week 3 recap

a week's recap.

Last wednesday the 17th, we went to Umhlanga and visited a very remarkable ngo that does work all over Africa. They are the African Center for Conflict Resolution and Development (ACCORD). They do work in many countries in Africa and are recognized for their great work around the continent. one of their ongoing projects are reintegrating refugees from Burundi into their homelands, which they were driven out of in two waves, in 1972 and in 1993. the history of Burundi is strikingly similar to that of Rwanda, in which ethnic wars between the Hutu's and Tutsi's have driven out thousands of people. the ACCORD visit was very impressive and the work they do is very impressive. talk about making a real difference in people's lives.

we went to the University of kwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) for a night of jazz. there is a jazz club within UKZN and there are performances once or twice a week. it was a pretty packed place for a weeknight. it was very nice to know that the campus supported such a club.

on thursday we walked around Warwick junction in Durban. Warwick houses a major part of the informal economy of Durban, namely the street traders and vendors. the informal economy plays a big role in the polarization of the dual economy and for the livelihood of the people. we toured several market which include a fruit and vegetable market, gift market, commodities… but the most interesting ones were the head cookers and the herb/traditional healers market. vendors at the head cookers' skin whole heads of cows and boil them while adding a little bit of salt. of course I had to try this delicacy and it was very tasty! very delicious beef and very tender. I will definitely go back to have some more bovine head. the traditional healers market had all sorts of weird stuff from dried birds, monkeys, snakes, all sorts of dried animals and tree barks and other plants. very cool and exotic. one interesting thing is that it still exists, even if there aren't many people that purchase traditional medicine.

early friday morning we went to a local public school to feed orphans with the kwaZulu-Natal (KZN is the province where Durban is located) youth empowerment project. they feed the orphans everyday and have different program that cater from pre-schoolers to prisoners. they focus on heath and well-being. their projects aim to get kids of street and to educate them in different social issues while providing an outlet such as sport. its funny, I read a flyer for their football tourney in a couple months' time and the prizes are 3rd = 15 chickens, 2nd = a sheep and 1st = a cow.


later that night we went to see a rugby game, the Durban sharks vs the Free state Cheetahs. its was a fun experience and we all had a good time despite the sharks losing. I have anew rugby team to support. definitely coming back to see another one.

i'll try to keep this short-- saturday we did a walk through durban. we visited the grey street mosque, the biggest in the southern hemisphere, and listened to the main man behind the organization try to brainwash us that Jesus and Moses were both muslim. funny, right. we had lunch at little gujerat (which reminds me, I should make a separate post on food in Durban) which was very delicious. that geared us up for the walk to the Durban art gallery in the city hall and lastly the BAT centre by the harbor. the art gallery had art works of all kinds and the BAT centre was a nice place where we were all treated to a cold beer after a long walk. the BAT centre had a good amount of people for mid-afternoon. its a nice bar/restaurant by the harbor which has a gift shop, gallery and performances during the week.

this is very long, that's it for now.