Back in the Dirty Durbs

After a beautiful, invigorating, and ridiculously educational stay at Isilimela I’m back in Durban to madly write the rest of my term paper before 9am on Friday. So far I’ve made it to internet and to coffee, so half of the battle should be over (so I tell myself).

Highlights since the last update include:

Becoming a guava addict and a professional guava picker.



Working with the Gateway Clinic to write up an evaluation report of the prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV infant feeding counseling.



Experiencing another country’s elections. Everyone was quite confused by our desire to see the sleepy Isilima polling station, but I got a free Jacob Zuma (the new president) poster out of it! Yes, he’s corrupt, but it’s history.

Mastering the art of truck-bed transport. We took a trip to Coffee Bay that involved the 40 minute, 90 U.S. cent, fourteen passenger squeeze in the back of a pickup truck down the dirt road that was followed by the hour and a half, $2.90, fifteen passenger comfort/terror of a minibus taxi into town and was finished off with the two hour, $6, twelve passenger luxury of the backpacker’s shuttle into our accommodation. When there are very few roads and very few places to go, you can get pretty much anywhere in a taxi.



Seeing hole-in-the-wall. This was the most over-hyped hike of my life. Four hours, a bag of chips, a box of cookies, and a liter of water got us to our destination. It was a hole. In the wall. Luckily we not only got to see dolphins on our way there (!), but we also got a ride back, so it was more than worth it.

Becoming a master chef, despite the fact that the grocery store was closed and we had no refrigerator. (Think dehydrated soy mince curry with tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and canned peas.)

Overall, the experience was incredible. We were incredibly lucky to be at a hospital and clinic with staff that were so open to help, teach, and share with us, but for now it’s crunch time!