Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Day 17 To Kgautswane
19 January 2005
Some of us early birds got up at 7:00 for a morning jog around the neighborhood. At 10:00 we were all loaded up and ready to roll to Kgautswane, a rural village. It was about a five-hour drive to Kgautswane, but it didn't seem to take long because of the beautiful scenery of lush green mountains.
When I heard we were going to a rural village I pictured straw huts and people with body paint in loin clothes. To my surprise Kgautswane was nothing like that. The first thing I noticed was the landscape. Kgautswane rests in mountains covered with desert plant life. There were no straw huts but rather small brick houses with flat roofs and fences around them. These fences were not for the purpose of security, but rather to keep chickens and goats penned in.
When we pulled up to the Community Center there were women dressed in bright colorful dresses doing a traditional tribal dance in our honor. After a couple of dances the women plunked Tracy in a chair and hoisted her up in the air and danced around her. As part of the culture we sang two songs back to them.
We met with our host Clara, a quiet and peaceful woman. Over tea we learned Clara was the head of the Community Center. She explained the Center?s main goal was to do development projects in the village. The Center provides an after school program for orphans, seeks to preserve Kgautswane?s cultural heritage, is involved in agricultural development, and has recently assisted the government in bringing electricity to the village.
I should note that Kgautswane is not small village, but rather is very large. It expands 55 km and has a population of 95,000.
After our tea with Clara, some of us played soccer with some of the local boys with a homemade ball that surprisingly worked quite well. After that we went to Clara's house to settle in. Our dinner was eaten in candlelight because electricity had not yet been connected to Clara's house. There was also no running water, which meant the toilet was a little shack out back. Sleeping arrangements consisted of beds and foam mats on the uneven floor. I think what I noticed most that night was the peaceful stillness of being isolated from modern civilization.
~Neil Bruinsma