Home visits

Today I walked outside for 5 hours in 34 degree [93-degrees F] weather in the township of Slangspruit, outside Msunduzi. It was hot, it was humid, it was hilly, and occasionally a cow, goat, pig, or chicken would kick up some dust to stick to my balmy skin. A lack of adequate sleep and a mild case of dehydration made this a hard 5 hours, but it didn't mean I liked this experience any less.
This was my first round of home visits... we visited 14 caregiver households in the township and walked uphill, downhill, through mud, through dirt, through bushes to get to them. I went with one of the Thandanani development facilitators, Jilleth. By the end of the day, I was beyond impressed that this older woman wearing a skirt and sandals did this three times a week.
Facilitators and volunteers that live in that same community will conduct regular home visits to where orphans live and asses their need at that time: food, clothes, emotional/mental support. Basically they are seeing what the need is of the OVCs [Orphans and Vulnerable Children-- remember this, because I will be using this abbreviation a lot]. It was overwhelming to have Jilleth point out all the households that had orphans in them: "See that house over there? She had one child, but her brother and sister-in-law both died and now she is taking care of 7 children." The house is about the size of my common room at Harvard. We keep walking and she points to another house. "In this house the sister took in 4 orphans after her brother died last month. Last week, she had a stroke." These stories are not uncommon-- when a family member, a friend, or a neighbor dies, you take in their children, no matter your material means of survival. When those in the community hear about this, sometimes they know to contact Thandanani, where we can provide support until they can sustain on their own. Not only might we be delivering blankets or teaching them how to grow a garden, but also helping them fill out paperwork [birth certificates, medical records, etc.] to prevent further complications down the line. Monitoring the well-being of OVCs and their caregivers in households is just one of the many great things Thandanani does, and it is why I am so happy to be working with them.
As we walked through the township, you could see the differences in housing, almost like a spectrum. Towards the lower end of the spectrum are the houses made of sticks and mud: a structure is made from long, skinny pieces of wood and branches, and then packed in with mud, sometimes mud with broken pieces of brick/concrete, rock. The roof is made of sheet metal. Other houses on this end are made entirely of sheet metal, and in all these cases the toilet is outside like an outhouse. Moving towards the middle of the spectrum is government housing: small bricks rooms with sheet metal roofs. The brick is sturdy, but the entire house is one small room. The plumbing is so bad and the sewage tank so small that they are still forced to build a toilet outside. People put their names on these lists and wait for months or even year to get these small houses. Once you start earning a bit more money, you add on to these houses to make it bigger and more accommodating, building spare rooms with mud, sheet metal, or even more brick if you have the resources to do so. And then there are the nicer houses on the outskirts, with painted walls and separate kitchens and bedrooms. I saw one house that was large with a dry swimming pool... it was incredibly rundown but was very big and well-built nonetheless. I asked someone about the house and she said, "Oh. A white man used to live here and he had that house built. Then he left and the house is still here so a few families live inside."
Unfortunately other than what I just told you, I have no idea what actually happened during those 5 hours visiting houses and watching Jilleth talk to people-- everything was in Zulu. I have no idea what people talked about, but I do know that a guy passing on the street offered to pay "labola" for me! Haha. Basically he said he would pay my family 11 cows for my hand in marriage. I'm honored.