The weekend in Durban

So on Friday (19.3.2010) we left to Durban! After 600 kilometers and almost seven hours later we arrived to our hostel. It wasn’t exactly something you would call a lovely beach paradise, but after a while we came to appreciate the friendly and relaxed atmosphere and met some really nice people.

The climate in Durban was quite different compared to Pretoria. The humidity was unbelievable and it made the sunshine feel much hotter. For two days we layed on the beach, enjoyed the sun, swam in the sea and just relaxed. We knew one of the locals beforehand and he showed us around. He also took us to see the night life. In the evenings we socialized with the other guests at the hostel.



During our drive back to Pretoria we had the chance to enjoy a traffic jam. Six kilometers in front of us a buss had caught on fire and for over an hour the whole traffic towards Pretoria was just standing still. Luckily no-one was hurt.



The trip was such a nice change to our life in the city!

the crew

Halfway

We have found a rough course to our project. Now we are working on infromation processes and figuring out ways for finnish people to communicate with the rural community. There are many challenges in the process, which makes it quite interesting. Also the final report has kept us busy. The parts that we wrote back in Finland are practically useless conserning our new project, so we really have some serious writing to do.

The past week has been a bit different, because we have had two guys visiting us from Finland. Alongside with work we have been showign them around neighbouring areas of Pretoria.

Tomorrow we are heading to Durban for a long weekend to enjoy the sun and the sea!

Best wishes from sunny Pretoria,
the crew

P.S Here are some pictures from last week.

Pretoria











Pilanesberg











Pilanesberg










Joburg

Life in the city

It has been just over two weeks since we came back from Kgautswane. The travelling and all the new experiences took their toll and the first few days went by just recovering from it. We have been processing our feelings and the overall experiences by writing, talking and thinking. During week 8 we met with one of our teachers, Katri Korkalainen, who was visiting South Africa. We gave her a grand tour around our house as well as updated her concerning our project.

We visited the Canadian embassy couple of times to watch the Winter Olympics (icehockey). There we met some very friendly and interesting people and also had some new points of view on our project. This Sunday we were invited to a braai in Johannesburg. It was hosted by one of our classmates’ contact in a beautiful farm. The sun was shining the whole day from a cloudless sky. We sat by the pool, drank some vine and enjoyed ourselves. It was an amazing experience and we are all very greatful for it.

Last week we got an office at the Meraka Institute. It has made our lives a bit easier due to internet access. At our place we have got only two USB modems, which has made it difficult to work together and gather information.

the crew

Kgautswane and Kruger

On Tuesday 9th of February we arrived to Kgautswane which is a rural village in the Mpumalanga province. The beautiful village is one of the almost 20 villages located in a valley which is surrounded by huge and green mountains. We were introduced to Clara Masinga, a sweet elderly lady who owns a Community Center and the Bama Lodges where we spent nine days. We also met the village’s two infopreneurs Simon and Ishmael. Simon took us to a sightseeing to the village and we were surrounded by almost 40 children. We discovered that despite that there were tabs and showers in the bathrooms there wasn’t any running water. We had to wash our self’s every morning with one bucket of hot water. We ate breakfast at 8 am and supper at 8 pm with Clara and possible visitors.



On Wednesday Simon took us to meet the chief of the village. We were told that we should give about 100 Rand in an envelope to the chief in a spirit of a good gesture. After the meeting we went to see the local tile factory and how they manufactures tiles from slate stones. When we arrived back we visited a computer class in the Community Center where Ishmael teaches to the local people basic computer skills. In the evening Clara wanted to show us how to eat traditional African meal on the ground next to an open fire.



We went hiking to the mountains with Simon on Thursday to see how the local people are building a dam and pipeline down from the mountain to the village so that there would be running water in every household. The whole trip lasted about six hours and we were exhausted afterwards. On Friday morning Clara wanted us to meet a group of local police officers before the breakfast. There were about 20 police officers because of some meeting concerning a national police day. After the breakfast we went to one of the local secondary schools and visited all of the classes. The purpose of this visit was to tell the students how important math and physic are concerning their future. We also encouraged the girls to finish their studies before they even think about having any children.

We woke up on Saturday at 5 am to participate in two funerals. The first funeral lasted only 5 minutes after we got there. At the second funeral we saw almost everything that usually happens in a traditional African funeral. First there was lots of cheery singing and dancing. After that we headed to the cemetery where the men of the village buried the deceased and almost every man including our boys filled up the grave. After the long lasting funeral we went to see a sport competition between the local secondary schools to the sand field next to the Community Center.

On Sunday we took a part to two separate service in two different churches. In the second church the people wanted to give all the contribution money to us which is a normal policy on their church when they have visitors. After this Clara wanted us to spend one night in two different families so that we could see how the rural household runs itself. The next morning we visited again one of the secondary schools. In that same day we also visited a day care center and in the evening we saw some traditional dancing and singing.





On Tuesday morning we visited in a primary school and saw a little bit of their normal school day. In the evening we went again to visit the second church where we had already been to speak about wisdom. One off us read couple parts from the bible and after that another one of us tried to explain it in own words. On Wednesday we visited another primary school and in the evening two local girls taught to our girls how they wash clothes with hands.



On Thursday we left Kgautswane behind and headed to Kruger Park with our contact person. On the way to Kruger we saw amazing views example the Blyden River Canyon which is the world’s second biggest alive canyon. Early morning on Saturday we went to the Kruger Park and during ten hours we saw many wild animals except the leopard. This amazing trip lasted four days and a big thank you belongs to Rensie without whom it wouldn’t have been so great.

Finally SA

Hi guys :)

We apologize that we haven't been able to enter anything new in our blog for a while.
The main thing though is that, WE ARE IN SOUTH-AFRICA!!! This country is absolutely amazing and beautiful.

During our first week here we've organized and taken care of the basic things such as accomodation and phone numbers. We've also had a look at the city and tried to get to know the surroundings a little bit better. Our rental car (a Toyota Corolla a.k.a the slowest car in the world) has made moving around easy, despite the fact that driving on the wrong side of the road has been nerve wrecking from time to time ;)

Our first appointment with our contact person took place on Thursday at the Meraka institute. After first being stuck in a traffic jam for almost an hour, followed by a thorough security check at the CSIR, we finally got to our meeting. Mr. Johann "Rensie" van Rensburg greeted us with joy. He is a warm and laid-back person.
The fact that he walked around the Meraka Institute barefoot, made our business suits and ties look a bit over the top. The meeting itself was really casual and relaxed. Rensie talked about the project and explained our tasks while we listened carefully and sipped our coffees.

We got to know that our project discription changed totally. Our new mission has got similarities with the old one, but with completely different aspects. Basically our job is to gather knowledge about the indigenous african people, their societies and their way of life.

Tomorrow we will embark on a journey to the countryside. We will be staying in Kgautswan for the next 12 days. We are intrigued by this amazing opportunity and looking forward to seeing the real and uncensored Africa. Our goal with this trip is to live and breathe together with the local people. We will open our hearts,
minds and stomachs and try to see past the differences and poverty, and hopefully find the beauty beneath all this. WE CAN'T WAIT!!

As a remark, we want to say that so far during our trip we've only come across amazing people with true and wonderful hospitality. There is propably many true things in the horror stories we've heard before the trip. How open minded you ever try to be, you still find yourself being careful and watchful. But I guess that's not
a totally bad thing. However, the good things often becomes overshadowed by the bad things.
Still, as far as we are concerned, we've enjoyed every minute of our stay and we're looking forward to an amazing trip with everlasting memories.

HAKUNA MATATA :)

-Iiro and the crew

Preparations

Hi guys.

Countdown begins, in about 2 weeks we're gonna be enjoying the warmth and sun in SA:) We're psyched and excited but there is still loads of things to do before we leave. We have been preparing ourselves as good as possible before the trip. So far we've covered the flight tickets, vaccinations and travel insurances. We haven't found a place to stay yet but we're hopeful.

Our preparation for the trip has contained theory planning and we've also contacted as many companies and retail sales shops as possible. We've had positive feedback and we've met with companies that might be willing to take part in our project. Our object is to inform these companies when we're in SA and have more knowledge about the products and the overall project.

That is all for today and we will be writing more in the future.
See ya!

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