Just a normal drive to the college.

Host mother and IHP'ers

View from the bus...

Our host brother Fauna, Eliza, and Alex

At the Three Escarpments

Our academic portion of SA is beginning to wind down with only two 8-12 page papers and a case study presentation all due by next Monday these next few days should be a breeze (haha). Over the past week we have had the privilege of coming in contact with many different people from the local community. We heard from a representative from a local NGO who has focused on bringing water (which is much needed) to Bushbuckridge. We have also had the pleasure of listening to a guest lecture on the issues of redistributing land in post apartheid SA. The highlight of the week was the visit to the local hospital. The experience was very different from any tour that of medical facilities that would be received in the US. First off the three wards shown to us were the Maternity Ward, Pediatric Ward, and Mental Illness Ward. We were escorted around these areas and it became obvious very quickly that privacy is not an issue in SA. Patients did not have separate rooms and the entire experience was a little awkward for us as we were literally walking through these hospital wards with 15 people. The facilities themselves were very impressive. Also the care that is provided by the hospital was impressive. A theme that I have noticed though is that places like these are excellent, but the problem is accessibility. This hospital is "centrally" located but some of the villages it serves are more then 100k away. There are clinics in most of the villages for minor health problems to be dealt with but for major issues people need to make the trip to this hospital.

Last night I ate fried locust for the first time. It tasted similar to bacon/fried chicken skin. If it wasn't for the visual of what I was eating I would have enjoyed it much more. To date exotic foods that I have tried since coming to SA have consisted of tripe (sheep's stomach), sun dried worms, and locust. All very interesting but none will in the near future become a staple in my diet.

Last weekend our group traveled from BBR to the mountains and got to survey the many different views and tourists sites that that mountains had to offer. One of them as the pictures above show was the Three Escarpments, the second were naturally occurring potholes (and no that wasn't just the least maintained road in SA) made by the river over the years. The final place that we stopped was at "God's Window" It was a lookout point that overlooked all of BBR and the surrounding area. A really amazing view I must saw. The heat in SA gives everything that you look at from far away a sort of hazy view so looking out from God's Window the plains below looked hazy and blue. It was easily one of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen.

That is all the news I have for now. Next week I will be traveling to Cape Town for our break and then heading to Vietnam after that.

Joel