So Nice You Have To Say It Twice

Monday, September 20, 2010

On Friday I finally arrived in Mtubatuba, part of the Umkhanyakude district in the KwaZulu Natal province of South Africa and a beautiful place that I am excited to call home for the next year.  Most of the municipality is rural, with dirt roads leading up to small, brightly colored circular or rectangular houses spread across dry, rolling hills outside a crowded town center (no, I am not spelling it centre just yet).  The vast majority of the people in the town and surrounding area are Zulu, South Africa’s largest ethnic group.  Mtubatuba is a half-hour drive from both St Lucia (part of the famous iSimongaliso Wetlands Park) on the coast to the East and the Umfolozi Game Reserve (Kruger’s smaller rival) to the West. 

The KZN province has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the entire world.  Roughly half of 20-25 year old females test HIV positive here, and almost as many 25-30 year old males are positive as well.  Umkhanyakude is considered one of the most deprived districts in South Africa.  There’s plenty of work to do.  To make matters worse, Mtubatuba currently suffers from a drought, and public water supply was cut off several times over the past week, hitting the local sugar cane mill and other agricultural enterprises hard.

As I mentioned before, I’m teaming up with the local health and education organization Mpilonhle, which implements the Grassroot Soccer curriculum in the region.  I’m living at the Mpilonhle guest house on a macadamia nut farm with Mpilonhle’s American intern, Jessica, who recently finished her third year of med school.  Michael and Christine, who founded the organization, live at the main house next door.  Today we picked up a new addition, a small Zulu puppy named Nduku, who will join our other 3 dogs, Mutombo, Iche, and Shrek, in keeping us company and watching over the farm.

I’ve enjoyed meeting the Mpilonhle staff over the last couple of days and got to hang out with many of the GRS coaches at a camp at one of the schools on Saturday.  The camp consisted of groups of students rotating between the GRS prevention curriculum, Mpilonhle health classes, counseling, and testing, and pick-up soccer.  These camps are crucial now, since the government labor strike in South Africa, which includes many teachers, has made it difficult to reach kids and carry out the curriculum during normal school hours.