Hillcrest

Well, our two weeks at Windemere was absolutely fabulous. I was sad to leave! But where I'm staying now is almost as fabulous, and quite eye-opening.

I am living with two other girls at a Bed and Breakfast in an upper-class white suburb 30 minutes outside of Durban- Hillcrest. (As a side note, many of the other suburbs around Durban are different in that they have been integrated with many upper class families of all races, but not Hillcrest.) The B&B is fabulous, we have our own kitchenette and full bathroom separate from the main house. The backyard has a beautiful garden and pool area that we are taking full advantage of. The neighborhood is generally safe for us to run in as well, and the estates we are running past, gorgeous! The owners of the B&B have also been quite welcoming and friendly (and a little hilarious). Debbie has been so sweet by offering us rides to the grocery store or mall. She is quite a talker, though, and always has many interesting things to share with us. This can provide insight on the racism often expressed by white Afrikaners that we have not otherwise experienced. She has made comments about this construction company who "only" got the job because of a type of South African affirmative action plan, and that her husbands construction company would not be taking 2 years to finish it. Or that the "Indians really know how to cook, that's one thing they're good for." We heard some of these comments the first day we had met her, and it was quite a shocking experience. Like I said earlier, she has always been very sweet to us, but it's really difficult to hear her speak with such racism when we have families in Cato Manor. And really, living here makes the inequality of South Africa even more obvious.

Which, brings me to a current event. An Afrikans man was brutally murdered on Sunday by 2 Black men. It is igniting a lot of controversy right now because a)He was a leader of a pro-Apartheid political party and b) because of this "Shoot the boer" song being sung within the country by leaders. (Boer is a derogatory term used to describe white Afrikans people). And, the Youth Leader of the ANC (which is the leading political party of the country), continues to sing this song when he speaks. (This song has been in high controversy for months.) The song has recently been banned, but I guess we'll see what actually happens with this ANC Youth Leader and tensions within the country.

Racial tensions are still so prevalent in this country. I walk around with people of other races all the time (other students from the SIT program), and people just stare and gawk at us. (I'll be thinking, why the heck are all these people staring at us? and then I'm like, Oh, that's right, we're not segregating ourselves). The clubs and bars are also often segregated (not officially, though). When we go out, we'll walk in, and often be the only people there not all the same color as everyone else. It's so weird and awful! (But we do frequently joke that we're "crossing boundaries".) And one of the students is currently dating someone who is Zulu. And people go crazy! People who are white and Indian will yell derogatory comments at them while they are out in public. (And they are definitely not displaying signs of PDA). I was buying ice cream one day, and the staff (who were Zulu), were talking very negatively about the bi-racial couple. It's often really shocking and upsetting.


On a different note, today we were laying by the pool, when we heard this squawking noise (like a giant bird). We look over, and there's these monkeys in the backyard. There were 7 of them! I'm not quite sure if I've talked about them before. They are everywhere, and mean! So basically, we don't feed them and we don't interact with them. But even so, it was quite entertaining to be sitting in the backyard watching monkeys climb all over the bird feeder and the trees. It was definitely one of those moments where I was like "I feel like I'm in Africa!".


Anyways! Tomorrow I go to St. Mary's hospital in Mariannhill. I start my learnership observing the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS. I'm excited!


(Oh! And I forgot to say that for Easter, Julia, Sarah, and I made a delicious dinner with salad, ham, dumplings, deviled eggs, and brownies :-) It was a little sad to be away from home, but we definitely made the best of it.)