She's got a CLICK in her name!!!

Disclaimer: I’m not a fan of using the term “blacks” but, it’s politically correct down here in Africa. I just don’t want to be offensive to anyone. To all my homies: Respect.



Today we met a group of the students from TsiBa Education who we'll be taking classes with for the following 4 weeks. I immediatly connected with the loudest one from the TsiBa group. Her name is Nqobile… she has a CLICK in her name!! She has the highest spirit and most energy out of the group and that’s why I like her. We took a bus ride to the Langa Township which is the oldest township in SA. Upon arrival, we met our tour guide who likes to be called "MC" (??) who then proceeded to walk us through a township lifestyle that we could never deem possible. In this specific township, the main language spoken is Xhosa, pronounced: (Click – osha)! Among the many instant shocks while entering the township, I noticed the blacks who were extremely ill, most likely diseased with AIDS. Their hands were gray and they could barely open their eyes as they stumbled down the road.


We took a turn off the street to walk in between the homes. The walk ways were piled with trash which has probably been sitting there for years (if it hasn’t decomposed yet). The garbage truck comes once a week to a designated part of the township where the trash is collected. The residents rarely make the time to gather their trash and haul it over to one of the three small trash bins across “town”. That’s why some of them bring their trash to an open area nearby to then light on fire (and then dance around it in circles, singing click songs)… just kidding, I have no idea.


Our first stop is a shack filled with a group of old black men sitting around the perimeter of the dark and raunchy room. In the back of the room are two metal bins. This is where these men are brewing Umqombothi, a traditional beer. One of the men takes a bucket and fills it to the brim with beer. He then says that part of the tradition is to SHARE, and at that moment, he lifted the bucket, took a sip, then passed it to his right. OH NO, I thought. This isn’t the time to disrespect their traditions! Fortunately, the people on his right were the students, not the locals. Each person took a VERY SMALL sip, and passed it to the right. I was about the 6th one in, said a quick prayer and took a sip. It was nasty, just like I imagined. However, I bet if it was bottled up and sold at a pub, it was taste much better. All about aesthetics, right?? Among the 10 of us from the tour group, we killed maybe 5% of the bucket – if that. By the time it passed over to the last of the locals, there was perhaps a sip left. All I have to say is, thank God for immunization shots.


Our next stop was a very small home made out of cement, which they call a hostel, not to be mixed with the hand-made shacks next door. There were three tiny rooms in the hostel where three families and a combined total of 1,000 kids resided…..Felt like it at least.





We made a stop on the side of the street to a place where three women were roasting lambs heads. One of the women was eyeing my bottle of water, so I handed it to her to have. Apparently, it’s a delicacy to eat portions of the head. They called a roasted lambs head a “smiliey” because once they put the head into the fire to roast it, the lips wither away and show the teeth, which makes it look as if the lamb is smiling- gross. 10 Rand bought us a head to share and this is where I was forced to eat my first lambs tongue. I was mortified when he handed me the piece of tongue, but I liked it so much that I ate the cheek after.



HEY! Just got a text from my new friend Nqobile:


“Hey my friend, it was nice meeting u. I enjoyed 2day’s tour & having a great energetic spirit.”


“Hey Girl, I was just thinking about you! My tongue hurts from practicing the click in your name, but I think I’ve got it down. See you tomorrow :)”



Tomorrow is class in the morning and a half hour long trip to Robin Island, where Nelson Mandela was kept for 27 years (among many other historic anti-Apartheid figures). Good night moon.