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!