Rainy mushiness. This was the day of the great easter egg hunt, but the terrible weather postponed it until late in the afternoon. The day was spent in eager anticipation. Then around 4, it began. First was the ceremony of dumping the tons and tons of candy into big bins, so that all the kids could see the booty that was soon to be theirs.
Then we carried the heavy-ass bins all the way up half way to the cemetery. Good thing we got biceps of steel. I cannot impress on you how heavy this candy was. Then we walked along the field of high grass and threw the candy. The candy field was the size of 2 soccer fields. Then the hunt began. On your mark, get set, go!
The kids went crazy hunting for the candy. There was also 100 rand that everyone was especially hunting for. Two hours later the sun was setting, the dogs had eaten half of the chocolate, and the field was covered in candy wrappers. The kids went home, and we went with the family to the “wishing pile”- a sacred space to make blessings and wishes for the world. All in all, a successful easter.
It all began on 5:30 Friday morning. We were going up to the cemetery to participate in the annual cleaning/clearing of the graves. Technically you are supposed to go to the cemetery, clean the graves, and return home, all before sunrise… but we have all learned about “Botshabelo time” this semester. So at 5:30 in the morning, turns out we were the only ones awake. Around 6:45 we finally started our trek to the cemetery, which is about a mile away from botshabelo, on the other side of the village. We made it about five steps out of botshabelo before someone from the village came running to Marion with a problem. Crisis Intervention Case #421. A young man in the village got drunk last night and severely beat his wife because she took money out of his bank account without telling him. Ayla and Ilene got into social worker mode quickly when Marion assigned Ayla to watch the husband so he didn’t run away from the cops, and Ilene to the wife to console and provide safety and security for the time being. The atmosphere in Ayla’s corner versus Ilene’s corner was miles apart. Ilene and the wife were solemn and the wife was in a lot of physical and emotional pain. Ayla was fending off ridiculous and inappropriate comments from the husband and his friends, which was actually really funny and her corner inappropriately laughed the whole time. About an hour later the cops showed up, took a statement, and took the husband away.
Finally the trek to the cemetery could begin. At the graves, we encountered Marion with an entourage of little ones. She was leading each child to the grave of their family members, and we would all sit down together and support the child in talking to their deceased love one. Then we would all give blessings to the deceased person and blow them kisses. A sample of the conversation the children were having with their dead parents looked like this: “Mom/dad, I am not ready to die yet because I have my life to live, but don’t forget to fetch me when I am ready to die.” Needless to say, it was really touching and really sad. It was hard to watch a child walk from their mother’s grave to their father’s grave, and then to their sibling’s grave. While we were up there, the weather turned, and it got cooold and rainy. No one was wearing appropriate attire, and we got soaked down to our skivvies (which were somehow muddy by the end of the trek). A lot of the kids didn’t even have shoes on or a jacket.
A few graves at the cemetery:
After that kind of morning, there is only one thing a person can do. Watch a movie. Luckily Shanna has a half couch, it is kind of disgusting, but we sit on it anyways. We watched a bad movie and ate popcorn. It was good times. Then Ilene took a pair of siblings and had a counseling session with them while Ayla read a book on the nasty couch. That evening was spent like most evenings these days, our friends Thami (pronounced tommy) and David came over to visit. It seems that the main motivation for these visits is the serious condition of puppy love David, who is 15, has for Ayla.
Saturday. In the morning Ayla took her client and had a really productive session with him. Our sessions consist a lot of art therapy, and we are both anxiously awaiting Marion for our promised lecture on interpreting art. Then we went to help with the ENORMOUS amount of preparations for easter. There was the bajillion bars of chocolate to melt down and spoon onto tin foil and then individually wrap. Then there was the easter egg painting station, which turned into color wars by the end of the night. And there was the ever-popular basket making.
(the kids were so anxious to make their easter baskets, that they were searching high and low for anything they could use. we found ourselves donating everything and anything we possibly could... including this matzah box-turned easter basket. it made us happy)
Sunday. Still more easter preparation. But lucky for us we skipped out and went to a local church service with our old roommate Pauline, who is head of the kitchen here. Apparently the church shares between two congregations: the white Afrikaners and the blacks. When we arrived the Afrikaner service had just ended, and they swooped upon us like vultures to rotting meat in hopes of recruiting us to their congregation. It was uncomfortable to say the least, and when asked for our emails Ayla gave a fake and Ilene gave an account she doesn’t check. The service begins. The building is one small room with 50 fold out chairs. The service started with harmonious singing and then went into a lecture by the pastor. Everyone had their heads bowed and eyes closed, but Ayla was sneaking peaks and saw that the pastor was crying throughout his first sermon. For the following sermons, we got vip treatment, and congregation members stood up next to the pastor to translate for us. The topic of the sermon seemed to center upon the two lives that we have: our human life and our spiritual life. There was much talk of rebirth, and having a choice of which kind of life you want to live. At one point, they even seemed to be telling the Passover story, but the accents of our interpreters were thick, and it was hard to know exactly what was being said. The service concluded with everyone taking communion. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone. Interestingly enough, the host was matzah! As everyone lined up to receive it, we sheepishly stood back, but everyone’s intense staring at us and gentle nudging made it clear that we weren’t about to skip out on this one. For the first time ever, and the last time ever, Ayla and Ilene took communion. Amen.
After church we returned home to help with the continuing easter shenanigang/extravaganza. We were there aaaaall night tying little strings to the easter eggs and then to the trees. It kind of looked like Christmas with all the egg ornaments hanging from the trees.
Monday. Rainy mushiness. This was the day of the great easter egg hunt, but the terrible weather postponed it until late in the afternoon. The day was spent in eager anticipation. Then around 4, it began. First was the ceremony of dumping the tons and tons of candy into big bins, so that all the kids could see the booty that was soon to be theirs.
Then we carried the heavy-ass bins all the way up half way to the cemetery. Good thing we got biceps of steel. I cannot impress on you how heavy this candy was. Then we walked along the field of high grass and threw the candy. The candy field was the size of 2 soccer fields. Then the hunt began. On your mark, get set, go!
The kids went crazy hunting for the candy. There was also 100 rand that everyone was especially hunting for. Two hours later the sun was setting, the dogs had eaten half of the chocolate, and the field was covered in candy wrappers. The kids went home, and we went with the family to the “wishing pile”- a sacred space to make blessings and wishes for the world. All in all, a successful easter.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Mmmmmm.... couch
So, important update from last blog: remember how we were bitching and moaning about wanting to eat the funeral meal and not getting to…. Well turns out that everyone who ate it got a gnarly case of diarrhea. Phew! Thanks family for saving us from that mess.
However, there was still one big ugly mess that we did have to clean up: last group project for grad school eeeever! We were planning to head to jo-berg on Sunday for Passover, but on Saturday we were given a 30 minute warning to pack our bags and head to the city. Needless to say, our group was a little disgruntled that we were leaving before the project was finished. However, seeing as they live in Africa too, they totally understand the African way of life.
In jo-berg we stayed with Ilene’s boyfriend’s family- who are amazing for taking care of us, letting us stay with them, chauffeuring us around, and providing a couch (you have no idea how much we miss a couch. You don’t know what you have until its gone). Our first day there, we went to a flea market and African crafts fair. Four hours later, we found ourselves drowning in our own purchases. Don’t worry, they weren’t all for ourselves. But being a consumer felt guiltily amazing. The market had goods from traditional African paintings and baskets and jewelery, clothing, purses, all the way to spices and dried meats. The adjacent flea market had goods from India, Ghana, vintage clothing, and antique collectables.
This is Ayla dripping in vintage attire:
That night we had a very special moment where we got to lie on the couch and watch a weird Samuel l. Jackson movie. Aaaaaaaah. So good. Then in the morning, we got another special treat with a stand up shower. Aaaaaah. So good. That night was the first night of Passover, and while we felt right at home, there were many things that were quite different Like eating a hillel sandwhich with lettuce instead of maror. Or sprinkling cinnamon and sugar on your matzah balls. And don’t forget the weird hagaddah book we used that explained how there were actually 200 plagues. Don’t ask. But being surrounded by our (now) extended family, eating til we burst, and celebrating our jewhood, we felt grateful. Then the next day we did it all over again (dai-enu!).
So interesting note about Johannesburg (aka Jo-berg), it is the largest man-made forest in the world! See for yourself… what you are looking at is johannesberg- bet you cant see it!
On Wednesday morning our host graciously drove us back to Botshabelo. Home, sweet home. That night we put on our own seder for some of the older kids to learn about our tradition. It was our first attempt ever at making matzah ball soup- and it wasn’t pretty. Where is a bubby when you need her? April fools is a really big deal here, so in the morning, Marion told us our food made everyone sick. We are still trying to figure out if that is a joke or not. We are investigating everyone who attended and getting different answers. Hmmmmm. Yet as payment, Marion says we must cook them another meal. Hmmmmmm. Now it is a rainy and yucky Thursday afternoon. And all we want is a couch.
(this is not Ilene at Passover being an orthodox jew, it is her the night of the vigil for the funeral)
Ayla and Ilene
However, there was still one big ugly mess that we did have to clean up: last group project for grad school eeeever! We were planning to head to jo-berg on Sunday for Passover, but on Saturday we were given a 30 minute warning to pack our bags and head to the city. Needless to say, our group was a little disgruntled that we were leaving before the project was finished. However, seeing as they live in Africa too, they totally understand the African way of life.
In jo-berg we stayed with Ilene’s boyfriend’s family- who are amazing for taking care of us, letting us stay with them, chauffeuring us around, and providing a couch (you have no idea how much we miss a couch. You don’t know what you have until its gone). Our first day there, we went to a flea market and African crafts fair. Four hours later, we found ourselves drowning in our own purchases. Don’t worry, they weren’t all for ourselves. But being a consumer felt guiltily amazing. The market had goods from traditional African paintings and baskets and jewelery, clothing, purses, all the way to spices and dried meats. The adjacent flea market had goods from India, Ghana, vintage clothing, and antique collectables.
This is Ayla dripping in vintage attire:
That night we had a very special moment where we got to lie on the couch and watch a weird Samuel l. Jackson movie. Aaaaaaaah. So good. Then in the morning, we got another special treat with a stand up shower. Aaaaaah. So good. That night was the first night of Passover, and while we felt right at home, there were many things that were quite different Like eating a hillel sandwhich with lettuce instead of maror. Or sprinkling cinnamon and sugar on your matzah balls. And don’t forget the weird hagaddah book we used that explained how there were actually 200 plagues. Don’t ask. But being surrounded by our (now) extended family, eating til we burst, and celebrating our jewhood, we felt grateful. Then the next day we did it all over again (dai-enu!).
So interesting note about Johannesburg (aka Jo-berg), it is the largest man-made forest in the world! See for yourself… what you are looking at is johannesberg- bet you cant see it!
On Wednesday morning our host graciously drove us back to Botshabelo. Home, sweet home. That night we put on our own seder for some of the older kids to learn about our tradition. It was our first attempt ever at making matzah ball soup- and it wasn’t pretty. Where is a bubby when you need her? April fools is a really big deal here, so in the morning, Marion told us our food made everyone sick. We are still trying to figure out if that is a joke or not. We are investigating everyone who attended and getting different answers. Hmmmmm. Yet as payment, Marion says we must cook them another meal. Hmmmmmm. Now it is a rainy and yucky Thursday afternoon. And all we want is a couch.
(this is not Ilene at Passover being an orthodox jew, it is her the night of the vigil for the funeral)
Ayla and Ilene
Friday, March 26, 2010
An Arm Without Skin and a Funeral
We thought life would slow down a little after Sarah and Jennifer’s visit… but we were kind of wrong. Apparently our house has become the new hangout (any teenage boy cant resist the allure of itunes and youtube). Every night after dinner we sit at the table, doing what we do- ie drinking tea and relaxing, and we strain our ears every time we hear a noise outside and hope its not the guys coming over again. So that started off our week with going to bed late, and not getting the amount of sleep that Ayla likes.
Lately, the breadth and scope of our internship has been expanding. Into nursing and health care. A man in the village burned his entire forearm with third degree burns, and we are still aren’t sure how it happened, tho we have gotten many possible stories from the man. The burn was pretty fresh, it had been wrapped for the first time a few days ago. However, the man was out chopping wood, and dirtied his bandages. Which meant they needed to be changed. Enter social work interns. Apparently, to really survive what they call here “village life,” you must be a jack of all trades. (Due to the unfortunate quality of health care in South Africa, and their odd refusal to deal with burns and sores, the man had to be treated at Botshabelo).
So here is the scene: old man sitting in chair, surrounded by audience of children, as Dr. Marion wets his bandages and ever so slowly starts cutting them off. Ayla and Ilene are gloved and ready at Marion’s side. Layer after layer. Until we see skin. Or rather the complete lack of skin. As Marion began pulling off the last layer of bandage, and the man’s skin started coming off with it, Ayla began to feel a little sick. The man was black, and his forearm was pink- the pink of muscles- because that’s all there was there, absolutely no skin, except for the new growth that had started in the last 2 days, and that was now being peeled off. Exit Ayla. Ilene handled her shit. End scene.
The last few days have been a bustle of activity in preparation for a funeral. There is a family of 3 sibilings, whose mother died last Thursday (foul play is suspected, most likely poison). The kids hadn’t seen or heard from her in 2 years, so they were already somewhat emotionally disconnected. Fortunately they were able to contact one of her sisters, who she hadn’t seen in 25 years- thank you apartheid, to come up and help organize the funeral. Since the family is very poor, they buried her here at the cemetery in Botshabelo. Tragically, there was a secret plan to send the ever-hard-working Con and Marion on a mini vacation for a few days, but the money had to be used for the funeral instead.
Fast forward to last night, the start of the funeral. At sundown a vigil was started including singing, clapping, a little swaying/dancing, and some preaching thrown in. It was really amazing to see how the Botshabelo family came together to support the three kids. None of them actually knew the woman being buried, but they stayed up all night at the vigil with the kids. Also starting at sundown: the digging of the hole for the coffin. It took til 3 in the morning- about the same time the vigil ended. In the morning there was another short service (again preaching, clapping, singing), before making the long trek to the edge of the property where the cemetery lies. There was also a short viewing of the woman before she was taken to the cemetery. Not only did Ayla attend her first funeral, but both Ayla and Ilene saw their first dead person. At the cemetery there was more clapping and singing and swaying. The coffin was lowered, and then the older boys worked like maniacs to fill up the whole with their shovels and dirt. It only took 15 minutes to be completely finished with the burial. The we all marched back down, washed our hands in water with aloe plant, and then technically, ate. However, the family feared our stomachs couldn’t handle the food (we are not sure why), so they told them that Passover had started early and we couldn’t eat anything. Unfortunately, Ayla and Ilene had been asking to go to the grocery store for daaaaays, and only had eggs and corn meal at home, and were really looking forward to that meal. Bummer.
Now most of the kids are going home for Easter holiday, and the campus is eerily quiet. Sorry U.S. kids, South African schools close for 2 weeks for Easter. Hopefully we wont get too lonely, because we have adventures ensuing. Now you will wait in anticipation for our next blog. Ha.
-Ayla and Ilene
Lately, the breadth and scope of our internship has been expanding. Into nursing and health care. A man in the village burned his entire forearm with third degree burns, and we are still aren’t sure how it happened, tho we have gotten many possible stories from the man. The burn was pretty fresh, it had been wrapped for the first time a few days ago. However, the man was out chopping wood, and dirtied his bandages. Which meant they needed to be changed. Enter social work interns. Apparently, to really survive what they call here “village life,” you must be a jack of all trades. (Due to the unfortunate quality of health care in South Africa, and their odd refusal to deal with burns and sores, the man had to be treated at Botshabelo).
So here is the scene: old man sitting in chair, surrounded by audience of children, as Dr. Marion wets his bandages and ever so slowly starts cutting them off. Ayla and Ilene are gloved and ready at Marion’s side. Layer after layer. Until we see skin. Or rather the complete lack of skin. As Marion began pulling off the last layer of bandage, and the man’s skin started coming off with it, Ayla began to feel a little sick. The man was black, and his forearm was pink- the pink of muscles- because that’s all there was there, absolutely no skin, except for the new growth that had started in the last 2 days, and that was now being peeled off. Exit Ayla. Ilene handled her shit. End scene.
The last few days have been a bustle of activity in preparation for a funeral. There is a family of 3 sibilings, whose mother died last Thursday (foul play is suspected, most likely poison). The kids hadn’t seen or heard from her in 2 years, so they were already somewhat emotionally disconnected. Fortunately they were able to contact one of her sisters, who she hadn’t seen in 25 years- thank you apartheid, to come up and help organize the funeral. Since the family is very poor, they buried her here at the cemetery in Botshabelo. Tragically, there was a secret plan to send the ever-hard-working Con and Marion on a mini vacation for a few days, but the money had to be used for the funeral instead.
Fast forward to last night, the start of the funeral. At sundown a vigil was started including singing, clapping, a little swaying/dancing, and some preaching thrown in. It was really amazing to see how the Botshabelo family came together to support the three kids. None of them actually knew the woman being buried, but they stayed up all night at the vigil with the kids. Also starting at sundown: the digging of the hole for the coffin. It took til 3 in the morning- about the same time the vigil ended. In the morning there was another short service (again preaching, clapping, singing), before making the long trek to the edge of the property where the cemetery lies. There was also a short viewing of the woman before she was taken to the cemetery. Not only did Ayla attend her first funeral, but both Ayla and Ilene saw their first dead person. At the cemetery there was more clapping and singing and swaying. The coffin was lowered, and then the older boys worked like maniacs to fill up the whole with their shovels and dirt. It only took 15 minutes to be completely finished with the burial. The we all marched back down, washed our hands in water with aloe plant, and then technically, ate. However, the family feared our stomachs couldn’t handle the food (we are not sure why), so they told them that Passover had started early and we couldn’t eat anything. Unfortunately, Ayla and Ilene had been asking to go to the grocery store for daaaaays, and only had eggs and corn meal at home, and were really looking forward to that meal. Bummer.
Now most of the kids are going home for Easter holiday, and the campus is eerily quiet. Sorry U.S. kids, South African schools close for 2 weeks for Easter. Hopefully we wont get too lonely, because we have adventures ensuing. Now you will wait in anticipation for our next blog. Ha.
-Ayla and Ilene
Friday, March 19, 2010
South By South Africa
Ilene, Sarah and Jennifer met at the Johannesburg airport on Sunday afternoon. Sarah, after thirty hours of travel, looked like hell, especially her feet, which were swollen to a size 14. Jennifer had just arrived from an amazing trip to Cape Town and was ready to jump into Botshabelo. Ilene, shrieking from across the airport, ran up to Sarah and Jennifer and nearly knocked the wind out of them with a giant Ilene-esque BEAR HUG!!!! Ilene had brought Bongani on a birthday outing and managed to treat him to three orange Fantas, a burger and chips and two candy bars in the four hours to and from the airport.
As the three of us arrived at Botshabelo and settled into the spacious wooden flat, we could hardly believe it was all really happening. Ilene took Sarah and Jennifer on a tour and we met up with Ayla in the village. Together at last!!!
Top 30 Reasons Why this Week Has Been AWESOME:
30. Jennifer and Ilene making wishes at the Medicine Wheel that David and Nkosi become famous rappers.
29. “That was a DELICIOUS marshmellow,” said Tshepiso, hands outstretched for seconds.
28. Getting in for free at the caves and free parking at the Cradle of Human Kind because Joseph has connections. Oh ya!!!
27. Being connected through the umbilical cord of humanity...in the most beautiful place on earth.
PS: Can you see the elephant in the mountain?!?!
26. The thirty minute flat ride to the canopy tour, including stopping for petrol AND getting lost (usually an hour and a half trip). Joseph is a “good driver.”
25. Ilene drunk off one glass of wine, complete with random bursts of laughter and the spins.
(Note: Ilene is NOT drunk in this picture)
24. Six full meals a day. It’s the South African way.
23. Getting to know one another intimately (no bathroom door).
22. Ayla and Ilene knocking three things off the To-Do List…especially getting to the museum after trying every single weekend since they’ve been here.
21. Mr. BoJangles.
20. “SARAH’S NOT SINGING!!!” (At the bonfire we were divided into two teams to sing traditional Tswana songs and Sarah got called out for having no idea what was going on…by a four year old.)
19. Being forced to dance…in the circle …one at a time…in front of EVERYONE.
18. Jennifer’s mad group facilitation skills and the bracelets that resulted.
17. Gopalong, Gopalong, and more Gopalong: the cutest short-attention spanned six year old who likes to hit and hug you’ll ever meet.
16. Sarah’s outrageously good and Jennifer’s outrageously bad volleyball skills.
15. The ant colony that formed in the bathroom after leaving soaking pots overnight.
14. Sarah’s and Ilene’s poor choice of clothing for the canopy tour (aka “The Bunch).
13. Evening tea with the Cloete family: learning the kids’ stories, Botshabelo’s story, Marion’s story and a few speculations about Jennifer’s and Sarah’s stories.
12. Totally skipping out on the work part of volunteer work at the Lion and Rhino park, thanks to Joseph oversleeping and traffic. Whoops! Sorry! ;)
11. Ilene and Ayla going native, cooking several traditional South African meals.
10. Finding our soul mates!!! Sarah’s was a an old man vulture, Jennifer’s was a cat missing an eye, Ayla’s was a hungry rat, and Ilene, well, Ilene is still searching…
9. Sticky thumb.
8. Sarah and Jennifer getting the most amazing Botshabelo Welcome Party, featuring five million children jumping all over them, shaking hands, hugging, climbing, screaming their names, showing off their playground skills, and trying on their sunglasses.
7. The miracle of the productive carrot bran muffin; like Hanukkah, it lasted EIGHT days.
6. An amazingly smooth St. Patrick’s Day bash that all came together an hour before it started.
5. “Your hands are no match for my balls!” “Woman, woman, WOMAN!!!” “Yes, Sarah, smack it, Ilene, yes, go!, Ayla, perfect, Jennifer, aaaarrrrgggg!!!”
- Luke, The Volleyball Soundtrack
4. Chocolate-covered rice cakes, the vegan and gluten-free dessert: two for the price of one!
3. Staying up way too late doing paint therapy.
2. Petting lion cubs to sleep on our laps after being charged, scratched and bitten.
And…the number one reason that this week was AWESOME:
#1: “Thanks Jennifer, Sarah, Ilene and Ayla!” … “Pleasure!”
Love,
Short Fast & Easy, Toilet, Glitter Butt and Nechama Sticky Thumb.
(guess who’s who…)
As the three of us arrived at Botshabelo and settled into the spacious wooden flat, we could hardly believe it was all really happening. Ilene took Sarah and Jennifer on a tour and we met up with Ayla in the village. Together at last!!!
Top 30 Reasons Why this Week Has Been AWESOME:
30. Jennifer and Ilene making wishes at the Medicine Wheel that David and Nkosi become famous rappers.
29. “That was a DELICIOUS marshmellow,” said Tshepiso, hands outstretched for seconds.
28. Getting in for free at the caves and free parking at the Cradle of Human Kind because Joseph has connections. Oh ya!!!
27. Being connected through the umbilical cord of humanity...in the most beautiful place on earth.
PS: Can you see the elephant in the mountain?!?!
26. The thirty minute flat ride to the canopy tour, including stopping for petrol AND getting lost (usually an hour and a half trip). Joseph is a “good driver.”
25. Ilene drunk off one glass of wine, complete with random bursts of laughter and the spins.
(Note: Ilene is NOT drunk in this picture)
24. Six full meals a day. It’s the South African way.
23. Getting to know one another intimately (no bathroom door).
22. Ayla and Ilene knocking three things off the To-Do List…especially getting to the museum after trying every single weekend since they’ve been here.
21. Mr. BoJangles.
20. “SARAH’S NOT SINGING!!!” (At the bonfire we were divided into two teams to sing traditional Tswana songs and Sarah got called out for having no idea what was going on…by a four year old.)
19. Being forced to dance…in the circle …one at a time…in front of EVERYONE.
18. Jennifer’s mad group facilitation skills and the bracelets that resulted.
17. Gopalong, Gopalong, and more Gopalong: the cutest short-attention spanned six year old who likes to hit and hug you’ll ever meet.
16. Sarah’s outrageously good and Jennifer’s outrageously bad volleyball skills.
15. The ant colony that formed in the bathroom after leaving soaking pots overnight.
14. Sarah’s and Ilene’s poor choice of clothing for the canopy tour (aka “The Bunch).
13. Evening tea with the Cloete family: learning the kids’ stories, Botshabelo’s story, Marion’s story and a few speculations about Jennifer’s and Sarah’s stories.
12. Totally skipping out on the work part of volunteer work at the Lion and Rhino park, thanks to Joseph oversleeping and traffic. Whoops! Sorry! ;)
11. Ilene and Ayla going native, cooking several traditional South African meals.
10. Finding our soul mates!!! Sarah’s was a an old man vulture, Jennifer’s was a cat missing an eye, Ayla’s was a hungry rat, and Ilene, well, Ilene is still searching…
9. Sticky thumb.
8. Sarah and Jennifer getting the most amazing Botshabelo Welcome Party, featuring five million children jumping all over them, shaking hands, hugging, climbing, screaming their names, showing off their playground skills, and trying on their sunglasses.
7. The miracle of the productive carrot bran muffin; like Hanukkah, it lasted EIGHT days.
6. An amazingly smooth St. Patrick’s Day bash that all came together an hour before it started.
5. “Your hands are no match for my balls!” “Woman, woman, WOMAN!!!” “Yes, Sarah, smack it, Ilene, yes, go!, Ayla, perfect, Jennifer, aaaarrrrgggg!!!”
- Luke, The Volleyball Soundtrack
4. Chocolate-covered rice cakes, the vegan and gluten-free dessert: two for the price of one!
3. Staying up way too late doing paint therapy.
2. Petting lion cubs to sleep on our laps after being charged, scratched and bitten.
And…the number one reason that this week was AWESOME:
#1: “Thanks Jennifer, Sarah, Ilene and Ayla!” … “Pleasure!”
Love,
Short Fast & Easy, Toilet, Glitter Butt and Nechama Sticky Thumb.
(guess who’s who…)
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Short and Not So Sweet
Hi Everyone,
So its 7:35am and today is gonna be a good day. The homeopathic doctor is coming and going to run some tests on us and give us some very nasty tasting medicine (we will write more when we more), and Ilene's friends from Austin are coming today! This next week is gonna be jam packed with touristy outtings for Ilene's friends, and we are throwing a Saint Patrick's Day Bash for the kids! We are supposed to do an educational piece about St Patrick's Day... I dunno if you have ever looked into it, but there's not that much educational value in this day, its just sort of drunken debauchery and parading.
Anyway, what I really wanted to blog about is karate. For years now there has been a Sensai (master karate teacher) coming to Botshabelo and teaching the kids karate twice a week. A couple times in the year the kids can go to Johanesburg and test for a new belt color. A few of the older boys are already black belts! Yesterday 3 more boys went to test for blackbelt... they were the only 3 black boys at the testing... can you guess where this is going.... and all 3 of them were denied black belt status even tho their Sensai and the boys that were already black belts said that they did more than enough to pass. Needless to say, everyone was in a pretty crappy mood when they returned from Jo-burg. There is not really much else to tell about this besides how surprised and deeply disturbed and saddened we were by the news. In my best Jewish grandmother voice: they're such good boys! They will try again for black belt during the next round of testing in August. Send them some love!
Ayla
So its 7:35am and today is gonna be a good day. The homeopathic doctor is coming and going to run some tests on us and give us some very nasty tasting medicine (we will write more when we more), and Ilene's friends from Austin are coming today! This next week is gonna be jam packed with touristy outtings for Ilene's friends, and we are throwing a Saint Patrick's Day Bash for the kids! We are supposed to do an educational piece about St Patrick's Day... I dunno if you have ever looked into it, but there's not that much educational value in this day, its just sort of drunken debauchery and parading.
Anyway, what I really wanted to blog about is karate. For years now there has been a Sensai (master karate teacher) coming to Botshabelo and teaching the kids karate twice a week. A couple times in the year the kids can go to Johanesburg and test for a new belt color. A few of the older boys are already black belts! Yesterday 3 more boys went to test for blackbelt... they were the only 3 black boys at the testing... can you guess where this is going.... and all 3 of them were denied black belt status even tho their Sensai and the boys that were already black belts said that they did more than enough to pass. Needless to say, everyone was in a pretty crappy mood when they returned from Jo-burg. There is not really much else to tell about this besides how surprised and deeply disturbed and saddened we were by the news. In my best Jewish grandmother voice: they're such good boys! They will try again for black belt during the next round of testing in August. Send them some love!
Ayla
Monday, March 8, 2010
Valentine's Day in March
In Botshabelo style, we celebrated Valentine’s Day the first weekend in March. The best time we have had since we’ve been here! The annual v-day bash is composed of 5 areas: karate display, contesting (aka beauty pageant), singing, eating, and dancing. We were lucky enough to be the judges of the beauty pageant (although I would say “lucky” is a subjective opinion bc for me -ayla- the pageant began at 4pm and ended at midnight. That is a friggin long pageant. Longer than my wee attention span).
judges' table
ayla does makeup for the beauty contestants
There were 4 rounds: casual wear, skirts, bathing suits (called “costumes” here in SA), and formal wear. Each round lasted 25 minutes to half an hour, where the girls walked together endlessly in geometric configurations as well as individually strutting their stuff and dancing for the crowd (you could not pay me to dance in front of the crowd in my bathing suit- but those girls sure can shake it). Ooooh, we almost forgot to mention the best part of the pageant: dancing grannys!!!! One granny in particular hit the booze pretty hard, and tried to join in the contest. Moments later we see her in the center thinking she is auditioning for girls gone wild, playfully raising her shirt. We thought it was a tease, but she wasn’t bluffing. The bra made an appearance, a few actually. We took video of the grannys dancing, we will try to put it on the blog.
the girls in the contest
granny joins the contest
There was mad drama when the dj, who was payed to play from noon to midnight, came at 3:30 and decided he was done at 8:30 and tried to sneak away. However, in the end it was settled, and we danced til 3 am. In fact, we danced sooo hard that two days later ayla is still sore. We spent some of the dance trying to get down the kids’ south african moves, but they are insanely good dancers with crazy intricate footwork.
It seems that at least half of the money that came in for the v-day bash was set aside to buy new clothes for the kids. Everyone got new shoes, jeans shirts, and underoos. Remember how we mentioned a few blogs ago boys dressing like girls….. now we know why. The family buys whatever is cheapest and decent quality. In the shoe department, it turns out that it was lime green fake crocs that were bejeweled for the boys. We know we shouldn’t laugh… but that shits funny.
Next on the agenda: Ilene’s friends come on Sunday and stay for the week, and then its our spring breeeaaaak! This semester is flying…
Ayla and Ilene
random pic of the promised chicken feet meal... soo rubbery
we tried to upload the granny dancing video, but it just uploaded forever and wouldnt finish, so we had to delete it. soorry
judges' table
ayla does makeup for the beauty contestants
There were 4 rounds: casual wear, skirts, bathing suits (called “costumes” here in SA), and formal wear. Each round lasted 25 minutes to half an hour, where the girls walked together endlessly in geometric configurations as well as individually strutting their stuff and dancing for the crowd (you could not pay me to dance in front of the crowd in my bathing suit- but those girls sure can shake it). Ooooh, we almost forgot to mention the best part of the pageant: dancing grannys!!!! One granny in particular hit the booze pretty hard, and tried to join in the contest. Moments later we see her in the center thinking she is auditioning for girls gone wild, playfully raising her shirt. We thought it was a tease, but she wasn’t bluffing. The bra made an appearance, a few actually. We took video of the grannys dancing, we will try to put it on the blog.
the girls in the contest
granny joins the contest
There was mad drama when the dj, who was payed to play from noon to midnight, came at 3:30 and decided he was done at 8:30 and tried to sneak away. However, in the end it was settled, and we danced til 3 am. In fact, we danced sooo hard that two days later ayla is still sore. We spent some of the dance trying to get down the kids’ south african moves, but they are insanely good dancers with crazy intricate footwork.
It seems that at least half of the money that came in for the v-day bash was set aside to buy new clothes for the kids. Everyone got new shoes, jeans shirts, and underoos. Remember how we mentioned a few blogs ago boys dressing like girls….. now we know why. The family buys whatever is cheapest and decent quality. In the shoe department, it turns out that it was lime green fake crocs that were bejeweled for the boys. We know we shouldn’t laugh… but that shits funny.
Next on the agenda: Ilene’s friends come on Sunday and stay for the week, and then its our spring breeeaaaak! This semester is flying…
Ayla and Ilene
random pic of the promised chicken feet meal... soo rubbery
we tried to upload the granny dancing video, but it just uploaded forever and wouldnt finish, so we had to delete it. soorry
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