Buds of September

It is springtime, and peach trees are blooming in yards, next to creeks, in shantytowns. After driving 400 miles from Johannesburg, crossing the yellow and brown savannah, passing ostriches, guinea fowl, swans, going onward over a windy pass through northern Drakensburg mountain range, I reached the hills and valleys of KwaZulu-Natal. My trip ended last night on the idyllic doorstep of this Buddhist hermitage.

I want to start my journey in this land as awake and aware as I can be.  I hope to emulate my hostesses at this hermitage.  They are open-hearted and generous in an unadorned way.

I flew into Jo’burg this past Wednesday night after a series of farewells to beloved friends and family in Vermont and New Hampshire. Lucky for me, a petite young woman from Africa Health Placements (AHP) and her brother kindly picked me up from the airport and took me to a hotel in Troyeville, an inner suburb of the city. Troyeville is amazingly diverse, with a large group of immigrants from Mozambique among many other places. I met people there from Malawi, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Australia and KwaZulu Natal. The second picture is a view of Jo’berg from my hotel window.

My first day in Johannesburg, I visited the apartheid museum. I will be going back there and taking others with me. It was better than my already high expectations. Looking at the recent identity cards helped me realize how little time has passed here since the apartheid era. Reading about racial classification and segregation methods, the splitting up of families and forced labor helped me understand better some of the history of South Africa, the context in which apartheid’s misguided and destructive policies came about, and the grievous results. There was an excellent exhibit about the life of Nelson Mandela, and many inspiring and spiritual quotes of him, illustrating his humanistic attitude toward all, including his former oppressors. Examples:

"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."

"A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination."

"After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb."

-Nelson Mandela

Anne's rental egg at the supermarket

Tomorrow I will go to my hospital. It seems that most of the health care workers are on strike, as are teachers and other public servants all over South Africa. I’ll try to add my observations about that soon.

Thank you, my family and friends, for helping me get here: from cleaning the oven for my tenant, to picking up my international driver's license, to swearing under oath that I really am a doctor, to feeding me, to carrying my moving boxes, to creating the Brouha-HA, to driving me to the airport, to all of the other million things.  I love you, and not just because you do so much stuff for me!  Please come visit.