Orientation in Pietermaritzburg

The first day here in Pietermaritzburg it was around 100 degrees Fahrenheit so we drove an hour to Durban and went to Ushaka water park! Here is a picture of the skyline of Durban.

This is the last piece of the prison left in Durban. During the apartheid there were many political prisoners here. It is in front of the convention center.

 One of the days this week we drove to Mpophomeni, a township of Pietermaritzburg, to see two of the work placements that are at Aids clinics there.  This is a picture of the cemetery there.  Funerals are common on Saturday afternoons.

 This is a picture of the second largest waterfall in South Africa.  It is about 80 meters and if you look at the picture you can see the black on the rocks, once the dry season is over the water will fall over all of the black areas.

 This is a house made of grass that is in a traditional Zulu settlement.  The houses are quite amazing.  There is no better design for a home in South Africa.  During the summers they stay cool as they can breath, and during the winters they stay very warm with a fire in the middle.

 This is a picture of the inside, the door is very small.

 Here you can see why the doors are so low (someones actual house).  With the fires in the center and no hole in the roof the smoke spreads out in the house and goes through the grass walls/roof.  There are no chairs and one does not walk around in the house, so inhaling smoke is not a problem. 

This is a picture of the Indian Ocean and a little bit of Durban when we were at the water park-Ushaka.  

The internet is being really slow right now and the rest of my pictures will not load and I probably will not have internet for the next week because today I will be going home with my host parents after we have a braai.  I will be staying with Mark and Prasila and their son.  Mark and Prasila are both pastors at New Anointing.  I will be working with the Church Land Program (CLP) for the next 10 months.  They are an organization that started in 1997, a few years after the Apartheid, that works with the churches by helping them find out how much land they have and what to do with the land that they do have.  The CLP helps amplify the voices of those who do not own land.

 Okay so the picture above is of a garden about an hour from Pietermaritzburg where we went yesterday (Thursday) to stop and relax for the day.  The garden is absolutely beautiful with a natural stream that runs through with drinkable water.  We reflected on where we are coming from and where we are now.  It was very peaceful and great for preparing to move in with our host families.

This is a picture of a Weaver finch with nests around it (there are tons of these birds here) in a botanical garden here in Pietermaritzburg.  We went there two days this week to reflect on the assumptions and expectations we came with.