Riv' Life

This is the video that my group made after we spent our four weeks in service sites. I hope it conveys what the experience was like!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYx0cg4_PPE

I will hopefully add one final post on what I did during travel week and while in Cape Town.

The Spiders Keep to Themselves... The Monkeys Do Not.

This blog is a tribute to all of the wonderful, and not so wonderful animals I have seen and experienced while in the KwaZulu Natal province here in South Africa.

Spiders are a common thing around here. They range from small enough to build a web between the hairs on your arm to being as big as your palm. They are so common that people don't even flinch anymore when they look above them and see a hand-sized spider chilling next to a cluster of eggs. The staff usually takes care of it the next morning... usually. Spiders are also commonly found in the bathrooms and showers. I don't recall having a single shower without at least five spiders in the corners, and I think we have moved it up to about a dozen now. But everyone leaves them where they are, because then they can eat all the moths. In fact, on several occasions, we have actually captured ants and small bugs to feed the bigger spiders. In the end though, if you don't go looking for the spiders, they won't go looking for you.

These little monkeys are a menace. They may look cute and soft and innocent, but believe me when I tell you they're not. We have had these monkeys around campus from day one, and they have been stealing food since then too. If you leave your window open and leave the room, you are sure to have at least four monkeys come in, steal all your food, leave muddy paw prints and maybe a little urine on your bed. The monkeys are usually afraid of the males around campus, but they will often lunge at the females just for sport. Once, when I was keeping two monkeys out of our Chalet, I made a kicking motion at one of the terrors. He backed maybe a step away, and then lunged for me, but not fully. We did this back and forth until I finally grabbed a chair and he took off. 

One of the monkeys, who is missing a tail and was therefore named "No Tail" or "Nubs" is the worst. He is incredibly smart, and will be so daring to come up behind you and try to take the fruit right out of your hand! He is so silent too that you don't even notice he is in the kitchen until several sugar packets or yogurt tubs are taken. Many of the students bought or made sling shots to try and hit the monkeys with... but most have been unsuccessful. Either way, the monkeys are not the cute cuddlies they look like. Trust me.

 These are the zebra that live in the game reserve right by campus. Many times they come out when people go on runs in the early morning or late evening. They are beautiful animals.

These were the first monkeys we saw on our safari. They used their tails to balance on the telephone wires!

You lookin' at me? 

Leopards are extremely rare and very sneaky animals, so this was an amazing find.

A leopard...? Where?

This guy was injured and was running all across the road right in front of our cars.

The elephants were in mating season... so naturally this guy was a bit grumpy. He charged several of the vehicles, and one of the braver guides eventually had to drive toward the elephant to scare him off the road. I unfortunately wasn't in that car.

All the animals found in the reserve.

Ugliest creature... seriously. Sorry Pumba.

One of the many mother and baby pairs we saw. This baby giraffe was adorable.

Trivia: Only three animals walk with the same foreleg and hind leg. The giraffe is one and the camel is the other... anyone know the third?

A mom and maybe a six week old baby white rhino. This was extremely lucky especially in the heavy rain. The baby didn't even have a horn gowing yet.

Crickey! Look'a that beauty!

Angry, wet, male buffalo who likely had just been overthrown in his herd.

Some of the 14,054 impala.

Wildebeest aren't the brightest of animals. These are more young ones with a mom or dad or older cousin I suppose.

This lion cub completed my Big 5 viewing experience. Thank you Karissa Thomas for spotting it! He was one of maybe three to five 6-month-old lion cubs hanging out right by the perimeter of the reserve.

These birds were grounded because of all the rain. "Wha'do you wanna do?" "I dunno... wha'do you wanna do?"

Baby zebra and mum.

Wild Dog.

Do you think this guy is resting or dead...? I'm going with the former.

Overall, it has been a very fun experience getting to see al these animals, and I am going to miss the entertainment the monkeys brought to campus life. One thing is for sure... they certainly kept you on your toes!



Ecabazini

Yesterday began our week of safari and a Zulu experience. However, since the group is so large we have to divide into two and take turns at each. My group yesterday and today got to go to Ecabazini, which was an area that was set up like a traditional Zulu homestead, and live like thousands of Zulus still live today.
Upon our arrival, we were given the run down of what each hut was for, and who in the family lived in each. We learned about the importance and ranking of each hut, starting with the granny's at the top, then the first wife's  down and to the left, the second wife's to the right, and so on down the hill for however many wives one had. I stayed in the hut where the first wife and her children would have stayed. So I guess you could say I was feeling pretty important. Our hut, however, had a hobbit door that in Zulu literally translated into 'to pray', since you had to practically kneel in order to enter. So, I'm not so sure I chose the right hut by the end of the trip. It also had no windows, so it was very dark inside. Overall it was a surprisingly cozy place to sleep.
Our Zulu experience continued further down the hill where they had built an activities area for tourist groups like ours. There, we got to see how Zulu women make straw mats and how they "cleaned" the floors with cow dung after many muddy feet trampled through. After one girl showed us all how, our guide asked the group who would like to give this cleaning method a try. I figured, who wouldn't want to get poop all over their hand in an act of cleaning? So, naturally, I volunteered first. It was an extremely awkward sensation, but was surprisingly odorless. 50 Rand was on the line if I was able to beat her in the clearing process, which involved sliding one's hand up in a straight line and then cupping it so you clear the excess dung on top, leaving a nice smooth surface at the end. I didn't win. However, the process was still worth it, and I don't regret getting the excrement on my hands, bracelets, and under my nails. And, in the end it cleaned the floors quite well! So mom, whenever you need the floors cleaned at home, I have a new technique for you that I think will work nicely.
After exploring for a while, we had dinner back on the dung floor, where I sat with a small group on the straw mats on the floor. Our meal started with delicious steak and Zulu bread, which was the best meat I've had since being here, and ended with some more traditional foods (like Poto and Samp and beans) which I had already learned to love from service sites. We ate by oil lamplight, and then watched the traditionally dressed Zulus perform various traditional dances. Of course, when we were given the opportunity to dance as well, I took it.
This morning was a little less filled with new experiences, although when watching the early morning scenery, I saw two of the cows trying to mate. The scenery elsewhere suddenly became very interesting. I also got to milk one of the cows, which was a stranger sensation than its excrement the day before. Needless to say, it was an interesting couple of days, and I was not too upset about getting back to AE and getting in a long nap and shower before our three days of safari in the wild starting tomorrow!

Eyes

     Well, service sites are over already. Fourteen days have past faster than I can process, and we now only have one week left in the beautiful KwaZulu Natal province before heading off to Cape Town. I hope that I never forget the things I have seen and experienced this past month.

     For some reason I fell inclined to journal about this one girl, Sane, who is thirteen and came to the Drop-in Centre daily. I don’t exactly know what it is, but she had an odd draw to her that made me want to get to know her better. However, because of the language barrier, I was too shy to start up conversations with her before this week. I really only started to talk to her two days ago, and it was clear that there was a lot going on in her life, and her mind. It seems strange because a lot of our interaction just consisted of us looking at each other, trying to read the other’s expression. Because of this, I feel like I learned more about her from just her eyes than from anything else.

     Eyes. The windows to the soul. Sane’s eyes would laugh with her, or become nonchalant when her cocky tom-boy attitude kicked in. She would look at you with the most intense gaze of trying to read you through your eyes, and suddenly we were the same age. With a blink, they were gone, and she was just a thirteen-year-old kid dancing to some music again. Her eyes were slightly yellowed, which made me wonder if she were on ARV medication, which is so so common in this area. Parents with HIV won’t take the proper precautions when they end up getting pregnant, so the baby is born HIV positive too. Maybe that is the reason for the underlying sadness and pain and obvious burden just behind the surface of those deep brown eyes.

     The biggest regret I have is not asking the questions to find out why her eyes looked at me the way they did. I was too reserved to ask her who she was, and for that I am very sorry… though sorry doesn’t seem to make up for the fact that I could have made a friend, that I could have shared my story, that I might have been able to make a difference and share some hope in this clearly troubled youth’s life.

     I walked away yesterday, and for some reason she and I just kept silent eye contact. It was as if we both knew everything and nothing about the other at the same time. A chill ran over me despite the record heat, as I acknowledged the truth we both likely understood: I may never look into those beautiful, deep eyes again. I only pray that God protects them.

Broken Bottles

We went into a new township last Friday in the same area where we go to the HIV support group. This was where I saw some of the worst living conditions I have ever seen.

Trash littered the streets that were lined by rock and mud shacks, so weathered that they could hardly be called homes. Scanning the valley, you hear dozens of roosters crowing, and flea-ridden, mangy dogs barking in a fight. The cloudy gray sky emulated the lethargy of the community all worn down by years of poverty. Children play in the streets with whatever they can find, and puppies are left in the middle of the road to starve, or meet perhaps a different fate. The quality of life is so poor I can't help but think, "How could anyone live this way?" and yet people do every day. Seeing these people still laugh and smile back at me with a returning wave proved what they had not lost hope. It is these people who are helping me to redefine my previous ideas about life, the American dream, happiness, and everything that makes a day worth living.

As we stood in the streets, waiting for one of the social workers, I began pondering everything I thought I knew about what it takes for someone to be genuinely happy. My soul wept for the people we visited that day and in the weeks previous. After a while, it began to lightly rain, and I knew God was weeping too. 

This is a poem I wrote in my journal after Friday:

A withered tired hand

Holds up a weary head

A girl lies on the floor

Where there should be a bed

The darkened room now mocks

The already darkened mind

Leaving only time to think

Of the life that's left behind

Sitting turns to wishing

When all you do is wait

But not too long after's

When the waiting turns to hate

Broken bottles line the streets

They emulate the souls

Strewn about amongst the waste 

And all forgotten goals

Yet amidst all this nothing

The children still laugh and play

Which shows there might be hope

For a better future... some day.

I am being forever changed by this place.

His Hands

     These past weeks we have finally gotten into the community as we began our service sites. There are five different service sites, so our whole group is pretty spread out. I am at a place called RIVLife, which has all sorts of projects that help make it an effective business. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that I don’t necessarily see, but I am still interacting with the people there, so it’s still rewarding.

     Last week we had a Community Engagement class on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 08:00 to 16:00. It was really long but also helpful in regards to preparation for entering the community. Thursday and Friday we started our service sites, which really just consisted of us going to the Crèche (day care centre) and letting kids climb all over us while we tried to calm them down. It was fun to play with kids, but it wasn’t exactly exciting nor involving the community. So, the six of us girls who are at RIVLife were a little frustrated after the first week since it didn’t feel like we had done anything.

     Last weekend there were two different markets that we planned to go to in Durban, but because they were on two different days, a small group of us decided to get a hotel and just stay the night in that area. This ended up being a great idea since our hotel was right on the beach, and had a gorgeous view. After the first market, where I was able to get some fun things for friends and family, we were dropped off at our hotel. So, naturally, we made our way to the beach as soon as possible, and remained there for the afternoon. The group of us six girls and ten guys then went out to dinner at a place called TacoZulu, which was the best Mexican food I have had in so long because it is the only Mexican food I have had since I’ve been here. While eating, a huge thunderstorm passed over us and we ended up just walking around in the rain. It was a fabulous night, followed by a handful of us getting up early to watch the sun rise over the Indian Ocean. All of Sunday we then spent on the beach, and I felt completely rested and rejuvenated for the upcoming week.
     This week, we had our 8 hours of class again on Monday, and then we back to service sites on Tuesday. We finally got to go into the community that day, but they said we could only take three of us, so the other three had to stay back and work in the Crèche again. So, we drew blades of grass for it, and I got to go into the little village that is just across the street from our community centre. This entailed doing house visits, which I was a little nervous for, but found fine after the first house. We visited a blind man who had water leaking from his bathroom into his bedroom, which made all the clothes piled in the corner soaking wet. So, the three of us spent about half an hour sorting and folding moldy wet clothes that belonged to his wife who died two years ago. It was an odd job, but I think it helped him a lot in the end.

     The second house we went to I will never forget. We walked a short way to a squatter village right next to the actual township, where we entered the house of a woman who had a stroke in 2009. They talked to her for a while, and then I heard the social worker say my name, and Physical Therapy in the same sentence… *Insert choice expletive here.*

     I had no idea what to do, because the social worker then turned to me and said, “Isn’t that right Shelli? We have a physiotherapist with us today. Come here Shelli, you can do what you like.”

     Fake it till you make it friends. “Yep that’s me.” Dear Lord… “Is there anything specific she would like me to work on?” I have no idea what the hell to do… “Because if there is something she is working toward” can you please give me your hands? “Then I will be able to help her a little better.” Because I can’t do this without you! I think that’s the best way to describe what happened.

     After that though, the woman told the translator that it hurt to stand. So, after about half an hour of me messing with her legs, stretching them, twisting them, bending them, etc. I was able to actually guess what the issue was. The amazing thing was in the end, based solely off of what her body told me, I was able to fairly accurately determine what the woman was experiencing, and what the plan should be for her going forward. I just seemed to know what to do, which stretches came to mind, what exercises would help, and how to best help this woman. It was an incredible experience, and it was effective enough to where they asked me to come back again tomorrow to continue helping her in this treatment. So needless to say I will be doing a little more research tonight, and a lot more praying.

     Yesterday we went to the house of these grandmothers (GoGos) who get together once a week just so they aren’t sitting at home all day feeling sorry for themselves. So, they meet the same time and place, and make crafts together that are then sold to the community. It was really fun to hang with them and listen to them laugh at our broken Zulu. Then today, we went to a support group for people who have somehow contracted HIV, which has been ongoing since 2003. The most amazing part about this support group, beside their apparent joy and vitality despite being HIV+, was the fact that two women in the group had just had children within the last year, and the babies were both HIV-! This proves that if you educate the people enough to where they know to take their ARV medicine, then they can avoid the transmission of HIV to others, and more importantly to their children. It was an eye opening experience, and I really enjoyed getting to talk to them and hear all of their stories.

     So far, service sites have been incredibly rewarding, and I am treated as much more of a professional than I really am. However, with an open mind and heart, I am able to work with these people, many of whom have lost hope, and give them the love they deserve.