Wanderlusting in South Africa

Sabelo, my internship supervisor here, and Odridge (Odi) met me at the Joburg airport.  From here I traveled with Odi to Lesotho (a small, land-locked country completely surrounded by South Africa).  We thought it would take about 5 hours, but it ended up taking closer to 8—a very long 8 hours especially after the long flights.  But Odi was the best travel companion (and guide) a girl could ask for.  He was extremely welcoming and told me many stories along the way—some about him, some about his family, his work, his country.  I learned so much from him.  Odi, a musician himself, also gave me my first introduction to South African jazz!  And let me tell you—SA jazz is out-of-this-world incredible! I’ll try to upload a link to a particularly good song.  So for over half of our road trip we have one hell of a jam session! 

            The poverty here can be absolutely startling at times.  In just a ten-minute drive out of Joburg, you can go from a bustling metropolitan to a township scourged with poverty, hunger, all sorts of struggle.  6 or more people live in one or two room houses with roofs made of piece of scrap metal put next to one another and held in place by large rocks placed on top.  And yet, the people who live here seem to wear a permanent smile and were vey friendly.  And though I most definitely felt like an outsider, I also felt included and welcomed.  South Africans definitely have the hospitality thing down—and we, Americans could go a long way to learn a thing or two from them!  Odi’s grandmother lives in one of these townships and we had to pick up some supplies for the conference we were heading to that he had left there.  She was a very sweet woman, who, form what she told me, was bed-ridden because of the pain brought on by other problems she has with her stomach and lungs.  She taught me the South African handshake (which I’ll be glad to show any of you upon my return).  When she needed to rest again she kissed my hand, wished me well, and told me that I would do just fine here.  I took this to be a very nice way to begin my trip.