Nobuhle

Welcome to my mid-week debrief. I have had some wonderful lectures this week on the topics of sanitation and long-drop toilets, reproductive health, African masculinity, and the “sugar daddy syndrome”. I have also been working hard on conducting preliminary research for my two large papers I must write this semester. I have selected the topics of “The Medical Brain Drain: loss of doctors and nurses from South Africa” and “The Healthcare of Children with Down Syndrome in Durban, South Africa.” I’m pretty excited about both topics, so hopefully this enthusiasm will last through the end of the November when my 50-page report is due.
Other than diligently attending class every day, I have been preparing for my two weeks of rural homestays. On Saturday I leave for a weeklong stint in an area called Amatikulu, where I will have the chance to follow a community health worker on her daily rounds across the rural community. This homestay includes a host of changes: no electricity, no running water, wearing long skirts, sleeping on the floor with children, filtering water, and hardly any English. I expect the week to be challenging, but also highly educational, enjoyable, and eye-opening. I will do my best to post next Friday after I return from the bush to fill you in on my wonderful experience.
I have also been preparing to leave my homestay family in Cato Manor. I broke the news today to my family that my last night with them is next Friday. When my Mama found out she said that she is going to take my passport from me so that I can’t leave the country. And maybe it was a culture barrier, but I did not pick up on any sarcasm. I’m pretty sure my Mama will be crying herself to sleep tonight. I have grown very attached to my Mama and brothers, but I’m pretty sure they reciprocate the attachment and times it by 10. For example, a few nights ago my Mama gave me a Zulu name and insists that everyone calls me by it. You may now refer to me as “Nobuhle,” which means ‘beautiful’ in Zulu.
Before I depart for the African bush, I will leave you with a continuation of my “Things I love/Things I don’t love” list. I know you all can’t wait for my next installment of this tantalizing list, so wish for my safe arrival back to the city! Love you all!


Things I love:
1. Adding e’s to the end of random words, such as “programme” and “centre”.
2. Referring to the traffic lights as “robots” when giving directions.
3. Desire for South Africans to make any reason a viable reason for having a braai and slaughtering a goat. Such reasons include, but are not limited to, paying lobola, weddings, deaths, new jobs, holidays, birthdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
4. Spinning tops and skipping rope with adorable neighborhood children.
5. Blaming any differences in culture on “TIA” or “This is Africa”.

Things I don’t love:
1. FRIED FOOD. It may taste good, but it sure doesn’t settle well on the stomach.
2. Having to convert my skewed American brain into liters, meters, Celsius, kilograms etc.
3. Being awakened daily at 5 am by barking street dogs, honking taxies, loud music, and my Mama’s snoring.
4. Buying airtime for my pay-as-go cell phone. I miss Verizon.
5. The seemingly uniform obsession with Janet Jackson. I just don’t understand.