Sunday, September 30, 2007

Of the Bush and Manhood

Of the Bush and Manhood

Mark here: A local custom in this area is for the Xhosa men to enter the bush at the age of eighteen in order to find their manhood. This is a three week trial that begins with a week of hydration depletion, continues with a circumcision and ends with a beating at the hands of the men in the village to welcome the young men into the fold.
.
Now this may sound like a strange thing to those of us in the west, but it is a time honored tradition here in the Queenstown area and the local villages. One of Elliot Masoka’s young foster children is about to undertake this experience and he is both excited and a bit frightened by the task at hand. “I must do it, regardless of what I feel,” says the young man with a wide smile upon his face. It is an honor to make it through the experience, but there is also a dangerous side to this practice that has led local clinics to develop a monitoring system for the young men that undertake the journey.
.
Each young man must appear before the clinic and sign waiver forms stating that they understand the dangers of the circumcision and will allow themselves to be worked on by doctors if their health is in question. The circumcision is often performed with a rusty knife that has been used on countless other young men about to enter the bush in search of their manhood and can cause bleeding and infection leading to death. In the past it was estimated that one of every five young men going through this process would die from such infections and the clinics have stepped forward in an attempt to quell this issue from growing. This is yet again an example of old traditions being challenged by western science and elders in the villages wondering what they should do. “It is difficult to change the views of the older people in the village,” according to health care supervisor Zuko, “but it can be done through an understanding of the tradition and an explanation that we are only trying to keep the young men healthy.”
.
For those of you wondering how this is can even be an issue it must be taken into account that these village inhabitants have lived this way for generations in a closed society barely touched by outside influences until recently. Changing the past is difficult, but with people willing to make the difference such as Elliot Masoka, Dr.Lee and Zuko there is little doubt that this metamorphosis will be successful.
.
Pictured below is a woman using the white clay "make-up" commonly used by young men during their time in the bush. This serves as sun screen and also identifies the men as initiates.

Of Western Science and Local Superstition

Of Western Science and Local Superstition

Mark here: As westerners look at the HIV/AIDS epidemic in this country we can sit back and ponder the reasons why it happens, but never truly understand them until walking in the footsteps of a local clinic doctor or nurse. This is a country riddled by a disease that seems to grow daily and strike down youth and adult alike.
.
Clinics in the rural areas are overwhelmed with nearly a hundred visitors a day with maladies ranging from tuberculosis to HIV issues. Government provided ARVs are free to anyone who has tested positive, but getting the patients to look beyond the local Sanghomas is a battle that is only just being fought. With the local villages filled with illiterate populations a wariness of the western sciences has taken hold and the HIV medications are being forsaken for the local healers and their cornucopia of herbs and such.
.
For Dr. Lee and Zuko of a village clinic it is a slow climb to the pinnacle of understanding between the past’s traditions and the reality that is HIV/AIDS. Meetings with the local healers have taken place and the clinics are attempting to bridge the cultural gap between past and present so that the disease does not steal away another generation.
.
Imagine halls filled with patients, a cacophony of coughs and crying children and the overworked and underpaid nurses and doctors doing whatever is possible to bring comfort to this mass of humanity. The next time a prescription is filled at the local Walgreens, remember Dr. Lee’s clinic and their broom closet of medicines that are dispensed through a slot in the wall by a volunteer with little or no training. It is all well and good, according to Dr. Lee, for the west to provide medications and money, but it is a grassroots approach that is needed to bridge the gap between the village tradition and the scientific growth in the field of HIV/AIDS medication. “Until that happens,” says Dr. Lee, “this is a battle that we cannot win.” For a country on the verge of losing a generation of its children this is one time where there is no room for failure. It is not a change that will happen overnight, but something that must be given time and approached with patience to do the right way. “It is not a manner if we can succeed”, says Zuko, a health supervisor at the clinic, “but that we must or we will lose our children.”

Of Hatred and Reconciliation...

Of Hatred and Reconciliation…

Mark here: During our stay in Queenstown we were fortunate enough to meet a man who had participated in the oppression under Apartheid that riddled this fine country. As a student demonstrator and victim of the police organization’s torture process Elliot Masoka is a living reminder of what this country has been through in the past twenty years.
.
As a young man growing up in the black area of Queenstown he chose to join the Youth Movement of the ANC and stand up for the rights that he believed his fellow blacks were to have as human beings. He and his brother were eventually apprehended by the police, one of whom was his own uncle, and taken into custody as supposed members of an underground organization preparing to do battle with the regime in power.
.
He was subjected to a variety of tortures, which ranged from wooden slices inserted under the nails of each hand to an unfathomable experience involving being stripped naked and having his reproductive organs battered with a desk drawer. These actions would understandably cause any human being to develop a hatred to the oppressors responsible, but Elliot has risen above the hatred that could have ruined his world and become an example of what South Africa can be in the future.
.
He has quietly gone about his life and developed a shared mindset with Nelson Mandela of putting the past in the past and going forward into a future where all South Africans are equal…regardless of color.
.
Elliot and his lovely wife Tandi have three children of their own and also provide a home for four foster children and a lovely woman named Grace, who is Elliot’s mother. This South African version of “The Waltons” is something to behold as they work together to provide each other with the best possible in terms of love, support and education.
.
Elliot divides his time between a funeral parlor business, farming, parenting, church activities, Rotary, a bed and breakfast and acting as a father for the children living under his roof. This led to a recent heart attack for the forty-three year old man, but he refuses to be slowed in his attempt to make the world a place where his children can be proud of who they are and what they believe in. “I feel that my past has allowed me to see the possibilities of the future”, says Elliot and he has worked hard to show his family that color is not an excuse for failure or lack of pride.
.
To Elliot South Africa is on the verge of either excellence or heartbreak and he is scared that it could fall into the same abyss that Mugabe has led neighboring Zimbabwe unless the politicians realize they are the leaders of a land thirsting for change. For all of us that hold images of the Apartheid era in our minds or wonder how this country could ever reconcile it is important to remember individuals such as Elliot Masoka. He was taken into the belly of the beast by individuals that saw him as little more than a servant and survived that journey to stand as an example of what this country is truly about…peace and rebirth.
.

Friday, September 28, 2007

September 26 - 29 Queenstown and the Sangoma

(I'm still having trouble uploading photos.)
.
The Rotarians we met at Queenstown so far are our kind of people. Reg and Helen Morgan are progressive, amiable people. He’s an Anglican minister who is interested in helping all; she’s a former radical youngster who was routinely watched by the security police during the “struggle” against Apartheid.
.
My host PJ Colete, an attorney, resigned from the first Rotary club and founded the second club when the membership refused to admit women and blacks, coloreds and Indians as members. Way to go, PJ!
.
PJ, born of an English speaking family of Dutch heritage and Renise from an Afrikaner family have five children (including a set of triplets). They live in a large rambling home, which has seen ongoing reconstruction and expansion since 2001. As far as I could determine each child has his or her own bedroom (complete with wireless internet). The two full-time nannies share a room with private bath. There is the extra large kitchen with adjoining family room – with mounted flat screen SONY. A very large formal dining room with an immense table set for ten could easily accommodate sixteen (OK, fourteen, PJ tells me) comfortably. When we joined hands to say Grace before dinner we last two were so far away from each other at this regal setting that we had to do so “wirelessly.”
.
I have not been around to see the house, but one particularly interesting entry way has three sets of double doors all 18 paned glass opening on three of its walls and the fourth a water feature along the stairway going up to the new two story wing. This houses the master suite and office with a commanding view of the front yard. The sitting room is now full of office furniture from PJ’s law office – he’s in the process of moving again.
.
The kitchen has a scullery. This is the second home I’ve been in that has such. These are becoming more common as we move from Afrikaner homes, which typically had braai areas with wet bars. The scullery is a bright area for food prep (not cooking) and cleaning up. This area is the usual workplace of the domestic while the kitchen is reserved for the owners cooking. .
I’m housed in a guest room attached to the garage just next to the pool. This as opposed to the coy pond in the front of the house. (OK, it's nice, but you should see the places where some of the others are staying!) PJ and Renise’s place is surrounded by a six foot high wall; this in contrast to all other homes in which we’ve stayed that have a metal spiked-top metal fence. The gate is electric, operated by remotes attached to their key rings. the gates are also operated from the intercom telephone in the kitchen. The sets of keys are overwhelming. They are what we referred to a skeleton keys in my childhood, at least a dozen including the high tech car keys of the current generation. And the Colete family has at least a dozen sets of these hanging on the wall. They have keys for every room in the house as well as their home by the sea (read, Indian Ocean) and the eight-bedroom guesthouse they operate as well as PJ’s law office. They travel with one or two sets as well as the ever-present cell phones. With five kids, a law practice and guesthouse and ongoing reconstruction of all of this as well as coordinating Rotary functions and arranging tours and meetings for GSE team members, the phones ring about every ten minutes. .
PJ served for six years on the local [city] council. He is a member of the ruling party in the country the ANC. He’s a lone white face in the overwhelmingly black party of Nelson Mandela. He has sat through six years meetings with 47 other council members, some tedious beyond common sense, working to secure electricity and water to the black and Indian communities, which adjoin the old white Queenstown.
.
As we drove through this town of 8,000 white, 5,000 coloreds and Indians and an estimated 87,000 blacks, the old racial housing boundaries are falling away. Non-white middle class families are moving into the fringes of the formerly white section; as the blacks move up into better homes and out of the squatter camps, more arrive to take their place. An apparently unending tide of people moving into corrugated metal shacks with dirt floor, open to the wind. The fortunate have electric power by illegal extension cords carrying 220 volts buried a few centimeters below the surface.
.
A particularly peculiar magazine cover caught my eye today. A South African mag called Country Life, similar to our Sunset magazine, was lying on the end table at my hosts B&B. The cover showed a squatter's metal hut painted bright lime green with a quite white woman dressed very trendy, planting flowers. The article was entitled "Squatter Shack Chic." It suggested that even you can make that squatter's shack look upscale with a bit of paint and some antiques. How ironic that the very basic of shelter for hundreds of thousands of dirt poor has moved into style. Well, maybe except for the cold, unbearable heat, dirt floor, lack of plumbing, smells, garbage and crime.
.
.
.
There a number of government built brick homes. They all look alike and are neatly rowed. These were given away to qualifying families. The tragedy is that many have been sold for the few thousand Rand they are worth with the families returning to the squatter camps. These people are now prohibited from ever again qualifying for this free housing.
.
PJ pointed out that children are the heads of many as parents are dead from AIDS related causes. We see trash everywhere in the squatter camps and along many of the streets in the RDP housing area. PJ tells me that time and again, litter control and clean up efforts are good for a few days then the rubbish is redeposited. There is no sense of community pride or environmental concern. This is coupled with the total vandalism of municipal efforts at fencing and recreational buildings and equipment. What ever can be dismantled and hauled away is sold for scrap or used for building shacks.
.
Security and building techniques are ever-changing. This in response to the persistence and ingenuity of the masses of humans here. These forces operate as waves on the shore, constantly wearing away at the man’s efforts at safety and civilization.
.
Queenstown is laid out as a hexagon. The city center, has a small six-sided park called, “Freedom Square.” This misnomer, lost on most here, aptly represents the ill logic that is contemporary South African politics. Further out from the city center the streets are laid out in typical grids.
.
The older section of Queenstown houses Queens College, a boy’s high school. This large campus is replete with numerous well-maintained athletic fields and early 20th century two-story building on beautiful tree-lined streets. The girl’s version is traditionally called the girls "high school." A distinction rooted in the English tradition of education being primarily for males. This is still reflected in male alumni being referred to as “Old Bys”; as in “the Old Boys Association.” A-hah! The legendary term Good Old Boys has an origin. (By the way, we learned that the phrase "Hair of the dog that bit you" may have originated in parts of the world where a dog bite was treated by taking some opf the offending dog's fur, burning it, and rubbing the ashes in the wound. This was used by the Xhosa people to pmomote healing.)
.
Whew! Every time we go for a spin or sit for a chat our heads are filled with facts, history and stories. My Goodness! Where to start now.
.
Blacks are now called the “Previously disadvantaged.” Women of all races are “Historically disadvantaged.” Colored and Indian may be considered, hmmm, my hosts were not sure what. And of course white men don’t count.
.
Politics here are zoological. Welcome the Monkey House. Nonsense along with corruption and petty jealousies and greed surface daily in the news. Let’s see if I can get this straight. The newspaper headlines today have something to do with the Director of Public Prosecutions (read Attorney General) was fired earlier this week by the President (read Archibald Cox and Richard Nixon) because he had issued an Arrest Warrant for the Chief of the National Police (read Director of the FBI). Thus he was removed from any investigation into one of the President’s cronies.
.
The papers also carried a story regarding allegations that the local Chief Constable of Queenstown was found driving an allegedly stolen car.
.
Yesterday afternoon and evening was especially rewarding for us. Bongile Mngambi, a previously disadvantaged Rotarian (this may mean he was once a member of the Fraternal Order of the Elks) took us to the Macibini location where he is the principal of the school. Bongile’s Xhosa name translates “To be thankful.” We’ve discovered many names have meanings. We’ve learned that “Michael” translates “White-haired Rotarian.”
.
The settlement is as quiet as one can imagine. I mean really quiet. One hears some birds, the occasional lowing of a cow. The valley is broad and the setting sun casts a golden glow on all. There are no paved roads; no water or sewer lines, no electricity in most of the rondovals. Cooking is done out-of-doors in three-legged pots over fires made of dried cow and sheep dung. We saw this.
.
He showed us the newer school with no plumbing! Water drains form the rooftops into cisterns - large plastic tanks at each end of the buildings. These are now dry because of the draught. The bathroom, well, there are no bathrooms, just privies. There school needs to buy water by the truckload to fill the tanks. But they have no money.
.
The kindergarten has 75 kids in one room with one teacher. The kids sit four to a desk. But Bongile is as proud as he can be! There is a school, the kids attend school rather than stay in the rondovals all day and watch the goats and sheep graze. They are learning to read and write. And he is the principal – a very prestigious position here in Macibini.
.
Bongile took us to a set of rondovals where the sangoma or “healer” lived. After about 20 minutes on pleasantries and conversation, he summoned us out of the car. The sangoma, a heavy set smiling woman of about 35 invited us into her hut. She had herbs and roots drying on the floor. There were pelts of various sorts hanging from the walls. There she played drum and sang. Then invited her initiate to play the drum while she danced clapped and sang! We were awestruck that she would do this for us. The sun was setting, the darkness of the hut and the rhythms of the drum, singing and clapping set the tone – this was the Africa we had hoped to witness!
.
What an amazing adventure!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Saint Jesse

After District Conference we acted like tourists and shopped in the souvenier stores in downtown Maseru, Lesotho. A brief history: when the Afrikaneer Vortrekkers moved into this area to escape the British in the Capetown area, they pushed the Basotho tribespeople over the Caledon River into what is now Lesotho. In the 1980's Lesotho was ranked as the third poorist nation in the world. It's improved a bit we learned.
.
Before we crossed the border, we visited the Folk Art Market. This cooperative was founded by Peace Corps volunteers. A number of Basotho women, using local wool, weave by hand traditional scenes on handbags, tapestry, placements and coasters.

.

We travelled over the border into South Africa and Ficksburg. This small city on the Lesotho border is by far the quaintest, safest and most reminescent of the old midwest we've yet encountered. The tree lined streets shade older stone homes, many without bars on the windows and some without the imposing spiked fences we've seen in previous towns. Perhaps it's a matter of time, after all, Ficksburg is a city of about 5,000 mostly whites and the adjoining black township, with high unemployment, are you ready for this, is 80,000!

.

But the town bustles. The downtown shops are open and used - again, no megamalls here. The streets are quiet after hours. The local real estate market is on the upswing as crime-sick residents of Johannesburg discover the serene setting against the Soutkop ("Salt head") rock outcropping. Cherries, peaches and asparagus grow in abundance here, locals can drive just a few blocks before passing someone they know and wave to. "B&B" signs are many giving this shady town an extra plesant feel.

.

We toured the Jesse Poly Clinic on the Lesotho side of the border. Here we met a most remarkable man. Dr. N. Gyasi-Agyei is from Ghana. He's a Rotarian living in Ficksburg who makes the daily drive over the border to serve as the only doctor in the area administering to the Basotho. He's a striking figure, his skin darker than the Basotho, he dresses in white from head to toe, easily standing out in any group. His ever present smile, sparkling eyes and warm demeanor combine to draw people to him. He patiently explained his efforts to "Try to fix the dying" in a country ravaged by HIV/AIDS. A saint, he's ben here for 17 years.

.

Dr. Jesse explained that while there are no exact figures on the extent of the HIV infection, he's able to estimate from testing pregnant woman the rate to be almost 50% of the population that visits his clinic. In Maseru, the capitol, he estimates the rate of infection to be 46%. Lesotho is third in the world, behind Swaziland and Botswanna for HIV infection.

.

The clinic is supported by grants from the Irish, German and Japanese governments and private groups including the Clinton Foundation. More money is needed to supply life-saving ARV drugs and to promote education.

.



.



Our Rotray hosts, Verney Halse, Vernon Joughin and Jim Lundberg saw to it that we were happy in Ficksburg. More to come...

Monday, September 24, 2007

OK We may have photos - we'll work on this.....

We'll be adding photos to prior posts as we get the time.

Gumboot dancing at the School











Long tall things

Dinner with the King

King Letsie III
Sunday September 23, 2007
.
After a morning of walking in the local street markets, and team members daring each other to photograph the stern looking man guarding the supermarket while brandishing a rifle, we returned to the convention center. There we foraged for food among the near empty serving tables. We had missed the lunch and were reluctant to purchase and eat fruits sold in the markets. Cleanliness is an obvious concern.
.
We helped ourselves to peas, mealie pap (corn meal) and pasta (our first in three weeks!). We ate in the auditorium and watched the presentation of the GSE South Carolina team.
.
South Carolina, more specifically Will Moody of Columbia, did an outstanding job of showing the conference attendees photos of their trip thus far. We have been doing this on the club level. This type of show is extremely popular and we would heartily recommend this to future GSE teams. People like to hear and see their world from a fresh perspective. They also like to see themselves recognized for their efforts. The incoming club president in Viljoenskroon said she thought the photo show we presented would encourage more members to become involved in hosting and touring with future GSE teams.
.
Sunday evening was a black tie affair. The Rotary District Governors Banquet was held at the Maseru Sun Hotel and Casino. Again, once indoors there is no sign of the third world country surrounding this oasis.
.
We carried suits, tux and evening dresses and surprised each other on how well we cleaned up. The dinner was very formal with more flatware at each place setting than most Basothos probably had in their homes. A place was reserved for Teboho Dingane, a small thin Basotho man employed to photograph the event for the local Rotary Clubs. He was clearly out of place at such a table but Vicky and Annie Rose engaged him in conversation and we all led the way in choosing the appropriate utensil for each course. He graciously took my camera up to the king’s table and took a couple of photographs of His Majesty while we picked up his camera and took a couple surprise shots of Vicky!
.
We sat with Hein Pretorious (of melodrama fame) of the Potch Mooi club and Hendrick Swanepoel (of how to wrestle and ostrich fame) of the Parys club. Both of these Rotarians are also serving as Assistant Governors. Hein generously kept the wine glasses full as we drank toast after toast, a tradition Emil intends to import to the 7:10 club. We drank to the His Majesty King Letsie III, to Rotary International, to District 9320, to the Family of Rotary, to Lesotho, and to South Africa!
. During the course of the evening, Emil presented King Letsie with a gift book from our Rotary District Governor Dave Beall. Way cool!
.
At the conclusion of the dinner three “Hip, hip, hoorays!” were shouted one each for the District Governor, Lionel Heath, one for the hosting clubs of Maseru and Maloti and one for the conference organizers. And what was this - a breach of protocol - no one is to address the audience after the king does. Oh, another example of colonial insensitivity. How embarassing!

Lesotho

The District Conference in Lesotho Part One
Friday September 21 and Saturday the 22nd.
.
We’ve had sporadic internet access so I’m preparing these blog entries on the laptop and plan on uploading them at some point. So you’ll be reading many days at once. I’ll include dates to help keep things straight.
.
Bryan and Yvette Church arrived at the Kwaggashoek Game Farm Friday morning while we were down visiting the rebuilding of the main lodge. The original lodge was destroyed by fire and is being rebuilt minus the lapa type thatch roof that probably enabled the place to burn like a beetle-kill pine back home. The new metal roofed and brick structure is going up quite nicely. The lodge will have views of the mountains. Monte and Nadine will soon be managing an eleven-room lodge plus the chalet and the mobile home in which Mark & Emil stayed. They will be busy and probably won’t be joining the guests for breakfast and dinner as they did us.
.
The Harrismith Rotary club arranged for the use of a school van. Aside from all else they have done for us, Bryan and his family (son Henry included) drove us to Clarens - the up and coming arts village. In Clarens we admired the fine art and did the required “divide by 7” in our heads to determine the prices in dollars.
.
Then we moved on to Lesotho. The eight of us rode in a van for three plus hours, no air conditioning, on a two-lane road (on the wrong side) through landscape that was strikingly similar to our southwest. From horizon to horizon, we saw magnificent buttes, weathered by the sands of time, devoid of greenery. We did see some verdant areas, as when we passed through Golden Gate Park, a lush canyon. There we were treated to baboons galloping across the road and peering at us over the guardrails.
.
At the Lesotho border we met our Rotarian hosts from Maseru. We stood in line to get a form, filled it out and then stood in line to turn it in. We chuckled at the fact we could pick out the Rotarians on their way to the District Conference. Not that Rotarians are as obvious as Shriners in their fez hats, but our shirts bearing the Rotary symbol was a dead giveaway. Well, I’ll be frank. It was really that fact that we were the only white faces in a sea of black ones that made us stand out.
.
Maseru is the capital city of Lesotho “The Kingdom in the Sky”. The country has about 1.8 million inhabitants. The population is down from 2.4 million due to deaths from AIDS related diseases and emigration. There are few jobs and the poverty is obvious everywhere.
.
Trash and broken pavement line the streets. Some walk wearing the traditional blanket of the Basotho people. Some wear gumboots and knit hats - in the heat. We learned quickly that when the winds whipped up the ever-present dust, a blanket and hat would be welcome. Occasionally we would spot an apparition, a man would appear walking in the street, blanketed, dusty, dark gray from head to bare feet. Truly those who lived out-of-doors.
.
During the presentation of the South African GSE team that traveled to India, we heard the story an American traveler in that country. She remarked that she was must return home to the U.S. the day she stepped over dead person and was not concerned about it. I understood. I was snapping photos and couldn’t look away. But I suspect that there may come a time when one would just accept what is and not give it too much thought. Is this the time to leave, or for action?
.
The country has a King, His Majesty King Letsie III. He serves as the head of state. The prime Minister is the head of government. Lesotho has a parliamentary form of government.
.
The Rotary District Conference was held at the Manthabiseng Convention Center, a silver and glass modern structure built by the Chinese government. I suspect that this is it for the country. We didn’t have the opportunity to go into any of the schools or churches we passed during our drives, but we didn’t spot any building in the country that could accommodate several hundred people. It stands in stark contrast to the herd of sheep complete with blanketed shepherd in the dusty field next door. At dusk children approach the cars at the traffic signal begging for coins.
.
The Rotary Clubs of Maseru and Maluti have gone out of their way to make us feel comfortable and provide an enlightening experience for us. Geoff Moekoa of the Maluti club and the Rotaract club members arranged a trip to the Highlands Water Project. We joined the GSE team from South Carolina and all plied into a van. We felt like those we’ve seen crammed into the omnipresent beeping taxi vans. The ride to and from the water project, a mammoth dam, with the tour was over five hours. We were hungry, tired and frustrated. Our hosts did their best to anticipate an educational experience. We on the other hand wanted to eat and be back our hosts’ homes in time to shower and dress in our “flight attendant” suits with colorful matching ties and scarves.
.
Most of Lesotho is mountainous. We passed home sites where the small circular homes, called rondavels, usually with thatch roof and outhouse. Shepherds tended their flocks of sheep, goats and cattle. Some homes have small stone corrals. Occasionally we’d spot a donkey tied to a stake grazing by the side of the road.
. At times children waited by the side of the road and ran out towards the van holding quartz crystals the size of small fists. We did not stop. As I look back at the photos one particular boy has a pleading almost desperate expression on his face. Where could it end, we stop empty our change purses and for what? If we were to relieve his burden for a day, what of tomorrow? Would this act of mercy encourage him and also others to try their hand at selling rocks at the side of the road? There has to be a better way to help.
.
Our team gave its presentation before the attendees at the conference. By this time we knew a fair number of the Rotarians because of our stays. Club members from Queenstown and East London took the initiative and introduced themselves as well. We spoke well. The Rotary clubs have all given us warm receptions and this large gathering was no exception. Our photos were computer projected onto the huge screen suspended over the stage in the auditorium. They appeared impressively huge.
.
The theme for Saturday evening was “Cultural Night”. All were encouraged to wear traditional clothing. We were treated to a feast of color, as women appeared dressed in long skirts and head wraps. The traditional Lesotho dinner included the sheep’s jaw (complete with teeth); sheep tripe; sheep’s feet (kind of skimpy on the meat), pap (corn meal), spinach and cornbread. Only mark and Emil were game enough to cut the meat off the bone with the teeth on the plate.
.
After dinner a local poet recited a tribute to Rotary in Sesotho and then in English and traditional dances of the Basotho and Zulu. Okay, to clear up some confusion, we learned the country is Lesotho, the people are the Basotho and the language is the Sesotho.

42nd Hill & Kwaggashoek

42nd Hill and Zebra Corners
September 17 through September 21.

We exchanged our “Good-byes” and “Thank yous” for wishes of “Safe journeys” and “Enjoy you stays” and became wards of the Harrismith Rotarians. Our new sets of adoptive parents.
.
We have met extremely generous and well-tempered people throughout our entire journey and Harrismith was no exception. Is it possible that all South African Rotarians are congenial, big-hearted and happy to share insight into their country with strangers? Or are these the type of people that chose to host GSE teams? More likely the latter, but regardless, we perceived each club as being just as hospitable, if not more so, than the one prior. The memories we take home and keep forever will be of the people we have met. We will always speak of them and Rotarians with fondness, with respect, with reason and common sense in describing their lives in this exceptional place they call the Republic of South Africa.
.
The Free State province is home to primarily the Afrikaners and Besotho peoples. As we move further east we come to Kwa-Zulu Natal where we encounter more Xhosa and Zulu cultures. Farther east along the coast in Durban, a large Indian population lives. We have not come across inter-racial marriage, not here in the interior. Such was strictly forbidden under Apartheid. As for a practical matter, the black and white cultures are too far removed from each other at this time. We suspect that the mixture of the races in some of the schools signal an eventual blending to some degree.
.
The Harrismith Rotary club meets at the Lawn Bowling green and clubhouse. The locals have never heard of the Italian game of Bocce, but it looked to us as if the English influence here has caused the game to be elevated to that of golf. There’s a clubhouse, with bar and kitchen facilities, plaques, awards and evidence of tournaments – complete with photographs of champions!
.
Rotarian Johan Kuun took us on a quick tour of 42nd Hill where we took “snappy-pics” of children playing much to their delight. Johan distributed coins. We felt a bit uneasy doing this, but were assured by our host and his dialogue with those we photographed that all was fine. We were participating in the white culture, as it’s existed for generations. I’m not sure how I would feel if a carload of tourists drove through my neighborhood and took “snappy-pics” of my son or me.
.
Then again, to the credit of our hosts, they know and understand the plight of the blacks. They do what they can to employ those who are capable, establish business relationships with others and support educational, hospice and charitable organizations, which serve mostly, black populations. One Rotary project we were asked to consider supporting is that of a winter blanket distribution.
.
The Besotho people traditionally wear blankets for warmth. We see blankets hanging on fences to air or dry after laundering. The club will take donations and purchase 1,000 blankets again this year (their winter begins in June, remember.) Blankets cost R60 ($8.30) each. They will distribute these in the 42nd Hill township.
.
Tours included:
Hope House – a children’s home for neglected, abused or HIV+ children. The police, social services, and the courts for a minimum of 2 years place these. Many attend school in the township, as the goal is not to break what social structure they have. Some are sponsored by individuals and attend private schools. The Harrismith club plans on applying for matching grant funds to purchase a kombi (van) to transport the learners as taxi costs are mounting up. The center houses 25 children. Some 86 have been housed here since it opened. The center gets 60% of its funding from the government. The rest of its R45,000 ($6,225) monthly budget comes from donations, including much in food. Local churches sponsor some bedrooms. This entails providing furnishings. The place was in need of painting – a project for anyone wishing to travel down to Harrismith and take part!
Thiboloha – a school of 265 learners in Quaqua (recall the black community of 700,000) who are either blind, deaf, suffer from dyspraxia (hearing enabled but unable to speak – usually as a result of cerebral palsy) and severally mentally retarded. (Little political correctness here in this part of Africa). Director Minna Steyn, employed here for over 20 years, explained that children with disabilities are hidden in the black communities. They are stigmatized. Regardless of their tribe of origin, the deaf are taught South African Sign Language (SASL) as their primarily language and English as a second language. We were treated to a deaf-mute choir – a moving experience as some 20 students dressed in blue school uniform used SASL to “sing” along with a recording. The silent emotions expressed brought tears to our eyes. If this wasn’t enough, two of the children pantomimed poetry. This combination of dance, sign and facial expression with their teacher reciting for our ears melted our hearts.
The Magistrates Court – Emil visited the local court where Mag. Pratt and Chief Mag. Breyl shared a bit of South African judicial differences and similarities. The magistrates took great delight in this visit, it seems everyone we meet is more than happy to share a bit of their professional life. One item of note, the accused in criminal trials sits in the box reserved for them, while the defendant attorney sits along the side of the well next to the prosecutor. The court must first approve any conversation between counsel and client!
Mark, Cheri and Annie Rose visited a local primary school. The kids were both white and black. They were very attentive and very much interested in meeting us. They all appeared to be very well kept. The standards were similar to those in US. The children were very interested in America and asked about Halloween, Thanksgiving and whether any of us knew Beyonce Knowles or lived closed to her. They hugged us upon leaving.
.
Now we’re not entirely sure what we did to deserve this unbelievable trip to District 9320 in South Africa. A stroke of fate, good Karma or dumb luck. That being said, we certainly have no idea what we did to deserve being pampered and treated to game drives, exceptional cuisine and unlimited drinks (we were good) at our two night stay at the Kwaggashoek Game Ranch.
.
The Ranch sits on some 3,500 hectares (over 7,000 acres). There are rolling treeless veldts, wooded areas, pools, streams, valleys and cliffs. Our hosts Monte and Nadine Pienaar, along with baby Michael, left no want unfulfilled. The ladies stayed in a first rate and richly decorated chalet, complete with high thatched roof and porch over-looking a broad valley and small lake. Mark and Emil spent the night in basically a trailer with a tile roof, which collected the day’s heat like an oven. This was because the original lodge burned to the ground and is still in the rebuilding phase. Nevertheless, we spotted Hippopotamuses, white Rhinoceroses, Wart Hogs, Zebra, Giraffe, African Buffaloes, Impalas, Elands and Red Hartebeest all viewed on the game drives from the lofty perch on the four wheel drive truck.
.
Friday September 22, off to Lesotho.

Africa is Not for Sissies

Africa is not for Sissies.
September 13 - 16
.
The Afrikaners we met were quick to speak of the newly instituted policies of the African National Party (ANC). What was once the banned organization of resistance to Apartheid is now the most powerful political party in power. There are a few other parties, the opposition DA, and the communist party. The National Party is just about non-existent.
.
The ANC under Nelson Mandela’s leadership was the alternative to the white only view of the National Party. Long before the ANC was outlawed, it had coloreds, Indians and liberal whites as members or supporters. Today the ANC contains factions which are striving for control.
.
The deputy president of the ANC, Jacob Zuma, is in line to become the next president, replacing Thabo Mbeiki, that is, if Zuma he survives the criminal investigation into questionable financial dealings. He apparently has already escaped party discipline and serious public censure because of a sex scandal involving an aide, a relative, who is HIV+. The idiocy of some ANC leaders is reflected in his statement that he “showered” after the encounter and therefore will not contract the virus. However, we learned first-hand that those medical and educational professionals working with the people are doing their best to promote safe practices and tend to the sick, regardless of the nonsense spoken by the politicians.
.
The current South African government has in place a type of affirmative action plan. For government jobs at all levels, priority is given to black females, then black males, then colored females, males, then Indians, white females and finally, in theory, white males. Most whites we spoke with expressed certainty that new jobs are not be available for white males in the public sector. They expect this to continue for the foreseeable future.
.
In the private sector, a point system exists whereby points are accumulated based upon the number of black “majorities” employed by the company. The more points awarded the greater the priority for government contracts. One result of these policies is the white flight of professionals. England and Australia are said to be the most popular emigration destinations.
.
The government also has in place the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) program. This law has a complicated formula based upon a company’s size. In order for any private company to do business with the government, companies must demonstrate black ownership of a portion of the business. While the exact details were too complicated for discussion over dinner, I did learn that at least one company that shall remain unnamed feigned compliance by putting blacks names on their organizational documents and letterhead. A salary is paid and dividends awarded but the owners of the company were not ready to allow any real business decisions to be made by the questionably competent, as well as ethically challenged.
.
“Die wiel draai” is Afrikaans for “the wheel turns.” Some whites we spoke with expressed the opinion that the incidence of gross incompetence is merely a transitional stage that their society must endure until the next turn of events. This could be the ouster of the prevailing political party and its views or the birth of a competent professional black middle class. Regardless, some we spoke with hold out hope for the 4th generation after Apartheid!
.
Incompetence, apathy, corruption and nepotism appear to be more common in politics, government and business than one would expect in a western society. Some we spoke with made longing reference to “the old days,” not those days of repression but of competence of, and confidence in, public employees.
.
We were amazed by the size of the black townships. The city of Welkom, for example has approximately 80,000 residents, while, Thabong, the township is estimated to be home to between 350,000 and 400,000; most in one or two room corrugated metal shacks. Adjoining Harrismith, a city of maybe 25,000, the sprawling community of 42nd Hill, named after the British regiment positioned there during the Second Anglo-Boer War, probably has an estimated 6,000 people. But there are two more townships in the area before Qwaqwa. The township Qwaqwa, a few kilos farther east, is estimated to be home to some 700,000 Besotho, Xhosa and Zulu. It’s a sprawling mass of single box-like houses, dirt roads, limited water and sewer. Yet it has over 240 schools!
.
We visited the Bompodi Center where the Beatrix Corporation trains many of the workers in interpersonal relations and rehabilitation for those injured and in need of other job skills. Bompodi translates “Champion” in the Besotho language. Here, professionals such as Altus Klingeberg, an industrial psychologist, teaches “portable social skills,” to lessen the incidence of intertribal fights (where on occasion broken bottles are aimed at the others’ eyes) and improve self-esteem. Training in western construction techniques is also available.
.
The staff at Bompodi encourages mine workers to know their HIV status and seek treatment, at company expense, if infected and apply preventive behaviors, if not. Mr. Klingeberg estimates that one-third of the nearly 7,000 that the mine employs is HIV positive. A major obstacle in all of South Africa is the stigma associated with HIV infection. The company is doing what it can to combat this.
.
We visited the Oppenheimer Hospital and its Rehabilitation section in Welkom. Isabel Germishuizen, an Occupational Therapist, explained that the mining corporation pays all medical expenses for mining related injuries. She pointed out that hand and finger injuries are the most common, while sickness related to AIDS affect the young and back injuries afflict the old.
.
Those requiring extensive rehabilitation stay at the hospital until they are as well as they can get as returning home means usually means totally ignoring the injury as an educated family support is not in place. In addition to the injuries, many suffer from silicosis from the dust, evident on our tour, and because many smoke zola (marijuana) in rolled-up newspaper.
.
The Welkom Hospice is the recipient of fund-raising efforts of the Rotary club. Of the 370 patients approximately 30 are suffering from cancer and 340 from AIDS related illness – especially TB. Executive director Millie Hugo and Rotarian husband Jeff were among the many service-oriented people we met in this modern city. Millie explained that South Africa is becoming a country of grandparents raising children. The working age population (25 – 40) is either emigrating or “affected by or infected with” AIDS. Without education the trend will continue. We noted the free distribution of six packs of condoms in the clinic and posters on major city streets with slogans such as “Be Safe, Be Wise, Condomize!” Can you imagine this in Westminster!
.
Ms. Hugo also spoke of the rate of HIV infection in the Welkom area. The medical profession estimates that 50% of the children born to blacks are HIV+. Of these, 50% will die before they are 2 years old. Compare these figures with those of Dr. Shahim of Viljoenskroon, they’re close. Some other facts from Millie: women get sicker more quickly than men; if a woman is discovered to be infected, she is ostracized from the family as bring shame upon them; some young woman will get pregnant to seek the child support grant of R220 per month. For a young girl who has nothing, no possessions except a few items of clothing and who culturally cannot easily refuse a man, having a child is a means of income.
.
Other facts, perceptions, prejudices and outright lies:
Welkom has no traffic lights, or “robots” as they are called here. Traffic flows smoothly via traffic circles.
“Africa time” – it’s not uncommon for blacks to be habitually late, very late 30 minutes to 2 hours for meetings. This is not intentionally, not meant to be an affront but is cultural.
Men typically enter s building first – in times of danger this was to determine if the place to be entered was safe.
Polygamy is accepted and practiced (See the King of Lesotho in subsequent posts on this blog.)
Township violence is high. Life is cheap. Those who assault others often do so in cruel manners – cuts to the eyes.
The number of open cases often overwhelms the police. Of 40 open serious cases, as few as two may actually go to court and one result in conviction.
Emergency services are reluctant to respond to calls at night, as it may be a hoax and a pretext for robbery.
The end of the month, payday, there’s a higher incidence of alcohol related crime.
There’s a gap between the very poor and the rich – there is no black middle class.
Lobola – dowry – is still being paid.
Women usually must demonstrate their fertility before marriage by having a child.
.
Next stop Harrismith and the Kwaggashoek Game Ranch.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

You're Welkom and the Mine

Of Flamingo, MOTH and Rotary
September 13

On Thursday, September 13, the Viljoenskroon club delivered us to Bothaville. The small towns we’ve seen remind us of towns in the Midwest in America thirty years ago. No mega-malls with sprawling parking lots here. Downtown areas, with small family owned shops still dominate. It’s as if the calendars read 1977, as businesses are white run and blacks walk for the most part or ride in kombis, or taxi vans. Blacks driving personal cars is still a novelty in this part of the country, although becoming less so.

We were met by Rotarians from the Flamingo-Welkom Club, Evyn Thorne, Marius Kemp and Dries Lotty. We stood by as they sorted they transferred the bags from bakkies to trailer. Here we hard the only negative comment from any Rotarian the entire trip. Evyn shot out that they were not our servants indicating that we should lend a hand in moving the luggage. This took us by surprise as up until now the packing and arranging of bags was usually a job reserved for the more spatially adept among our hosts who could pack the small trailer. The comment was lost on us at the time. We piled in the over-sized Toyota van while our luggage went into one of the small trailers commonplace here.
.
We stopped at the Aandenk memorial, dedicated to the discovery of gold in this area and the sinking of the first bore (not Boer) hole by Allen Roberts. The memorial is now ignored by the local authorities and has fallen into disrepair. The governing ANC (African National Congress) party has no interest in maintaining a memorial to the white gold miners. Bit by bit, the new culture is making inroads into Afrikaner domination.


.
Broken bottles litter the hard packed earth where grass may have been. A large metal base was once some form of commemorative object. There’s no graffiti, presumably because of the extreme poverty; money is not available to buy paint, much less waste it on this. There are not gangs of young people driving aimlessly looking for mischief, at least in this part of the country.
.
While some farming and ranching exists here, gold mining forms the economic base. After the gold is exhausted in the next 30 years or so, the emphasis may switch to titanium. Huge deposits of that metal are here. We found it interesting to learn that law prohibits the mining of more than one metal at a time in the same mine.
.
We drove past Thabong, the large black township outside of the city. As in Rammulotsi, the grim shacks are everywhere. We saw for ourselves the stark reality of the mass of humanity in South Africa living in corrugated metal and brick boxes, with outhouse and fencing, thousands of them, in neat dusty rows. We did see some newer houses built entirely of brick that would be an average size living room in a contemporary American home. This is government-assisted housing. Pride of ownership is taking root, but the sheer amount of extreme poverty was striking. A few houses had cars or trucks parked in front; dusty workhorses - no shiny chrome reverse rotating wheels here.
.
During the Apartheid era, the National Party government passed a number of restrictive laws, two of which were the Separate Development Act and the Movement Act. These required all blacks to live on “homelands” or “Bantustans.” In theory, blacks living in the townships were not to be there as permanent residents The townships were to serve as bases for workers to support the whatever economic enterprise existed in the area. A concentrated effort was made to prevent the growth of these townships. This did not work in practice. The distance of the white cities from the homelands, the need for labor, the inability to control millions of people all fostered resentment rather than worked to control the populace. In the provinces of Northwest and the Free State, we saw again and again, the clear distinction between the cities and the townships. The economic disparity which has existed between the races for so many years virtually insures that blacks could not live in the smaller rural cities.
.
The era of official Apartheid, which made South Africa an international pariah, is 14 years gone. The repressive laws have been repealed. Blacks are no longer required to live in townships, there is no formal homelands. Many people migrate to the townships looking for work. The townships have become havens for illegal immigrants. As political and economic difficulties continue in the northern African countries, especially Zimbabwe, many are drawn to the economic giant that is South Africa. As one can easily imagine, the townships’ meager infrastructure meager resources are overtaxed.
.
We were told the incidence of reclaiming the land by descendents of the black tribes (Besotho, Xhosa and Zulu in this area of the Free State) was not as extensive as in other parts of South Africa. This rolling empty land was inhabited by pasturing people, primarily Besotho, who tended cattle and sheep. Zulu raiding parties (“Impies”) during the mid 1800’s invaded, killing the men and capturing the women and cattle. As a result, there is not much land that can be claimed to have been inhabited by ones ancestors and subject to a claim.
.
While there are time limits for bringing an application to reclaim land, we were told both that that it is not uncommon for “the government” to extend the deadlines, and that the deadlines have passed and thus claims are barred. This lack of definitive knowledge by our hosts makes sense. The people we met were focused on making a living for their families and doing what they could for the communities through church and Rotary. The antics of the government, either National Party of apartheid or the now empowered ANC is ever changing, maddening to follow, and beyond any individuals ability to control. We did learn that remuneration of land-owners affected by the reclamation is “surprisingly” at near market values.
.
Thursday evening Emil’s host and Welkom-Flamingo club president Christo van Eeeden took Mark and Emil to the meeting of the Rotary Club of Odendaalrus. The weekly meetings of this small and extremely boisterous and friendly club are held in the MOTH club (Men Of Tin Hats). The club is a veterans club similar to our VFW. The tin hats make reference to the helmets worn by South African troops during various wars. Samples of these helmets, as well as vintage rifles and pistols, adorn the high walls of this bar. We are reminded that the military was once white only. All white men were required to serve a minimum of two years. Now the military is primarily a black force. We learned that whites who chose the military as a career option, for money or adventure travel to England and join the British army.
.
As in other Rotary clubs we’ve visited, the bar does a brisk business before the meetings and soon dinner is served.
.
The Odendaalrus club’s president, Rosh Turchino, is of Italian descent. His grandfather was a prisoner of war at the Zonder Water Prison, a camp in this part of the Free State. The impishness of this short, swarthy man soon manifested itself and before long Mark was being lectured by a towering gray haired man swearing finger-wagging allegiance to both U.S. Presidents Bush. Rosh took great delight in this intimidating display.
.
I was surprised how many Rotary meetings alcoholic beverages lubricate. Of the five club meetings I attended the rate was 100%. At Potch, a hangover and liver remedy was an infusion of vitamins, freely supplied by Lisa. In Harrismith, Wessel Hammer turned us on to “Grandpa’s”, a bitter white powder packed in a paper bindle which he swore prevented hang-over, although it didn’t work for me.
.
The Welkom-Flamingo Rotary is proud of their work here. Dries Lotter, a stocky man, gray mustached and dressed in the khaki clothing so common in the Free State, touts the wonders of matching grants to all. Their latest investment, two large kombies, for the Dumamis School. $20,000 has become $65,000 through matching grants from Rotary International.
.
Other Rotary projects include:
-a generator to insure a constant supply of power at the old age home;
-food and repairs for the local SPCA;
-organizing and donating food and clothing to Morningstar, the orphanage, which cares for children whose parents most likely died of AIDS related diseases;
-the World Wide Wheelchair Project – in 2008 the local club will be instrumental in receiving and distributing via clubs throughout Africa, 5,600 wheelchairs.
.
Welkom –Flamingo Rotary is yet another example of fulfilling aspirations through fellowship and goodwill. No dwelling of the past or shunning the future here.
.

Here we did run across some overt racism. While all of the Rotarians we encountered in South Africa are dedicated to God, family, club and country, the vast majority were also keenly aware that in reference to the black population of this country, “but for the grace of God go I.” We suspect the mindset of Apartheid is alive and well outside the Rotary organizatio

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Of Schools and Farms

Our final visits in and around Viljoenskroon included two farms and two schools. The schools one rural and one in town were as different as black and white.
.
Niekerksrus Landbouskool, a few kilos outside of Viljoenskroon, is a high school (grades 8 – 12) originally founded as an agricultural school We met with headmaster Klasie Dewet (“the Law”), a rotund white man with a strong dedication to the students and their school .
.
The original idea of the agricultural schools was to draw children from the rural areas and prepare them for work in their communities. However, the emphasis has shifted to a more general education as enrollment is down. Smaller farms have been bought up and consolidated; technology has decreased the number of laborers needed. Feeder schools are closing. People have moved away. The learners are 70% Sesotho, 30% Zulu and Xhosa. All students are Afrikaans speaking, but English is taught as it is the language of business and commerce.
.
Qualified educators (teachers) are not readily available to work here in the rural area. The students are generally not proficient at grade level. Bureaucratic requisition requirements causes difficulty accessing money for the simplest of repairs.
.
Solomon Senekal Hoerskool, the public high school in Viljoenskroon, is more typical of a successful, yet cash strapped school. The national government pays the salaries of the teachers and funds the school at a rate of R700 ($100) per learner per year. However, each student is expected to pay an annual school fee - if possible. No one will be denied admission for want of payment. Here, the annual fee is R1250 ($180) per school year. This is supposed to cover general maintenance, textbooks - all expenses really, other than the salaries of the staff.
.
The student body is 99% white. All students wear uniforms, with the boys wearing shorts. Many of the younger boys go barefoot by choice. Watching the young barefoot boys walk across the hard nut-like seed on the asphalt causes me to wince.

The farms we visited were examples of strong family ties and the application of high technology. The JK von Biljon farm, for example boasts champion, as in national Champion, ram and bull. The latest husbandry information and veterinary science is applied. We also made a quick stop at the farm of Mr. Meintjes and his son, JP (whom Annie Rose took a liking to). The farm, Kruispan, cultivates some 3,000 hectares in maize and another 1,200 are allotted for grazing.
.
The cleanliness and orderliness of Kruispan is difficult to describe. No implement, tractor or tools is put away unless totally and completely clean. No dirt. All are stored in neat rows. We’re talking dozens of tractors. I saw one farm hand taking a break while his spreader was loaded with nitrogen – he was polishing the tractor, in the field!
.
Next stop Welkom – or “Vell-comm” as Annie Rose likes to say.

Friday, September 14, 2007

The Mphatlatsane School

Rotary in Viljoenskroon is strong. While the club is relatively small, about 25 members, the impact on the community is great. The local municipality lacks funds, and sometimes the competence to fulfill all apparent needs.
.
For example, on our last morning in Viljoenskroon, there was a protest mach, complete with strong police presence, of about 300 people from the township. It was a jubilant group, chanting and dancing as they proceeded to the municipal building. They were protesting the lack of promised taps and the poor quality of the drinking water.
.
The Rotary club addresses such issues when they can. Kobus Vermeulen is president of the club and also a member of the local high school governing board. He showed us a filtered drinking fountain that Rotary installed in the courtyard of the school. Some of the incredibly successful and ambitious projects include:
• Building and furnishing a first aid building at the site of the school’s four rugby and hockey fields
• Founding the Mphatlalatsane (mu-fla-ta-zan-ee) “Morning Star” school for severe mentally retarded children in Rammulotsi. There are currently 178 learners attending school with 48 staff – paid and volunteer.
• Founding the Viljoenskroon Hospice
• Founding the old age home
• Furnishing draperies, carpeting and water tanks for the orphans home.
.
The local Rotarians point out however, that Rotray is a service organization and not philanthropic. The school, hospice, etc. are established through the help of the club but then expected to become self-sufficient, relying on the assistance of government and private sources of revenue.

The Mphatlalatsane school is a showplace of “discipline with love,” organization and dedication. The mentally retarded children who would otherwise be ignored by the normal schools are taken in here. There is a waiting list of some 300.
.
The children come from Rammulotsi and other townships. There is a hostel on campus for those from out of town. The learners are taught basic skills - how to use a water based toilet and shower; how to dress themselves, how to eat with utensils; bedwetting is addressed; they are taught to sew and clean. Instruction is in both Afrikaans and Sesotho. Memory games, singing and dancing as well as sports are very popular. Basic reading and writing is taught. Loving care by the staff results in higher self-esteem.
.
The joy of the students is evident. As in the normal and private schools throughout South Africa, the students wear uniforms. This does much to eliminate the most obvious signs of poverty.
.
Upon finishing school, a few of the young men employed at the school or on local farms. There is a hostel in Viljoenskroon to house a few of these.
.
The staff here has expanded their reach into the community to the parents. The tribal cultures dictate that children who are not developing properly are to be ignored. Care is directed to those who will survive. The school staff counsels the parents and help them to accept their own children in spite of their disability.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

BUZI Gold is Better than Mealie King?

(Photos forthcoming, really)
.
The famers are preparing the fields for the maize. The farms are huge - some as large as 3,000 hectares (1 hectare = 2.47 acres). The most modern equipment is used to cultivate. We watched just for a bit as nitrogen gas was used to fertilize one field.
.
The maize is harvested and delivered to the local storage owned by the Allum Brothers. We were given a tour of the grain elevators by Lynette Nel, an employee of the company and also chair of the Hospice board. The silos can store 50,000 tons of maize. The automated system in place must rival any found in America. Gas fired drying, automated injection of incecticide and conveyor belt moving from silo to silo by the ton noisily impressed us.
.
The maize is stored for farmers who decide when to order it sold. Prices fluxuate and are influenced by the Chicago Board of Trade.
.
Maize of better quality is ground into granules to make maize meal meal - a form of grits and a staple of South Africa. The packaging system is on site. Quality control is strict. Lynette gave us the royal tour - from lorry (large truck) loaded with maize weighing in all the way to loading the pallets of maize meal onto flatbeds. We saw that Maelie King "The Real Makoya" and BUZI Gold, are actually the same product placed in different bags! We promised not to spread this fact beyond this blog.
.
We finished the day covered with a light dust of corn meal and a satisfaction that we now have insight into the basis of thr economy and the working of those monsterousy huge silos.

The Hospice

(Photos to be added).
.
There are parts of this countryside in the Free State that remind us of the plains of Colorado. The vast open yellow grasslands await the spring rains. Twenty millimeters will turn yellow to green. There are mere pockets of trees and one can see to the distant horizon in every direction. The two lane roads in this farming area are straightaway. As we drove south from Potch to Viljoenskroon the spring winds picked up the dust. The haze was as thick as smoke.

The makukus appeared on the left. At first they appeared to be a long row of sheds, perhaps for storage of farm implements. As we approached I could see that these shacks were human shelters - no higher than eight or nine feet and made of corrugated metal. Hundreds of them (I learned later thousands of them) flat-roofed with fencing between. Huddled against one another they create a patchwork of metal.
.
This is Rammulotsi, the township a couple of "kilos" (kilometers) outside of Viljoenskroon. The township is a settlement of 120,000 blacks, primarily Sotho. The last census, four years ago, put the number crammed into the township at 105,000. Dr. Shahim, born and raised here in Viljoenskroon, as was his father, tells us that the unemployment rate in Rammalotsi is estimated to be 95%. No one we asked could tell us what the unemployed do all day.
.
Electricity is present, as is television. The makukus (shacks) do not have running water. There are neighborhood spigots and water is hand carried home for drinking, cooking and bathing. Toilets are very primitive out houses. Newer neighborhoods in Rammulotsi boast homes of brick with city provided water and sewer.
.
The roads to Viljoenskroon, as well as the roads in town, are surprisingly empty. Traffic is so sparse that we travelers from America must remind ourselves to look carefully at intersections, as the occasional approaching car seems to certainly be on the wrong side.
.
Black women employed as domestics travel by private kombis (vans) to drop-off spots and then walk to their employment. There they will spend the day cleaning, washing, and ironing. The men walk to jobs as gardeners. The more fortunate are employed in the few shops, as teachers, nurses, and government administrators, on the farms or in the maize meal and feed factories.

Many businesses in town habe closed. Where Viljoenskroon once supported three automobile dealerships, there is now one. And that one is now selling Chinese bakkies (pickups) with Toyota engines and drive train. The local market is well stocked and has the small town ambiance that allows locals to take the time to visit with old friends on chance meeting while shopping.
.
The distinction between blacks employed in the shops and in technical positions at the factory and those we see walking the roads or sitting on curbs is obvious – poverty is dusty, frayed about the edges, slow walking and for the most part black. Although on a quick visit to Klerksdorp, a major city of over 2 million, we drove through poor white neighborhoods where the incidence of poverty among whites was evident, but still not to the extent of the township.
.
The Rotary Club here is strong. It has a heritage of community service dating back to 1959. The local golf course clubhouse wall sports an oak board proudly displaying the gold lettered names of past presidents, Paul Harris fellows – including legendary golfer, Gary Player.
.
Rotarians took turns showing us the sights. The days we spent with our hosts were at times poignant as we viewed the result of life’s cruelties and uplifting when we realized the good works Rotary does here.
.
Our first stop on Monday, September 10, was the Viljoenskroon Hospice. This is a 1992 Rotary project. It serves over 450 adults and 350 children, primarily from the township.
.
While the hospice care takes place in homes, we visited the daycare center. The center cares for 74 children the day we visited. These children range in age from birth to 7 years old. All are either affected by AIDS (parents dead or dying) or infected with HIV. The center provides a clean, safe place to play and serves nutritious meals - the first and perhaps only one of the day for some.
.
Volunteers play with, care for and just plain show love for the children. It didn’t take long for the younger ones to approach us with out-stretched arms. Before long we were giving out hugs and handshakes and entertaining young and old alike with glimpses into the LCD screens of our cameras. We were told that the toys are disinfected daily.
.
We heard stories of how family and friends will shun a person known to be sick with AIDS; how the children are sometimes abandoned. The incidence of HIV being passed from infected mother to child during childbirth is 30%. Another 30% become infected during breastfeeding. We also learned that antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) do save lives – provided the patient first continues to use them even after they are feeling better and secon, and lives a preventive lifestyle with adequate nutrition. Education is the key to prevention, of course, but we also learned of the support groups offered through the hospice for both those infected and family members – especially mothers of infected children.
.
While there are laws preventing the testing of children for HIV without parental permission, we soon could see the more obvious cases. We learned that TB, tuberculosis, is common among those infected with HIV. We saw one little boy whose eyes were inflamed because of the smoke from the cooking fuel used by his family in the ill-ventilated makukus in the township.
.
The Hospice has both local government and international support. Donations come from church groups in the Netherlands, the British government and Rotary and Hospice in America. However, funding is not always continuous and hospice manager Maggie van der Merwe is always looking for new sources. Mark and Annie Rose learned that balls, puzzles, soft stuffed-animal toys, art supplies, paper, bubble wands and squirt guns (the ultimate favorite!) are high on the list of wanted toys. The hospice also needs wool (yarn) for knitting and clothes for adolescents and teens.
.
We visited a new building that will allow the youngest group of children to play in a bright clean area. This building will also allow the more sick children to stay overnight, if necessary.
.
By law, death certificates in South Africa cannot indicate AIDS as a cause of death. Thus “Natural Causes” is the euphemism utilized to disguise the extent of the epidemic and prevent accuracy in measuring the rate of infection.
.
We experienced an emotionally draining morning. One accented with the knowledge that people, through organizations such as Rotary, coupled with and love and money, can ease suffering.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Of Rugby and Crime

(Note: Photos will be added as soon as I can to a broadband based internet system - the dial-up machine I'm using makes me think I'm in some remote part of the world.)

The World Championship is on! Rugby teams from all over the world are competing for the title. Why, even the USA, that bastion of American football has a team fielded. They lost early on.
.
It appears to us here that everyone has a favorite team to cheer for, whether it's the Pretoria Blue Bulls, the Johannesburg Lions or certainly, the national team of South Africa, the Springboks. (You may have to Google that one.) The most notable aspect of rugby is the absence of helmets and pads - it's not for sissies. After watching a couple of televised games one notices that the game continues uninterrupted for 80 minutes. There are no commercials during this time; no time outs except to remove the injured from the field. This time control in this relatively fast moving game allows for viewing two games, or more in an afternoon!
.
We watched a game at the Potch Mooi Rotary clubhouse. The television was extra loud as were the spectators. I took this opportunity to interview Lisa Visser about her life in South Africa.
.
Lisa in the (soon to be posted) photo is on the right. She is of English descent. She is bilingual as is all whites and most blacks we've met so far, speaking both Afrikaans and English with ease. She attended university where classes were conducted in Afrikaans. Aside from her shock that we Americans eat only with fork and not the two fisted, ham-handed European practice of both knife and fork, she took to us. (Gotcha, Lisa!)
.
She was trained in the law and praticed as an attorney for a few years in the capital city, Pretoria (which by the way, will become Tshwane under the current government's practice of renaming buildings, airports, parks, streets and cities to reflect black heritage, or more often named after those who are credited with participating in the "struggle" against Apartheid). Lisa returned to Potchefstroom to work in her father's very successful mining implement business.
.
The following views may or may not be representative of the young professional whites in the Northwest or Free State provences. But Lisa is a highly educated successful business person with clear opinions.
.
She is disappointed that the death penalty has been repealed. In 1994, with the adoption of the new Consitution, one that emphasizes human rights above all else, the death penalty was abolished. Lisa has seen the extreme escalation of the incidence of serious crime in the past 14 years. Crimes such as rape, armed robbery, home invasion, car-jacking and murder are not uncommon. She believes those that are habitual criminals may relish the idea of being taken care of for the rest of their lives. A warm, comfotable lace to sleep and three meals a day beat living on the streets.
.
Lisa is concerned by the growing number of street children - orphans whose parents have abandoned them because they cannot support them, are in jail or who have died of AIDS. There is little in the way of a "safe haven" for them; the shelters are overrun. Many find their way into gangs in the townships - the black settlements around most cities.
.
She emphsizes Potch is safe. Rural blacks are humble, kind and still influenced by the older dispensation - looking to the government of the whites for employment or food. The urban blacks, as well as many young people attending school and university throughout the country, will be forming the new middle class. But this will take time.
.
Cars are routinely stolen by "the syndicates" - carloads of 4 or 5 young men who come form the city, Johannesburg to steal cars and bakkies (pick-ups) in sleepy Potch and drive them out quickly. Bakkies have been known to disappear from Rotary functions! These syndicates can be operated by locals or run by eastern Europeans.
.
Emil has learned that generally, police are slow to respond to calls, may be incompetent and possibly be subject to giving friends a break. Under the governments new "affirmative action" plan, no whites are to be promoted. The police, as well as the army are quickly becoming all black. Courts are slow to deal with crime. Court personnel are known to steal case files for friends or for a fee. There is even an article in the Gauteng newspaper yesterday which described how two men convicted of rape were allowed by the judge to go out for a smoke before sentencing. These, of course, are isolated incidents and are what is on people's minds when the subject comes up.
.
Lisa's major fear is rape. The forensic ability of the police is generally poor which means the prepretrator is likely to escape punishment. Even if found the means of identifying persons is becoming more difficult with the influx of illegals from Zimbabwe. Lisa believes 70% of all South African families will experience some form of serious crime during one's lifetime. She also has the fear of losing a family member, the possibility of a loved one being killed for a cellphone that can be sold for R200 (about $15) is very real for her.
.
The next fear for rape victims is the real danger of being infected with HIV. The incidence of HIV infection is great. Lisa believes the testing for HIV takes six months (Dr. Shahim tells us it's three months), as this is the period of time it takes for the virus to be positively detected. During this period of time, rape counseling may or may not be available. The victim may become depressed and possibly ostrasized by friends and co-workers. (Rotarian Dr. Peter Shahim of Viljoenstroon tells us that 50% of all pregnant women in South Africa are HIV+. Of the childen born of HIV+ women, about 30% contract the HIV during birth and about 30% breast feeding.)
.
Black females live with the fear of rape and the prospect of HIV infection. Many times, rapes of black women are not reported. Incompetence or indifference at the police station, the lack of proper counseling and trauma attention, most of all, the fear of retibution by the perpretrator or his gang. Many young black women feel helpless.
.
Security concerns among the whites is always evident. Aside from fences, gates, bars and cell-like doors, alarms and interior security gates are common. Interior security gates separate the bedrooms from the kitchen and living room areas of many homes. Burglars are thus encouraged to take the valuables and leave the homeowner's family alone. (Dr. Shahim tells us that the way to prevent auto tehft is relatively straightforward - just follow these steps: 1. Lock your car. 2. Activate the immobilizer (electrical). 3. Turn on the alarm; and 4. Install the "gearlock" (heavy metal brace over the gearshift).

Monday, September 10, 2007

The "Cliff Notes" Version of South African Histrory

Much of what the team experiences and the people we meet are best understood with a knowledge of history of this great land. The team members are each staying with host Rotarian families. Upon completion of group activities, we go our separate ways and live as honored guests! (Or in Mark's case, as "Honored Chef". Last night he cooked dinner for his hosts Jaap and Kim Styne on their farm outside of Viljoenstroon.) This aspect of the Rotary Group Study Exchange provides invaluable insight as we learn first hand of the history and lives of the families with which we stay.

The original people of South Africa were the San or bushmen. They lived primarily in the western part of the country. As time went on, other tribes from the north moved south in what is now known as South Africa. Most notable of these were the Zulu in the east and Xhosa in the southeast. (Thanks, Jaap!)

The location of South Africa at the most southern tip of the continent, the Cape of Good Hope, made it a natural stopover as traders navigated the trade route to India. By the 1650s the Dutch established settlements. To ease labor shortages, the Dutch brought slaves to this continent from Indonesia and India. The descendents of these people, intermarrying with Europeans, now constitute part of what was considered “colored”; at least in the western part of the country.

In the late 1700’s, as the Dutch East India Company’s influence waned, Great Britain seized the Cape of Good Hope area. As a result, the Dutch settlers began a movement northward and to the east. These people became known as the Boers, or more literally, "farmers". The movement to the northeast, known as the Voortrek, or "First Trek", is a monumental event in Afrikaner history. The Afrikaners fought with the Zulus during this time. Each culture shares poignant stories of specific battles and honors those who died.

However, there is much land in what is now the central and northeast part of South Africa was uninhabited until settled by the Boers. This is important to note as the current government has endorsed a program of allowing blacks to reclaim land, now owned by whites, that may have been once occupied by black families. Compensation is paid by the government, as compared to the outright expulsion of white farmers in Zimbabwe by alleged war veterns or "worvets".

The discovery of diamonds and gold in the 1860s accelerated British migration to the Boer areas. This resulted in the first Anglo-Boer War in 1880-1881 in which the Boers using guerrilla or commando tactics repelled the red-coated armies. Nevertheless, the Second Anglo-Boer War 1899 – 1902, was decisive as the British defeated the outnumbered Boers.

The British established camps of Boer women and children, gathered up as the commandos were away from the farms fighting. These camps became known as “concentration camps”. Hundreds of Boer women and children died and there is a monument to these people in Potchefstroom and Klerksdrop, sites of these camps. The existence of these camps contributed to ethnic hatred of the British by the Afrikaners well into the 20th century.

The Union of South Africa was formed in the early 20th century. Farming, ranching and mining established the wealth of the area.

Political and European ethnic allegiances brought out by World War II caused a split among the whites. As the Afrikaners were of Dutch, French and German decent, some held beliefs that South Africa should not join the war on the side of the Allies. The country did send troops to fight, however they were volunteers. This is notable as, the political split resulted in the ultra-conservative, religious based (Dutch Reformed Church) National Party to come to power in 1948. This political party consisted primarily of Afrikaners, as opposed to the more liberal parties made up of English, Indians and mixed-race coloreds.

While segregation of the races was always a part of life here, the National Party instituted a series of laws during the 1950s and 60s which were progressively more restrictive and harsh. The term “Apartheid” refers to these laws and translates, “apartness”.

The laws prohibiting party and union affiliation, voting, restricting jobs and education were put in place. The National Party continued repression with a continuing series of repressive laws including pass book requirements - a form of ID - and laws requiring blacks to move to “homelands” or Bantustans; our version of Indian reservations. It was the National Party’s law that required all school instruction to be in Afrikaans that many consider the spark which instigated the student marches in the early 60s resulting in police killings of children. These events gave strength to the African National Congress (ANC), the party of Nelson Mandela.

Strikes, marches and sabotage increased and the suppression of news in the early 1960s caused some of our hosts to be generally unaware of the extent of the cruelty and unrest in various parts of the country.

Many leaders of the outlawed ANC were killed or imprisoned during this time. Nelson Mandela, the most notable of the party's leaders, was convicted of sabotage and was imprisoned in 1963.

In 1990, after years of struggle by blacks in this country and world wide political and economic sanctions, the National Party, under the leadership of DeKlerk, began "negotiating itself out of power." The ban against the ANC was lifted and Nelson Mandela and others freed. Aprtheid legislation was gradually repealed. In 1994 the first multi-racial elections were held.

Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner of 27 years was elected president. President Mandela, along with Bishop Desmond Tutu and former president F.W. DeKlerk and others established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This unprecedented act allowed anyone who had committeed racially based crimes, even murder in many cases, to be granted amnesty by the government in exchange for admitting their crimes. Compensation was paid to victims or their survivors.

This act of confession and forgiveness, has enabled a country of some 47 million people - approximately 5 million white, 1.5 million Indian and Asian - to begin a process of healing.

F.W. DeKlerk and Nelson Mandela were awared the Nobel Prize for Peace because of their efforts to reunite the people of the Republic of South Africa.

South Afirca and its people are stealing our hearts.

Friday, September 7, 2007

Of Parys, Cheetahs and Scorpio

Friday we visited the Rotary Club of Parys in the Free State. Rotarians Hendrik Swanepoel and Debbie Bernhardt described their clubs completed projects and goals. They lease land on the Vaal River and hope to reclaim a park for the town.
We next journeyed to a private cheetah and game preserve. The cheetahs were rised by the preserve owner Estelle Kemp and are as tame as house cats - well, almost. They have this peculiar habit of wanting to chase down horses that the spot beyond the fence.
Pictured is Cheri tickling a big cat behind the ear.
What's Africa without a safari? While a game drive is not what we traditionally think of as a safari, within a few hours, if you're lucky, you can spot big game in their natural surroundings.
Pieter Kemp drove us into the veld where we were treated to seeing various antelope, white rhino, zebra and giraffe. We couldn't have been more excited at our luck!
Later we went into town for some shopping - metal work. See Mark, Vicky and Cheri, or rather visit their homes soon for a treat!
Next on to the Vredefort Dome - site of a meteor strike on Earth some 2025 million years ago. This natural phenomenon contributed to the gold mining upon which this country grew so rich.
Then on to the home and distillery of Hannes DeKlerk. He distilles nationally reknowned "witblits" - a strong grape based alcohol. This is also a traditional Afrikan drink steeped in history of life in South Africa.
We were next treated to views of the southern hemispere sky by amatuer astronomer Michael Buchanan who shared his telescope with us. Jupiter and three of its moons! He delighted us with a green laser pointer turned skyward - Scorpio and the Southern Cross!
What a day! Lekker! (Afrikaans for "Wonderful!")









The Court, Gumboot and Gus

Thursday morning Annie Rose visited a local Roman Catholic priest who happens to also be a painter. They shared much about his medium and he presented her with a photograph of his work.
.
Emil was the guest of Mag. Jensen at the local court. He was introduced to members of the bench, the court administrator and the chief prosecutor. They were very gracious in explaining things such as their lack of jury trials, how child victims testify through an intermediary and the respective jurisdictions of their courts. Emil sat in on a hearing in which he noted that the accused stands in the dock during the proceedings and the attorneys, bedecked in black robes, addresses the judge as "Your Worship."
.

Cheri, Mark and Vicky visited the Ikalafeng Special School located just past a shanty town outside of Potchchefstroom. The school for the developmentally disabled is a showplace of order, cleanliness and genuine concern of the faculty. Some of the childrens defects were obvious, many not so. But all were attentive and participated in playing a concert for us of percussion instruments to CD music. The highlight of the visit was the gumboot dancing!
The team toured Northwestern University during the afternoon. What struck Emil most was that the students looked and dressed as any in Colorado! And they routinely put laundry soap in the large fountain located in front of the law school!
.
That evening, a braai at the home of Gus and Marijke Van Heerden. This art and music filled home resonated with laughter as well as serious conversation about the state of their country.
We're tired, but want to see and learn more.

.