Spring in the Drakensberg Mountains

 

 

Our fog filled morning hike left droplets of water on our hair, eyelashes, all the delicate leaves.  We hiked for 3 hours in a cloud, not seeing the spectacular mountains or valleys that we knew enveloped us. As we stopped for lunch, the clouds broke in a matter of seconds, revealing the peak we still had to climb.  We all laughed out loud at the thought that this amazing beauty that had been hidden from us all morning.

 

Our good friends, Jim and Nula, British doctors practicing at Church of Scotland Hospital until next July.

Dozens of baboons played and hunted for worms in the valley below. We had heard strange cries while hiking in the fog, not knowing that baboons were just a few hundred meters away.

Spring has finally arrived in South Africa. Our 6th hike in the Drakensberg Mountains finally offered us green valleys and pink, yellow, blue, red, purple and orange flowers.

Chuck's Community Garden

 

 

 

 

 

As most of you know, I love to garden. Fortunately, the organization for which I work has a large community garden that has been used over the years to grow vegetables to feed the orphans and vulnerable children around Tugela Ferry. Last year, however, the land laid vacant due to a lack of interest and leadership. I hate to see land lay idle especially if it has the potential of growing things.

The garden that you see in the pictures is what I play around with after work and use as a project for young high school students. You can see that on certain days, I have lots of help. It is fun getting teenagers involved since there is little or no after school activities in the schools of Tugela. Michelle and I also got the students to participate in a tour of Philanjalo Care Centre where HIV/AIDS patients are cared for. Even though everyone in the region is close to people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, since the rate of incidence is anywhere from 32% to 42%, the students were very hesitant to be among AIDS patients. After some great conversation about HIV/AIDS in English and Zulu, the students loved the tour and all the information which was shared. We even had condom demonstrations (on a wooden carved penis) handed out both male and female condoms. This sounds a little direct but here in South Africa, you have to be up front with HIV/AIDS education since teenagers are always high risk.

In addition to resurrecting our community garden, I was also fortunate to attend a 3 day workshop on Permagardening which is a fancy term for planting a garden that is sustainable and permanent

A world re-known Permagarden specialist from Tanzania taught the workshop and covered everything from composting, fertilization, natural insecticides, planting, irrigation, and plant rotation. Now I can grow anything, anywhere on drops of water. This is good since the soil around Tugela Ferry is all rock and it hasn't rained here for 5 months and people cannot afford fertilizer or insecticides.

Gardens are really important in South Africa since most of the population in our region tries to live off the land which means that they grow what they can. Vegetables are extremely important since they provide nutrients and vitamins important for sustaining a level of health when people have AIDS and are on anti-retroviral medication. There is a saying in South Africa....'' Feeding the world one family at a time; Saving the world one garden at a time

I also have lots of fun with the farmers in the fields and community gardens around Tugela ..who, by the way, are all women since the men spend the day in the shabeens (bars). It is rare to see a man in a field or garden, let alone, a white guy with a baseball hat! When the garden really starts to produce, I plan on sitting in the village center markets with all the women selling my tomatoes, potatoes, spinach, beetroot, onions, and maize. Thanks to my parents and brother, Irv, I also have sweet corn which will really be a hit since most South Africans eat boiled maize which is dry, tasteless field corn.

The last thing that I'll say about gardening in South Africa is that you need fencing or an AK-47 to handle the goats. Since there are 40,000-50,000 goats in our region and there is no green grass for them to eat, a garden is a prize which they will jump tall buildings and crawl through a crack to get at. I am really getting good now at hitting a goat with a rock from 50 meters! There are plenty of AK-47's too in town but it is against Peace Corps policy to own a gun. Seriously, goats are everywhere and will try anything to eat your cabbage or corn. If anyone ever visits us, you will see what I mean.

So, when Michelle and I return to the US, if you want to grow vegetables to feed a family of five and you have slab of rock or patch of weeds in your backyard, I would be happy to show you how to grow the best vegetables you have ever seen or tasted. The farmers of the Farmer's Market in Madison will be envious!!

New Abode

Two months is a long time between posts! I apologize to those who check it regularly, hoping to find some new tidbit of information about life in South Africa. Chuck and I have settled comfortably in Tugela Ferry, and now have a decent balance of work and play. More on our projects in next post. (to be updated soon!)

The most recent news in our lives is that we have moved into a new house on my organization's compound. Our Country Director and a researcher were the most recent occupiers of the "red brick house" of which some of you have heard me profess a deep longing. Due to many recent changes in my organization the house has become available, and the most logical people to move in were the Peace Corps Volunteers! 

We now live far off to the side of my org., close enough to the river to hear the rushing water (cinder house blocks the view). We also have huge shade trees which brilliantly keep our home quite cool, even on 104 F Days (and summer hasn't even started).  Unfortunately, enormous tree roaches also find shelter in our cool home, bringing back bad memories of living in Texas, and of course, many many many more mosquitoes. It's really too bad for Chuck that he has a large landing pad on his head for night time mosquito feeding. However, the positives far outweigh the negatives! Our internet is superior here, which means Chuck and I will begin updating this blog with more consistency. We also have a veranda, perfect for a cool drink after a long day! (more importantly)

Behind our house sits a Dept of Health office. The staff spend their days out in the community, no need to hide the panties on the line. Our former park home basically sat right next to half of my org's offices. Chuck routinely hung my panties on the fence (I always thanked him for doing our laundry :), which ended up all over the lawn. Not cool for PC Volunteer - HR Manager to display pink panties. As a perk, our new neighbors begin each day with prayer and song which fills our home as we get ready for work. It's a thoughtful, daily reminder to quietly give thanks for all the blessings in our lives.

We have abundant space in front and behind our house for gardening. I'm planning a small herb garden just off the kitchen door. Chuck, of course, is planning everything from ground cover to trees. Thankfully, my org will reimburse us, up to a point, since they have come to realize Chuck means business. He's also been asked to work with the org's gardeners to landscape the whole compound, complete with brick walls and shade trees and walk ways. I'm not sure if they'll be much time leftover hiking the Tugela Ferry mountains! 

Next post will shed some light on how we actually fill our days working to help our organizations improve their work in the community.

New Abode

Front door and Veranda. Chuck bought the wicker furniture from a Nigerian woman selling her handmade items door to door.

View from front door. Across the gulley are some of Tugela Ferry's community gardens. Chuck has been working hard with his organization to revitalize theirs. Chuck is the only man who works on the community gardens!

Holiday in the Drakensberg Mountains

After hiking, hitchhiking and and walking on the main Sani Pass road we finally made it to the top.  The Sani Pass road is a spectacular road that is known as the gateway to the roof of Africa. Once, the Sani Pass was a rough mule trail descending the Eastern Highlands of old Basutoland into Natal. Tough drovers brought wool and mohair down the Pass on donkeys and mules to be exchanged for blankets … clothing … maize meal … the essentials for life in a remote, impoverished country. The road is still very rough and visitors must have a 4X4 to maneuver the winding and steep pass. We started our trek by taking a quick taxi to the beginning of the road. Walked with our packs for about an hour, until a sympathetic Dept of Transportation employee picked us up and carried us to the South African border. After showing our passports, we once again ascended on foot for about 2 1/2 hours. My pack was not feeling right, and being passed by one 4x4 guide vehecle after another, I was really in low spirits. We finally caught a lift with another road worker. The last stretch up the pass was absolutely spectacular. We were rewarded with naturally cold beer at the top.

Day One of our hiking expedition. We missed the sleeping caves we booked through the Ranger's Office and ended up climbing a very steep mountain to the top of the escarpment. After walking an additional hour we finally found a stream for our campsite. Our only neighbor was a Lesoto shepherd. After exhanging hand signals to ask if he didn't mind us spending the night by "his" river, we finally set up camp in freezing temperatures. Our shepherd called over the mountain and another shepherd majically appeared at our side. As the "English speaker" of the team we managed enough conversation to share a bit of our dinner and show them the inside of our tent. They were shocked we were going to both sleep in such a flimsy home. (I'm assuming his charades indicated high wind and possible rain)

Our neighbor the shepherd, watching over his flock as we departed early the next morning.

Next on our adventure was hiking to the highest point south of Kilamanjaro. We hired a guide, who in turn hired a guide, to show us the way. Typically, hikers complete this 30K in 2 to 3 days. Since we planned on one day, hiring a guide offered a bit of reasurrance to the woman of the team. It's almost as if Chuck is possessed when he hikes. I don't think there's a faster hiker around. The guides were begging for breaks on the way home. "Sipho, we must stop for some water and a cigarette."

Success! And it was only 11am. No rest for the weary.

We noticed this shepherd in the far distance. I actually had to use the zoom on my camera to make sure it was a person. What seemed like moments later, he was on the top, standing 20 feet away. We took multiple photos of him after our guide said he really liked looking at himself in the digital camera. 

New Friends

David, Alia, Zaheer and the Possins at Hluhluwe Game Reserve.  We have been so fortunate to spend the summer with these amazing people. All are from Yale University in some capacity. David's an undergrad, Alia will begin her 3rd year as a resident and Zaheer will start his first year as a resident. We spent amazing weekends at Hluhluwe Game Reserve (photos below), hiking in the Drankensberg Mountains, watching the final World Cup Game at a Fan Park, and making lots of fun dinners at each other's homes. When you meet a special group, and you know you've met new life long friends, it's difficult to explain, but easy to feel.

On the beach in St. Lucia.

Alia and I maintained our modesty. Shame

Some of Michelle's colleagues. Ralph and Sheela are from CT and have been working in TF for a couple of years. Betsy is from WA and until just recently was the Administrative Mgr. Eugene makes up our South African team. He is the Financial Mgr, but also in charge of Operations and Human Resources.  I could not ask for a better team.

Meaningful Work

Michelle's Post

This week I complained to some of my friends about having a hard week, being burnt out, being homesick, etc....I knew I needed an attitude adjustment, but I just didn't know how to get there. All I knew was that something had to change, or else I would not last much longer. 

My main complaint was that I've been working long hours in an office setting, helping to write long term strategic HR goals, as well as doing the tasks needed to reach those goals. I rarely leave the organization compound, except for a few morning runs. I've committed to Philanjalo to work full time this summer and postpone my community projects due to the hiring demands of the research group, as well as urgent retention issues necessitating an equitable compensation plan. What I hadn't realized was that by spending all my time in the office I would be neglecting two major reasons for joining the Peace Corps – Cultural Integration and Personal Growth. I've been focusing all my time and attention on just one reason – Conduct Meaningful Work. Woes me. 

Staying focused on the big picture while being a Peace Corps Volunteer is a difficult task. We're required to constantly reexamine our desire to be here. Sometimes it's hard to remember why we're sacrificing two years of our lives, why we left our family and friends and comforts of home to live in a foreign land, removed from everything familiar. 

This morning, I remembered - The Opportunity to do Meaningful Work. It's the number one reason why I'm here. When making the decision to apply, I knew that by being an older adult I would have more skills to share, more emotional maturity to understand differences.  Yes, I work long hours, and yes, I'm often stuck behind a computer for most of my day. But, I'm the only person in my organization who has practical experience in Human Resources. I am being offered the opportunity to actually make a difference in people's lives. 

Today, I realized it isn't about me. It's about the HIV/AIDS & TB infected patients I walk by every single day as I head into my office. They need compassionate and experienced staff taking care of them. It's about the unique and world class research being done at Philanjalo. The work requires smart, dedicated, and experienced staff. It's about the patient at home, waiting for the Home Based Care Professional Nurse to bring medication to alleviate their pain. It isn't about me.   The other stuff, Cultural Integration, Personal Growth and last, but not least, Travel, will all come in time.

In the meantime, I am one of the luckiest people I know. I get to do meaningful work in Africa.

Saturday in Tugela Ferry

Bafana Bafana!



Stubiso, Chuck's co-worker, wears his South African pride well.

Downtown Durban readies itself for World Cup 2010.
 A local business tried to recreate this look in Tugela Ferry. Half of the flags were stolen within 48 hours. Too sad.

Saturday in Tugela Ferry.
Winter is finally upon us. For those of you who are very sick of 12 foot winter snowfalls, this is your type of winter!  Mornings and late nights are indeed cold, 28-35 degrees F. And, when you live in a tin box, as we do in our nicely equipped Park Home, you feel each morning's frost.  Especially those fingers that manage to stick out from under my pillow. I'm going to start sleeping with wool socks, a beanie cat and cotton gloves. That should go nicely with my long underwear.  I don't complain though, because our hot showers are truly a gift from God. The days warm up, becoming perfect 60 degree days infused with sunshine.
This morning, however, our perfect shower was dry. City water was off and our secondary source, the Hospice, isn't able to fill the shoes of our beloved Jojo (water tank) It was a reminder that we are in Africa, after all, and water is a premium resource.
Chuck ate a huge breakfast in preparation for his weekly 8 hour hike in the mountains. He plans all week for his Saturday adventures. There are thousands of paths, some human, some goat, some cow, that lead up and all around the mountains. It's easy to get lost, especially when you find yourself on a cow path that has mysteriously dead ended at a rock wall. I walked with him for several KMs before he disappeared up the mountain.

As we made our way through town it seemed as if everyone was in a happy mood. People left and right were shouting "Sipho! Spiwe!" or greeting us with the general "Sanibonani" greeting.  People were smiling and practically skipping down the road! Why were they so joyful today?

Our theory is that South Africans everywhere are all a twitter as World Cup is in its final countdown. In 6 days Bafana Bafana (SAs team) will play. Everyone wears their Bafana Bafana shirts for Futbol Friday, women wear capes with Bafana's colors. Flags are flown from every car. There have been many stories recently about how Fifa is over regulating commerce around all the stadiums, and that the local street vendor will actually lose money during the games. I read about that along with everyone else, but do not feel the impact here in Tugela Ferry. We are far from the nearest stadium in Durban. World Cup, to TF residents, is a huge source of national pride. Some are bitter about the billions being spent on stadiums and airport constructions, but mostly the local futbol fan doesn't concern himself/herself with deep critique. This is just the most exciting thing that has happened to South African since the end of Apartheid! The bigger cities in our area are putting up huge screens in the local stadiums or fields for World Cup Viewing. We're going to try watching a game in Pietersmaritzburg with the rest of our neighbors too poor to purchase a ticket and spend thousands of Rands on a hotel room.
Or maybe our Tugela Ferry neighbors were just really happy to see Sipho and Sphiwe!

 

Chuck's Organization went to Durban for a night of 'Team Appreciation'. 17 people in a van outfitted for 15, lots of beer and watering breaks, eardrum splitting music and no hotel reservations made for a very interesting experience. Our patience just about ran out on several occasions, but we survived partly because our PCV friends were staying at a Backpackers in the hills (which had one room available)

This photo is one of 10 taken in front of the Toll into the city. Very exciting to have your photo taken in front of the toll! I had no idea!

 

Traditional Zulu dancers practicing their routines before the hordes of tourists take over Durban in 12 days!

What do you pack when spending the day in the big city? Your traditional outfits, of course! 

View of Durban from the hills.

 We spent the night in Durban with Chuck's organization.  Durban is really a fascinating city. We've been there a couple of times and I, particularly love it. It is very diverse, but somewhat segregated, of course. The beach front is like a trashy Atlantic City, but they're trying to revitalize it with new beach front promenades, seaside amusement parks and restaurants, etc... They're also planting thousands of trees and flowers, building parking lots and general upkeep in preparation for World Cup. The white area of the city is up in the hills with gorgeous views of the Indian Ocean. Our Backpackers are in this area, and the two we've stayed at are quite pretty with meandering gardens and natural swimming pools. This area is filled with outside cafes, weekend farmer's markets, botanical gardens.
The black and Indian areas are closer to the port and beaches. These areas are very dynamic with thousands of people shopping and conducting their trades.  Durban is the hub of the Indian population in S. Africa, and appears to have the most religious diversity from other areas we've visited. We love walking around here and people watching all the Christian preachers, the traditional woman coming in for shopping, mixing with big city young girls in high fashion.
Just a few blocks away is the glorious beach.  Miles of wide sandy beaches and warm, clear ocean, but with high waves, not ideal for swimming, but great for surfing.
And ALL of this is in stark contrast with our rural village. No goats and cows and chickens milling about with the vegetable sellers lined up on the road!
Durban is just less than 3 hours from Tugela Ferry, many of the MDs and nurses who work at the hospital and clinics in TF also have homes and families there. It's very handy for us to have Durban so close, but we are happier here in Tugela Ferry. Chuck has become very well acquainted with all the trails in the mountains. He runs for hours and hours up in the mountains.
And, I love my organization and work. We're in the right place for us.

More photos of Daily Life in Zululand

Braiding hair can take all day.

Babies are harnessed on their mama's backs with a towel and a knot. Married women traditionally wear a shawl, knotted at their neck and cover their heads. This is not mandatory, but shows society they are spoken for. 

The girls always appear more stoic, are they trying to appear more mature, or are they indeed wiser with the burden they carry at a young age? 

Not sure what the white paste is on the boy on the right, he obviously didn't mind being photographed with it covering his face. 

Photos for Daily Life in Zululand

Crossing the Tugela River is harrowing without carrying something on your head.  This narrow bridge with ceaseless, gusty winds requires that you keep your elbows close to your body and have good balance. It takes a bit of nerve.  We have to cross the river regularly since all the municipal offices, the library, and a huge secondary school are on the other side.  Plus, Sipho's favorite morning run is a trail leading straight up the mountain on the other side.

Zulu family compound on Msinga Top. The nearest road from this compound is miles away on either side of the mountain.

Playing hide and seek with our rural photographer, Sipho.

Wash day by the river. Most of the washing is done close to community water taps which are sprinkled throughout the mountain side. One day there will be taps in each home, as they continue to build new water towers and pipes, but it's a long way away.

Daily Life in Zululand

After nearly four months in South Africa, Michelle and I are now understanding what a day in the life of most South Africans or Zulus is like. We see people's daily life in and around Tugela Ferry and in the mountains on our weekend hikes. First off, African life is at a much, much slower pace than American life. If you are a professional, which most people are not, meetings are always on "African time", which means that meetings can start an hour to 2 1/2 hours late. Believe us, we have both been invited to meetings that have started more than 2 hours late!  There are some organizations who have a lot of professionals, like Michelle's NGO, that do operate much like an American company and start on time but that is rare.

Since more than 76% of the people in our region are unemployed, there really isn't much of a rush to do anything. Also, more than 97% of the population is rural which means that the average day starts when the sun comes up since more than 92% of the homes do not have electricity. It is Fall here in South Africa so the days are getting shorter with sunrise at 7:00am and sunset at 5:00pm. This means that most families are getting up in the dark using candles and paraffin oil lamps to get dressed and bathed. If kids go to school, schools often start at 7:00am or 7:30am  so kids have to get up early, especially since most  walk long distances to the nearest school.  What amazes both of us is how families, especially the children, who are living in homes made mostly of mud, without running water or electricity, can still be so clean. I see school kids coming out of mud homes with clean, pressed school uniforms looking like they have just stepped out of any of our modern American home. Most Africans take great pride in looking clean and wearing "pressed" clothes and polished shoes.

When we have hiked in the mountains, clothes, however, are not so clean since water sources are as far as 5 kilometers away and water is a premium, especially for clothes washing. School kids here usually walk long distances to school first on rocky mountain path and then on dirt roads. We have seen kids walk as far as 10 kilometers or 6-7 miles.  Many of the schools do not have water which means that students have to begin the school day by "fetching" water for the school. Michelle visited a school last week where students early in the morning walked to a farmers yard to fetch the water for the school that day. By 1:00 that day, all the water in the barrel for drinking or cleaning was gone. There are no "Nalgene" bottles in this part of Africa! Imagine asking our kids to walk  6-7 miles to school each day and then asking them to walk across a field to fetch the water for the school. Oh by the way, girls or women never carry water by hand, since everything is carried on the head by a woman or girl. I have seen women carry remarkable loads of groceries, wood, water on their heads, including "purses". This "carrying things on the head"  is an African skill learned very early by all women!

If you are a woman in Africa, you do all the work! This means all child rearing, fetching the water, washing the clothes, going into the mountains to chop wood for cooking, walking miles and miles to the closest village to buy essentials, cooking the food, growing the food in the garden, fetching water for watering whatever is planted in the garden, and going to market to sell whatever you grow or make. All of this work, of course, is done with a baby or toddler strapped with a towel to her back. Women, here, often have 5-10 children. Men, unfortunately, in South Africa, are comfortable with women doing all the work around the house, or should I say, "hut". This is not true of all men but it is the majority. More than 75% of men are unemployed so this means men are usually sitting under trees or going to the closest "shabeen", to drink all day on the government pensions. It is very common to see men sitting under trees talking, drinking, and hanging out while women are chopping wood in the dense mountains or hoeing the family garden.

In Tugela Ferry, hundreds of women each day line the streets selling vegetables from community gardens or their own private garden. This means that they wake up extremely early, make Pap (corn meal) for the family breakfast, fetch the daily water, and then walk or find a ride to town with all of their vegetables. The women sit out in the hot sun all day, often painted with a chalky substance to protect their faces from the sun, and try to sell whatever they can. Needless to say, we buy a lot of local, fresh vegetables each day to support these women. Most families, however, cannot grow any extra vegetables and use all that they grow to survive. This is called "subsistence" farming or living which means that families try to grow or raise everything that they need to live on. Most families try to have gardens if there is water, and all raise goats, chickens, and cows. There are many families that rarely go to town and may go to a village like Tugela Ferry once a month. I know of several families or clusters of Zulu homes that are miles from the nearest road and then walk 7-8 miles on the road to the village one way! A trip to town is a full day of travel, usually by foot. No malls or super box stores here! By the way, I haven't seen a "drive-thru" or Starbucks either.

Weekends are filled with chores, church, funerals and hanging out. Zulus are quite religious so a lot of families go to church. Church services here are all in Zulu and last anywhere from 2-5 hours. It is not uncommon for families to bring a bite to eat since the services go for 5 hours. There are also lot of funerals on Sunday due to all the people dying of AIDS and Tuberculosis. Since the infection rate here in KwaZulu-Natal and Tugela Ferry is 36% and the average life expectancy is 43, people do not live long. Kids do not have much to do on weekends except to play whatever games they can with sticks and cans and balls if the family can afford one. All boys like soccer but very few families can afford a soccer ball. Since the terrain is very mountainous around us, there aren't a lot of level play areas for sports like soccer or netball. Netball is a game like basketball which a lot of girls play here. There are baskets at both ends of a court, usually in a field, and the ball is passed around without dribbling. It is fast pace and girls love the game. Many of the boys make small cars out of wire, with a long handle to control the steering. They race them up and down roads or on made up tracks.

On a typical weekend, the women and girls fetch lots of water for doing the laundry. Since over 50% of the water still comes from rivers or streams, laundry is often done on the riverside which means that the laundry has to be carried to the river. The rivers here are not clean since there is a lot of erosion, run off from cow and goat manure, and also human waste. Over 50%of the homes still do not have pit toilets. Since only 2% of the homes have water, that means that there are a lot of homes with pit toilets or no toilets. You can figure out for yourself where people go to the bathroom when there isn't a pit toilet!
The average day of an African or Zulu is simple but this is what people have been doing for centuries!  Due to all the poverty, this is all that people can also afford to do!  We continue to be amazed how people accept this standard of living and still remain happy, especially the children! You will see photos of children that will steal your heart away!
Well, enough for now. Very soon, we will share you the live in the day of Sphiwe (Michelle) and Sipho (Chuck). Believe it or not, we are both quite busy!

Sala Kahle, which in Zulu, is "Stay Well", Miss you all, Chuck and Michelle

Izindaba zase Zululand (Stories from Zululand)

Msinga Top, overlooking the Tugela River Valley.

We arrived in South Africa in January and completed our Peace Corps training in a small village, called Bundu in the province of Mpumulanga. We stayed with a Zulu host family in a small tin roofed house. It was quite an experience since we had to fetch our water daily, do bucket baths, wash our clothes in a bucket, and yes at night, pee in a bucket since one never knows what creatures lurk on the way to the pit toilet! During training, we spent 4 hours a day learning Zulu which isn't the easiest language on Earth to learn. But after much tribulation, both Michelle and I passed our language proficiency test and are now speaking Zulu like a Zulu!! ( haha)

In March, we were permanently placed in the village of Tugela Ferry in the province of KwaZulu-Natal for the next two years. It is an intriguing place since it is the second poorest region of all of South Africa, is the epicenter for HIV/AIDS and resistant strains of TB, and in one of the most remote, rural areas of all of South Africa. To give you a picture of the poverty, it is a region of over 200,000 square miles with 180,000 people scattered in mountainous terrain. Only 2 % of the homes have water, 11% have electricity, and people walk 5 miles on the average to the nearest source of healthcare. The incidence of HIV/AIDS is 36% and the average life expectancy is 43 years. Tugela Ferry is also famous for its high incidence of drug resistant TB which is an opportunistic disease of AIDS. Believe it or not, there are researchers from all over the world in this very small rural village. You can google Tugela Ferry and www.tfcares.org for some of the story on this.

We are now living in a house trailer (called Park Homes in South Africa) owned by the non-profit organization (NGO) that Michelle works for. We are in a park home since all of the homes around us do not meet Peace Corps standards. Since Peace Corps allows volunteers to live in homes without water or electricity, you can imagine what the homes are like. Most are Zulu mud huts called rounduvals with thatched roofs that leak. Our housing is temporary until either of our organizations find something that can accommodate two people with some security.

Tugela Ferry is like a "wild west" town since all of the mountain Zulus travel to it for trading and shopping. As you stroll the one Main Street, you will see lots of vendors, markets, drunken men, traditionally dressed women, cows, goats, turkeys, and more. It is like walking through a place of chaos which makes sense to everyone. We both love the chaos and the energy of the place!

As far as geography, Tugela Ferry is in a basin surrounded by mountains. It is gorgeous although very arid and hot. The temps when we first arrived were in the 100's and now have moderated to the 80's and 90's. This part of Africa is opposite in seasons with the US and we are now moving into Fall. They say that it gets cold here in June and July but I will believe it when I feel it. 

Each morning, I try to run a different trail out of the village and have found some amazing sights and remote villages, especially on my longer weekend runs. Most people live off trails and not roads due to the remoteness of the region and Zulu people's desire to live with nature.

My volunteer work is with a small NGO which runs a center for orphans and vulnerable children and works with volunteers in delivering community home-based care, especially to HIV/AIDS patients. Volunteers visit over 560 homes with over 50% of the patients infected with HIV/AIDS. Another 30% have TB which is probably terminal as well. My NGO also cares for and feeds orphans since parents die of HIV/AIDS. There are over 500 orphans around Tugela Ferry and a lot of chid-headed households. I have seen some pathetic households where there is only children who are starving and poorly clothed. We have adopted one family living near the top of a mountain that literally has nothing and is miles from the nearest road. I found them one weekend on a climb up a mountain and was shocked that people lived so far away from water, electricity, and source of support. Michelle works with another NGO which provides hospice care to dying HIV/AIDS/TB patients and also does home-based care. Her organization also supports amazing research in TB (philanjalo.org and tfcares.org). She is assisting in strengthening their Human Resources and Administration structure as the organization has seen tremendous growth in the last few years. She loves her work, but often spends long days in front of the computer.

Africa is a vast place where terrain changes in hours or every 100 kilometers. We have not been to any of the big preserves but have seen a lot of monkeys, baboons, hippos, giraffes, gazelles, wildebeast, and crocodiles. On my runs and hikes, I have also unfortunately run into some nasty spiders and African ticks. These African spiders and ticks really seem more vicious than those in America.

While there are modern cities in South Africa just like those in the US (Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town, there is severe, severe poverty as you travel into the country. This disparity is really hard on the mind since one sees all the wealth in the cities and the poverty just miles away. 

We've learned a lot about Apartheid which is another long story or email.

All in all, the Peace Corps has been an adventure and a real learning experience. We both hope to leave with a feeling that we have made a difference in the lives of those people whom we have helped. 

That's Skubusko, a colleague of Chuck's, walking in downtown Tugela Ferry.

Our new favorite hiking companions. We've encountered them on three hikes so far. When they see us coming, they run for their homes to grab shoes, jackets, whatever they need to accompany us.

Many of the women wear a mixture of mud and lotion on the faces to protect their skin from the harsh sun. 

Chuck spends every Thursday at a Municipal event. They typically have many traditional dances featuring the costumes of the local area.

The cows and goats and chickens and donkeys have full rights on main street, more than pedestrians. 

Traditional Zulu family compound.

View of Church of Scotland Hospital, our home is just to the right, outside the frame.

Home for now!

Our dear friend and fellow Peace Corps Volunteer, Alena and her host sister, Zindla.