Hardy in Harding

local cobbler.

mom reading paper.

Grandpa (87 today!) and Joe fixing the water supply tap.

It is sooo cold over here somewhere between 32 and 39 degrees. I know for those used to the Northern winters it doesn't sound cold but when most of the buildings don't have proper insulation, with only an electric heater or a fireplace to keep you warm, and you've gotta put more clothes on when you go inside than when you're outside it seems colder than in the States. Oh that and you can see your breadth when you're inside!

Making a fire in wood-burning stove.

We're still here in the "frontier town" called Harding. They call it a frontier town because it is near what they call "No Man's Land" an area not far from Lesotho where cattle rustling and all sorts of land lays open for people to live wild, if they so choose. I was just saying to Joe while we were driving down the road, "you have to be Hardy to live in Harding!"




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Ubiquitous site here.

Anyway, we're getting ready for our show this coming Saturday. I met with the mayor of Umuziwabantu municipality who will be there ready to speak. Hopefully some Rotarians will come too even though there are no clubs nearby.


With that said there are some interesting things to do around Harding. There are mountains nearby and Joe and I visited some last weekend. It wasn't raining so we took a 20 minute drive to the Ingeli mountain inn where we proceeded to take a 2.5 hour hike up one of the mountains.

Once we got to the top we encountered an army base. It's no wonder we saw those soldiers running through the forest. We had hoped they were baboons when we heard them from afar, however they ended up being armed men. Oh well. We saw the baboons only later when we got back to the main road. Unfortunately they were too far away to take a decent picture. The only one I did snap looks like a big foot sighting! :(

All in all it was a beautifully exhausting hike!

The other week we also visited Green Acres abattoir. Because this is cattle country we decided to take a tour. I got some really interesting pictures and learned a lot about how beef is processed. Due to the nature of the images however I have only put in a few of the less detailed ones for the faint of heart.

40 minutes later....

Harding

Working with the group of youngsters has given me a new perspective and respect for Harding. As well it has also given me a clearer perspective of what the town's strengths and weaknesses are. Thanks to the PEP group we now feel Harding is more than just a dusty little town on the border of "No Man's Land". The group has taught us that Harding is a family place and although it has it's problems regarding trash pickup, lots of foreign owned shops, and potholes, there are beautiful sites, trees, and people trying to live and enjoy their lives as best they can.

One solace to our adventures in this one horse town - if they had horses - has been the Municipal library. For one it is one of the warmer buildings in town because unlike most houses there is an electric air conditioner spewing out heat (I suppose the fact one individual doesn't have to pay the high rates is why they have it). Additionally, it is a quiet refuge from the busy streets. And lastly, it has free high speed internet that we can access from our lap tops. Thank God for small gifts!

In a few minutes I get to meet with the town mayor who was recently inducted. If all goes well I can get her to come to the show and speak to the kids. :)

"South Coast"

June 29, 2011

Today is Wednesday, the third day of our new group in Harding, KwaZulu-Natal. The group consists of 3 young men and 5 young ladies, and they all seem extremely enthusiastic about the Photography Ethnography Project (PEP!) especially because it is school break and there is nothing to do in the town.

The second day we met we talked about the town. I had them draw maps and then asked them to describe where they live. They described the town as small, dusty, crowded, and filled with gossipers and drunkards. When asked if they could change anything about the town they said they would clean up the trash, stop the drugs, make police harder on crime, and fix up the pot holes.

After teaching them how to use the cameras we had them take us around and take pictures. Here are some of the pictures they took.

Rotary week and District Conference

June 11, 2011

This has really been a Rotary week. Not only did we enjoy the hospitality of a few Rotarians for home cooked meals and spending the night at their homes but Joe and I both spoke at different Rotary clubs (one in Durban, the other an hour away in Pietermaritzburg) but then I have been attending the Rotary District 9270 Conference since yesterday (Friday June 10^th) afternoon.

The Durban Rotary Club, where I spoke in March, was our first stop. This time it was Joe’s turn to be in the spotlight and he conducted a well received session on First Nations People, with a focus on his family’s tribe, the Tuscarora. The Rotarians, most of who had never met a “Red Indian” - as American Indians are called here in South Africa - were quite impressed with his presentation and had many subsequent questions, which showed their interest.

That evening we had dinner with one of the Rotarians, John Ferguson, whose lovely wife Maggie, made us a vegetarian meal of curried beans, roasted butternut and potatoes, and a stir-fry with ijeqe – steamed mealie bread (what we call corn bread in the States). Dinner was accompanied by wonderful conversations about the status of American Indians, yoga, and the British connection with Viking lands.

The next day, we moved house to stay with Mr. Wally Pelser, who is the President of the Umhlatuzana club. We did so in an effort to attend the 7 am meeting on the Durban shore, but failed miserably in lieu of the fact that the security gate’s remote control had been rained on and would not open. Anyway, his wife Tammy whipped up a delicious mild chicken curry for us. We had the honor of meeting their two young children (3 years old and 7 months young). And to our delight we took a photo tour of Norway by some friends of theirs who had just returned from vacation.

Thursday day we moved house again to stay with my “surrogate mother” as I call Anne Eve from the Pinetown Club. We had lunch and tea with her in Hillcrest, before heading west to Pietermaritzburg. We met with a lovely couple who we met through family and spoke until we were just about late for the Rotary meeting I was scheduled to speak at at the Golden Horse Casino. The talk was very well received and I got some tough questions about the touchy topic of race which I attempted to answer as best I could.

After my speech I received a Rotary glass – which all the members were surprised was actually there – and a lovely dinner of mutton curry. President Peter Sibanda and I exchanged banners and we made our way back to Hillcrest.

The next day was the beginning of the 9270 District Conference. The KwaZulu-Natal weather was dreadfully cold and rainy. Yeah, yeah I know people think of Africa as the land of sun, but honestly, once you’ve been here for as long as we have and your body gets acclimated to the weather when the rain comes round June you feel the cold! Not only that but if we had been coming from the States, with all the super hot weather that has hit you would’ve felt cold too!

With that said Anne and I still braved the weather and made our way east to Durban. I go to see many people I had met during prior visits to their clubs, and Anne was amazed at how many people I “knew”. We had some tea and then sat in the hall to hear all the Rotary stories. There were many introductions, thank yous and formalities but I will spare you the intricacies of Rotary conference ceremony and speak about my favorite parts.

President Sipho Gumbi presented on the theme “Building Communities, Bridging Continents” speaking of his experience working with German and Norwegian Rotary clubs to provide a training space for young undeserved South African students to learn carpentry. President Sipho, who is also a principal in one of the African townships outside of Durban, discussed how the German club helped procure almost R2 million (almost $300,000) worth of equipment in 2005 but how the equipment sat unused for almost four years because of a lack of space and funding to build. Together with a club in Norway and Germany, the Amanzimtoti club was able to provide a new building, not only to house the carpentry equipment but also to act as a training area and a distribution center of winter blankets for the poor. According to President Sipho, the opening ceremony was attended by 3,000 people! With the fellowship that has been built by these clubs students have also jumped in to bridge continents by traveling to the respective nations’ Rotary clubs to explore and share culture.

My other favorite presentation was President Wally Pelser, of the Umhlatuzana club. President Wally focused on the Rotary shelter boxes which have helped people in many areas of the world, including the recent Japanese Tsunami/Nuclear meltdown. One of his statistics was that within twelve minutes of Haitian earthquake Shelter Boxes were being packed up and shipped off to the disaster area. He showed this YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4-YwPpIlE4

At the end of the video President Wally shared how 8 Shelter Boxes had been sent to Japan in the name of District 9270. Doesn’t seem like that many but when you consider that each box costs R8000 (a bit more than $1000) it is actually considerable for a nation that in many parts is still developing.

One of the great innovations that the Umhlatuzana club came up with in the face of South Africa’s recent floods is the “Shelter D.R.U.M.” a cheaper alternative to meeting the immediate needs of disaster victims. While this Shelter D.R.U.M. would only provide substance for a couple of weeks, the good thing is they are much cheaper (R800 or $120) and could be distributed much more quickly by local clubs than the Shelter Boxes based on their affordability. The great thing is that used properly these two pieces of relief could work in conjunction with one another and bring much needed assistance to people who lose everything to natural disasters.

It wasn’t all just speeches and heavy to dos there was some entertainment by some students who sang and danced. Overall the event went well and while we did not stay for dinner, Joe and I are about to attend the Rotary Banquet as Anne, my partner through all of this has an engagement party for her youngest daughter. Congrats Jenna and Nol!

Saturday morning before going to the conference Joe and I attended the opening of a coffee house at the Collective art gallery. Not only do they have great art but a great coffee bar and musical entertainment as well. Unfortunately because I had to speak at the conference I missed the music. Later on Joe told me how good the guitarists were.

Click here to find out more about their upcoming events, including ours.

Anne picked me up and whisked me off to the Southern Sun - Elangeli - Hotel and Conference Center. After hearing about Polio Plus and the amazing strives they've made in defeating the disease it was my time to speak. One tip for all speakers who use PowerPoint, NEVER put your slides on a timer. Reason being, unless you're super well rehearsed you will inevitably run over and your slide will advance before you finish speaking. I can be described as the latter which threw me off.

The topic of the speech was Building Communities, Bridging Continents. As I told the audience when I found out the topic I wasn't sure I was qualified however on further thought I realized both Joe and I actually have been quite successful in doing so. We visited 7 clubs, we have had countless dinners, lunches, and even breakfasts with Rotarians outside the meetings, and we've also brought Rotarians and non-Rotarians together with our efforts with the Photo Ethnography Project (PEP!) and the PEP! shows, the last of which will be August 1st - 17th at the Collective.

After my nervousness subsided and all speeches ended we were treated to a lovely lunch, buffet style.

Adventures of an Ambassadorial Spouse

Hi, this is Joe. I'm doing a guest spot for Fi's blog on our adventures in South Africa. A couple awesome things occurred this week. The first was the photo exhibition in Wentworth. The other was our marshalling the 2011 Comrades Marathon. The Comrades has been going on for 90 years. What makes this marathon amazing is that is it is 89 kms long (56 miles). The race goes from Durban to Pietermaritzburg. Check here for more history of the race: http://www.comrades.com/.

Anyway, we marshaled a stretch in the Westville area of Durban. It was amazing to see the first of the runners come over the hill. At first a few runners sprinted past and then the multitude streaming past in this seemingly endless wave of human beings. I over head someone say over 14,000 runners participated in the race. Our part of the race went off without a hitch; however, I had to keep telling this mother-daughter spectator unit to quit crossing the white line in their unconscious efforts to disturb the runners passing through. The mother spectator repeatedly clapped in runners' faces as they passed her. After the 50th warning they caught on and left my vicinity and resumed their disruptions further down the line.

You never know how good something will be until it moment is over. However, I knew that Fi and the Wentworth girl's photo exhibition would be successful. Fi was worried, not that I could tell because she would rather watch King of the Hill than quadruple check all of her notes, photos, Hors d'œuvre menu, and venue information. I am happy to report that event went very well. It was nice to see the girls and their family and friends come, but also see our family and friends come and support Fi and all of her hard work. It really was hard work. If you don't believe me try organizing nine teenage ladies into conforming to your plans and project needs! The Wentworth community supports their youngsters and I feel very proud that Fi and I have the opportunity to have a little piece of it.

I must admit going into the program I thought the girls would be sidetracked by daily pressures that would place the picture taking on the back burner. Yet, all of them took some amazing shots of their home. As expected the parents were very proud of their children's efforts, none of them saw the edited photos. Even a few of the parents were in awe of the "new and unusual" places of Wentworth their children photographed; in a way the youngsters introduced all of us to a new and contemporary Wentworth. I wanted to upload some of my favorite photos from the exhibit, but internet service isn’t the best. I will place my favorites on this blog. Please forgive me girls if I don't upload all of the photos. I actually like all of them, but space and data limits me.

My Favorite Photos

Easter's coming

April 22 – 23

We have had a busy few days. On Wednesday we met with our young ladies to talk about the progress of their photography and the upcoming meetings. After that I did a joint interview with one of the families. Unfortunately we missed our favorite soapy – Generations – a story revolving around two advertising companies and the interrelationships and squabbles of the workers and family members. Fortunately however, we were treated to dinner and got to spend some time getting to know the family.

Thursday morning we woke up super early and attended the Umhlatuzana Rotary Club at 7 am. It was the day of the “two-rander” and we were volunteering so we needed instructions. A “two-rander” is a fund raising/food drive event that the club participates. Volunteers stand in front of Checkers – one of the local supermarkets - and R2 coins that are stuck to a slip of paper are handed to people entering the store. The slip asks the receiver to please help the club purchase a non-perishable food item and then drop it in the trolley-cart that then goes to one of the Durban missions to feed the homeless and orphans.

The drive started at 8 am after we all had the meeting and finished sticking the coins to the slips. Joe and I volunteered during the 10-12 shift so we took a walk on the beach before our slot. When we got there was about one trolley filled with food; after two hours of working there were about three. Being the last working day before Easter weekend lots of people were foreseen to be shopping so together with some nuns from one of the missions the Rotary members were out in full force.

Unfortunately, I don’t know how many carts we ended up with, however, some people were handing over a full shopping bag of food so surely the goal of 10 carts filled must have been fulfilled.

Today is Good Friday. A day we have been looking forward to ever since we heard that there is a fire-walking festival in Pietermaritzburg. Again we woke up early and left the house by 7:30 am. We drove from Amanzimtoti where we live to Maritzburg, about an hour away. Things were just getting started. All the wood was gathered and stacked at the temple ready to burn, the fire pit had been decorated with various spices in floral patterns, and marigolds (along with other flowers) adorned the edifices and people.

As time went on we got to see and feel the large fire. We walked around the temple a few times and eventually made our way to the river where the walkers were blessed and ritually washed. It was also the place where the chariots were brought, decorated, and finally pinned to the various devotees who dragged them to the temple – which was about two or three blocks away. All the while there was intermittent drumming and singing. Women in brightly colored saris with their less showy male counterparts circumvented the temples throwing camphor into the small fire pots situated on the grounds and carrying plastic bowls of fruit, incense, and milk as offerings to the deities.

While at the river we watched people spread turmeric (the spice that makes Indian curries yellow) on each other as a blessing. You could smell it in the air as many people had almost their entire bodies covered. It smelled a little like ginger, which made me think of why the Chinese call it 黄将 huang jiang “yellow ginger”. After getting blessed by one of the walkers and watching him get pierced Joe and I headed back to the temple to get a spot to see the walkers. By this time the big bon fire had fizzled out and left charcoal and ashes which were then spread evenly throughout the pit by several men in “Pit Crew” shirts with giant metal rakes, wearing heavy duty gloves to protect them from the conducted heat.

After about an hour or more standing in a crowd of people the devotees arrived. Most people, including ourselves really couldn’t see much of the finale because people who were nearest to the pit were crowding around not allowing anyone else a view. Eventually Joe and I got frustrated and while other people decided to yell for the people to sit down or move, I got on Joe’s shoulders to catch some video. Because I couldn’t reciprocate Joe stood on the top of a chair and got his sighting.

Right before we left we got to see some of the people who had finished walking. Many were covered with limes and marigolds that dangled from hooks placed in their skin. Others had coconuts, while others had long metal hooks and mini-tridents stuck through their cheeks and or tongues. As the items were taken off some people were serene, others looked in pain, while one young man we saw went into convulsions for about one minute. After the items were removed they were given as offerings to the people looking for blessings. They say once a person has gone through the fire they are holy and so observers touch the walkers for luck.

Having spent most of the day standing and walking around by the time we left it felt as though we had walked on the coals. The entire day it seemed we were in India and if it weren’t for the several Zulu people milling around, watching, and admiring the festivities you would not have known you were on the African continent. If given the chance I would love to attend again and both Joe and I would even participate.

For more information on the fire walking ceremony in South Africa please read this article:

natalia.org.za/Files/21/Natalia%20v21%20article%20p31-39%20C.pdf