At Home in Snathing

On April 30th, the last Friday before my big trip [aka the Awesome African Camping Adventure] will be one of my best memories of my time in South Africa. Morgan came to Pietermaritzburg, and that day I wanted to show her the kind of work that I did and the community that I primarily did my work in [Snathing]. I decided to take a copy of the Witness newspaper article about the Umhlaba Wami museum opening to Mr. Ngcobo, the principal of Ingqwangele High School [where I did the workshops]. We got a ride to Snathing in the Thandanani truck—Morgan sat squished between Agnes and Nhlanhla, and I sat in the open truck bed.

When we entered Snathing, I instantly felt comfortable in my environment—I knew where we were as I had traveled down those same roads dozens of times before. I recognized the potholes in the dirt roads, the bright clothing hanging on barbed wire, the mud houses spread on rolling green hills. I waved to the children at the crèche as we passed and they chased the car on the side to make sure I saw that they were waving back. And I loved their smiles. I could smell the lush vegetation, the burning fires, the cooking pap. I remembered how these communities were never void of music as radios blasted from small mud huts and women sang as they gathered water. I could almost feel Snathing.

Once we got closer to the school I saw students that I recognized, either from my workshops in Ingqwangele or from the therapeutic camp last December. Teenage boys yelled my name and waved their arms as I passed. As we got closer to the school I watched as school girls danced outside a local shabeen and loads of students hung around various tuck shops [the school had sent half of the students home that day due to some registration chaos].

Once dropped off at Ingqwangele, I felt as if I was back in my zone. I used my Zulu to greet the woman opening the school fence. I chatted with Mr. Ngcobo [who was thrilled with the success of Umhlaba Wami: “I never thought it would be so successful! In the museum, in the newspaper!”]. I showed Morgan around the school and remembered the first time I went by myself. Then the class breaks happened and students came pouring out of their classrooms.

At first I saw Bonginkosi. Then my students from Umhlaba Wami slowly realized I was there and started coming over. Their friends followed, as they were incredibly curious because the random white/coloured girl had brought another random white/coloured girl. I talked to the kids and introduced Morgan, happy to share this experienced with a friend. My favorite moment was when Zimbili came running from the other side of the school to give me a big hug and say thank you. Nothing has ever made me feel so good.

I cannot verbally describe the impact of these moments. Of turning something incredibly foreign into something that makes you the most comfortable. Of taking strangers and making friends. Of feeling that you have made a positive impact in someone’s life. I do not know how to paint a picture of the warm feelings I felt that day, but I can tell you that it was when I realized that this was an experience that I would really miss. I have never felt more fortunate that I was able to do the Umhlaba Wami program.

We took a kombi [mini bus taxi] back into town and as the dirt roads became paved and the cows and goats in the road were replaced with stop lights, I felt a slight tug of my heart—I had a feeling I would not be going back there anytime soon. I do not know if the memories of me will fade from that community as quickly as they emerged, but I know that my experiences there will permanently be etched into my heart.

Umhlaba Wami Gallery Exhibit

Friday was the big bang, the grand ending to the Umhlaba Wami project I started a few months ago... And it was great! You can see some of their work in the slideshow below:

I hired a taxi bus and we went to Ingqwangele High School to pick up the 10 students who had been participating in my twice-a-week workshops for the last two months. It was so cute to see them standing there-- they had all "dressed up" as much as you can when you wear a school uniform. The girls had their nice earrings in and their hair freshly braided, the boys followed with fresh haircuts.You could tell they wore their best uniform. Nomcebo even decided to wear glasses because she thought it would look cute in pictures.... she doesn't wear glasses. And she couldn't even see out of them!

We hopped in the taxi, the kids sang the whole way and cheered once they left the dirt roads of their community to the paved city streets. We arrived at the Natal Museum, one of 7 national museums in South Africa. We followed the arrows on the floor from the door around the giant elephants and the fish tank into a room where the kids just started jumping up and down, screaming... for about five minutes. "Bhuka, bhuka! [Look, look!]" they shouted as they pointed to the photographer profiles on the wall, "Mina!!! [Me!!!]." What they had just walked into was a gallery of their photos, put up for public display. They ran their hands from one wall to another, touching nearly every photo and reading everything that was up there. They saw their "artist statements," their photography enlarged and strung along the wall [clothesline-style... I was trying to bring a bit of the community into the museum], and their quotes and poems on the things we had discussed [life-goals, AIDS, community, culture, personal stories, etc.].

I truly felt selfish. This day was for them-- I spent all week running back and forth to the museum, setting up this exhibit and preparing for their day. I wanted them to enjoy it, to feel special, to know that they were important. But in the end, I fear I had more fun than they did. When they walked into that room and their jaws dropped in shock, the ends of their lips curling up in giant grins, I was the happiest person alive. To see the joy that brought them-- that was the best feeling ever. I was so, so happy... I cannot even describe the depth of that feeling.

Stephen Coan, a senior writer for the Natal Witness [most famous newspaper in the province], came with his photographer to do a write-up on the event and interview some of the kids. [There was actually a press release in two newspapers the day before the market the event.] After the kids had some time to see the exhibit on their own, others started coming in to admire their work. There was a blackboard wall where people could chalk in their comments and accolades. After I took the kids back to Thandanani for a pizza party and when I asked each one what they thought I got answers such as "I'm impressed with our work. With what we did." and "I'm proud of myself." and "The newspaper came-- I am going to be famous!" I am so, so so proud of these kids.

When writing their "artist statement," they had to mention what they had learned in the workshops. I was happy to see that all aspects of what I was trying to teach were represented; of course most of them talked about photography, but there were also answers such as "I learned how to set goals for my life," "I know my role in my community now," "I have learned about other cultures," and "My English has improved." Most importantly, with the large majority of these students being orphans it was gratifying to hear many of them speak of being able to better cope with their past through being able to tell their stories and express themselves through photography. These kids have progressed so much in just two short months and I am so happy to have had the opportunity to make personal connections with each and every one of them.

I just came back from Snathing where I met up with the kids to give them books with their photos-- each child had his or her own book which captured the story they told through the photos and something they could also use as a starter portfolio if they ever see photography as a career. They were overjoyed with these professional-looking gifts, compliments of RapidStudio in Johannesburg! I took pictures of them oohing and ahhing and the books, but unfortunately they are not uploaded yet. Keep checking my picasa album as I am sure it will appear in there sometime soon!
The newspaper article is due for the front page in the Arts section tomorrow.

A Fun Week in the Life of Brittan

This week was busy, but awesomly busy with a mix of both work and social. All week I have been hard at work on getting Umhlaba Wami off the ground, writing a curriculum for the Life Skills groups at Thandanani, going to meetings, and brainstorming a video that I need to do for Thandanani. Eish. But I have also been training for track and hanging out with friends.

On Tuesday night I went to the movies with the volunteers I had met at Lily of the Valley. I actually have not been to the movies since I left the States, and I had no idea what movies were out... we chose the movie that fit the time we could go-- Sherlock Holmes. It was actually quite a good movie and well thought-out. Better yet, Tuesdays are "half-price cinema night," meaning I only paid R14 to watch the movie... Translation? About $1.93 for a movie. Awesome!

On Wednesday I went to Ingqwangele High School in the township of Snathing to talk to the principal about doing Umhlaba Wami there. South Africa is strange as in things go very slowly and then extremely fast: it took a while for me to be able to get to meet with Mr. Ngcobo, but within 20 minutes we had spoken, he said I could have a classroom, identified 10 children, and decided that the first workshop would start on Monday. Monday! Although in the beginning that was my planned date, I kind of thought I was aiming big-- how do you think of, develop, and impliment a program within 2 weeks? Apparently I am doing it. Awesome.

On Wednesday night I went with the YFC volunteers to Durban to watch a soccer game in the new stadium that they built for the World Cup! Awesome! It was South Africa vs. Zimbabwe. South Africa's team, or "Bafana Bafana," beat Zimbabwe 3-0. Do you know what that means? That Zimbabwe must be really bad because South Africa is not good at soccer in the slightest. It is kind of sad. But I loved the game. South African soccer fans are fantastic-- they are just as rowdy as those you see at American sports games, but half of the time they are all up in a crowd singing and dancing. One person stands up and starts doing a dance, and just like cheesy musicals, everyone around them pops up in perfect unison and joins in. Also, I ran to the store at the stadium and overpaid for a vuvuzela [the buzzing sound you hear in the back of South African soccer games produced by incredibly loud/annoying horns]. I took a plastic South African flag I bought, tied it to the bottom of the vuvuzela, and blew it like no other. I hate to toot my own horn [no pun intended], but I am an AMAZING vuvuzela blower. Really. For some reason when I blow the horn it almost sounds like a large ship coming into harbor. Everyone turns around in awe. Some of them clap. They asked, "How do you do it?" and was almost ashamed that an American could out-vuvuzela them. Perhaps all of those years of playing the flute paid off.

I am definitely bringing this vuvuzela home. I hope I can bring it to every sports game for the rest of my life. Maybe even a tennis match or a golf competition. America wont know what hit them! Unless it gets confiscated at the gate... America would do that to me.

Tomorrow I am waking up bright and early to go to Durban for a track meet, and then I am spending the rest of the day there to meet up with a girl who graduated my year from Harvard and just arrived in South Africa. Yay!

Dental Week

Happy Dental Week, everyone! This week reminds me of my elementary school days when my mom would send me to school with toothbrushes instead of candy on Halloween and Valentine's Day. I still don't know how I feel about that, haha.
So yesterday we went to the Willowfontein, Pata, Dambuza and Snathing communities with a carload of toothbrushes, apples, bananas, and a dentist from Edendale Hospital. At each of these locations the dentist would talk to the OVCs and their caregivers about oral hygiene and ways to stay healthy by washing your hands, not sharing toothbrushes, etc. while Agnes would translate into Zulu. Everywhere we went she also asked how many of them ate this treat that people sell outside schoolyards [I forgot the name, but it looks like Cheetos]... everywhere they all said yes. Apparently this cheap snack is so bad for you that it creates sore throats, rashes, running noses, and eventually eats away at your stomach-- it is made entirely out of chemicals. Because it is so inexpensive kids eat it all the time! It is sad that people are allowed to sell such a thing, especially outside schools.

After the session every child and caregiver was able to have the dentist give a quick look at their teeth, and if they were in dire need of having an appointment with the dentist they were given a referral to the public hospital where they would be able to see the dentist for free. Then we gave everyone toothbrushes and some fruit. The kids were so happy to have their own toothbrushes!

This will continue on for the rest of the week, but unfortunately I will not be able to tag along because I will be in Richmond doing OVC profile work. I wish I could go-- like I said, it brings me back to my childhood days when I would carry a backpack full of toothbrushes into my classroom and try to convince myself that I didn't look like a nerd. I kind of miss those days.