Today we were taking the Marionhill creche kids to the Zoo for their school trip - an activity sponsored by COPT. We were to be the taxi drivers and helpers, needing to be at the creche for 7.45am to 'load the kids'.
Health and safety seems a little slack in South Africa, and so I had 2 adults and 6 kids and me crammed into the car with 5 seat belts between us......
The zoo was in the centre of Durban city...about half an hours drive away from the township....and was a hair-raising experience!
Driving in Durban is a case of 'anything goes'. The infrastructure is basically ok, the freeways are pretty well maintained...the roads in and out of the townships are full of potholes and I did get stuck once...but traffic lights have no logic to them!! Firstly the locals call them 'robots' so I have no idea what they are on about.....and the rule is...if they are green you go....if they are red, and you think it's safe, you can go...if it's night and they are red, you can go.....if they are red and flashing, you can go, and they have no amber....????
Secondly, the car I am driving is a Toyota avanza.....and I'm not a car snob ( we have a skoda!!!), but c'mon.....this is a manual, with a top speed of 40 kph....it's pants, and I still managed to make a kid puke three times!
Anyway, we got to the zoo, 18 children and 7 helpers, and did have a great morning there, dodging the rain...and the wild monkeys which come and go as they please in and around Durban....these monkeys helped themselves to the kids picnic, running off with a yogurt, a sandwich and half a banana, healthy monkeys!
The highlight of the day was seeing my favourite animals...the meerkats....oh, and of course the smiles on the children's faces!
By early afternoon they were all shattered and ready to go back to the township for a rest, so they were all bundled back into the car.
Once home, and after suitable refreshment at Westville 'Mugg&Bean' (cheese and bacon muffin!) I headed with Jude, the English volunteer to Clermont township where we held the after school club for an hour.
The room we used is larger than most of the houses in the township and has electricity. It is made of cinder blocks and has a tin roof. When we got there, it was pouring with rain, so much so that it had come through the roof, into the lights, so we couldn't use the electricity.....the floor was wet, and the building was damp......this was one of the better houses in the township......made from cinder blocks, not wood....with a tin roof, not cardboard......food for thought eh?
I spent an hour in that room....these people live like this 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.......
The evening was spent in Marionhill Township where a couple had cooked a meal for us volunteers....Pinder had told us what a superb cook his wife Vesta was, and she had invited us round to show us.....and she was! We had some Zulu specialities, including a chicken curry, a potato salad and a spicy bean salad - scrummy.
This was followed by a English/Zulu class with lots more Zulu songs and slapping and clapping to end a very long day!
A couple more new Zulu words for today;
Siyabonga - 'thanks' in general - on behalf of lots of people, or to lots of people
Yabonga - 'thank you' specifically to one person.
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