Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Intro to Tapologo - Monday, Oct. 12

Today we finally got to Tapologo Hospice, the primary destination of the trip and the place we've heard so much about. It looks like an oasis opening at the end of the dusty red road; everything is much greener here than in the surrounding countryside. The buildings are the same red as the ground, which we discovered is because they are built with materials made from the soil, mixed with either straw to make bricks, or dung to make a sort of cement. They use an impressive combination of high-tech sustainable, green architecture and ancient building methods, and they are forever discovering and correcting the pitfalls of their various attempts.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Henry, who is the patriarch of the family that owns Rainhill, but also works at Tapologo. He's pretty much a font of information about South African history and politics, the native flora and fauna of the region, and all things gardening. He took us around his Tapologo garden project, which provides fresh produce to the patients. I imagine this is not the easiest place to garden, but he seems to produce an abundance, and it's all completely organic. Henry and Martin, the buildings and grounds person, took us through the facilities, including their brand new administrative building. Then Hilda, the head of nursing, took us through the in-patient hospice. It felt a bit intrusive to walk through the wards, but it was important to see the work they do there.

In the afternoon we went out for our first introduction to Freedom Park, a settlement just a bit outside of Rustenburg that has sprung up because of the platinum mines. Part of the settlement is RDP housing - government-approved, permanent housing that is owned by the residents - while the part across the railroad tracks is an illegal, supposedly temporary squatter camp (where some of the residents have lived for years). Many of the people who live here are immigrants from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and other countries who have come for the income potential from the mines. Something like eleven languages are spoken here, and people live in housing ranging from tiny corrugated tin shacks to two-story houses that wouldn't be terribly out of place in middle-class Schenectady. We were introduced to some of the staff that do home care and run the HIV/AIDS and TB programs.

This was our last evening with the Hospice group before they split off for Durban, so we spent the evening having a traditional braai (BBQ) back at Rainhill. This is not a great country for vegetarians, by the way. The food tends to be meat, meat, more meat, and pap - a corn meal substance that is prepared a gazillion different ways, and generally served with - you guessed it - meat.

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