Compare and Contrast

Since the last posting, many frequent flier miles have been accrued, ceasars  performed, and households swapped.  After a stint in Seattle (extended for Mike, abbreviated for Brandon), Mike and Brandon returned to South Africa in early January to a new home in Mtunizini and a new routine.  Comparing our current housing to our previous hospital provided lodgings in Eshowe is not really fair or productive, considering that even in its dilapidated state, our previous house was far superior to that of the typical resident of KZN.  Suffice it to say that our new home is very comfortable, with amenities we take for granted but sorely lacked in Eshowe, including functioning wifi we installed, which is a luxury here.  Additionally, the estate we are living on is very beautiful, with great hiking/biking trails along the Zini river, a resident herd of zebras, interesting birds, and a nice swimming pool to cool off in during the heat of the afternoon.

The town of Mtinzini is very sleepy, with a small super-market, 4 or 5 restaurants, a couple of primary schools, a small library and post office, and the obligatory correctional faciltiy.  From our house it is about a two minute drive to a park that encompasses the Zini River estuary,  a great beach  (with hellacious undertow), and some nice hiking and biking trails through forest.  It is definitley much hotter and more humid here than Eshowe, but fortunately we have a great breeze most of the time, and the house does have aircon and ceiling fans which help make it comfortable.

Monkeys seem to be every where in this town in the early morning and late afternoon.

Our friends Connie & Charlie at Mtunzini Beach

The picture below is from the local dive bar/back packers hostel featuring 'tame' zebras.  Shortly after this photo was taken, the zebra turned and kicked Mike in the ass (literally) with both its rear legs.  And soon after that the bar's resident snake handler displayed a few of the extremely poisonous local snakes he had captured for our enterainment.  The large forest cobra was very unwieldly and nearly bit his captor a couple of times, temporarily escaping his control after one such attempt.  All very amusing.....

Brandon has just completed his first month of High School (grades 8-12 in S.A.) at Felixton College.  The contrast with his previous school in Eshowe is striking:  at Felixton, the kids wear real uniforms, instead of the gas attendant like jump suits required by the Convent school, the class rooms are air conditioned, the facilities far superior (including a very nice computer lab, sport fields, etc), the academics, it seems,  more challenging, and the overt Chrisitan trappings far more muted.  So far, Brandon seems to be enjoying Felixton, and making friends among his classmates, though it is still 'early days', so time will tell if this sentiment persists.

Mike may help out occassinally at Felixton with IT system admin stuff,  in addition to consulting on some data admin work at Eshowe HS and teaching a computer class for 3rd graders at a primary school in Eshowe.  In rural South Africa, IT, much like medicine, is the domain of the generalist, rather than the specialist.  All aspects of technology -- from fixing desktops, managing users, deploying servers, maintianing networks, digging trenches and laying cable, supporting applications, managing licenses, and even development -- typically default to a single, harried individual who often has to perform another function, such as teaching a class.  Breadth, rather than depth of experience, is what counts most.  Compare this to a large organization in the U.S., where several people may be dedicated full time to managing a single application.

However, it is in the area of basic educational attainment that the contrast between here and home is most salient and disheartening.  It didn't dawn on me until recently when I was filling out the death certificate of a young woman, and I had to circle none for education, not even first grade.  The patient worked as someone's housekeeper her entire, abbreviated life. Her sister, the next of kin, unable to sign her name,  left a thumbprint instead.  Later,  I asked my student nurse to translate a conversation explaining to a patient about her "uterus" but I first had to explain to her what a uterus was. The secretary in the human resources office types slowly with one finger. And the pass rate for high school is 30% for an individual subject, 40% cumulative. I just realized how non-existent education was for the black South African until the end of apartheid and the large chasm in education that still exists here between black and white citizens. Not just a lack of healthcare workers and resources, but a lack of basic understanding about one's healthcare in general; the basics we take for granted -- Why there is never any soap in the bathroom or facilities to wash one's hands on the wards between seeing patients. Why the same antibiotic that has no benefit continues to be prescribed by nurses and doctors. It seems insurmountable at times.

Connie and Charlie recently left for Seattle, via Berlin, after a very enjoyable stay with us.  Brandon missed several days of school to share their safari adventure at Zulu Nyala Game Lodge (about 2 hours from our house).  It is a very nice, low-key lodge.  New animal sighting highlights include a family of cheetahs, and a tiny chamelon.  Very cool.

We look forward to sharing our house with many more guests while we are here, so keep an eye on flights to Durban and give us a shout if you plan on coming.