Day 2, We started the day by going on a tour of Durban, skewed to what we may expect professionally. Our first stop was the roadside pharmacy, a variety of sacks containing multicoloured powders and tree barks, surrounded by used bottles of Smirnoff and Bacardi filled with murky but colourful fluids.
These ingredients are traditional zulu medications prescribed by Healers. We were fortunate to witness what a consultation would entail. We were taken to a shack in one the shabbier parts of town amongst shanties alongside the rail tracks. The healer was not available but his apprentices were more than willing to contact the spirits for us. They invoked them by burning a particular type of grass that had a coarse incense like quality. Once an “offering” had been made they proceeded to communicate with spirits by what can only be described as a clearing of their sinuses. Though we felt there was substantial theatricality to the proceedings, there is no denying that there was an unsettling and almost sinister vibe that permeated with the smoke.
To contrast, we then had a tour of a local primary health care centre. This included a resus room, outpatient clinics, radiology, a short stay ward and maternity. Probably heralding what we can expect, the maternity and HIV clinics had the longest queues. Often this would be where locals would go should the healers not be able to cure what ails them.
We stopped at a local “meat café” for lunch. Pretty much as it sounds the mainstay was platters of grilled meat. Cuts of varying design and animals were served up with pap, a corn based carb. The food was devoured rapidly and soon there was nothing but carcass left on the giant meat plate.
The farce of the bank account was next up. Never again shall I take fee free banking in the UK for granted. There seems to be a charge for everything one does in a bank, I was wary of sneezing for fear of invoking a transaction fee.
After dinner we managed to be party to a little of the World Cup spirit as Bafana Bafana were playing the mighty Black Stars in a friendly. A few beers and a 1-0 result for home team were enough to draw the evening to a close
Meat Café...
ReplyDeleteThe reflections in the title gave me flashbacks of the evil eportfolio but otherwise great blog.
ReplyDeletewe went to a restaurant like this in Kenya called 'Carnivore'. It was very interesting with implala, crocodiles, ostrich on the menu. they might have a branch in SA?
ReplyDelete