Live from Durban

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Hello everyone,
I am writing from Durban. A beautiful city on the coast where it is hot and humid. Before i begin my travel blog I have to apologize to the black crows that I referred to in blog # 1. The screechy birds are not crows but hawdedas. They are big birds with long pointed beaks. So, apologies to the crows of this world.

I arrived in Durban on Saturday. My flight was at 10:05 and my taxi didn't arrive to pick me up until 8:50! I don't know how we made it to the airport because we had to go across Jo'burg and I think the shuttle got me there in record time. I arrived at 9:40am and just made the plane.
Durban is very hot and humid unlike Jo'burg that is dry and cool. My colleague picked me up from the airport and got me settled into my little cottage on the campus of the University of Kwazulu-Natal. There has been student riots the past 2 weeks but things seem to have calmed down by now.

On Sunday afternoon my colleague and her two kids, Leo and Felix, picked me up and we went to the beach for the afternoon.

Yesterday i was taken to a township outside of Durban where Ghandhi had lived from 1895 - 1914. The township is still very poor with shanty town like atmosphere. We visited a creche and also the house that Ghandhi lived in and it is now a museum. During Apartheid, the government had a clear policy of townships where blacks lived, coloureds lived and Indians lived, all separately. This particular townships was called Bombay as it was mainly Indians that lived there. Ghandhi learned his non-violent philosphy from South Africa.

Today we went south along the coast to the rural areas and met an amazing woman that has worked for years with rural people. She has made great strides in building creches (nurseries) and getting money for the rural people. She is particularly interested in indigenous plants for medicines and her yard and garden are full of plants for medicinal purposes. She has much knowledge in this area. As usual, the plants we try to grow in Canada are trees here!


I come home and sit under the ceiling fan to get cool. No air-conditioning in the cottage. Apparently there are monkeys around the cottage but I haven't seen any yet.

One more day in Durban and then I go back to Jo'burg to meet up with Steve and my sister and brother-in-law.
Linda

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