Eeste River..... Day Nine

Today was another awesome day. It began at Auntie Goliath’s house. In South Africa the term Auntie and Uncle is used as a sign of respect for men and women. She prepared rooibos tea, guava juice, cake, and cookie. She and her husband invited members of the local police force

to talk to us too. 

Me and Auntie Goliath

The health center sees about 500 people daily. The dental section performs 40-50 extractions daily.

Auntie in her garden

Outside the health center and the community center, a skate park exists. It appears the community members have recognized if children don’t have something positive to do, they will turn to drugs, alcohol, and sex.

Dr. Tim Visser, Eeste River hospital CEO, spoke with us as well. Dr. Visser seems to support and challenge the employees to think outside the norm. Dr. Visser stated he believes obstacles should be seen first as an opportunity. Then they can be reframed as a possibility. He stated then steps can be taken for the obstacle to be a success.

Dr. Visser as well as the Allied health team gave us a tour of the hospital. The hospital has oil paintings throughout. Dr. Visser stated the oil painting (some with real oil leaf) we placed in the hospital strategically as seed of hope for patients. He stated when people came into the hospital, they receive patient care like they have never experienced. They see things like these painting that they may have never seen. It may subliminally give them hope that they can be more than what they see in their communities daily.

After the tour of the hospital, Dr. Visser and the allied health staff gave us a walking tour through the township of Mufulani. As we walked through the township, people came out to greet us. We were told some of the people stated "the whites are here" in their native language.

After the walking tour, we debriefed at Vergenoegt, a wine estate. Chef Mike gave a very vivid description of the meal. I had the mushroom starter, followed by the game (antelope), finished with the chocolate dream (the actual name escapes me, but it should have been named dream. It was divine.)

Chef Mike Isreal at Vergenoegt Wine Estate



Stephanie, Dr. Visser, Wade, Jac, and Rionell

Me with Dr. Tim Visser

While we were at the police station, we observed a room called the trauma room (no pictures), which is also known as a safe place for victims-specifically sexual abuse victims. The trauma room is operated by volunteers. The officers talked about the community involvement. The officer gave an example. She stated community volunteers walk the streets at night from 9-6 to assure the safety of the children in high crime areas. Community informants help watch for others. I really liked the communal aspect of the people.

 I learned a new phrase call “Ubuntu”, which I am probably not spelling correctly. None the less, it means I am who I am because of my relationship/connections to other people. Simply, U hurt, I hurt. The whole idea of the people in the community taking care of each other is different idea. In my experience, Americans take care of themselves first. If anything is left, we might think about others. It seems like we think of others only when we are all experiencing a tragedy. For example, a few months ago, a tornado hit my apartment complex. I talked and interacted with my neighbors more during that time than I ever had. I was somewhat envious of the South Africans. I can recall a time, not so long ago, when we put others first and cared about our neighbors.

In the afternoon, we went to Eeste River Hospital. The Allied Health team staffed a few cases with us. It was amazing to me the attention they gave each case. The hospital has several community initiatives. Rionell Gabriel and the team discussed several programs offered at the hospital. One program is called Kangaroo Care. Kangaroo Care is used normally with premature babies. The mother or father holds the baby skin to skin. The parent acts as an incubator. 

A Day in Khayelitsha.....Day Eight

When we left Marsh on this day, it was kind of gloomy. However, when I saw this rainbow, I knew it day would get better and the sun would eventually make an appearence.

These are photos of shanty houses in Khayelitsha. As far as we could see, we saw these types of houses. Although I had seen some comparable living conditions with a couple families while working in the MS Delta, I have never seen that many people living in those kind of conditions. We were told over a million people like in Khayelitsha. For comparison, the area the size of Mytle, MS or Mound Bayou, MS with a million people in it. The houses looked like the people took what was available and made housing of it. People are resourceful.

We arrived at Philani, which began as a child nutrition and health program. Philani has evolved in to a dental, health, nutrition and pre school programs for children. Philani also has income making programs for women. The women below were create artwork for table clothes, aprons, wall hangings and pillows and clothing. All artwork is hand painted. It was every inventive. Each artist owns her own design. When the items are sole 75% of the profit goes to the artist. 25% goes to purchase more supplies. The women were every friendly and sang to us while we were there. The gift shop at Philani has other items from recycled items. For example, I saw ornaments and little guitars made from old coke cans.

We were told a woven peice takes about two week on average to complete.

According to our professor, who travels to South Africa yearly, some improvements are occuring in Khayelisha like roads and more formal housing.

Day Seven

Today began very dark. It had rained most of the night.

The first lion I have seen since I have been here.... LOL

We went to Eagle’s Rising. It was amazing. The young adults were awesome. They had an impromptu concert. They allowed me to sing with them. The social worker stated the young adults do not have any formal music training. They just decided to start singing together a short time ago. They practiced shortly before we arrived. AMAZING…. I have always heard music is a universal language. I was able to witness its universality today. Those young adults were simply amazing.

In the picture, they were singing Bishop Paul Morton's Let it Rain....

Day Six

We went to church today. I have never seen a church this diverse.  People from every walk of life were there worshipping God together. It was an astonishing experience. I once heard Sunday mornings is the most segregated time in America. This church called Jubilee was the exact opposite.

After church we went out to Stellenbosh. I saw some more animals… Zebra and a springbok…

On another note, I also saw miles and miles of “shanty shacks” in the townships. As far as I could see all I saw was shacks.

On the way home, I saw this…. Yep, they have them here too… LOL

Later that night, my classmates and I talked about race relations observed in South Africa. We also talked about race relations in Mississippi. Although most of us have been in the program together for about two years, we discussed some things about our personal lives we had never discussed before. Today was a good day.

Commonalities..... Day Five

Today we took another bus tour. We went to the oldest winery in the southern hemisphere. We experienced a wine tasting. Wine is a large export of South Africa. Wine is as important to understanding South African history as Cotton is to understanding the history of Mississippi.

After the wine farm, we had potjiekos with our guides and their families. The word potjiekos means pot vegetables. It was prepared outside. The one we ate had seafood. It was awesome. We also had snokei fish, which is a custom here. After dinner, we all sat around and talked. It was awesome. It was interesting to me to listen as our guides as they talked about their personal and professional lives during and after apartheid. Most of our guides are connected to child welfare. Even though we came half a world away from Mississippi, it was interesting to see our commonalities in the social work profession. For example, one guide spoke about the long work hours. I identified. Another talked about his experiences moving to a “white” neighborhood. When he talked about his experience, it reminded when my family moved to a “white” neighborhood over 20 years ago. Even though his experiences were more recent, they were similar to mine. I really enjoyed this night.

They invited us into their home and their lives and treated us like family.