Blogs from Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Africa

Mountains do good things to me. My first few days in the Ukhahlamba Drakensbergin KwaZulu-Natalhave helped me, I am sure of it. Sometimes when I struggle to make sense of my place in the world, or when my depression does its best to drag me down, I just know that it’s time to climb a mountain. So I put on my boots, with my camera bag on my back, and I look skywards. I choose a route, and I start at the beginning. I put one foot in front of the other, and I make slow progress. At first, thoughts race through my head. Why, how, what, where? Questions without answers bombard my brain. My cold body, still chilled from the night, adapts slowly to the gradient. My legs ache and my heart beats rapidly.... read more

As you would expect, our journey started with a slight hiccup. During check-in at Melbourne international airport, where we had to board our non-stop flight to Johannesburg, we were asked about our on-ward travel plans from South Africa. As it happened we had only booked a one-way flight, wanting to keep our options open after the world cup. The lady at the check-in desk informed us that, due to the aforementioned sporting event, regulations had become more strict and we needed to produce proof of our onward journey out of South Africa. Luckily we had an hour and a half before boarding, enough time to book a ticket and have a nice pre-flight breakfast. We'd been up since 4am and hadn't eaten, having had to take our cholera vaccine earlier that morning on an empty stomach. ... read more

Friday morning.. I am eating a veggie burger with incredibly spicy chili paste that Freds' wife made. She makes jar after jar of all these amazing Indian pickles, chutneys and chilis. That is probably the only good thing I can say about that woman.. I feel that she is the primary reason Fred will not offer me part time work. If ever I have seen an example of keeping someone on a short leash, this is it. See..Fred is a successful farmer that had no children..She was just a sweeping and coffee lady at the office. He knocked her up and now they have two little children running around..plus her other son, full Indian. This is ok..but if her skin tone were slightly darker then that would be a whole new story. anyway. Bob Dylan- love ... read more

So I got to Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday morning after 30hrs of travel and layovers, and went straight to orientation. Pietermaritzburg is the capital city of the region of Kwa-Zulu Natal which was home to the Zulu kingdom. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were spent pretty much just settling in. There are about 20 American students here, but only 3 of us are from Rutgers. There are also 3 Germans. We've pretty much been hanging out amongst ourselves, but that will change once classes and clubs get under way. Saturday we went on a bus/walking tour of down town Pietermaritzburg which is about 20min away by car. The city is beautiful and choc full of museums and historical cites as well as clubs and cafes, so you know I'll spend quite a bit of time down town. On ... read more

Hi all, I wanted to do a quick post on the recent violence in South Africa and include some pictures from a recent Zulu field trip (they don't exactly go together, but oh well)(on second thought, I'll let you make your own comparison between the peacefulness in traditional life and the violence occurring in the urban areas). Firstly, some of you may have heard in the news about the violence going on in South Africa. If you haven't, a quick catch up: starting a week or two ago, there have been numerous attacks on immigrants. Mobs of South Africans, angry over lack of jobs, housing, and education, have found scapegoats in the millions of immigrants from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, etc. So far the death toll is somewhere around 30-40 people, include a man who was burned ... read more