Finding South Africa

After determining that I’m from the United States, the second question people ask is, “How are you finding South Africa?” My original response was “I like it, but it’s so hot here.” Then I tried, “I like it. There are so many amazing animals here,” but I gradually learned that my (apparently) unnatural interest in animals makes me seem particularly foreign. Recently I’ve been trying, “I like it; it’s beautiful!” I ran into a couple girls from the Peace Corps, and they said this is the answer they always use to avoid mentioning the many things about South Africa that they find decidedly unpleasant.

                As much as I appreciate the climate, flora, and fauna here, biotic and abiotic factors don’t define a country. It makes me think of the question in a different sense, and wonder if I’m even qualified to answer it. Have I “found” South Africa yet? What am I doing to find it?

                I’ve been participating in a tutoring program where students from surrounding secondary schools (grades 8-12) come to the Old Main Building on my campus and university students tutor them in all their subjects. I volunteered to do math, so my first week, I was put in front of a classroom of about 30 grade 11 students, given a math textbook taken from a student in the front row, and told that at least some of them are learning probability right now. South Africans have flowers and antelope on their coins, so I have no idea if they use heads-or-tails terminology, but I delivered an impromptu 45-minute lecture on probability. I think most of them understood most of what I said. In subsequent weeks, I’ve gotten the students to ask me questions they have from their classes, so I know I’m at least helping some of them, though it’s still hard because they all come from different high schools.

                This week, there was a meeting for the parents. It began on Africa time (30 minutes late with half the students standing in the back because there still weren’t enough chairs). When it was time to officially start, some girl in the audience with a beautiful, loud voice started singing a melody in Zulu, and the whole crowd joined in with a lower ostinato. The girl’s voice soared above the congregation, and the same words were repeated several times, so I quietly joined in the harmony. Then the umfundisi (pastor/reverend) who was in charge called on someone to pray. There were four people in attendance who didn’t know Zulu (me, two Indian students, and another tutor who’s Pedi) so our neighbours were instructed to translate for us, and the meeting proceeded in Zulu. At the end, all the tutors were asked to introduce ourselves with our name, surname, where we’re from, what we study, and what we teach. I knew this was coming, so I’d been practicing the Zulu in my head throughout the meeting, but I still nervously stumbled over my words as I stood up and said “Sanibonani Bazali” (Good morning parents). Everyone laughed and the others quickly assured me that English was fine, but I pushed forward, “Igama lami ngu-Erika Anderson. Ngivela eMelika. Ngifunda ibhayoloji. Ngifundisa imaths.” The audience all cheered and clapped for me. I had said something very simple, but saying it in front of 100 people was scary. The rest of the day, the other tutors asked me one by one where I learned to say these things in perfect Zulu. It was pretty cool.

                There’s a woman who lives on my floor who is coming back to school now that her kids are grown up and working. She’s always cooking delicious-looking, interesting food, so Becky and I asked her to teach us how to make a good South African dish. I think curry is the food most commonly made by the South Africa students on my floor, so tonight we made curry with potatoes, carrots, peas, and chicken. It was absolutely delicious. Here are Mbali, me, and Becky about to eat.

  
This post already drastically defies my self-imposed regulations for text-to-photo ratio, so I’ll forgo a thoughtful conclusion about how these little experiences represent South Africa for me in a way that's very different from, say, seeing a giraffe. Finding South Africa is something I’m working on, and I’m enjoying it.