The past couple of days have been many things, including exciting, fascinating, eye-opening, and of course, awkward (because when am I not awkward?! SA is no exception). We got up at 0600 on Sunday morning to leave Acacia Park for Tshapasha, as we had to be there at 0730 for their weekly community meeting at the Chief’s home. As we hit the dirt road that led to the village, we noticed several police cars and a group of people standing around a ditch. We didn’t think a whole lot of it at first, but when we arrived at the Chief’s house, he told us that he had a party the night before (which was obvious, due to all of the trash in his front yard), and this man had gotten very drunk. He was found in the ditch that morning, dead. People were not sure whether he passed out there and died, or if he had hit his head upon falling. Either way, it wasn’t the greatest mood in which to arrive for the first time. It was also strange to arrive in the village and have to meet the chief so soon after arriving. We were not given the opportunity to learn proper greetings, or anything for that matter, so when Vhonani (our Univen advisor) got completely on the ground at his feet to greet him, we weren’t sure what to do. Luckily, he could tell that we were fish-out-of-water and chuckled at our attempts to bow in a proper greeting.
The community meeting took place in the Chief’s front yard under a mango tree. The villagers knew we were coming, so they set out plastic chairs for us while the villagers sat on the ground or on tree stumps, and the elders of the village sat in front of us in chairs. The women and men are separated on each side, and the women almost always sit on the ground, while the men sit up a little higher. There were probably 30 or so people that attended of all ages, and everyone was very nice and greeted us with smiles, though most of them spoke no English.  The meeting began with a prayer, and we were then introduced to everyone and our project was also introduced. They were receptive, and they formed focus groups that they thought would be beneficial to our project (including elder women, youth, businessmen, builders, water committee, home care workers, and middle-aged women). Near the conclusion of the meeting, we realized that many of the women in the community had congregated in a group behind us on the road and had begun cheering and yelling. They then formed a line, and began chanting/singing, led by a woman with a huge leather drum. It was absolutely fascinating to watch them dance and sing, as it was literally like something you’d see on the Discovery Channel. We learned that it was a celebration of the young men returning from their month in the bush, which was their first step to becoming men. Apparently, a circumcision ceremony was soon to follow.
We left the village, hit up a roadside stand for some sweet potatoes,  and were able to go grocery shopping. We hadn’t gotten dinner the night before, or breakfast that morning, so we were thrilled. We went to the local ‘ShopRite’, which reminds me a lot of a small-town IGA type grocery store or something. The selection of stuff was pretty interesting, especially for this foodie!  We ended up with a lot of rice, lentils, potatoes, bananas, oranges, onions, spices, yoghurt, tomatoes, etc. Sid also got a bag of chicken for the braai (grill). We got back to Acacia just in time to unpack groceries and then headed to Univen to meet our partner students there and for a brief orientation. There were about 15 Univen students, and everyone was so nice, and thrilled to meet us. A few of them were also thrilled to play with my ‘doll hair’, as they put it, and had many questions about how often I washed it, how I styled it, etc.
Finally, we were free for the day, so our new friend Styles piled into the car with Joe, Sid, Miriam, and me, and we went searching for beer. Since it was Sunday, almost everything was closed, but Styles knew of a place that sold illegally on Sundays and we went there. It was literally the sketchiest place I’ve ever seen, and I was told not to even get out of the car. We were in the middle of a parking lot surrounded by men grilling, drinking, smoking pot, etc. Luckily, Styles and Sid made it out with 6 tall-boys of Zamaleg and we headed back to Acacia. I took charge of dinner (of course), and made a lentil and potato stew that I seasoned with ginger, garlic, peri peri, and some other spices from around here. I served it over rice and Sid grilled some chicken. It went over well with my little family here and I will likely be making the lentil stew again tonight. We drank beer and whiskey and Styles taught us a South African card game. Overall, it was a good, but exhausting day, and we called it a night pretty early.
Today (Monday), was pretty laid back. We went to Univen at 0900 to meet with our partners again, and had an Appreciative Inquiry workshop (AI is the process we’ll be using for our study here). It was laid back, and we got fed a fantastic lunch of sweet potatoes, beef stew, pap (kind of like grits, which is the local staple here), beet salad, and cole slaw. We’re now back at Acacia, being lazy and discussing plans for the rest of the week. While Joe and Sid napped for a bit, Styles and I hung out on the porch discussing differences between the US and SA, which was extremely eye-opening for both of us. Apartheid in SA and segregation in the US are a lot more similar than I’d realized, and although Apartheid is technically over here, it truly is not.
Well, that’s about it for now. I miss everyone back home so much, and have certainly not had time until today to become homesick. Sending  lots of love, happiness, and good energy from Limpopo!