Home - The US

So I arrived today (straight to Wesleyan University) safe and sound. I will be in Chicago on the 19th of December.  My American cell phone is reactivated for those who want to talk to me.  

Hope you enjoyed this blog, I liked to write on it.  

Signing off,

Adina 

Mosque

Today, those of us who wanted, went to a giant Muslim Mosque.  It was a really interesting experience with a beautiful washing station at the entrance with a pond that had fish where the water would drain into.  It led into a high ceiling building with two levels that both held worshippers five times a day, everyday according to our guide - who was a originally a canadian and a baptist minister - interesting.  it was really interesting!

Then Kim and I went to the Bat Center, no there were no bats there.  It is an art cooperative where artists are given places to work and maybe supplies and this center sells their work.  We met some really wonderful artists, one who teaches the others in classes.  And Kim talked on the phone to the artist whose work she was buying, which was really cool.  it was a fun day - a lot of shopping, which was hard but also necessary when you are soon coming home.  

then I tanned in the sun, just thought I would add that to spite those of you in the cold. 

Love 

Adina 

ISP Awesomeness

Today I did my last interview with Ela Gandhi.  She offered to have me come and talk with her after I emailed her some of my questions.  She was so inspiring, not at all assuming.  She lived in a small condo with an incredible view of durban and most of the coastline - WOW!  She talked theoretically about interfaith and what makes it challenging etc. It was so wonderful, having that experience alone made the ISP process more much more survivable.  It was incredible! 

Love!

ISP and Ushaka

After a beautiful, sunny saturday where my plans of a boat ride with Sarah fell through, I worked on ISPP for most the day.  While I had thought I would start later than that, I had some much to say and consider, it mostly poured out of me (that was a weird analogy-thing, maybe I should be a life-long researcher or academic thing)  anyway, it was a long day broken up only by a swim in the pool and then dinner out with my apartment at Mo Noodles which was delicious.  Then I brushed up on my pool playing skills while drinking some, it was so FUN! The guys at our hostel told me I had to chill after my long day of writing and they were so right!  

On Sunday, as a reward and as part of a plan we had already made, we (sarah and I) went to Ushaka Marine World.  There was a combo ticket discount, so we got into the water park and the aquarium for half price.  It was a really windy day though so we did not get into our bathing suits at all.  Instead we saw sharks that they were attempting to feed, stingrays getting fed - so cool! - by a diver, and a dolphin show.  As well as all sorts of other cool sea creatures and things that were really poisonous.  Like poison dart frogs and a black mamba snake - that was awesome! Then in the evening to thank one of our staff, Langa, we had him over for dinner.  We made a pretty successful lasagna and had salad and yummy cookies for dessert.  Mostly we talked about the program and our feelings about going home.  It was so fun!!

Today, I am just working on my ISP and its edits.  It is an long, tedious process, but I am feeling really good about my progress!! Yea!   

  

Thanksgiving

Here in South Africa, there is very little Thanksgiving celebrating but our academic director Vanessa hosts dinner at her beautiful house every year.  Her husband is American and so it is a nice thing for him to make us feel more at home.  It would certainly be weird not to have any celebration at all.  

anyway, for the food everyone made different things from their families.  I made my mom's stuffing for Rosh Hashanah (not so thanksgiving, but something I missed too) and it was really fun.  There were four turkeys and a ton of mashed potatoes.  

Vanessa has two adorable children, a cat, a dog, and a great pool.  There was swimming and TV watching - all around fun.  It was really nice and I really appreciated her having all of us over.  

Now begins the final week of ISP.  I have to write up all the pages and I was feeling overwhelmed but after meeting with John I think I am in a good place.  

Its unbelievable how fast these last three weeks have gone by, in exactly two weeks I will be boarding a plane to go back to the US.  But not before a trip to Cape Town, I decided 'what the hell, I might not be back for a long time' so I am going to go with about 5 other girls.  

See you soon, 

 Much love!

Random Things

So I have a few things to report.  First of all, I have hurt me knee perhaps from all the running I had been doing with Kim.  So I am now taking more cabs and finding them somewhat frustrating although today I knew where I was the whole time and navigated home without a cab, just a regular minibus taxi (much cheaper). 

A few other things, I went to Diakonia, an council of churches somewhat involved in interfaith and me with them.  It was super interesting to see their organization work and talk to them about it.  I also stayed for their monday morning prayer meeting that opens every work week.  

While I was there a few things were told to me that I realize I have heard a lot but had forgotten to share on this little blog.  First, I have been wearing a red string and a multi-colored string on my wrist since the summer. I put them on with my IFYI campers and have kept them ever since.  The red string is similar to a Hindu tradition where they tie a string around the wrist of someone after doing certain prayers or as a show of protection.  A relative might tie it around your wrist to show you are family and will be protected by your family.  I have been asked if I was Hindu numerous times here, an odd experience for me, but a really cool one. 

The other string has faded and with only a quick glance at it, it might appear to be leather.  This is what one of the women I interviewed said.  African Traditional communities often tie leather straps around the wrist, though I am not totally sure why - maybe healing?

The most interesting and cool part of this is that when I am in South Africa people assume things about me based on these items that in the US (at least amongst my friends) would likely just be assumed to be friendship bracelets.  cultural signifiers change so much in different countries.  

Also today I learned about a muslim scholar, Gulen, I am going to continue looking up info about him, but if you are interested thats my homework for the day. 

xox

 Adina

Adventures

This week has had many adventures including, of course, ISP interviews.  These are always interesting and informative.  I enjoy seeing how differently the people I am interviewing live and work from my host families.  Beyond the interviews and attempting to read or write for ISP, there have been some goodbyes are our hostel.  Long-time chillers have left and with them so will some of the partying, but the saying good has continued for like 3 days now.  It is sad to see these guys go but always excited to see who will come next.  The return of some old friends (we met there before) was great this week.  Beyond hostel happenings and ISP interviews, there are other adventures as well.  

Yesterday, it was beautiful outside and since Kim did not have to go to the hospital for her ISP, we hung out by the pool all day.  While there was talk of going to the beach, this came to no avail.  Later we watched Paris, Je Taime (spelling?)

Today, I woke up early and went hoping to have one of the guys at our hostel teach me to surf with equipment from the surf shop where he works, but when we arrived there at 7am, there were no good waves to speak of.  Oh well, try again another day. Since, my other roommate Sarah had come with me, we went on an adventure walking through downtown.  We went to the Friday morning beadmarket - much busier around 930am than 11am.  And continued exploring Florida rd, the busy street off which we live.  This time we went to a beautiful art gallery and also to a Church.  The church attempted to convert us and the lady there told me I was going to tell, at least she was concerned with my future.  

It has been a good week although I am never sure that I will gather enough info for a successful ISP, but I guess if need be I can write about what hampered me from doing that.   

Much love 

Adina 

 

The Largest Mall in the Southern Hemisphere

Hi all - 

 This past weekend I went to Gateway.  You guessed it, its a huge mall.  As malls go it was only so exciting to me, but to South Africans I think it is very exciting.  I did see some incredible things though and among them was a endless wave that you could surf on.  It was somewhat like a wave pool, but very shallow and the waves just kept coming and you could surf on them.  Next to that was a giant skate-park where kids and adults would come to skateboard.  It was pretty amazing.  Inside the mall was a huge rock climbing wall! it was incredible it had like four main surfaces you could climb up and then they all converged into a final very high part.  It was amazing! 

otherwise not much else super exciting has been happening,  I have been having interviews for my ISP and enjoying them quite a lot.  The newest cool thing I learned about was Woza Moya a Buddhist inspired Hiv/Aids fighting organization. So cool and very inspiring!

Love, 

Adina 

Crazy Weather

Today it was foggy, then sunny and warm. I made some phone calls for ISP then watched a movie.  there is not a lot to do all the time because people are only free for interviews at certain times and while I really should be writing up my notes etc. I rarely do.  

Anyway, then I went to eat with another girl who is staying at my hostel.  There are 3 kids here on a gap year type thing and it sometimes makes me pretty nostalgic.  Anyway as we began to pay it started to rain and within a minute it was pouring and then hailing.  So we ran home like three blocks and by the end we were soaked.  I was cold and so decided to jump into the pool.  there was no lighting or thunder, dont worry.  So I began a swimming in the rain party! Then it was sunny but still raining. after about half an hour the rain stopped the sun came even more out than it had been and our little party began to wind down. it was a great day and something that I will remember forever. 

then one of the hostel guys said - just typical Durban weather! 

OH MY!

anyway, thats my life here for now

Adina

The Final Stretch

we are in the final stretch with less than 30 days left in SA to go.  While I have been missing home it is crazy to think that I have to write such an extensive paper so soon.   Lets not linger on that stress - but instead i will share some ISP highlights

I have been interviewing some religious leaders to hear about their interfaith involvement.  

Yesterday I went to a church with a mostly Indian community and learned about their inter-denominational partnerships and had tea and cookies (actually quite south african - likely a british holdover ritual) with her.  This lovely reverend put me in touch with another rev in reserviour hills doing some pretty amazing work which is interestingly enough is inspired by a scientology program that happens back in the US.  

Also I went to a municipal AIDS committee task force meeting.  I was shocked and shaken by the bueracrcy displayed and also likely made a fool of myself in front of the mayor of durban, oh well - thats why we go abroad I think.  

overall it has been a great week, there was also a beach excursion and a visit with the other girls at the Windemere place they are living at.  

its a little slow somedays to find people to interview with you and today I am mostly waiting for people to get back to me but hopefully everything will keep shaping up nicely

love love 

Adina

Not Too Much To Report

Well, a full week in ISP accommodations has happened. It has been really wonderful, it turns out they braai (BBQ) at our hostel basically every other day, so we have been viewing the many types of South African meat.  

The weekend was fun, with our work completed we went to the reform shul for the 60th anniversary celebration and luncheon, YUMM, and then watched some movies.  

Sunday we walked to the Rugby stadium where there was a cute flea market that took place in an abandoned horse stables.  It also had some cute food stalls and strange theme stores - like a colour therapy one, that were very unique.  It was one of the more racially diverse places we have been.  That was cool!

Much love, 

Adina

Election Day and New Housing

Kim and I moved into our new accommodations at a cute hostel.  It is called Thekwini and we have a long term apartment there. We have also begun running everyday which is challenging but when I wake up sore the next day it is incredibly rewarding.  

The ISP proposals were returned and many people had to revise, including me.  While this was a bit discouraging I think mostly the 'trouble' with my project is that so little research has been done it is hard to predict what will be found and thus it is difficult to determine how much information I should try to discover to equal the amount of data needed to have a successful paper completed.  Amongst those who needed to reconsider some details of their project there is another girl who had been staying in our hostel and was intending to go to Capetown.  Her trip to Capetown was not approved so she will remain in Durban.  Since she had not planned housing and our apartment was bigger than expected, she has moved in with us.  

Yesterday, we all went to but a cookbook and Kim and I are going to make delicious meals together.  I am really hoping to learn to make pasta from scratch and maybe some other types of bread.  I also want to practice some of the recipes I learned from living with my host families.  

Finally, on to the election.  This morning I woke up to text messages that Obama had won! I was so excited! We were invited to the consulate to watch the late night US coverage in real time and I made it there in time to hear most of Obama's acceptance speech.  Most all the students on my trip were supporters and many of us were in tears when we addressed those beyond the shores of the US.  It was a fun experience and the new consul general of Durban was a really sweet woman.  The consulate has an extensive library open to the public and one of its major strengths is the volume of works about HIV/Aids.  This will really help many students with their ISPs.  We took pictures with a cardboard cutout of Obama and the consul general.  that was really fun and their photographers said they would send the pictures along.  The food was also delicious, as they hosted a delightful breakfast for those who attended.  while it was sad not to be at Wesleyan or in Chicago, it was a historic moment no matter where you were in the world.  Also it was so COOL to see how happy and excited the South African community (in general) seemed to be.  Hopefully their reaction is indicative of the rest of the world's feelings about the election.  

The major change this week is that now we are planning our own time and working at our own pace on projects.  We have a research paper due on friday, though I also have to meet with my ISP advisor so I am hoping to finish early.  But the extensive research for ISP is beginning and while it seems challenging I think it will be so FUN and also so rewarding.  

Thanks for tuning in 

Adina      

Last Homestay Weekend

This weekend was our last with a homestay family for those of us who will be living independently from now on. I had a wonderful time with my family.  We went to a 16th birthday party, which reminded me a lot of a bat mitzvah party.  we went to a hall and there were set tables with catered buffet style food.  Her parents gave toasts as did a good friend of hers and an older cousin.  Then, after the meal there was a dance party! It was really fun and the family tried to show me some traditional Indian dance moves.  

All week we had been watching Bollywood movies and during the dance party some of the movie songs played. I was really excited that I recognized them.  

The previous night, our much older -but still single - brother took us to a casino.  It was very similar to the US, I assume, I have only been to a casino in Atlantic City.  It was interesting to see who seemed to have money to gamble, and how popular gambling seemed even amongst populations I have been taught are very likely poorer.   

 On Sunday, I watched some Cricket (strange game) with Andres at another of our relatives' houses.  Then I went to a prayer said over a new place of business, it was really nice - we did libation type things to the deities, I wasn't sure if I should participate or not but everyone was kissing and greeting me like I was family so I just went along with what my sister did.  Afterwards there was a lot of food (AGAIN - I have never eaten so much under such pressure before in my life) but it was all delicious, so whatever.  Its hard to say no when you are a guest and the family wants to show you the best of a culture they really love.   

anyway, now we are preparing to move into our new ISP accomidations and I am excited although it is a little anxiety producing to be all on your own and have to produce such a significant body of work at the end of it.  Hopefully all will be great, also I have to meet with my advisor on friday which means finding my own way to Pietermaritzburg, also thats the day all these other papers are due, so I will just have to work ahead.  

missing you and much love

Adina  

This Week, NGO Placement?

This week was supposed to be a shadowing with an non-governmental organization.  I was connected to an interfaith organization that has great contacts and will help me so much with my ISP project.  The first day we went to a conference on Moral Regeneration which was really interesting, although mostly in Zulu.  It was a government sponsored initiative that was looking to garner support and contributions of programs from all sectors of the Durban community.  

The next day was Diwali, we shoot off tons of fireworks, I am pretty sure I wrote about that last post.  

Wednesday I went to work with the interfaith folks again but ended up doing a lot of school work, and then coming to the office (SIT).  I went to KZN and met with a professor who really helped me think about ways to approach my ISP and resources to use in my literature review.  Though he did not think he could alone advise me, so I am hoping to connect with a professor in Pietermaritzburg. Professor West, aforementioned, did agree to be my advisor when I spoke with him on my birthday - oh yea, wednesday was my birthday.  

They had cake and a silly card for me at SIT - delicious cakes I might add.  My host mom, Maya, prominently featured in my new facebook photo got cake and many of our Indian family came, sang to me, and tried to shove cake in my face.  It was a great day! 

      Thursday, Andres and I went to a state funeral for an activist named Billy Nair,  he was incredibly important in the liberation struggle, I learned.  It was cool because Jacob Zuma, president of the ANC was there, as well as the president of SA Natlante (not so sure about spelling) both spoke at the funeral.  It was so awesome, many other political party representatives spoke, most of them more about political things and less about Nair, which I thought was pretty unfortunate seeing as it was a funeral.  anyway there was tons of singing of liberation movement songs and it was so beautiful, again ask for the videos when I get home.

  Today we are mostly just working on our proposals and since mine is finally done I am going to go out to lunch and maybe shopping too. 

Sala Khale! 

love

 Adina  

   

Thur 

'Indian' Home Stay Family

   We changed to a new home stay family.  I am staying with the only boy in our group, Andres, in an Indian family that is Hindu.  They are adorable.  There is a mom, a dad (who just returned from having surgery again on an injured leg) and a grown sister and brother.  The sister is married with two children and does not live with us, but her children are looked after by our mom and are at our house most of the time.  Our grown brother is funny and works during the days but we see him on the evenings.  

    Tomorrow they celebrate the Hindu holiday of Diwali where they make many offerings to their deities - who are in our homes, in a prayer room.  I chilled with the other cousins, sisters and aunts who were cooking all the food to be offered and the remainder will be eaten (by us and our family). It felt much like the bustle of my house before a chag, the moms and daughters cooking and calling each other etc, to hear the best way to prepare things.  I really enjoyed it. 

   Another large change is the language difference.  There isn't one in this family, which is a nice change and also a relief to not have to try so hard to understand everyone (although they still have a different accent)

  Today, I was connected to the World Conference of Religions for Peace which was a wonderful connection in terms of my Independent Study Project(ISP) that is quickly approaching.  I also met with a wodnerful professor who helped me a lot with ideas on readings and advisors.  

SO MUCH LOVE

Adina    

Power Outage

In this highly TV focused culture that we are living, last night's power outage was an interesting change of pace.  My whole family has already eaten so there was no great problem with the power outage.  We lit candles and little lanterns, and I tried to do reading until my momma went to bed about an hour and a half earlier than normal.  My sister wanted to try and stay up until 9pm which sounded good to me, so we sang songs and she told some scary stories, it was actually pretty fun although we complained a lot about it being a boring evening. 

The saddest part of the whole evening was that we could not watch 'Generations' a local sitcom/soap opera that everyone (nearly) that I know in Bonella (Cato Manor) watches it with great fervor and interest.  There are love stories, betrayals, friendships, jealous business partners, and crazed lovers.  Its a juicy show! anyway, I have defiantely gotten addicted to it and really enjoy watching it. hopefully tonight we will be able to piece together what happened yesterday. 

Anyway thats the scoop here 

Adina  

Reconciliation Focus Group Week

this week the group has split up by interest to focus on certain elements of society. Predictably, I took the reconciliation focus group. It has so far been an interesting time in which we discuss the meaning of reconciliation and how it can be paired with other initiatives like amnesty and truth commissions.  We have talked about the evolution of justice since WWII and the Neuremberg Trials to the UN declaring 2009 as an international year of reconciliation.  

Today we went on a fieldtrip to a place where a 'massacre' took place, 11 people were killed.  the fighting in this region on SA was based on political parties but the 'third force' was the government secretly stoking the fire of these conflicts.  we went to the place of the massacre and building that was in the midst of unfinished construction in honor of those who died. It was interesting and confusing and showed how complex reconciliation really is, anyway I have to go home now.

have a good one, 

Adina    

Last Full Weekend With My Host-family

This weekend we wanted to do something cool with my sister so Kim and I decided to walk to a nearby flea-market that is up and coming from women in our area.  We walked for a while, in my sister's eyes, and when we finally got there - it was NOT there.  The sign was there but the flea market wasn't.  We talked to AKAY, the Taxi driver, on the phone and he said that if it was a slow day maybe the ladies went home around lunch.  It was a fun walk and then we bought some snacks on the way home, so I think overall it was a cool trip.  Also, my sisters and Kim's sisters have become friends and that makes me really happy!

Otherwise the SIT students went to a really cool poetry event on Saturday night.  It was definately on of my highlights of the trip.  There were two Jamaican reggae lyrics-writers and performers, it was a cool experience and the poetry was really moving.  It was at a very different rhythm than a lot poetry I had heard before and also due to their reggae roots there was a lot of singing.  I really enjoyed the whole experience.  Also we learned about a drum circle there on tuesday nights that sounds amazing!

All in all it was a pretty good weekend, 

much love

 Adina   

This Week, seeing organizations

This whole week has seeing different organizations around Durban. It was really cool, the Institute for the Healing of Memory led us through some of its workshop methodology.  We went to an interesting development organization called The Valley Trust which is a very thoughtful and self-reflective organization thinking about best-practices and its own impact on development.  We also went to ACCORD, which is a conflict resolution and policy analysis organization as well as other places.  It was a busy week with a lot of stress about the coming of the Independent Study Project, yea, I got turned away from one organization I was hoping to work with.  

Anyway, for those of you interested in it 56 days left of South Africa for me and 57 Until I am in the United States again 

much love

 Adina

there is always more to say

Hello again - 

 as promised I thought I would try to fill you in on this weekend:

The program changes in about 3 weeks to being a mostly self-motivated independent research project.  Accommodations are to be found by us and we spend a few weeks studying and writing about a topic of our choice.  I am hoping to partner with a council of churches in the area that worked to resist apartheid and deal with the basically civil-war type fighting that broke out in this provence. I am still not quite sure what form my research will take, but I defiantely want to have a more practical experience with an organization than be sitting in a library all the time.   

So I found a roommate to live with, Kim.  She is also an SIT and Wesleyan student who is hoping to study nurses using a medical anthropology lens to talk about the intersection and dialogue or lack of dialogue between western adnd traditional medicine.  

Anyway, we found a backpacking hostel called Ethekwini(the Zulu word for Durban) and got a long term apartment place there.   it has a kitchen, common space, bathroom and bedroom we will get to live in.  hopefully some of our friends will visit, staying for certain weeks in between living other places for their own research.  

ok so back to what has happened to me this weekend.  Friday, we went on a walk around durban with a brilliant developer to discuss successful developments in Durban.  we began our walk in a nice white suburban mall called Mas Graves and slowly walked to a placed called warrick junction.  these places had previously seemed to be very far apart because the race cultures that frequent them are so different but they are not actually all that distant from each other.  Warrick junction is a train station where many street vendors used to sell all sorts of food and cook it in the streets etc. as a way of controlling this open, urban market place the government began to offer some stalls that could be rented and other types of places of business that could be purchased or rented for various prices.  this developed into some covered areas with concrete benches mostly for selling foods - particularly cow and goat meat from the heads of those animals.  the area than uses an old strip of highway and transformed it into a traditional healers market where tons of herbs and mixtures are sold as aids for illness.  Eventually we walked into a more indian neighborhood and there markets more resembled an arab or israeli shok, which was a nice comfortable place for me.  

Saturday was mostly a day of relaxing and looking into our apartment as I described mostly above and also a delicious meal in at a place called Cafe Europa and Sunday was a lazy day where I learned to make amaquinias - a fried dough type thing and also attempted to make chocolate chip cookies, the cookies were more like biscuits but a big hit and also I tried to make latkas they went over well too. 

ok much love

 Adina 

   

Ohwebede - The Rural Areas and More

Its been such a long time since I posted, I am really sorry but there was zero access during my rural homestay and then it was Yom Kippur on which I felt like I could not post. Anyway, I will try to catch all you avid readers out there up on what has been happening in my adventure here. 

  Let me begin my telling you a bit about my family in the rural area.  Also, when I say rural I mean we had about 5 chickens and electricity (luckily, I guess).  You could see about 50 other homesteads if you stood on the ridge near where I lived.  (Again, ask for visuals when I get home – sorry).  We had a western style home with two bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and a bathroom.  There was no running water though, so the toilet, and bathtub did not work.  We collected the water in buckets that were filled by pipes connecting to the gutter.  When it rained there was a lot of water, presumably, in the drier times of year they went to a somewhat distant water tap provided by the state.   I had a mother in her 50s, Mavis, with a grown daughter, Lucia or Lulu, who had two children of her own.  They were both boys, one about 2 and the other around 7. I am not so good with ages but I hope that was moderately accurate.  There was a brother named Wanda who was 17 and another sister who I thought was younger but it turned out she was also 17.  It was unclear to me if they were children of Mavis or Lulu.  There were no fully grown men in the house, Mavis’s husband had passed away in the last 5 years and he was buried with a beautiful monument in the yard.  Along with his grave there were also two Zulu huts. These huts had thatched roofs and round bodies.  One was used for storage and cooking any items that took a long time, because we could cook them over a log fire and, I assume, save electricity.  The other hut was for interacting with the ancestors inside and no one could wear there shoes in there. There was also a shack that functioned as a chicken coup and a pit latrine. 

 

On Sunday of the first weekend, we went to our family’s church.  It was a Salvation Army church and they welcomed us wonderfully talking about how we were a gift from God.  They even translated much of the service into English for us.  Everyone wore a uniform.  It was cool.  There we saw some other students from our program who lived across the way and were staying with relatives of ours.  They told us they were going to attend a traditional celebration, after much ado we were told we could come too.  Eventually we made it, after riding in the back of a pickup truck filled with people.  We came to a huge clearing – inside were women dancing and soon a procession began to walk in.  it later became clear we were at an engagement celebration of sorts.  There are many traditional processes to a Zulu wedding procedure and one is where the bride and grooms’ families exchange gifts – that’s what we were watching.  There was a lot of dancing – both of men and women.  There was also a lot of drinking Zulu Beer – a milky beer brewed in people’s homes for these traditional occasions and maybe at other times too – I don’t know.  Just a few highlights, because I see how long this is getting.  The women were wearing only skirts – if they were virginal women, but the bride was a also wearing a bra and a beautiful hat and holding an umbrella.  For a portion of the dancing, the women would come up to specific individuals with traditional spears and put them into the ground in front of a person.  This was the sign that the specified individual was supposed to go up to the bridge and pin money onto her outfit or deposit some coins at her feet.  As white Americans we were, I assume, targeted to do this because of our perceived wealth.  Some of us had been warned that this implied we were supposed to dance into the circle and deposit the money – so we did.  Later all different women’s groups from the families’ respective churches danced in to give gifts of blankets to the family elders.  Also many men danced with spears at intervals I could not really understand.  Also we got to meet the area’s chief, he was a little tipsy. 

 

 On Monday, we went to meet with a traditional healer.  He, through a translator who was also our spunky female contact and coordinator in the area, we learned all about inyangas.  He talked about being called to his profession and how many healers specialize.  He also clarified the differences between his role, one which is traditionally male and deals with the herbal elements of healing.  In contrast to a sanguoma, traditionally a job for women, and a role of more determining what is wrong and then recommending the appropriate specialist – much like a western family practitioner.  That was really cool, then we looked at some developmental attempts to create clinics and spread information about basic nutrition as well as HIV/AIDS and TB prevention. 

 

Tuesday, we again saw the chief – apparently we were a very lucky group – when we went to visit the tribal court.  We got to see the court being presented a development idea by an outside company.  To enter we had to wear skirts as women, but there were women who served on the court and two host fathers for other students were headmen – indunas – for the court as well.  It was very interesting to see how the development was pitched.  The land of Ohwebede is right on the water and a very tempting place for development.  The companies must ask the tribal authority for they are the ones with the power to parcel out the land, although there is a government commissioner with many other powers in the area.  In our area particularly in KwaZulu Natal province the IFP (another political party) is steeped in the rural grassroots power structure but the ANC appoints the commissioners as the majority party in the national and provincial parliament  - this leads to interesting tensions. 

 

Wednesday, we went to a school that was a success story.  Rural schooling is often a nightmare with students walking kilometers to attend in rain or shine and often without food from home to sustain them.  Also the language of instruction in most rural KZN schools is English even though it is constitutional right to receive schooling in any language you request as well as the fact that most teachers do not speak English as a first language either.  I ended up helping teach my host brother some biology that his teacher seemed unable to explain one night. The schools have pit latrines and struggle with all sorts of other infrastructural problems.  Another major challenge is the attitude around schooling portrayed by the previous generation.  The children of the 1980s chanted ‘liberation before education’ in the face of apartheid’s oppression and many now live on government grants.  If they are succeeding to some degree without education and cannot help their children with homework nor even, in some cases, explain why it will help with their future when a GD helps so little in the scheme of landing a job, schooling seems not to be delivering on all its promises of life betterment. 

 

Thursday, we went to a prison.  It was a small, rural prison with only a few hundred male inmates.  We got to work with an organization called Phoenix started by some Quakers that works to reconcile the inmates with their families and society as they move toward the date of their release. We split into groups and all had different conversations with the men about families, parenting, relationships etc. The day was a bit hectic but definitely moving for a lot of people and a really cool opportunity.  I liked learning about the prison system and how it is struggling in South Africa, not that I know too much about the US prison system, but for those who did I bet it was a really interesting comparison.  Later we got to speak with the director of Phoenix and see an art gallery.  There were pieces done by prisoners in conjunction with phoenix and their facilitators.  Most of the facilitators are themselves previous inmates which is very unusual in most societies and also in SA. While in the prison, many of the inmates asked to put on a musical performance.  Much like the men in the shack settlement, they danced while singing a cappella in a ‘cat’ like style and later incorporated the traditional Zulu high kicks ( I can show videos when I get home) that had also been done at the engagement ceremony.  The men sang songs asking for forgiveness form society as well as other political things, one was all about the coming of Jacob Zuma and how we will help the country.  

 

On Friday, we took a Zulu test – both written and oral.  It was fine, but it had rained the entire night before. So it was a muddy and wet walk to school as it continued to rain. We tried to get picked up because of the students near where we lived didn’t want to walk, but the bus got stuck and we ended up having to walk.  So besides the students all getting there late, the tutors and professor got stuck in Durban traffic and so the whole day ran about 3 hours late.  After a couple hours of testing, 1 for written and every student got about 5 minutes of oral testing.  We went to an orphanage run by the women who had been also catering our lunches.  We went to the orphanage for a celebratory lunch including an ice cream, yogurt, custard and fruit dessert.  Dessert is a major rarity in both our homestays so far so I was very excited.  Then the children in the orphanage did a dance performance similar to the engagement party as well as the high kicking done the prisoners.  Basically to dance to the beat until there are louder bangs in the rhythm for which you kick your leg up over your head and bring it down with great force.  After they danced for us, they wanted us to try and many of us (including me) tried to do it for a bit – again ask when I return and hopefully I will have the video.  It was really Fun! A lot of the boys in the orphanage played soccer with those who did not want to learn to dance or play the accompanying drum.  But since the whole day ran late, we got home very late and some parents were worried, but eventually we all got home and ate. 

 

The weekend was cool we went to a Zionist church ceremony of the installation of a new priest and also played hand games with the girls and our sister next door.  It was cool and so fun!

 

On Monday morning, we went to the mall (a big deal and the center of much of society in SA) to have lunch and then eventually to the game park hostel.  Before we got there we saw some examples of successful of rural developments and not so successful ones.  We went around with Blessing - the man who will run the development focus study in a week or so. 

 

Anyway, on to the exciting game park safari!  Pictures, obviously, when I get back – just ask! We saw giraffes, rhinos, these crazy huge and apparently very dangerous buffalo. We also saw warthogs as well as other really cool gazelle type creatures called inyala and impala.  It was so cool! There were also eagles and other beautiful trees. Later, after some free time for lunch, we went on a hippo boat thing and saw tons of hippos and a few crocodiles.  They are apparently more rare at this time of year because they are raising their young but we saw some of them and it was awesome! Between the two locations, the game park and the hippo boat ride location.  Our bus broke down and so a few of us had to ride on the safari car to the next town over.  It was a crazy ride, there were no sides to the car and it was really cold but we put on blankets.  Unfortunately, one of the girls fell asleep on the ride and dropped her glasses out the back.  It was really sad for her.  But the ride was ridiculous and something I likely will never do again!

 

More has happened but I think I will write about it another time, because this is so much so take in at once.   

 

   

Empandleni

Tomorrow we leave for the Rural areas (empandleni - thats Zulu) so I may not be able to email or even talk on the phone.  I will tell you all about it when we get back.  Also we are going to a game reserve so hopefully we'll see creatures

much love and a happy Rosh Hashanah

Adina

Heritage Day

Yesterday was a National Holiday called Heritage Day.  It has a pretty interesting history because it used to be a day dedicated to Afrikaner traditions but Nelson Mandela, in his presidency, changed it to be about all types of heritage especially African Tribal traditions.  I went with two other girls from the program (Kim and Shannon) to Ushaka. Named after the Zulu king who unified all of Zulu and I think defeated the British in a war, it is a marine park with a shopping complex.  We went to look at the shops and found all sorts of cute stores.  There was also a lot of traditional dancing going on - that was Awesome!!! There was traditional Indian dancing, with women in Saris and all sorts of lip synching going on.  people of all ages were dancing and watching. 

Later in the mall structure was a recreation (I think) of a traditional Zulu homestead as well as men and women in traditional grab (lots of beaded clothing and converse shoes?) dancing.  We have seen some of this before but it was still really cool to see it outside of the more traditional tourist context.  Also we saw some men doing the same type of a cappella done by the men in the shack settlement.  these other guys were not nearly as good.

Later we went to find some food and went to another part of the beach.  we walked along and met a nice police officer (strange!) who took us to a store we were looking for.  Once outside the policeman's watchful eye some people came and begged us for money.  While this is always a difficult experience I reflected that it was really the first time since I had been in SA that begging had happened.  

anyway, when I got home, we had food - obviously - and watched TV.  last night we watched a soccer game and it kept the whole house up until 10:30 pm which is super late for us.  my mom would run around and scream 'heibo' something like 'oh gosh' in english whenever her team got close to scoring or vice versa.  

all and all a great day off. 

soon we are going to the rural homestay (sat morning) so I will likely not have email access but maybe an opportunity will arise - who knows!

Much love, 

Adina   

This Weekend at Home In Bonella

So we had a free weekend this past few days with our host families.  We went out to the mall - called the pavillion.  It is green at night and thus Anna (one of the SIT students) calls it 'the emerald city'.  We watched Space Chimps an animated movie about chimps who work for NASA. It was so cute and very ridiculous! 

On saturday we were supposed to have a walk around through Durban, but it was pouring rain and so we decided not to do it.  instead some of us students went to the mall and it was good retail therapy for many of us.  I bought a second sweater since it has been quite chilly here and I only brought one long sleeve shirt.  

Then on Sunday I went to church.  It was so cool, it was a small-ish room in a church school complex but it was packed by the time the service started.  After an all Zulu service in which I understood mostly 'suffering' and 'love' - which I guess is Christianity in a nut shell.  Anyway then I met some of my extended family, and a cute little nephew - Awww! Afterwards we watched movies and I did homework

very exciting!

Salani Kahle (stay well)

I saw space chimps, it was GREAT!

More to come later today.

xox

Classes Still

This week we are still in classes.  We have been discussing many different modern issues that are affecting the dynamics of society.  We discussed the redistribution of land, as well as housing, developing in a sustainable manner and anthropological methods for doing our ISP (independent Study Project).  

It has been a long week of classes and a lot of Zulu - we had an oral examination where we had to a dialogue between some people and talk about our previous weekend in the south coast. I dressed up as a traditional healer and we used our few phrases to create a simple dialogue.  

This morning we went to a youth organization that was led by some people we met on our first day in the city of Durban.  They feed a whole bunch of students early in the morning at an elementary and high school where there is a high need for many of the students.  It was really fun and I would like to go back again if possible.  

sorry this was a little bit of a disjointed post but hopefully next time will be better

sala khale 

Adina 

The South Coast

Hello again - 

This week the homework is going to start piling on so the previous weekend we went to the south coast.  We stayed at this adorable lodge called the merry crab it was right off the beach and I could see the water from my window, also my roommates saw monkeys out our windows.  

We went on a long walk (around 4-5 miles) that began on the beach and continued up through some of the sets used to film Blood Diamond and then into a rural-ish village where we met a traditional healer.  

The walk on the beach was beautiful but very windy and there were petrified trees and other fossils to see but I was not sure how reliable our guide was.  Then we walked through beautiful scenery (ask to see the pictures when I get back) and places where blood diamond was filmed (we also filmed a few short re-enactments) it was really cool, even though we I had never seen the movie

then we saw the sanguwoma. In this case it was a woman, actually two, who danced and burned some plants to make the room very smokey and call forth the spirits.  it was really interesting and like nothing I had ever seen before - but it was a little frightening because when the spirit moves into these women they begin to wobble and fall over, potentially right onto me.  

A very interesting weekend!

until next time

Adina 

The Zulu language and other things done this week....

So I have received a lot of questions about the make-up of the Zulu language and want to try and explain what its like.  Zulu uses the same alphabet as english except there is no R sound.  Also the vowels sound a little different and 'ph' does not equal the 'f' sound.  there are also 3 clicks.  there is a click sound for 'c' that is made by putting your tongue to the back of your front teeth and and pulling away quickly - similar to the tisk-tisk sound used by frustrated mothers.  the next click is for the letter 'x' and sounds like the noise used to make a horse go faster.  finally, the most difficult click in my opinion is the 'q' click which sounds like a cork un-popping (but you make this sound with your mouth!).  Everyday we have a Zulu lecture to learn the grammatical structure and then small groups to practice pronunciation and our speaking ability because we will have a written and oral exam in a few weeks.  

Yesterday we had an incredible lecture on Cosmopolitanism and the idea that we need to try to know the other and et be respectful in that we can never fully know the experience of the other.  This lecture dealt with a lot of the ideas I struggle with because of all the interfaith work I have done in the past and it was so wonderful - after days of development and economics lectures - to finally feel like I know what was going on.

Next we heard about the housing crisis happening here.  One of the most important parts of this debate is that housing is guaranteed by the constitution (AMAZING and slightly unrealistic) so when shack settlements begin happening in cities it becomes a very contentious issue.  We visited one of these shack settlements and met the organizer of an group of settlers who have begun fighting for their rights.  They also have an amazing a cappella group that sings about political issues and dances go along with the singing too, it was an incredibly moving experience and since the lyrics were sometimes in simple Zulu I could understand some of it

up next, a trip to the southern coast  

Ah classes...

Sanibonani -

 We are settling in to our weekly schedule of classes and homestay families.  I leave for school at around 7:05 everyday to walk to the bus and return home around 5:15 or so.  During the day we have different classes mostly our seminar on Reconciliation and Development, Zulu language and sometimes a seminar on Field studies in the Social Sciences.  We have reading and Zulu homework every night.  

 Today we are going to a museum and having lunch there as well - very exciting! Tomorrow we are going to a shack settlement and Friday we leave for a weekend on the South Coast, so the next few posts should be exciting. 

  Sala Khale  

Adina  

Homestays!

We just had our first weekend with our homestay family.  My family consists of two parents who are somewhat older and their granddaughter.  My sister is 13 and so cute! We live on a hill in Cato Manor and there is an incredible view (I am not sure there is enough bandwidth to upload pictures, apparently bandwidth is regulated in SA).  You can see mosques and the big mall, the Pavillion.  My sister is friends with the sisters of a few other students so we spent most of the weekend together.  

When I first got there Saturday morning we went around to many houses of my sisters friends so they could all see me.  Then we eventually went to the mall to buy some school supplies.  Some of their taxis are minibus taxis - much like a sheruot in Israel.  Finally my sister helped me do my Zulu homework.  Also my father and I talked about censorship in America vs. South Africa.  

Sunday we decided not to go to Church because my mama was tired.  many other mamas came over to visit including Etan's mama (my friend Etan went on SIT last semester - she sends her love to him!).  then we went visiting other students and their families, finally my camera was taken and used to take hundreds of pictures.  my sister and her friend took video interviews of themselves about what it was like to live with Americans, it was so cute.  

Each night we watch movies together and usually in the middle my sister goes to bed and I stay up with my parents.  I think there is still a lot of uncertainty about where I fit into the family but I think it will dissolve over time.  

until next time, 

 Adina

More Preparation and Acclimation

Hello again - 

 this is likely to be a shorter post. We spent yesterday with Durban with your young men who run a non-profit whose mission is to help educate the young people of the neighborhood. We had a really good time with our guide and saw museums and a main park with a memorial to a woman who disclosed her HIV status as positive and was stoned to death.

now we are handling a lot of our personal business, learning about our host families who we will meet tomorrow and dealing with the bank. Later today we will be having lectures on Zulu culture and tradition so that we can be mentally prepared for our homestays. 

much love, 

sala khale

Adina 

I'm here!

Sawuniboni -

We arrived in South Africa four days ago and began our stay in a seminary in Johannesburg. In Jo-berg we began our orientation about the broader program and study about the social and cultural context of apartheid in South Africa. The first day we went to the constitutional court. The highest court in SA it was built on the site of a prison (and previously a fort) where Nelson Mandela along with other apartheid resisters were held. The prison was known for its gruesome conditions, and thus seemed a powerful place to put a court. Not only is the constitutional court the highest court in the land, it is also dedicated solely to the protection of rights. We also saw Soweto, the South Western Township, a place where blacks were relocated to after apartheid forbid the mixing of the races in housing situations. In Soweto many young black leaders lived including Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Many actions occurred here in the fight for ending apartheid as well. Two days later, we went to the apartheid museum. Modeled off museums that discuss the holocaust, it chronicled the rise and fall of apartheid. There were actual government tanks that patrolled the black townships as well as posters for the ANC (African national congress) and all other sorts of items from the period.

As well as doing many more seminars on the program and its beginning, we went to a mall and got a chance to see the local mall culture. We also experienced many other cultural experiences including a Braai (spelling somewhat questionable) or a traditional South African barbeque. It includes long stripes of sausage and chicken. We added corn and mushrooms for the vegetarians. Our instructors are all wonderful. We have a professor who was on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as apartheid ended and he will be the main teacher for our Reconciliation and Development Seminar. Also Vanessa is our program director. She is wonderful and really fun.

We finally arrived in Durban today and so far everything is going great. We have two more days to acclimate ourselves to this new city before we begin living with our home-stay families and tomorrow we see our classroom setting and SIT office where we are based for the next seven weeks.

Of you were thinking of corresponding with me, I would greatly appreciate that, I will begin having moderately available email access now for some time. Also if you want to send actual letters (also highly valued by me) email me for my snail mail address.

Sala kahle!

Adina

Leaving

Well its my last night in the States and I am mostly packed around 11pm. I am now working on the ever important Ipod updating.  I am feeling very mixed emotions about leaving - really excited and a little anxious about the first day.  I do have some of those first day of school type feelings.  Its always very awkward to first meet people and then get on an very long place flight with them.  Usually I feel the least like being bright and excited with a 17 hour flight ahead of me.  But, I'm sure it will be great and a little gross after all that traveling.  

Otherwise I feel as though I am leaving a lot of important people and events behind.  But hopefully everyone will understands what a great adventure I will have and how important I think this will be for me. 

so overall, a lot of packing and excitement with some sadness. 

Next time in Africa

Preparation

Here goes nothing: 

     I am preparing for my trip (T-minus 5 days) by having a meeting with my parents to discuss the various documents that SIT has provided for me to look over.   I have determined that there is a significant amount of required reading I still have to do - ie all of it - and that I have a shorter list than I imagined of tasks that need to be completed.  Most importantly, I have to buy/find gifts for my host families (I will have 3) whom I, as of yet, know nothing about.  Oh well, the joys of adventure I suppose. 

I really have nothing else much to say yet, but I am going to work on blogging often before I leave in hopes of creating good blogging habits.