Zwelethemba

Two weeks in Zwelethemba was an enlightening experience on the effects of the apartheid and poverty in a Township of Capetown. The dirt roads, shanty metal scrap houses and flocks of orphans were juxtapositioned by mountains that seemed to be painted against the bright blue sky and cottonball clouds (it reminded me of the wallpaper from Toystory). The scenery was so beatuiful that it looked like it two dimensional, or from the desktop background of Dad's PC. We stayed in a house that went above and beyond my expectations. I lived with Max and Mackenzie who were amazing additions to the wonderful family. We got so close with our host mother, who worked so hard to keep us happy and comfortable but treated us like her own children by having us take turns doing the nightly dinner prayer and dishes and encouraged us to keep our beds made and rooms tidy (I can hear real Mom's voice now when I get home and face the looming task of unpacking). Our host father works at the Cape Town military base in the transport sector of the logistics department, but took a week leave this past week so that he could spend some time with us- quite the mellow guy. We all had class and lectures about a 15 minute walk into the town at the library, where we had some really interesting guest appearances from an HIV panel (including a traditional Sangoma healer, a pastor and an adherance counselor from the local clinic), a panel of Host mothers (who described the lifestyle of Zwelethemba and their experiences with apartheid), a physician from the South Africa TB Vaccination Initiative, and from the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Organization who had  unique presentation of rapping and motivational singing. They gave us all CD's of their music that is a mixture of many langauges (there are 11 national languages of South Africa). In Zwelethemba they speak the Xhosa language which characteristically includes 4 clicking sounds (one of the only clicking languages in the world)- it was really tricky but we had many trials with family and children who tried to perfect our clicking. In the spirit of Thanksgiving all of the students prepared Thanksgiving dinner for their individual homestay families, and Susan (one of the country coordinators) decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to create a mini documentary (she's a film making teacher on the side of her anthropology and health career)- called "Thanksgiving in Zwelethemba". She filmed many of the preperations of the makeshift traditional dinners and interviewed students and homestay mothers on their experiences- I was featured telling Thempsi (a homestay mother and the main homestay organizer, and activisit in Zwelethemba) the story and history of Thanksgiving and had to flashback to elementary US history- but I think Ms. Pavlides would approve. We prepared a roast chicken with lemon sage stuffing, roasted butternut squash, mashed potatoes, sauteed mushrooms, gravy and a peach-blueberry tart. The family loved it so much that our host brother ended up standing and scraping the leftovers from the serving plates. I had some pretty deep homesickness that day, and got a little emotional on the front step of our house while chatting with the fam who was all together in Connecticut- during the teary phone call my favorite adorable child, Soso, came over with his dusted bare feet and jolly smile and sad with his head on my shoulder and gave me a hopefull thumbs up as I walked inside. The sadness was bridged when we had such a magical experience with the homestay family, we were so happy that they enjoyed the meal (that tasted eerily similar to what we would normally prepare at home) and I couldn't have asked for a more unique and amazing experience on one of my favorite holidays- it was so special to share a glimpse of our culture with them.

5 minutes left at the internet cafe- bullet points here we go!
- had farewell Brii (barbeque) last night with delicious food, and amazing entertainment from a group of girls who performed traditional dancing and singing (that made Gemma and cry and get goosebumps).  We performed the Gumboot dance that we learned earler that day, that comes from when the men would dance in the mines and do lots of rhythmic slapping against their clunky rubber boots.
-arrived back in Cape Town today, met our final homestay families- house is beautiful, has a beaitufl rooftop deck (perfect for homework, working out, and working on the tan- and has a gorgeous view).

Will catch you up on the rest of the trip I promise!!