Recollections of late June

Here is a quick update about what’s going on with me during the last weeks of June…

On Saturday we will be meeting with some people about possibly getting some land to plant a garden across from the Zonkizizwe Library. It's a pretty big plot of land, and it would allow all 100+ kids and their families involved with VVOCF (the organization I'm interning for) to get involved with the garden! It would be so wonderful to give the kids and their families something constructive to work on, like a garden. Older family members and older youth at the center could help the children learn how to make things grow, and teach them how to take care of something. I would imagine that such a garden would give the kids, and the community something to be proud of. We just have to make sure that all the legal stuff is taken care of so that nobody can take the land from us after we've cleared it an cultivated it.

Another project I'm working on is composing an oral history of Zonkizizwe. I have a high definition video camera here with me, and it is my goal to interview members of the community, staff at VVOCF, and even some of the children to get a sense of what the history of this township is like. There is no written or oral history of Zonkizizwe anywhere! I know that it started out as a squatter camp shortly after apartheid ended, and that it's about 20 years old. It was created as a place of sanctuary for all the ethnic groups in South Africa that were feuding such as the Xhosas, Zulus, Sesothos, etc, and Zonkizizwe literally means "all nations welcome." Still, I know the place has a rich history, and I would like to help uncover it. I am hoping to write down what I find as well and perhaps give a few copies to the local police station and the library so that they might build off of it and share it with the members of the community. I think it's a sad thing indeed when people don't know their history...if they don't know where they came from, how do you expect them to care about where they are going? There is much mental suffering in Zonkizizwe because people have been denied equal access to the basic necessities of life (mainly jobs, which provides a basis for well being) for so long.

Lastly, one of the other project I'm working on consists of organizing the small library inside of the VVOCF center. It's not a bad library, but it's not the best either. I'm trying to figure out a way to get more books here... and good books. The Detroit Kiwanis club sent a lot of books for the kids, but the library still needs more. It's a shame that the library contains a book about the history of Germany but not one about South Africa. Getting books here is extremely difficult, however. There are no bookstores around like Borders or Barnes and Noble that people can just go to and buy books from. I find the lack of access to reading material frustrating sometimes. There are libraries in almost all the townships and municipalities as well, but they do not always have the most updated books or most advanced filing systems, and books get misplaced easily.

On a lighter note, next week Alex and I are going to visit Lesotho. It should be fun. I’m not sure how we’re getting there yet, or where we will stay when we get there, but I guess that will be part of the adventure.