Colleen’s Goodbye and Port St. Johns

Week 2. Go Pats! Brady and Co. amaze again. What a team.

I have pics to load, but my connection is so slow right now that the page just keeps erroring out. I will work on that. In the meantime… more writing…

Let me first start by saying that a week in, I just need to take a moment everyday to remind myself where I actually am… ground myself in the experiences I am having… and take in all the people I am meeting and where they are from throughout the globe.

Few funny “American” stories from the last few days.

I met the Chief Whip of the Municipality on Friday afternoon and when he asked where I was from, I told him America and he replied, “Ahhh. George Bush.” Exactly… Then our key client, Vuyo, came over to the villa on Friday night with her 7 yr old son to give Colleen a gift. When I said hello he perked up and said “Whoa! You sound like America!” It was pretty funny. Lastly the manager at the Amapondo Backpackers where we stayed this weekend went to BU and turned out to be born and raised in Denver (even though she sounded completely South African) and we proceeded to talk about Boston and her time there.

Colleen had a great sendoff by the team at the Municipality. They presented her with traditional Pondo attire and some of the team wore their traditional garb on Friday, as well as painted designs on their faces and Colleen’s. We went to lunch at the Makwande Guest House in Bizana and had a traditional feast which was incredible. My first truly cultural experience came during lunch when, after we had eaten, Vuyo started off singing “Farewell” songs in Xhosa and within a moment the entire team joined together, standing up, clapping and singing joyfully for about 15 minutes straight. It was a sign of their appreciation of us being there, and then people went around and said a few words, thanking Colleen and telling her how much they would miss her. And then offered their words of welcome and excitement of my arrival and how they looked forward to me continuing the momentum they have started. The words of the songs in Xhosa offered farewell, safe travels, importance of family, and telling Colleen that should their paths never meet again, may God bless her back in her home as she returns to her family. I know you probably had to be there, but it was honestly a moving experience.

Friday night I saw a new spot in KZN – Marina Beach – went to dinner at Mariner’s Seafood Restaurant, perfect little restaurant right on the beach. Our UN Volunteer (UNV) colleagues also joined us – project mgr Rodger from Uganda, Christina from Singapore, and Tanya (and husband Scott) from Arizona, and Yetbarek from Ethiopia. Enlightening and smart people with a lot of interesting experiences. Spent a significant portion of time talking to Rodger and learning about his life and family in Uganda and his work with UNDP.

Saturday the team headed to Port St. Johns, about 2.5 hr drive which was much like the road to Bizana - long, hilly, green, and winding. I was actually quite surprised how lush and green PSJ was. We met the Umtata Accenture team – Peter, Siobhain, and Lindsay from London, and Bryce from Chicago. Great people, we had a lot of fun and celebrated Pete’s birthday, and I look forward to more weekends with that crowd too. We stayed at this cool backpackers hostel called Amapondo – short walk to the beach, cool little bar, very laid back atmosphere of friendly people meeting each other and hanging out. Port St. Johns is a poor town but has happened to become a stop for travelers and people passing through. Spent some time at the beach, got a little sun, met a few locals, and thanks to the people at Wettern Hill and Wood ‘n Spoon for two incredible meals. That is one thing – so far I have been quite impressed with my meals in SA. Some great flavors.

I’m taking the reigns of the work on my own starting this morning… Have a good start to your week.