Trick or Treat!!!

We tried explaining Halloween to Fikiswa… and the concept was a bit murky, but we decided that we could celebrate Halloween on our blog. Here are our costumes:

Boo! Spooky 1/2 Portrait Alex!

Aaarrrgghghghg! Scary 1/2 Portrait Andy!

We have a Dario Argento movie stored on the computer, so I think we’ll watch it tonight and try to scare eachother to death—muahahaha!!!!!!!!!!

Andy and I decided it was time to flee Mount Frere for the weekend and head for the coast.

A&A at the Indian Ocean

Someone suggested Margate, which looked even crappier than Atlantic City (if that’s possible), but when Scilla told us about the bungalows where the Umngazi River meets the Indian Ocean, well, we were convinced. Think we made the ride choice?

View from the Umngazi River Bungalows

Andy outside our bungalow

The 3 hour drive to the coast was peaceful and breathtaking, and it was great to put thoughts of work to rest for 24 hours. We arrived at noon, managing not to kill any of the cows idly standing in the middle of the road, and immediately set off for the beach. It’s still off season here, and we had the beach entirely to ourselves, which was an absolute dream. The waves were crashing, but warm, and we paddled around for hours.

Purple lobster tail on the beach!

The next day we did the same, but decided to go for a hike, too. They told us we couldn’t go on a hike w/o a guide, but guides be damned!!! We did it anyway, and the only downfall was forgetting to put on enough sunblock (sorry Mom!).

Hiking along the Umngazi River

It was breathtaking. I hope we’ll be able to go again some weekend

I’ve fallen behind w/ posts, but a few weeks ago we went to a local school to meet with the principal and other officials to tell/remind them about ASAP & Hlomelikusasa, and introduce us.

School in Mt. Frere

We arrived at the school and there was a huge pot over a fire in preparation for a big celebration at the school. Then a bunch of 12-16 year old boys started grabbing chickens from a car and taking them over toward the fire. Bye-bye chickens. But it got worse: next the kids pulled a hog-tied sheep out of the truck and dragged it around the side of the building. I won’t sugar coat it—they slaughtered Mr. Sheep. I could see the whole thing happening from the window during our meeting. Gross.

School kids: always ready for a photo!

The faculty at the school are lackluster at best. We were introduced to them by the assistant principal as “brilliant teachers who will show you how to do your job” so it’s no wonder they all hate us. Well, at first we thought they hated us, now it seems more like they just don’t care. Sometimes the teachers don’t even show up to teach their own classes. We have now been there a few times (Andy focuses on maths/sciences tutoring, and I am doing art and writing), and it’s been hard. Many of the orphans/vulnerable children don’t understand English at all—that wouldn’t be a problem if all their exams weren’t in English. It’s frustrating, and sad that they get so little help and attention.
The tech teacher is the only one who seems happy and enthusiastic to have us there. Andy’s been helping a lot in the computer lab. There are about 15 ancient computers. When we got there they were all broken, but Andy fixed them (and by “fixed” I mean “plugged them in”—yeah, he’s a genius). Every single computer has a virus, and even though they turn on, they hardly work. But they have put in an application to Dell for 30 computers, so maybe they’ll at least get a few. We’ll see.
The tech teacher is also the head gardener. They’ve got a pretty great garden that the kids work on every day after school. It’s in the beginning stages, but stay tuned, we’ll keep updating the pictures and show you the garden as it grows. It’s already showing improvement, which is really fun to watch:

Garden after 1 day

Garden after 1 week

Garden after 3 weeks

The Gogos lunch comes once a month, and is quite a memorable event.
The Gogos (grandmothers who ASAP and Hlomelikusasa assist) are supporting and caring for their grandchildren, usually because their own children have died from HIV/AIDS. We met in a large room at the Roman Catholic hall, sort of like a school auditorium. I can hardly explain what it was like. As we walked into the room we were greeted by 40 gogos and village health care workers singing us the Hlomelikusasa song. It’s a great song, especially when you hear it sung through these powerhouse granny voices!

Gogos Lunch

The gogos and village health care workers were so nice and welcoming. One gogo even offered to slaughter a chicken for us! We had an interesting time telling her we don’t eat meat.

We spent about 4 hours watching them sing and dance, and tell stories of their childhood.

Gogos dancing & storytelling

The stories were hilarious—the gogos are a bunch of flirts! A bunch of their stories are about how they used to sneak their boyfriends into their bedrooms, or sneak out, BUT they also kept their legs crossed, as they had to take virginity tests on a regular basis!!! Virtinity tests have fallen by the wayside, but they are trying to reinstate them, since teen pregnancy is so high.