Shall we braai?

Last night the team had a barbeque for dinner – which over here they call a braai. Normally I think a braai consists of having a pretty big pit to grill on, but we did what we could with our hibachi. Word is, the sign of a true braiier is if you flip the meats on the grill with your bare hands, so I gave it a shot and came out with my hand still in tact.

Today is my 3rd day at work and so far so good. I’m getting acclimated and meeting a lot of employees of the Municipality, specifically in the department I am working in, Development and Planning. Depending on the day and how many trucks are on the 2 lane road, it takes us about 45 min – 1 hr to get to Bizana. Mbizana is the name of the entire municipality, and Bizana is the actual town where we work.

The road to Bizana is certainly a sight to see. I haven’t transformed into photog mode and brought out the camera just yet because really I’m first trying to capture it mentally day by day. The road is one of many twists and turns, many hills, and a fair number of potholes from which we swerve away. The land is just so expansive, rolling hills of green for miles and miles, and within those are many small homes – mostly what look to be one room homes. Some of the land is used for subsistence farming, but most of the land is just as is – untouched. If you live close to the road, you might likely have electricity, but the further off you live, chances are you don’t. No running water either – what was striking to me is that many of the homes have large tubs next to them to capture rain water coming off of the roof. Daily we see women who walk balancing jugs of water on their head, and I’ve been told some walk 10 or more miles total a day to fetch water. And if not water than it’s batches of tied up firewood.

What I find most dangerous, yet entirely normal here, is that people just walk on the shoulder of the road when cars are flying by at a good 60 mph or more. That’s just part of the driving terrain here and something else to keep an eye out for, just a normal part of driving here.

And lastly, there’s the animals. Already had my first impromptu cattle crossing – but there’s a plethora of animals we see en route – cattle herding, horses dragging anything and everything, goats, the list goes on. At any given point they could be an obstacle right in the road.

This is certainly an eye opening way to start and end the day.

Next posting I’ll give a bit of insight on the work I am set to do, some of the initiatives we’ll be leading (which have to do with all that land) what I’ve learned in my first few days.