returning from the transkei

we (myself and maz) have just returned home from a wonderful, if not somewhat challenging trip, to the xhosa homelands of the transkei. it is really hard to put into a few words the experience that we had as we made the 1000 kilometer trip to visit one of the boys who we had provided a home to at the village of hope. his grandmother had invited us to stay in their traditional family home over the easter weekend and to be welcomed with open arms by the whole village was amazing.

maz with the little boy outside his grandmothers home

our arrival was the height of conversation, the grandmother was somewhat of a local celebrity as she welcomed the first european visitors to visit their village into her home. the 'location' as it was called was around 20 kilometers from the nearest tar road and was made up of simple roundhouses (rondavels) none of which had any access to running water or electricity.

we were invited to join the village in a celebration on saturday afternoon where a large cow had been slaughtered and cooked for all of us to share and on easter sunday morning we visited the great grandmothers home, she had never met a white man before, let lone invited him into her home.

it was wonderful to see the boy, who is now 5 years old and coping very well in his new home, and to meet his extended family, to share in their daily lives and struggles. i am currently trying to document our experiences on the trip into some sort of format that i could share and maybe i will post that on this blog when it is finished.