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Miranda blog — day 2 — 2010

Saturday, July 31st, 2010

Ngiyakhubona. I see you. In the movie Avatar, the Na’vi people greet each other by saying “I see you”. It doesn’t mean “I see you” in the literal since, with your eyes. It means “I see into you”. It means “I see you as another living thing”. “I appreciate you, and I respect you”. Despite the fact that I heard this when Amahle found me in a game of hide and seek, my mind immediately went to the meaning of the phrase.
It’s so amazing how my perception of people has changed in the last two years. You don’t have to speak the same language, come from the same place, or share the same culture with someone to see them. It takes time and trust and love, but the fact is we are all human beings. I see these people. I acknowledge who they are as people, and accept that they have become my family.
Today we went into town and met with Dr. Swatson, who works with us through the local agricultural college, Cedara. He provided a lot of good information and advice, but also listened well to all we had to say about the gardens accomplishments and struggles. He was so cheerful and engaging. His daughter and I are now friends on Facebook ?
I am so ecstatic at the response that people have to what Isipho and the iNzinga people are accomplishing. Independence and self-sufficiency are really amazing things, and everybody deserves to have that in their lives. What makes me so sad is that most of the people here in the village aren’t even familiar with that concept. The very idea of independence was beaten out of them for years during apartheid, and even now the idea is scarce. How can you have a sense of independence when you rely completely on the government for the money and food you get? How can you expect self-empowerment when nobody you know has ever expected it? In the last few interviews of the villagers I have done, I asked them how proud they were of themselves for being independent. It took them all several seconds to answer that they were proud of themselves. They looked confused and speculative, but when probed for answers loosened up and got pretty excited and animated.
I love seeing kids my own age, as well. That is my real hope for our project; that the youth can grow up with a different view about themselves. They deserve to believe in themselves and in their future. I was talking with a few girls my age yesterday, who were asking about my age, my grade, etc. I told them, and then asked them about themselves. I was joking about how bad my Zulu was and we all started laughing. It felt so awesome to be standing there in the middle of nowhere, South Africa, laughing with a group of Zulu teenagers about how dumb I sounded. When I take a step back, I see the differences that I don’t see when I am with them. They’re just like me, and it only feels natural to joke around with them like friends. Even so, they have such a different life than I do. I have always been encouraged to follow my dreams and to go to college, and live my life the way I want it. Most likely, none of those four girls will even get to college. I know that I have the ability to help them help themselves. And I know that they have the ability to make it happen.
This morning my dad and I woke up and basically went straight into a pretty intense argument full of tears and aggressive attitudes. It’s hard to be a business partner with your own father, especially at 16. It’s hard to try and pretend like you know what you’re doing, even though you feel completely clueless a pretty decent chunk of the time. And it is definitely hard to live out here in the village, surrounded by poverty and an intensely different and foreign culture, even if it is only one or two weeks out of the year. But luckily, I’m pretty sure that I have the best parents in the world. As much as he gets angry at me and as much as we bicker through all of this, we always come to an understanding. We always help each other figure out what we’re doing, why we’re here, and what needs to be done. And my mom jumped right into Isipho, and is working her tushy off, let me tell you. (sorry for the wording, ma). And over all, we work pretty well together. We are a family half the time and we work together sometimes. But we help each other and teach each other. It’s pretty freaking cool.
Tomorrow is Sunday, and everybody is having a day off, so my dad and I are going to go see the famous cave paintings of the San people (they found out through crazy DNA testing or something that all humanity started with these people) (so basically we’re all South African) (YAY!). Pretty pumped. Monday were having meetings for planning and reviewing.
We’ll keep everyone posted on the shtufff that’s going on. Peace!
\m/,
Miranda

Back in eNzinga

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

We are back in eNzinga again. To spend the evening sitting on the grass mats around the fire pit in the middle of the main mud round and catch up with the Zumas again, is amazing. A few quick thoughts because we’re exhausted and have a long day tomorrow:
– Fantastic meeting with Food and Trees for Africa (FTFA) this morning before we left Jo’burg. Good organization. Real good partnership opportunities. Very exciting.
– Seeing Miranda and Patrick, the young program manager from FTFA, get excited about the potential future of young people, and their power to form that future was something I was very happy to be able to hear and watch.
– After alternatively spelling the name of the village we live and work in Nzinga, Inzinga, and iNzinga over the last 2+ years, tonight, when driving down the dirt road here, we saw a new sign that simply read eNzinga. Well, at least now we’ve seen it officially written somewhere…
– I know we were ready to get a break from the heat of July in Atlanta, but it is extremely cold here tonight, which makes the walk to the outhouse seem pretty far. It’s all relative.
– Talking to Nonjabulo tonight was awesome. She really has taken on the leadership role; she knows the people, the issues, has a great sense of the needs, the best way to solve them, and can really articulate it clearly. She is a strong, smart woman, and a great asset for her community, and our nonprofit. We could not have done better in our first and most important employee. The impact she will have on other women in this village through her example has the potential to fundamentally alter lives. Simply inspiring.

More soon!