Life Chage on a Page

A Local Encounter that Changed my Life
I was lucky enough to travel to Durban. It was an outreach trip combined with a semi holiday. I had never been to Durban, or any other place than the Western Province and Bloemfontein, South Africa. All I knew about Durban was the golden-yellow beaches with warm, wavy oceans. I knew they have one of the most beautiful stadiums in South Africa, or at least in my opinion. Other than those few things, I had no idea what to expect. I went in winter, which, in Durban, is like Cape Town’s summer. We went to the beach three times in a row, just soaking our feet in the sand and sea absorbing the view of the majestic cityscape around us. The sunsets were beautiful. Seeing them from the beach, the sun glistening on the ocean-top, from the house we were staying at, the dull light over hills of the village and the middle of the town, shining through the bunches and bunches of jungle-like greenery.
The jungle-like town transformed into the jungle-like township: houses built on muddy, grassy hills under over-grown tropical vegetation. Walking through this township, squeezing between small shacks handing out food to different households was an eye-opening experience. The care taken in some of these little shacks amazed me. Here, in the middle of what seemed like Tarzan’s jungle, were people living, taking care of their houses, selves and their children. After sitting with one of the older families, listening to a brief history of how this particular township, I started seeing just a little bit of how their culture functions. This kind of life seems like the simple life, but they all have dreams, hearing from one of their granddaughters. They play around their houses with their friends laughing all the time, pretending to take photos of each other posing. They find fun and laughter in everyday life situations. I saw how we all could, even if we are living life in a muddy, jungle-like township, in the midst of the busy, built-up city.