Ya! I know Kwa Ximba...

It is so hard for me to believe that it is actually the middle of May. Despite the mid 80s temperature the early stages of a South African winter are starting to make fleeting appearances. My throat has that pre-strep throat itch it always gets when the cold creeps in. The trees are slowly loosing their leaves and their flowers have vanished. Recently my legs have been outfitted with tights under the daily repertoire of dresses and on more than one occasion I have woken up cuddling with the “just in case” blanket which usually resides on the bottom of my bed…all telltale signs that the colder season is arriving.

And yet here I am, May 19th still in awe at how quickly the time has passed.

I remember at the beginning of the year when we used the early May arrival of the Villanova Nurses and the Malvern High School boys as a distinctive marker in our year. An “in the future” date…something to look forward to… something that seemed so far….something signifying that almost half of our year in South Africa was complete. And here I am, in the midst of it…

Earlier this week I was ask to guide the nurses through a valley tour. As I guided the eight nursing students and two professors through the Kwa Ximba valley I couldn’t help but feel satisfied. I was not only comfortable showing them around the valley, but I actually think I did a really good job.

I was able to identify the typical touristy sights – a traditional Zulu rondoval (round house) situated adjacent to other rectangular houses, the Tuk shops filled with chips and sweets and the tribal courts.

I was also able to point out certain things that you wouldn’t know from just passing through….
- The mountain that my patients refer to as “Sleeping Beauty” (the top of the mountain looks like her horizontal profile)
- I discussed in length the significance of the rondoval house which is where the elderly in the family live as a sign of respect
- We talked about the ineffectiveness of the government toilets which were conveniently placed every few feet, but inconveniently are never emptied
-I was able to field questions they asked about things I didn’t even realize I knew the answers to… such as why the women wear an orange colored mud on their faces (for sunscreen currently, but traditionally to let men know that they were menstruating...see image below)



And I mean how beautiful is she? Shes one of the women on my food parcel route....

It felt good to be able to have an answer for their questions and to feel like a part of the South African culture instead of a visitor.

To a degree certain things in South Africa still seem foreign, but slowly it is becoming my home away from home. A feeling I treasure.