Schools 4 Schools South Africa Team Blog

Arrival of the 2010 Team!

The new team has arrived in South Africa … Paul Mason, Emily Macdonald and me, Natascha Sommer. We await the fourth member of the first semester team, Jodie Goldmsith, who will be with us in March.  Check out the ‘about us’ section for personal bios.

South Africa has been great for us so far, and we are very excited about the work that lies ahead of us. Over the last week or so we have been trying to learn as much about South African people and culture as we can. We had a great introduction to Zulu culture over the weekend when we participated in Vuk Africa which means “Arise Africa.” Vuk Africa is a business which runs overnight tours through Zulu communities in the Valley of 1000 Hills. All profits are used to support a non government/ not for profit organization called Light Providers which works with youth in the community. Light Providers empowers young people through life skills training and engages them with recreational activities.

Our tour started off at Light Providers where we were greeted by our tour guide, Sanele. Sanele took us to see a Sangoma, a Zulu witch doctor. We were invited into her circular hut where burning incense was creating intriguing smells. The Sangoma taught us about her role in Zulu society, the kind of work she does and how she uses her medicines for cures and communication with the ancestors. Fascinating stuff!

We had lunch at a local butchery, visited an orphanage, and heard the Light Providers Choir perform. Soon it was dinner time and chicken was on the menu. There was a catch – ‘chicken tonight’ in Zulu culture does not necessarily mean opening your freezer, and defrosting and cooking the chicken. We were required to walk through the township to find a house selling LIVE chickens, catch the chicken, and carry it back to our home stay family. As a vegetarian, I felt justified leaving the carrying of the chicken to Emily, and the decapitation to Paul. Although the chicken saga was not my favorite part of the tour, it certainly painted more of a picture of a typical day in the Valley of 1000 hills.

So as you can see, life has been eventful so far and we are very much looking forwards to sinking into our work with Schools 4 Schools!