Today I wake up refreshed and ready for a new day. We have a busy agenda with site visits and school visits. First a visit to Noxie’s school. Noxie is one of the host moms and she asked her principal to give us a tour. John Parma Elementary School was pretty large and has grades R (kindergarten) through grade 9. We got a tour of each classroom and took a picture with Noxie’s class. The classrooms are not that bright and cramped with many desks. The children are all so cheerful and wave at us through the windows.
Next we drive to Pricilla’s Home Foster Care. Pricilla houses 12 children and does day care for 10 more. She is in a wheelchair because of a recent stroke. She has two bedrooms for the children but they sleep more than one per bed. We all walked in the door and the children began to cry, too many people Pricilla said and they have never seen white people before because white people do not come here that often. The smell was a combination of old sheets, urine, mold, and lots of children. They were pretty cute and some were sleeping, but not many toys to play with. Which was sad to me because all kids need toys to play with and they did not have enough. One more stop on our busy schedule at Lydia’s for the morning. Lydia and her son both are HIV positive. She is currently living in the backyard of her friend’s house in a shack that JL Zwane built for her. Her mom and dad disowned her when they found out she was HIV positive. Her son has epilepsy and only has one lung. They are unable to pay for bills and rent. She has no support from her parents and her son’s school does not understand the signs of a seizure so he does not go to school for worry of a seizure. Her house/shack fits one queen size bed and a dresser and a little path for walking. All fifteen of us could barely fit. I was getting hungry and hot. Listening to her story and how she lives her life, made me feel faint. I went outside to sit down and get some air. My friends gave me some water and I ate a granola bar. We were on our way back to JL Zwane for lunch. Suzie looked at me and told me my lips were blue and I was really pale. They took care of me and I drank lots of water, so Mom no worries.
Back to JL Zwane for a delicious lunch again, I am beginning to feel the irony in this set up. We are here to learn and provide food parcels to people who do not get fed regularly, but we are fed Thanksgiving every lunch and dinner. It kinda bugs me. I like eating, don’t get me wrong. I cannot put a reason as to why it is this way. But the hospitality and welcoming atmosphere is amazing and they like to keep their guests happy. It is a way to show their culture and display the food of their heritage.
Back to the vans with our awesome drivers, Hershel and Godfrey for one more site visit. Mary Silli was talking to us about her life during Apartheid. We sat in her living room and asked her questions about her daily life then compared to now. She brought out her little passbook and explained what it was used for. One of her son’s was murdered five years ago, on the way home from work. She told us about this and how she has coped. All the rules regarding Apartheid were so strict and they were not allowed to grocery shop at certain time or go to recreational activities ever. It was difficult to listen to these stories when I knew that they are real and they did happen to people all over the place. Short summary of Wednesday, my week in Guguletu is coming to an end and I do not like it one bit.
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