Last Saturday Sphe and a few of the boys took us on a “walkabout” to see the whole of Zonkizizwe. It’s bigger than we thought. We certainly attracted a lot of attention, some good, some not so good. Generally, people think we’re white South Africans and when they find out we’re American/Canadian they are much more friendly. There’s a great library just across the field from the centre. They had many books and we’re hoping to go there more often. We’ve also discovered “kota”, the fast-food of choice in the townships which can be bought at many tuck shops. There’s a picture of me with it below. Basically it’s a half loaf of bread hollowed out and filled with French fries, an array of sauces and meats like “polony” “Russian” and “Vienna”….whatever those mean. They cost from R6 to R10 (about $1 to $1.50) and the more expensive they get the more assorted meat gets thrown on top.
Thanks to Olivia’s friend from Haifa, Hendrick, we were put in touch with Baha’is who live relatively near to us. The cluster is very spread out and takes an hour to go from one end to another. A young married couple, Koketsu and Masande, hosted the feast and picked us up and drove us home afterwards which we really appreciated. There were 10 of us at the feast which was very enjoyable and filled with wonderful singing. I even got a chance to play FIFA with Koketsu after feast, Spain beat South Africa 6-0 YIPPEE!! Then we got pizza on our way home which made Olivia very happy. Hopefully we can spend more time with them in the future.
We realized we know a song in Zulu (thanks Colleen), Siya humba. So Monday with the kids we sang it for them and they were shocked that we knew it. I then decided to march around the yard with all 50 kids following me as we sang “We are marching in the light of God”…Pictures follow.
The washing machine broke last week so we had to wash a few weeks worth of clothes by hand. And by we I mean my wonderful wife. I have a feeling it won’t be fixed during our time here, welcome to Africa.
We are in the airport now on our way to Cape Town for a few days to visit friends that Olivia served with in Haifa. More on that in our next post.
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| A typical tuck shop in the township |
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| An RDP house (free houses provided by the post-apartheid government) |
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| A shack |
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| Another shack, there are more shacks than RDP houses in Zonke |
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| The taxi rank in Zonke |
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| Streets of Zonke |
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| Enjoying some kota |
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| The tent the church put up in the yard of the centre |
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| The church men...I was awkwardly seated to the left of the man standing, next to the donated food on the table |
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| There's not much to say about this picture... |
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| Sunset in Zonke |
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| Olivia happily washing clothes |
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| This picture and the one below accompany the post "is that a wig?" |
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| We are marching in the light of God! Seeya Humba |
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| Pretend this picture isn't blurry, it could have been so good! |
Love, The Wandering Two
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