A long-expected update

First of all, sorry for the lack of updates so far; Wi-Fi access in South Africa is a bit limited, and it took me two and a half weeks to find a computer with internet access. I’m currently using one of the computers at Inchanga Public Library, and since I don’t have much time, I’ll try and keep this update brief. We reached Durban Airport safely, and immediately went to stay in our training camp at a place called the Valley of a Thousand Hills, whereupon the country greeted us with a week of unseasonable cold and rain. This wouldn’t have been so bad, except that the weather drove the flying termites indoors. These insects generally live underground, but when the environment gets too cold for them they grow wings and make for more salubrious areas, which in this case meant inside the training centre. They then deposit their wings and go off, presumably to make themselves a new burrow. Regardless of where they go, they littered the rooms with their wings and, in some cases, dead bodies.


During the morning we had to secure our bedrooms against plundering by the monkeys that live in the area. I have not found out what species they belong to, but their fur is pale grey to white, and their skin is black. From the front all the monkeys look the same, but from the rear the males are easily identifiable by their dangling blue genitalia. As far as I know none of us lost any personal belongings to them, although one day they did manage to break into the kitchen and steal a quantity of food, including some cake that we were planning to have for dinner.

 

Most of the daytime was spent in training, during which we were told inter alia about the Zulu customs we should observe when interacting with the locals. Among other things, when shaking hands with a person of higher rank we should grasp our forearm with our other hand, and when addressing him we should avoid looking him directly in the eye (“Are you sure you’re not confusing him with the sun?” – D. R.). The local culture sets great store in personal cleanliness, and everybody is expected to bathe at least once a day, as well as ironing their clothes daily. Despite this the people here are extremely casual when discarding litter, and the streets of Inchanga are far dirtier than any I have encountered in England.

My group of volunteers are staying in Inchanga, and our main task is to help out at the primary school here. The organisation of this school leaves something to be desired, and classes are often left unsupervised because staff meetings are scheduled during ordinary lesson time. For the first few days we helped a few teachers mark their pupils’ exercise books, until we were stopped due to complaints by some of the other teachers, who thought it unfair that their colleagues got help with marking whilst they did not. We were meant to start work in earnest this week teaching remedial English classes, although both today and yesterday our classes were cancelled because the teacher in charge of co-ordinating them is away sick.

 

 

Earlier this week somebody was beaten to death at night outside one of the other volunteers’ homes, and last night there was a shootout in another part of town, although our area is generally quite safe and we observe a strict curfew, so I do not think we need to worry much about any harm befalling one of us. The locals are generally very friendly, and often greet us when we go to and from the school. The schoolchildren, too, are very affectionate, greeting us with smiles and even hugs.

That’s all for now, although I will try and write another post again soon. My love goes out to everybody back home.

Watch this space

Tomorrow I'll be heading off on a three-month placement in South Africa. If on the course of it I have anything interesting to say, I'll make sure to post it on this blog, so keep your eyes peeled for updates.