Easy Like Sunday Morning

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I have arrived in St. Lucia and at the African Impact house. It’s a gated property as are most of the properties in South Africa for safety precautions. And it’s rather nice, despite hearing about the mosquitoes and cockroaches. We have a cook and a pool and a Jacuzzi and a common room with satellite TV and a DVD player…pretty set up here. Oh and it pretty much looks like Fred Flintstone’s house, red rock and thatched roof. We have a dog as well…looks like Daisy from my Hamptons share house and I keep calling her that despite her name being Peanut.

Annabel is the project leader who was nice enough to take me for a drive around town, which is a street of about 800m in length but very busy. The town is not a typical Africa town (or at least what I pictured a rural town to look like…dirt road, simple homes, the one general store, etc) but in fact it is almost like being at the beach and I actually am…it’s the type of place you may have your summer home. There are maybe about 500 permanent residents and thousands of people who are currently residing here temporarily…it’s a big tourist town although there are a number of local Zulu villages in the area. The beach here is magnificent…sandy white shores that stretch for as far as the eye can see! There are two beach entrances in St. Lucia…this was set up during the apartheid when there was one for the blacks and one for the whites… apparently, not everyone is comfortable with the dissolution of apartheid in this area. It’s really sad. Obviously most of the tourists are but from my understanding some of the Afrikaans are not and Annabel has received looks by passersby who see her with Theo, one of the Zulu guys we work with, since they are together so often.

There are a whole bunch of volunteers here (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Holland, Australia, Canada, UK, and America)…ALL girls which is kind of annoying…eleven. I don’t mind it being all girls but where there are that many it’s a cause for trouble and being the newcomer I can already sense some personality conflicts among the others. I suppose its OK, despite one of them being fairly unstable, since I am actually the only one doing the photography project here…most of them are working in the local village on different projects, painting a church, fixing up a school, teaching an AIDS course, making bricks and I may be helping out on occasion, but I think the focus for me is just the photography, at least its supposed to be. There may be a few days where I get to teach the children the English names of the animals and a little bit about each of them. So this guy Christopher Scott got in Sunday night after my arrival…he is the professional photographer who will be teaching me how to take even better photos than I already do…ha. But seriously, there is always room for improvement and I am really looking forward to his advice. His photos are INCREDIBLE and he’s from Zimbabwe, incidentally.

We all went out and had a nice family dinner together at this place called St Pizza. It was pretty damn good food… Our cook, Katrina, is here from Monday - Saturdays, lunch and dinner. So I just have to fix myself breakfast…which is fine cuz now I get to have true scrambled eggs the way I WANT my scrambled eggs… I don’t have to find out how to say it in a different language, I don’t have to play charades…its just how I like it!

I spent my first morning with African Impact being retaught the basics of photography (aperture, shutter speed, ISO, light metering, etc…) much of which I know but it never hurts to hear it again especially being the amateur that I am…even to walk away with one or two more pieces of information makes it worthwhile. Eva from Switzerland joined me as she is also interested in photography but she has not had any formal education…so back to the rudiments. The afternoon we looked through some of my pictures and some of Eva’s and Chris’ as well as through coffee table books and magazines just to discuss composition and the things we talked about in the morning. All in all a good day and it was nice to just do something which is sort of work and work that I love…and stay home all day!

More of the same the second day…Chris taught Eva and I a bit of photoshop. And then we went to the beach to take some photographs although its been amazingly windy here the past day and the sand was pelting my legs….that felt nice…it was pretty harsh. Not too upset about the wind though cuz it blew away all of the clouds and the last half of my first week has been incredibly sunny and warm. Just stunningly beautiful. The first few days were surprisingly pretty chilly, a bit cloudy but no rain. Definitely did not sweat my ass off like I had expected and that’s a good thing. But this time of year it can be sweltering, so I will appreciate this now!

Wednesday I went to local Zulu village, Khula (which means to grow and has a population of 13,000), with the girls who were teaching the kids at the day care center songs. The children were also in arts and crafts making a magic wand out of straws and felt. I was able to just walk around and photograph them, which is fabulous for me…I think children are one of my favorite subjects to shoot…just their carefree and uninhibited nature. They played a few games/ activities that were reminiscent of capture the flag and duck duck goose but the Zulu versions. When I left some of the girls asked if they could give me a hug…it was so sweet and innocent and just brought a huge smile to my face.

In the afternoon I went around with Yolanda…a photographer from Jo-burg who is here just a week to photograph the villages and traditional life. She hired a guide by the name of Vusi. We went into the “sacred forest” and visited Duku Duku village. The “sacred forest” is inhabited by 17 people…when the apartheid ended in 1994 the people were told to move to the other side of the main road which leads to St. Lucia from Mtubatuba. These people refused since they believed the land where they were currently living was much more fertile for their crop so eventually the government let them stay and then forgot about them…they were given no electricity and no water. This particular area had a few homes/ huts, a father who is a sangoma - a witchcraft healer, two wives and like seven-plus children. Polygamy is common here. Some of the children performed a traditional dance to a beating of a drum and singing inside the hut which was fun to watch. Some of the music came from aluminum can tops tied together on a piece of animal hide which was tied around one of the boys feet. A fascinating and creative noise maker!

Because the sangoma was not home we decided that we would come back the next day so I could experience traditional healing and have him tell me my future. When we returned the next day we were greeted by everyone extremely warmly. Now, I don’t believe in fortune telling or anything but I wanted to experience something traditional in the Zulu culture. Anyway, I apologize if I am wrong about this, but this guy was full of shit. Clearly he saw the ring I wear on my “ring” finger and asked where my husband was…when I said I don’t have a husband, Vusi, who was translating for the sangoma, said that this is why he asked…the sangoma spoke with his “ancestors” and saw that there was a problem. I said there is no problem and then he deduced it must be a boyfriend, etc etc…and it went on in circles like this…anyway, he still wanted to help me with this mysterious problem I have with the husband I don’t have. He offered me this powder that I was to mix with water and then bathe with it and I would be cured. I am supposed to call them when I get married to let them know that it worked! I had to try so hard to keep from being rude and laughing…but I was dying inside. When he wanted more money for Love Potion No. 9 I said I didn’t have any more money and thank you. The more interesting part was that we also witnessed his “prescription” for another woman who had traveled many many kilometers to see him about the pains she has all over her body. The Sangoma’s wife was instructed to poke her with porcupine needles which injected her with a special medicine created by him. She was poked all over her body and in some places until she bled. The woman was comfortable with us there and allowed us to take photos of her as it was carried out. One interesting point that Annabel had seen was that prior to chatting with the sangoma she had pulled out a printout of her diagnosis from a proper doctor to show him!

Earlier that day I had gone to see Mitta. Mitta is the woman who teaches us Zulu, which for me was nearly impossible! I heart Mitta though, she is a character. Ronaldo was the guy who was my language instructor and I now know how to say hello, stay well, go well, how are you, I’m fine…etc. There are some words where you have to make these odd sound effects that I just cannot grasp. I got quizzed at the end and got about 13 out of 20 correct.

On Friday I went around with Yolanda again. We parked the car at the day care center so I got to see some of the children again and one of them ran right up to me and gave me this great big hug and didn’t let go of me for like 5 minutes. It was amazingly warming and it makes me wonder how much attention they are actually receiving at home and I hate to think about it too long since its upsetting to think about. We walked around Khula on our own and found a family walking to do their laundry, at least we thought. Then they stopped and we didn’t see a river for them to proceed so I was happy enough to just photograph them as is but I think Yolanda was a bit disappointed…she’s REALLY about getting the perfect shot. She’s an interesting character I will say. She’s from Jo-burg and I think she expects the world from everyone around her. She’s extremely demanding and self-absorbed, but completely nice. She just doesn’t realize it or probably doesn’t see anything wrong with how she is. For example, we were talking at dinner the other night how one of the girls was going to get a box of her donations from Durban to St. Lucia and in the middle of our discussion she interrupted with asking where she can go to photograph tomorrow…and then one of the girls here is HIV+ and we were in a pretty deep discussion, albeit sidetracked from where we had started, but she was telling us her story…maybe Yolanda had heard it already but there is no reason to interrupt, which she did… While I think she enjoys my company here I very much needed a break so in the afternoon Annabel and I went for a drive. Not like a drive to clear our heads like we may do in high school or college, but like a game drive…and its also right in our backyard! It’s crazy…we saw zebra, kudu, waterbucks, a few birds and just chatted about her experience thus far as a project leader…its not easy. I guess I just don’t understand why girls or people in generally can be so difficult and mean. Especially here, I mean come on, you are here to volunteer and shouldn’t be fussing about things…its so ridiculous. If you’re going to bring your “diva” attitude with you then just stay where you came from, cuz this isn’t about YOU. Sorry, just had to rant a bit. We stopped for a bit at Lake St. Lucia which was just stunning.

Getting back to the day, the rest of the morning with Yolanda was nice. We walked by a home with a few girls. One of them had just run outside with a sheet shouting/ singing something. I wasn’t sure what was going on so I stopped in my tracks. Two of the girls waved us in…seriously, when was the last time you walked by someone’s home in America and little girls were home alone (the oldest was 17, the youngest just turned 5 the day before) and invited you into their home. While a little unconventional, it was a wonderful experience to see them in prayer.

Saturday, Gabi, Leslie, Ricky and I woke up at 345AM to go see the sunrise…damn that was early, but totally worth it - once. We got to the beach and it looked pretty damn cloudy but fortunately just as we all seemed ready to give up the sun rose over the ocean amongst rain clouds. It was gorgeous…the sun looked HUGE! It was against a backdrop of clouds and rainstorms on either side…it was lovely. And then rising behind the clouds we got nice rays shining behind and out from the clouds. We were back home around 515AM and all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. We were supposed to leave at 7AM to go to Theo’s village and the largest craft market in Zululand. Theo’s sister and her boyfriend, whom just had a child together, were solidifying their relationship by slaughtering a cow provided by the boyfriend. Unfortunately, or fortunately, whichever way you look at it, he didn’t follow through with a cow to slaughter. Thus I decided it would be in my best interest to go back to sleep after my breakfast of a huge bowl of cereal, three scrambled eggs and two pieces of toast. Food coma is a good trick for a solid 3 hour nap. Anyway, Yolanda seemed uphappy about my decision not to see the “biggest craft market in Zululand “…but I have 3 more weeks to do that and today was not the day. Anyway, she is this potentially self-proclaimed photographer I think…when she first arrived I wanted her thoughts on my photos…all she would say was “stunning” or “exquisite” and the like…obviously I loved her. But then she said it about so many of them it was hard to believe and when I heard her saying similar things to Annabel and Eva I knew she was just full of shit, not that their pictures aren’t awesome, cuz they are, but she was becoming rather redundant. Then she mentioned she hadn’t picked up a camera in 8 months. I don’t think if I was a “photographer” that that would really happen…I’m nowhere near a professional photographer but even if it was part-time or just for fun like it is for me there is no way I would go that long without taking pictures…and she threw her camera around like it was her purse and she had no protective filter covering her lens and only sometimes put her lens cap on! I don’t mean to bash the poor woman but I guess I’ve had my fill of her. She is extremely nice though and has allowed me to borrow her car on occasion so I can drive into town…

So I slept in and then went into town, which is like a 10 minute walk, to get free wireless internet since its like 5 USD an hour at the cheapest here at one of the cafes. I walk through this park as a shortcut during the day but apparently you aren’t supposed to walk through at night … there are no lights and the hippos come out of the water and roam around town and you do not want to come cross one of them. Came back home we watched Motorcycle Diaries and after dinner the Constant Gardener…both excellent movies. And highly recommend them if you haven’t already seen them. We also watched Tsotsi recently…an Academy Award winner that is actually a South African Zulu film. Really good and also comes recommended.

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