Getting to Knysna (with a short stop to surf)

The next leg of our journey had us traveling east up the coast to Knysna, another surfing town.  We had about 300 kilometers to kill, and used the journey to get educated on life in South Africa through the lens of our two Peace Corps volunteers.  Cat started out with a story about the differences in the concept of a pet between the USA and South Africa.  Cameron and Cat both have stray village dogs from South Africa that they adopted.  Among other things they found its a great way to stay warm in the winter, and it also helps to promote interaction in the village.  By American standards, they have honestly not done a lot taking care of their dogs beyond ensuring they are fed well, cared for, and have a place to sleep.  However by village standards, they are completely spoiled rotten.  Dogs in a village are used for security or herding livestock.  The concept of a 'pet' is completely foreign to the rural South African population.  It is not uncommon to see dogs scavenging for food in the village, having rock thrown at them, or having mild to severe injuries.  Children and adults will also run away from dogs - they have an innate fear of dogs, even small puppies.  One of the most rewarding experiences was teaching their host families about how to care for a dog, and how a dog can be something more than just an animal.  Now, when they each go away for a day, their families have learned to play with their dogs, and they have even grown to like the dogs.  As an example they have let the dogs stay in the house during the rain, something unheard of in rural South Africa.

From learning about dogs, we then changed the discussion to the tough realities of being an American volunteer in rural South Africa.  Many times, volunteers cannot get their village colleagues to focus on the merits of a project, but instead the villagers ask why as Americans they can't simply pay for it.  For example one attempted project by Cameron and Cat was starting a health related radio show with the Giyani community radio station.  They spent months of their time trying to demonstrate how they were dedicated to working with the local radio station. Among hours of volunteering with the station, they also designed and outlined a 52 segmented show that would improve awareness of health and emotional well being issues in the surrounding villages of Giyani.  However, after two trial radio shows, the station decided something different.  In the end, it came down to money; the station manager demanded 5000 rand a month (about 500 USD) to put the program on. To put that in context, a good paycheck for an average rural South African is 1500 rand a month.

By then, we were approaching the town of Mossel Bay.  Cameron had the great idea to stop and go surfing!  We surfed for about an hour, and everyone (including Caroline) had a blast.  We'd put in a picture normally, but Cat (who grew up in Hawaii) was the only one who really looked elegant on her board.  We took off again for Knysna, and were greeted with seeing two elephants in the countryside during our drive!

Some of their fellow Peace Corps Volunteers also got to see up close and personal how South Africans are still struggling with the issues of race, 21 years after the official end of Apartheid.  One American volunteer, with the village name Naledi, was watching a village soccer scrimmage with some of her village friends.  About halfway through the match, a group of white rugby players demanded the field, and stormed the game, saying that it was their turn to use the field, and the village group should leave.  The Afrikaaner rugby players then started rocking the car, where their friend went for safety, and threatened her.  The police came, and ended up forcing the village players off the field, even though it clearly was the Afrikanner rugby players who were at fault.

This is troubling, but it was an isolated incident, and they do report that more often than not they see people working together.  So there is hope for the future!

By then we arrived at Knysna, and were ready for a hot meal and a cold beer!