Photos: kids from the village; woman cooking mealie; little Moambique girl; gathering water from the well; firewood pile; cooking hut; kitchen; Steve & james at James' house; kids from the village hamming it up for the camera
One of the very special things you can take advantage of here at Vuyatela is a tour of the local communities – today our tracker, James, took us to his community, a town of maybe 700 people called Dixie, about 10 kilometers from here. He very kindly took us around, introduced us to people, and encouraged us to take photos. Although it was an odd feeling to take photos like some looky-loo, they seem to have no serious issue with it (or if they do, no one says, so I guess its hard to know). The cost of our tour (about R140 per person, or about $55 total) is donated back to the school in the community, which is great, that they reap the benefits from it. Plus, coming there represents cash into the community, so they are OK with that.
The people in this area are known as the Shangaan. It is truly incredible the way that people live here, although on average, their living conditions are an order of magnitude better than what happens in the shantytowns in the major cities. There is no running water, no plumbing, no electricity. James showed us that power lines have been strung through the communities, but there has been no hook up to the houses, with the exception of the school. And until the government gets around to doing that, they will remain without electricity. They cook on open fires, in small huts, some concrete, some more simply constructed. The living houses are separate, as are some of the bathing huts. They have government-issued outhouses, which is good.
James told me that the women do a great deal of the hard work, spending much of the day gathering water (the wells/taps are always a distance away), and they carry or take large water jugs in wheelbarrows over to the pipes to gather water, probably a few times a day. Even the very small children are working, carrying water. And the women do all the cooking, and child care etc. etc. Nonku (who is the esthetician here at the Lodge) tells me that is these more rural communities, things are very traditional, and women do a great deal of the manual labour all day. Some of the men have jobs, as do many of the women, the game lodges in the area seem to be one of the biggest employers for most of the people here. James says that wages are not great, but they make their real money from tips from the guests.
They raise cows and goats for milk and eating, and grow corn and beans, which are the biggest staples in the diet. They make a kind of corn meal, cooked, called mealie pap, which they cook most days on open fires. You can see some photos that I took of a woman doing just that. The elementary school is in Dixie, and the high school is down the road in the community of Utha, which is 3 km – the kids of Dixie walk too and from the high school each day. If we had visited on a weekday (today is Saturday), we would have visited the school, where you get to meet the kids etc. Consequently, the kids kept running up the car, posing, yelling at us, asking us to take their photos. And they all ran out and waved to us – they were so wonderful, and incredibly friendly. I guess young children all over the world are not so different after all. We plan to make some prints and send them back to James, he can give them to the families. Along with some things we can collect for the community and the school. Kids clothes are really very much needed as are supplies for the school etc.
Each of the communities is governed by a village leader, which is a hereditary position. And there is a Chief, who lives about 200 km away, he governs an area that includes about 14 villages, James tells us.
One of his first stops was his father’s house. His father is a guide with Londolozi Game Lodge and has been for over 30 years. As the youngest son, James was supposed to have stayed in his father’s house and lived there with his family, but he explained that his father’s second (current) and James’ wife did not get along and were fighting all the time, so he bought his own house. To get a house, you must first pay for the land, which is about 500 rand, and ask the permission of the village leader. Then you need to make the bricks and have help in constructing the house – the make the bricks in the village, James showed us a load of sand that has been delivered to his house that he said he’ll be using to do that on his next leave.
James is married and has 2 boys. His wife and kids were away, she is visiting her sister in a nearby village. He showed us a small grave in the backyard, a couple of months ago, his 8-month old daughter died, and she is buried close. We were very touched at his openness and being willing to share that with us. And our hearts went out to him.
He drove us around the village, and also a section near the back where a group of Mozambique refugees are now living. They are in the country illegally, and so have no papers and cannot work officially, but some of them find work under the table at the local lodges. Otherwise they simply do without. And if the government chooses to, they can send them home. But for now, they seem to have settled in where they are. Hard to believe they could have less than the Shangaan, but they do.
We also saw the wells from where they carry water, a long distance for some each day. And I don’t any of it is treated, so who knows whether it is safe to use. The kids were so happy to se us, they came running from everywhere, and they all waved. I was amazed by the generosity and so many smiling faces.
We stopped at a small craft market on the way out where I bought some placemats and a sculpture, at least leave a bit of money in the local economy. There have so little, its amazing.
We had a long chat with James on the way back, to ask him what they might need most in the village – he said anything for the school would be most welcome, as would clothes for the kids (many of them are barely in anything), and he gave us an address where we could send him some things. So we plan to pack up a box of things for the kids, school supplies and clothing etc., and send it along once we get home. If any of our friends or family have old kids clothes that you’d like to donate to this, it would be so much appreciated. I think we’ll make this an annual tradition at Christmas.
The people in this area are known as the Shangaan. It is truly incredible the way that people live here, although on average, their living conditions are an order of magnitude better than what happens in the shantytowns in the major cities. There is no running water, no plumbing, no electricity. James showed us that power lines have been strung through the communities, but there has been no hook up to the houses, with the exception of the school. And until the government gets around to doing that, they will remain without electricity. They cook on open fires, in small huts, some concrete, some more simply constructed. The living houses are separate, as are some of the bathing huts. They have government-issued outhouses, which is good.
James told me that the women do a great deal of the hard work, spending much of the day gathering water (the wells/taps are always a distance away), and they carry or take large water jugs in wheelbarrows over to the pipes to gather water, probably a few times a day. Even the very small children are working, carrying water. And the women do all the cooking, and child care etc. etc. Nonku (who is the esthetician here at the Lodge) tells me that is these more rural communities, things are very traditional, and women do a great deal of the manual labour all day. Some of the men have jobs, as do many of the women, the game lodges in the area seem to be one of the biggest employers for most of the people here. James says that wages are not great, but they make their real money from tips from the guests.
They raise cows and goats for milk and eating, and grow corn and beans, which are the biggest staples in the diet. They make a kind of corn meal, cooked, called mealie pap, which they cook most days on open fires. You can see some photos that I took of a woman doing just that. The elementary school is in Dixie, and the high school is down the road in the community of Utha, which is 3 km – the kids of Dixie walk too and from the high school each day. If we had visited on a weekday (today is Saturday), we would have visited the school, where you get to meet the kids etc. Consequently, the kids kept running up the car, posing, yelling at us, asking us to take their photos. And they all ran out and waved to us – they were so wonderful, and incredibly friendly. I guess young children all over the world are not so different after all. We plan to make some prints and send them back to James, he can give them to the families. Along with some things we can collect for the community and the school. Kids clothes are really very much needed as are supplies for the school etc.
Each of the communities is governed by a village leader, which is a hereditary position. And there is a Chief, who lives about 200 km away, he governs an area that includes about 14 villages, James tells us.
One of his first stops was his father’s house. His father is a guide with Londolozi Game Lodge and has been for over 30 years. As the youngest son, James was supposed to have stayed in his father’s house and lived there with his family, but he explained that his father’s second (current) and James’ wife did not get along and were fighting all the time, so he bought his own house. To get a house, you must first pay for the land, which is about 500 rand, and ask the permission of the village leader. Then you need to make the bricks and have help in constructing the house – the make the bricks in the village, James showed us a load of sand that has been delivered to his house that he said he’ll be using to do that on his next leave.
James is married and has 2 boys. His wife and kids were away, she is visiting her sister in a nearby village. He showed us a small grave in the backyard, a couple of months ago, his 8-month old daughter died, and she is buried close. We were very touched at his openness and being willing to share that with us. And our hearts went out to him.
He drove us around the village, and also a section near the back where a group of Mozambique refugees are now living. They are in the country illegally, and so have no papers and cannot work officially, but some of them find work under the table at the local lodges. Otherwise they simply do without. And if the government chooses to, they can send them home. But for now, they seem to have settled in where they are. Hard to believe they could have less than the Shangaan, but they do.
We also saw the wells from where they carry water, a long distance for some each day. And I don’t any of it is treated, so who knows whether it is safe to use. The kids were so happy to se us, they came running from everywhere, and they all waved. I was amazed by the generosity and so many smiling faces.
We stopped at a small craft market on the way out where I bought some placemats and a sculpture, at least leave a bit of money in the local economy. There have so little, its amazing.
We had a long chat with James on the way back, to ask him what they might need most in the village – he said anything for the school would be most welcome, as would clothes for the kids (many of them are barely in anything), and he gave us an address where we could send him some things. So we plan to pack up a box of things for the kids, school supplies and clothing etc., and send it along once we get home. If any of our friends or family have old kids clothes that you’d like to donate to this, it would be so much appreciated. I think we’ll make this an annual tradition at Christmas.
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