Igardi Uxolo (The Peace Garden)

We've started a little garden in a bare piece of yard behind the JL Zwane Hospice building. This building is behind the main Zwane Centre and acts as a meeting place for the caregivers as well as a place for patients to come once a week. The hospice programme is run by a social worker and two nurses, plus 16 caregivers who visit each patient in their home as often as daily. About 90% of the patients are dying from HIV/AIDS and the rest are dealing with cancer. The caregivers help their patients with daily hygiene, food preparation and other tasks, but most importantly they just make the patients feel like people.

There used to be a garden on this plot but it hasn't been used for a while. So, Maxwell cut out the definition and raked out the stones and trash. Yesterday we drove about 20km to a nursery and got the trays of plants plus some fertilizer and manure (the soil is very sandy and needs a lot of help). I could have used my SUV as it's been raining all week and we had to go down about 2km of dirt road to get the plants. My white Corolla definitely needs a wash. We got turnips, lettuce, spinach, beets, and onions. We'll also try planing seeds for broad beans and sweet peas. These are all winter plants for the Western Cape and should handle the cool weather and rain.

Maxwell, the guy in the photo, and one of the guys from the HIV support group started planting today. They have about half the plot done and the rest should be finished Monday. I hope to be eating fresh veggies in a few weeks.

By the way, "uxolo" is the Xhosa word for peace. It also means "excuse me" and "sorry." I end up saying it a lot as I butcher people's names. It's not an easy word to say because the X is a click. It's made by putting your tongue against your molars and pulling back quickly, like the sound you make when calling to a horse. Keep practicing!

I also had a nice surprise this morning. It was raining when I drove into the Centre and stopped right when I got there. Spiwo was walking in and pointed up to the sky, and there was a full rainbow. I think it's the first time I've ever seen a full rainbow like this. Apparently they get them here a lot, because everyone was making fun of me staring at it. Alas, the gold is all in Johannesburg so I'm not retiring.

More to come.