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Published: February 13th 2009
Friday 8th February
Sorry this post if at least 5 days late. Internet in the Transkei was appalling and nowhere has Microsoft word or USB ports so have had to wait till now!
We arrived in Jeffery’s bay, at Island Vibe around 8pm. The bar was already full and we had missed supper so it was a bowl of cereal for that night! The Brazilian guys and Kirsten from Norway were staying at Island Vibe as well and it was nice to be back with them laughing about their experiences at the Bloukrans bungy.
On Friday morning we all decided that we’d go on a township tour. The tour guide was a guy called Cassidy, Cas for short. He was 31 and had previously been a member of staff at the backpackers. He lived in the township with his girlfriend and three children, all daughters. Our first impressions of him were that he was a little crazy. He was full of life, spoke very loudly and was very outspoken. We talked for a while about the history of the apartheid era and what affect it had had on him. Cas talked about how his mother was kicked in
the stomach whilst she was pregnant by a white police officer and how that had caused him, for the majority of his younger life, to always hate and want revenge on the whites in South Africa. His mother was a Christian lady and would not have her son growing up in this way, she would not bring up an angry boy in her house. So Cas learnt to forgive and forget and he has thrown all these prejudices away and out of his mind.
We walked for some time into the township. The first place we stopped to visit was at a man’s house to try some of his homemade bread. We sat in his lounge listening to Stevie Wonder and eating his freshly made bread. As we were leaving he asked if anyone needed to use the bathroom. Everyone in the group kindly said that they didn’t and for some reason he seemed to think it was because we did not want to use a toilet in the township in fear of it being really dirty or whatever. He then proceeded to show us the bathroom, which was very clean, even though we didn’t need to use it
and so we went on our way!
Cassidy buy’s some of the local kids fruit whenever he is doing a tour and so whenever they see him coming with a load of white people they all run up to him and they came to greet us. We stood taking photos of all the little kids with the girls and then went to visit the Sangoma.
The Sangoma is a local herb doctor or witch doctor. Cas explained to us that she was always a strange person and even as a child did not act normally. She would never ever cry, she’d play on her own and never have any interest in other kids. After a while her family took her to the local Sangoma who told them that she too has a gift and that she will become a Sangoma later in life. She was taught many things through the older sangomas and apparently receives all of her herbal medicine combinations in her dreams.
It was very interesting hearing some of the things that she can do and has done. She had a snake skin hanging on the wall, which, when wrapped around someone’s wrist combined with a
mix of herbs will allow them to hear their enemies’ thoughts and be protected from them.
As we left the Sangoma we had to give her a R15 offering which according to Cas she sets some herbs on fire and blows the smoke from it onto the money to check that it is not evil and so we placed it onto the ground so that she could do this before picking it up!
Our next visit was to a local house where we sampled the Xhosa-style homebrewed beer. Its called Umqombothi, pronounced with a click in the middle. We drank it out of plastic paint buckets almost. It is made from maize and corn and a few other things, and its left in a room to ferment for about four days. It wasn’t the most pleasant drink I had had yet but I did not find it too bad. The girls were a little more cautious but Luc loved it and making sure she did not offend whoever was the brewer! If I had to describe how it tasted I would say a little like bonfire but with a slight tanginess to it.
Cas described to us
in quite a lot of detail the process of becoming a man in the Xhosa community when you turn twenty. They are sent out into the bush to be circumcised at this age. This used to be carried out using sharp rocks but now they use a blade. In their face they are not allowed to express any feeling of pain and if they do they will always be a boy and will not be accepted as a man in their community. After this they have to stay in the bush and live off only what is growing around them. They mustn’t drink anything for three weeks, as they cannot use their “papa”! After any infection has gone away and there is no longer any healing to be done there is a big party in their township for them. At the end of it the boy who has just become a man is allowed to pick any girl from about 40 women to spend the evening with.
It was so interesting talking to him about the way they treat women in their community. The man comes first in everything. Even when we were served tea in the first man’s home,
I was the one to be served first as Cas thought I was the oldest male there when in fact I was the youngest guy there!
After visiting his home/shack and two of his daughters we walked to the local Shebeen which was pretty busy with people stood round the pool table watching the very serious games unfold. I was the only one that was bothered about having a beer and so Cas and me enjoyed quite a few bottles of Black Label Castle. They drink beer from big bottles called quartz. They were R10 a bottle. Cas and I challenged two of the girls to a game of pool, which Cas lost for us by potting the white on the black. It was fun having everyone watch you play if not a little daunting.
That night we had a Mexican feast at Island Vibe, which was delicious, and only R40 each. We were all stood by the bar chatting when I tapped this guy on the shoulder to ask how his trip was going. He was with a big group of English people, twenty of them all on this tour called Ticket to Ride which is an
extreme sports television program. Anyway we got chatting and in my mind I recognised his face a little.
“Where are you from mate?” he asked.
“Oh, Jersey in the Channel Islands.” “Do you know it?” I said.
“I’m from Jersey!” shouted the reply!
Anyway, it turns out this guy is Henry Adelman, who I went to school with and who’s mum taught at the school as well. It’s such a small world and its always going to be some guy from Jersey I’m going to meet!
The next morning, Saturday, I called Cas as I’d mentioned to him that it would be cool to spend the day with him and go see another township or something. He came round to Island Vibe around ten o’clock. We got two taxis, one from J Bay to Humansdorp and then onto this small village called Hankey. This was our first experience of African/Public taxis. They were interesting. We felt perfectly safe with the loud music and with Luc pretty much sat on this big mamma’s lap!
This township called Hankey is where his eldest daughter goes to school as its better than the one in Jeffery’s Bay
and so she lives with her grandparents during the week. We walked through the village and to the home where his daughter was living. It was so nice to meet the rest of his family. They were all very smiley and welcoming, always offering us drinks etc.
We set off on a walk with the two little girls, one who was his sister in laws daughter and his daughter who were four and six respectively. They were so cute and did not complain once whilst we were walking absolutely miles in the blistering heat just to go see this gap in the mountain, which we didn’t even end up seeing as the climb was too steep! We went back to the house and washed ourselves in a big bucket of water, Luc first, followed by all the men.
Cassidy cooked us lunch in his girlfriend’s parent’s home. We ate their traditional meal, which is made from maize-meal with chicken in a sauce on top. The maize-meal had a very similar consistency to porridge and was very nice!
We went for one quick drink(s) in the shebeen before returning back to the backpackers around six o’clock. It had
been a very tiring day but it was so good to spend it with Cas and his family and be submerged into a different culture and way of living.
It has made me even more excited about my time in East Africa and about the people I’m going to meet.
Last night we had a pirate themed night so out came the bandanas and eyeliner to draw anchors and scars on everyone. It was a really fun night but quite sad as it was our last night with Kirsten whom I think Luc has made really good friends with.
Everywhere we have been so far we’ve met new people and every time we leave it’s always quite sad leaving them behind. The only thing we wish we could do is stay longer in places but as soon as we’ve moved on we end up loving the next place even more!
We are travelling to Port Elizabeth next and then onto the Coffee Shack in Coffee Bay where surfing lessons are R20 for 2 hours!
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anonymous
non-member comment
wow how amazing and i cant believe you met henry adleman. glad you werent ill from their home cooking!!! please ring me before setting off to east africa. james has cooked dinner for valentines tonight and roo has brought his obvious date carlisle!!!! xxxx love miss you xxxxx love to luc