My First Day in Mapumulo

My first day in Umphumulo began around six when the sun blasted through the thin blue and white drapes that covered my bedroom window.  Even though I remembered to pull them closed the night before, the brilliance of the sun shining over the beautiful green hills of Mapumulo was more than enough to wake me up.  I dozed until 7, and then climbed out of bed to embrace the day.  After warming up in the sun streaming through my windows for a few minutes, I took my first bath in about 15 years.  Unfortunately, I forgot my towel at the backpackers in Pietermaritzburg, so I had to make do with a small, quick-dry camp towel, which left me colder than when I started. 

Xolani, who picked me up from PMB and showed me around the day before, invited me to come to the chapel at 8 every day for a devotion.  I headed over to the chapel a little before 8, and did my best to follow the 15 minute devotion in isiZulu.  After chapel, I made the first of dozens of introductions to the half a dozen other people in attendance.  Xolani and I had breakfast (the 2^nd of 3 meals that the church ladies prepared for me while I was settling in).  The power went while we were eating, which isn’t anything out of the ordinary here. 

We were planning on driving into Stanger, but Xolani had come down with a nasty cold and wanted to see his doctor first.  I stuck around the kitchen and talked with the church staff while he was gone, and we eventually left for Stanger around 10:30.  After a 30 minute drive, I began grocery and towel shopping while Xolani ran a few errands of his own.  I think that I could have definitely done a better job supplying my empty kitchen, but I covered the basics. 

The power was still out during lunch, but life went on as usual.  Xolani gave me a tour of his house, which he sublets to two other tenants.  He showed me an avocado tree behind his home, and we spent 15 minutes trying to knock some of the fruit out of the tree.  I am now the proud owner of the two biggest avocados I’ve ever seen.  Hopefully they’ll taste great in a few days. 

I headed down to the Umphumulo Hospital in the afternoon and met Dr. Pukana.  He gave me the whirlwind tour of the hospital and introduced me to dozens of people.  I’ll save the story of my first experience with South African medicine for another post, but it was quite an introduction.  When I got back to the church compound, the power was still out.  Just as I was moving a gas canister into my flat to cook dinner with, the power came back on!  My first home-made dinner wasn’t candlelit, but the thrill of having power was somewhat short lived because the water went out right after I finished eating dinner.  I spent the rest of the evening reading, writing, and trying to practice Zulu phrases.  Such is life in Umphumulo… at least so far.