It rained throughout the night and was still falling steadily when we awoke. After eating breakfast, we conquered the academic portion of our day. As the rain continued to fall, we decided to take a tour of a local Xhosa Village in the area. The Langa Township that we visited in Cape Town is also a Xhosa community. A focus of the tour is a visit to the home of South Africa's oldest tour guide, Mama Tofu. Mama Tofu is a legendary Xhosa figure who has become a bit of a legend, particularly on travel blogs and travel websites.
Our tour guide, Milton, was born and raised in the village. Below is a picture of Milton with the boys.
No matter how many times we see people up close and personal living in such dire conditions, the impact has not diminished. We hope that our boys always feel the impact. We have also been humbled by the positive nature and outlook shared by the people who live in such extreme poverty. They keep pushing forward and there is no sense of frustration or anger in their community. Milton tells us that when a medical emergency occurs in the village that an ambulance can take up to 8 hours to arrive if at all.
Our tour started with a walk through the portion of the Village which is referred to as District 16. There is another section of the community which is District 17 but there are no roads so travel inside is difficult. District 17 is seen in the distance in the photo below.
Our walking tour included seeing local homes.
We also visited the local school which serves grades 1 through 7. Our guide, Milton, attended this school and described crowded conditions with multiple grades often sharing a small room. The community is hopeful that a new facility will be built in the coming years.
Milton was our first story of inspiration for the day. He is bilingual speaking English and Xhosa. Milton works for a volunteer organization, African Heartland Journeys, that raises money for projects in his community. The tours are used to spread the word about the positive things happening in the villages as well as the problems that continue to plague the people of his home town.
While at the school we were further inspired as Milton told us about a young man named Mike Ford who came to work at the school as a volunteer in 2009. Shortly after arriving, Mike realized that many of the children arrived at school without having eaten any breakfast that morning or dinner the evening prior. The school had no funding to provide meals for the children so many continued the day hungry. As Milton explained, Mike reached out for friends back home in England and ultimately secured funding to provide meals to all students during the school day. There are now full-time staff members who administer the meal program in the school. We hope to find a way to make even a fraction of such a difference while visitng Mabret's Village next month.
Many of the schools in the area operate without electricity. An organization named Friends of Chintsa (there are 2 acceptable spellings Cintsa and Chintsa) built the below vehicle from what was originally a tow truck.
The Big Green E-Machine is a mobile computer lab with 13 work stations inside. Atop the vehicle are solar panels which power all the computers. Much props to those who thought outside of the box and made this happen.
The next stop was Mama Tofu's home. Mama Tofu is a treasure. She is 94 years old and still busting her rear end to represent and support her community. Mama Tofu is as charismatic as she is energetic. She spent nearly 45 minutes explaining the Xhosa culture while offering life lessons for all. Her favorite topics included love and responsibility. Mama Tofu described the school that young women in the community attend to learn how to become wives. She also explained the tradition by which male teenagers are taught how to be men. She made us laugh when explaining that young women in her community should always find a working man to marry. Mama Tofu explained that this is not to become rich as many jobs in the community do not pay well but because no good will come from "marrying a lazy bum." We were all riveted her spirit.
The final stop on the tour was a bit more light hearted but also inspirational in its own way. We toured the Emerald Vale Brewery which is a local brewery establish in 2012. The tour and tasting were conducted by the owner, Chris Heaton. Chis has been brewing his own beer for decades but last year he took his hobby to the next level and closed his small construction company to chase his dream of owning a brewery. He started with tubs and in just a year has grown to what you see below.
Chris produces a pale ale, gold ale and amber ale. Because this region is far from any heavy industry, the rain water is among the most pure in the world and he uses it to brew which sets the beer apart. We tasted each ale and they were outstanding. For now, they are only available in this region but perhaps in the future we can raise a glass back in the States. Chris' sense of entrepreneurship and his desire to use the brewery to lift up the community were inspirational. Check out emeraldvalebrewery.co.za A shout out to Ray Driscoll who would love this place but is stuck holding down the fort for us back at the office. We raised a glass for you this afternoon and said thanks for your friendship.
For those of you feeling the cold back home, it was truly miserable here today. Cold, windy and extremely wet. This didn't stop us from walking through the waist deep water of the lagoon that separates the Buccaneer from a small town. As my camera battery died after the tour, you are spared yet another picture of Roman and Mabret swimming.
Way to go Coach Strong and the Paupack Power who went to 2 and 0 with a win Friday night.
Thanks to all for the comments and emails. Please keep them coming. Great to hear from Tara Downey. Congrats on the engagement. Thanks, Becky Mead.
Peace Out.
