South Africa 2011: June 2011

Sunday Adventures

This Sunday we had the privilege of going to church with Octavia, the guest manageress of our house. The service was in Xhosa, but we felt very welcomed and involved. When we arrived they called the six of us to the front to introduce ourselves. We spoke in Xhosa which everyone LOVED, though I'm not sure if it because we spoke well or because we spoke poorly. Regardless, we danced to the song we couldn't sing. I shared a chair with a young boy (sometimes two young boys), and we became action-figure central. It was great to be there with Octavia and fun to see how her congregation worships.

After church Octavia took us to experiene Mzoli's Meat, and experience we did. Mzoli's is basically a huge public braai where you select your meat and they BBQ it for you. I think you are supposed to bring your own utensils, but we did no such thing. Instead we dug in to our bucket of meat with every little bit of our hands and faces. After being exposed to our truly carnivorous selves, Octavia took us to see some of the local monuments commemorating apartheid-era tragedies.

A rainbow by Table Mountain. This was taken out the window while lying in my bed on Sunday morning.

Our group with Octavia at Mzoli's.

Waiting for our meat. It was several hours. We took lots of pictures.

And THIS is our bucket of meat! There were five different varieties of meat, but once we started at it, there was very little differentiation.

You think you know yourself and then someone gives you a bucket of meat.

Done. I'm estimating, but I think that took us about 7 minutes.

Monument commemorating the Gugulethu 7, seven young men who were shot and killed in 1986 by apartheid security forces.

We ended the day with a celebration of Sara's birth. :)

Genadendal, The Valley of God's Grace

On Saturday we spent the day touring Genadendal, South Africa, a town a few hours outside of Cape Town. Genadendal is a Moravian settlement and the first missionary station in South Africa. It is also the namesake of Nelson Mandela's presidential residence. We spent the morning touring around and the afternoon eating a delicious and humongous meal at the home of our guide. After several hours of eating, we all settled in for a nap on the bus. I don't have any pictures to prove it, but I also ate my first ostrich burger later that night back in Cape Town.

It only took a two hour bus ride to find autumn!

Entering the cemetery: "Sewn in Weakness" in Dutch.

"Raised in Glory"---I think.

We loved on their animals.

The second course of our four course meal. I know I take a lot of food pictures, but I am spending a lot of time with food.

All of this food.....

....was made on/in this fire-burning stove-oven.

Our guide Paul and his Siberian Husky.

I saw a lot of "firsts" on our trip to Genadendal. The first pipe organ in South African, the first formal church....my first blue toilet.

Waving goodbye to our gracious hosts.

Hellos and Goodbyes at Tafelsig

When I first found out that I had been placed at Tafelsig Clinic for my internship, I was truly worried about my lack of medical experience and how it would affect my ability to be of value there. But as it turns out, what I thought was a short-coming has actually been a gift. While my lack of experience has limited my capacity as a worker, in has unhinged my capacity as a learner and what I have learned has very little to do with medicine:

With just over two weeks under my belt at the busy Tafelsig Clinic, I cannot say enough about the people that have welcomed me there. Brother Eddie is one of those people. He greets me by name as we pass in the hallway and is forever throwing me a questioning ‘thumbs-up’ to make sure I am alright. One day at leaving time I was rushing passed the reception area in pursuit of the door when I heard a forceful knock on the reception window. I turned around and there was Brother Eddie, looking paternalistic. “How can you run past here like that?” he said. “You must tell us goodbye before you leave.” The tone in his voice was serious and I knew I had committed a cultural faux pas.

I should have known better. In our short stay in South Africa the importance of “hellos” and “goodbyes” has come up several times. Since the beginning, Steve McDuff has stressed the importance of thoughtful greetings and their ability to communicate respect. But for some reason I still ran past that window. It took Brother Eddie’s knock to solidify the message and to help me truly recognize the propensity toward respect in South African culture.

When I arrive at Tafelsig in the morning, Fahmy and Tyrone shout a “Hello” from the pharmacy. I get a “How’s it?” from Warren when I drop my bag in the back and a sincere “Good Morning” from Sister Sandy when I make it to the examination room. The kids greet me with a “Hello, Aunty” and their mothers with a “Hello, Sister.” Wendy welcomes me to tea time with a “How are you, my dear?” and Aunty Iris hollers “Erin!” down the hall. Immunized (and traumatized) children muster tearful waves as they leave the room. “Aye, shame,” is the response from Brother Eddie upon confirmation of my departure and the security guards say goodbye as a board the van to go home. In every way the greetings at Tafelsig communicate a respect that is not only spoken, but felt.

When I arrived at Tafelsig I wanted to do nothing more that prove my (medically-inexperienced) worth, but Tafelsig has taught me that I don’t have to. They value and respect me whether or not I can contribute to their clinic. I have been reminded that proving my worth should always be second to finding worth in others. Everyone at Tafelsig Clinic already knows this. That is why their greetings are so sincere. That is why in the face of serious resource limitations, they are able to provide high quality care to their patients. That is how they endure increased workloads and long hours. They truly value people for being people, and experiencing this is why being at Tafelsig Clinic has been such a valuable experience for me.

Needless to say, I don’t run past that window anymore. I stop and I wait and I say goodbye to Brother Eddie to be sure that he knows the depth of respect I have for him.