Days 4 and 5 - settling in

The past couple of days have been interesting and exhausting in equal measure. On Thursday morning Charles was called by one of the local men to assist in the preparations for a funeral. Over the course of the next two days he assisted in digging the grave, collecting the funeral tent, burying the body, slaughtering a cow and sheep and then eating his share of the poor animals. I was also called on to assist in the preparations for the funeral, and I joined the women in collecting water, washing dishes, cooking the above mentioned sheep and cow, and serving the men. The roles of the men and women are very distinctive and clearly defined. There were several occasions over the past couple of days when I thought I’d drawn the short straw with regards gender roles (eg. when I was making my third trip up a steep embankment with 15 litres of water on my head! Or when I was sitting outside with the women on the open ground in the cold and rain during the funeral while Charles sat with the other men on a chair in a warm marquee), until I saw what the men were expected to eat! No doubt Charles will provide a detailed description of the 5 course meal which he consumed, but let me just say here that some of the courses eg. raw sheep stomach, might well have featured on Fear Factor or Survivor. As a woman, I was responsible for serving the men, and thankfully was under no pressure to actually eat what I’d helped to prepare.



Our little cottage is really coming along nicely. We now have one gas bottle which we use alternately to fuel the gas stove and to keep the gas fridge running. We will be doing our first shopping trip to Mthatha tomorrow (6 hour return drive) and will buy another gas bottle then, along with a months supply of food. We’re also going to pick up the girls in Mthatha. They’ve spent the past week with my mom, traveling up slowly from CT. Neither of them has seen the cottage since it’s been fixed up and I’m looking forward to showing it to them. It’s basically a 3-room cottage (about 42sqm in total), with mud dung floors, mud and cement brick walls and a corrugated tin roof - with spectacular views in all directions. Bath time involves warming 20 litres of water on the gas stove, pouring it into a bucket and washing and rinsing as well as possible without wetting the dung floor. As for other ablutions, you have the choice of using a bucket, the nearest bush or walking 300m down to the backpackers lodge. No flushing loos within at least 100km of here!



Caleb has taken all of this in his stride. He has settled in beautifully, and runs around filthy and half naked most of the time, with a huge grin on his face. His first spontaneous Xhosa word was “Puma” (sp?) said with great zest to his teddy bear, while throwing it off the bed. Puma (pronounced poo-ma) is the Xhosa equivalent of “voetsak”, usually yelled by the locals at a dog to get them out of a hut or away from food. Caleb’s use of the word had us all in hysterics.



I really need to spend some time working on my Xhosa! Very few of the locals speak any English and even with those who do, conversations can be quite challenging. For example, the local fisherman wandered past our cottage the other day and stopped by for a “chat” (as everyone does – it’s lovely). I was trying to make conversation with him so I asked whether the local school (No-ofisi) was closed that day – because I’d noticed that our neighbour’s kids were not at school. He had me confused initially when he said “Sunday, good fish – lots of cob, mussel cracker”. And then I understood when he added “but today No Fish” (sounding very similar to No-Ofisi). I could only nod in agreement and try my best to hide my amusement! Surreal conversations like this happen all the time.



We’ve been so busy that we’ve had little time to really appreciate the beautiful surroundings and so this afternoon Charles, Caleb and I went for a walk to collect drift wood (which we hang from the rafters, to create places to hang crockery and clothes). It was so beautiful to walk through the fields and forest and onto the spectacular beach. We swam and collected the most awesome shells. Everywhere you look, there are beautiful, perfect shells strewn on the beach. We’ve started to collect them to use in making our little verandah – we’re planning on setting shells and stones into wet plaster. It was fabulous to look beyond the challenges of daily living, and appreciate the beauty of this spectacular place.



I’ve also really enjoyed spending time with some of the local kids. Yesterday I gathered some of the kids that have been hanging around our house and we went down to the beach to collect shells to make a mobile. We drilled holes in each one (using a hand drill lent to us by a neighbour from CT) and tied them together with fishing line. We then hung each thread of shells from a piece of driftwood. The kids really seemed to enjoy the activity, and the end result has pride of place on the wall in our cottage.



On a more somber note, some of the kids really need medical attention – they have badly infected sores all over their heads and backs and in their ears. I know we can’t do everything, but I’m really hoping we’ll be able to organise a mobile clinic of some sort quite soon. There are a few kids who come to our place daily, some of whom have been orphaned, and it is really difficult to not get too involved too quickly in their individual situations. There is loads that can be done here, but it needs to happen slowly and with the right kinds of consultation with the local elders and traditional leaders. Speaking of which, I met with the local committee that’s been elected (by the community) to assist with the establishment of the Early Learning Centre. I am really excited about this project and the potential it has to address so many of the local challenges – including education and health issues. We will start making the (mud) bricks to build the centre within the next couple of weeks and hope to have at least 2 classrooms up and running by May/June. In the meantime, we’re looking for a hut to rent in the village to start with one group of about 12 kids. Starting off small will be a great opportunity to identify challenges that we’re likely to face.



Anyway, time for bed now. We’ve got another long day ahead of us tomorrow, starting just after 4am with the increasingly unpopular cockerel, who is inevitably joined at about 4h30 by the donkeys, to create an early morning symphony which is difficult to sleep through!