Nothing on the professional agenda today. We drove out to a very rural area and had a traditional Zulu experience. The Zulu people are the extreme majority in this are of South Africa and a lot of them still live the traditional way.
You can see from the pics that the houses are still traditionally round and they mostly grow their own food and live traditional lives from the food they cook to how they interact with one another. The road to their village was filled with stray goats and cattle grazing on the peoples land. Ironically, we ran into a camera crew filming a movie.
We visited a primary school to see their facilities and how P.E. and sport were implemented. It was pretty disappointing that there wasn't even an area dedicated for activity. The school can't keep equipment from being stolen. We were able to buy some equipment for them before we arrived and they were so thankful. Sometimes I just wish my students were as thankful for what they have. Some of my colleagues handed out candy but I felt that was counterproductive to our mission so I gave out toys, balls, etc. They couldn't get enough of it!
One of our tour guides was born and raised in the village. She couldn't have been more than 20 years old. It was pretty funny that we were in such a remote, rural area and her cell phone rang every 5 minutes. I have no idea how she got service out there but apparently she does. The funny thing is the government was saying how difficult it was to reach the rural schools because of lack of electricty, etc. Well, one of my colleagues was able to get wi-fi service on her phone out there so don't tell me you can't give these people access to education!!
Anyway, we were able to meet with a real live Zulu Healer in her traditional round home. I'm the only male in the delegation and their tradition states that females must sit on the left side of the house and males on the right. I found it pretty funny that there were 15 women sitting on the dirt floor (polished by cow manure) and I was the only person sitting on the right side of the house on a wooden bench! Needless to say, I had to help a few of them get up from the ground.
After we heard the traditions of the village and the role of the village healer, we visited a villagers home where she cooked us a traditional Zulu meal. I have to be honest, it wasn't any different than a soul food dinner I've had many times. Mashed corn, pumpkin squash, collard greens and cabbage. I have to admit, it was really good....but I couldn't bring myself to eat the cabbage, I hate that stuff. In addition, they don't eat with silverware; they use their hands. I was done before anybody (I gave my cabbage away, sorry Dad, no force feeding me this time).
When we were done, the children of the village performed traditional dances for us. The pulled me out there to do it with them and I did but some how it wasn't documented on film....very weird how that happened. Oh well, I guess you can't trust technology.
We leave for Cape Town tomorrow afternoon. The majority of the day is free for us to do what we want. I'm actually going to go back to the stadium where they hosted part of the world cup and do a bungee swing from the rafters of the stadium. I think I'm a bit crazy but hey, you only live once. Apparently it drops you about 10 meters from the ground, I hope it's a bit higher. I'll post a video of it later.
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