The South Africa of My Heart

Part 2

In an earlier post I shared some of the things about South Africa that make my heart sing. As I sit here listening to the birds sing after an afternoon thunderstorm, I’m reminded of a few more …

I love how cell (mobile) phone towers are disguised to look like giant trees …

Wherever you go in South Africa – from big cities to the country, you’ll see women carrying loads on their heads. Little girls learn this skill from the tie they take their first steps, and old women carry things in this way until the end of their lives. The grace and poise with which they do this, is one of the things I love about this place.

And while on the subject of women carrying loads … Seeing a woman carrying the precious load that is her baby (or someone else’s) on her back, always warms my heart.

Much is written about sustainable building materials and methods. In South Africa, sustainable buildings have been constructed for centuries; from mud and reed huts, to traditional Cape Dutch houses. One of the most sustainable materials – and one we happen to love – is thatch. We’re privileged and delighted to live in a thatch roof house, and in our surrounding area, thatching grass grows wild along the road verges and in the fields. People harvest this material and use it to roof their own homes, and trades people use it to build and maintain the roofs of people like us.

All South Africans have a love/hate relationship with the bronze-feathered, hooked-beaked hadeda (Bostrychia hagedash). Personally, I love this 5am flying-over-the-roof alarm clock!

And I love Stephen Francis and Rico Schacherl’s “Madam and Eve”, whose gogo (grandmother) definitely has a hate/hate relationship with our feathered friend!