Friday, July 12 and Saturday, July 13-Lunch with zachrisons, visiting Taviso in Umlazi

Friday we worked in the office in the morning and then went to the Mission office at noon to visit with the mission president and give him an idea of what we are up to. When we arrived, he was busy...His wife has set up an office inside his office...odd, but kind of cute. She came out when a missionary came in to see him. I can tell that he is feeling quite out of his element as a Mission President after being a lawyer for so long. He acted a bit frazzled, like he wasn't quite sure he would ever catch up with all that was going on. They have only been here about two weeks, so I think they are doing great, but it is catching up with them. Last week they had to drive around to Bloemfontein and other areas (like we did our first week out). They drive this huge van, which is difficult to do on these little streets and small parking areas.

When he was finally done, he came out and announced that we were all going to lunch. The Holts looked startled and Elder Holt said, "No we are not going." President Zackrison said, "Well you gotta eat don't you?" Elder Holt very firmly said, "We are the only ones in the office, so we must wait until the other's get back to man the phones. You guys go ahead." By the look she gave him, I could tell that Sister Holt would like to go, but he was right. So Elder Kyle and I went to lunch and they drove the big van. We went to a nice Italian restaurant, but the service was very slow and I could tell that the President was exasperated about it. He hasn't learned T.I.A. (This is Africa) yet. We went over the things we were doing at lunch and they asked questions about us so we told our life stories. Ha. They are nice people, but I can see where they might seem intimidating to the missionaries. In many ways they seem to be the opposite of President and Sister Von Stetten. But, both of them have great qualities. The mission is in good hands.

We then went to pick up flyers for the concert and went to the grocery store. When we got home we ordered a pizza and Elder Kyle ate all but one piece of it (It wasn't all that big so he actually didn't get that much).

Today (Saturday) is our Preparation Day, which means we can wear casual clothes and get our work done, but Elder Kyle promised our landscape guy here at the apartments that we would come and see his new house in Umlazi. Several weeks ago, Taviso came to Elder Kyle and asked if he could use the church's bakki (truck) to move. He said he had borrowed it previously (before we came) to move. Elder Kyle was pretty sure that was not allowed, but he asked and they said that it was not allowed and they didn't know who would have done it. When Elder Kyle told Taviso that we could not let him use the truck, he asked him how much it would take to rent a truck to move. He said R400, which is about $40. Elder Kyle gave him the money and told him not to worry about paying it back. Ever since then he insists upon washing our car every Friday to pay back the money. He told us how much he and his wife and children like the new house and showed the pictures of it on his cell phone. So Elder Kyle said we would come and visit on Saturday.

We could not find the address on the GPS or the Google Maps, but the street was there so we started off in hopes of finding it. Umlazi is a bunch of houses built on hills with small winding roads, so I was not too sure of being able to find it and pretty sure we would get lost, but we were in need of an adventure I guess, because we went anyway. When we got close to his neighborhood and then found the street, we were feeling pretty good; however, house numbers were not matching up...many did not have house numbers and we decided to stop and call Taviso. As soon as we stopped, we saw him walking up the street. He had been looking for us and told us he would get in the car and show us where to go. This is hard to explain, but his house was behind another house and the only way you could get to it was to park at the other house (hardly anyone has cars in Umlazi) and walk through this house's backyard down to his house (down because it is on the side of a mountain). I wish I had taken pictures. I don't think my description will do it justice, but let's just say it was a very modest area with debris everywhere and a makeshift fence with a 2 foot path of dirt and weeds that went down and up and over until we reached his house. This view is from the front of his house.

His house is a government built home for people who don't have housing. It has electricity, but no water and the house is not entirely finished, so the homeowner has to do it himself. For instance there is no ceiling inside, just rafters and there is no bath or kitchen set up. We have no idea where they go to the bathroom. This photos is a finished house in Umlazi. His is not at all this nice, but it could be eventually. I didn't feel right busting out my camera to take photos of his humble home.There is a community tap somewhere where the neighborhood people go to fill up buckets with water. We have no idea how they bathe, perhaps a washcloth? The house was a very small rectangle with a tiny living room with two beat up vinyl couches facing each other and a chair on the end. There was a very small outdated TV playing nice music and a DVD player. That took up 90% of the floor space. The main bedroom was very teeny with a bed on the floor. The other bedroom had no bed for baby or their 6-year old daughter or his brother who appeared to be staying with them.

However, he was so proud of his home and so happy that we would come and see him. He said it made him feel like a 'King' that we would come. He also said that all his neighbors would now think of him as a king, because we came and visited him in his house. I am having a hard time writing this without crying, because it was so humbling. What a sweet man. We kept trying to tell him it was we who were honored, but he just kept repeating how happy he was that we came. His little girl was adorable, very pretty about the size and age of our granddaughter. She was very shy and kept putting her hand over her mouth when she thought she might smile. His other daughter was six months old and I got to hold her. She was such a chubby baby... felt like lead, and right away starting pulling my hair. Her mom and sister have no hair to pull, so she was pulling my hair with all her might. Then she went after my earrings. She is very cute. I brought them cupcakes that I made and they brought out a container of grape juice and some store-bought biscuits (cookies).

Taviso's brother is younger than him and not married and not employed. They all grew up on a farm. We gave them one of the church Cd's about Africans and they wanted to watch it while we were there. It talks about the importance of families and the work the church does in Africa. After it was over, I looked at his wife and she had her hand over her heart...she was obviously touched by the DVD. We talked to them about the church and how great their lives would be if they would attend and get to know the members. He said, "Oh yes, we will go." When we left, Elder Kyle gave him the pamphlet where the addresses of the chapels are in Umlazi and elsewhere. When driving away, we just looked at each other and were both thinking, "Wow." It made them so happy that we came. It shouldn't have, but it did. The Africans are definitely teaching us the meaning of being humble.

Here is a bit of history on Umlazi:

In the province of KwaZulu-Natal is Umlazi, its biggest township with an estimated population of 800,000. In South Africa, Umlazi is the second to the biggest township that was once made up of several townships. In 1967, Umlazi was formed by combining these smaller towns in order to create a “black township”. This was, of course, during the Apartheid period and the government at that time wanted segregation of race and skin colour. Many black people were moved to Umlazi and even after Apartheid, it became known as the “criminal capital of South Africa.” Sadly for Umlazi, it is having a hard time shaking off that title.

Nonetheless, visiting Umlazi is not what one would expect from a town that has supposedly has a lot of criminals. It’s a beautiful area where infrastructure has been developing at a comfortable pace since 1994.

Even the name of the township has a legend regarding the origins of the name, and it is not favorable to the place or people of Umlazi. According to the story, when the great Zulu leader, King Shaka, was passing through, he came upon the local river. Since he was thirsty, he was offered a drink from the river which he promptly spat out claiming it tasted like “umlaza” which is a Zulu word for sour acid from fermented milk. Since then, the place has been called Umlazi.

Umlazi is southwest of Durban.The township is divided into 28 areas strangely named after the alphabet like AA, BB, and CC. Many of the houses were originally nothing more than shacks but with the housing project of the government under President Zuma, RDP houses are replacing them. RDP houses are subsidized low-cost houses and are a major project for the president using alternative and affordable construction methods.

Umlazi is a good place to live in because of its rolling hills, natural green landscape, and rich soil. Life is very traditional in the sense that the food uses many African herbs, and sangomas and natural healers are very popular. The sense of community is also very strong and many locals are intent on changing the image of the township to a more positive one. In fact, you won’t be surprised to see young men and women sporting national replica soccer jerseys on occasions when national pride is at stake: the same pride is beginning to develop with regards to the township itself.

That pretty much took up our Saturday. I thought about taking Sister Stark dinner, but could not get a hold of her to see if she wanted it (She had arthroscopic surgery on her knee Wednesday). I made pasta salad and Sloppy Joes that were actually really good. I found this pasta Bourgeoisie sauce with meat. We had it once with hamburger on pasta and I thought at the time that it wasn't good on pasta but would be a great sloppy Joe mix, so tonight we put it to the test and it was delicious. It is in a jar, but tastes very fresh and has small diced veggies in it. When hamburger is added it is very nice. I learned quickly that you just got to try things here and maybe you will come up with a masterpiece!

After dinner, and reading scriptures, I started doing this blog and Elder Kyle read all the Facebook posts and was laughing at the Dachshund  photos. He kept saying, "Look at this one." It was very annoying, but they were very funny photos.