So, having been here for almost 5 months I realise it is quite late to start writing a blog. However, seeing as my time to leave is rapidly approaching, I began to reflect on the myriad experiences I’ve had, things I’ve learnt and people I’ve met during my time in Zithulele, Transkei, and wondering how I could consolidate all this somehow. A brief summary of where I am and what I'm doing: I've been living in the former Transkei region in the Eastern Cape. Incredibly rich in history, natural beauty and resources, the Transkei is deperately poor materially. I've been living with a Xhosa family, the Mdaniswas in their mud-brick homestead in a village called Zithulele, learning to speak Xhosa and experiencing a different way of life. We are very near to an old mission hospital called, aptly, Zithulele Mission Hospital which is a thriving rural hospital, currently growing from strength to strength. I've also been working for an NGO called Jabulani Rural Health Foundation, which was established by some of the long-term doctors here.
I think it must be a normal human reaction when we experience something novel, out of the ordinary or mindset-shifting: we want to figure out some way to pin it down, order all the thoughts and experiences and perhaps share some of it with other people. This is how I’ve arrived at the point of writing a blog. Despite the undeniable self-indulgence of splashing my opinions and vanities all over cyber-space, I’ve decided to venture into the blogging world; write what I like and trust that you, reader, will be discerning enough to just click that convenient little red cross on the top right hand corner of your screen when you’ve had enough of my waffling!
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