Durban

Durban Mission Office

 We spent the last few days in Durban meeting with the mission president and his financial clerk.  We had a wonderful discussion about the units he oversees and came away with many items to follow up on.   We also had a meeting with our Assistant Area Auditor for the Durban Coordinating Council.  We talked about the expectancy attitude and what we can do to shift peoples thinking to that of Ubuntu.  This is an African word Br. Kennedy taught us which means togetherness or humanity towards others.  It's the idea of everyone pulling together as one rather than expecting something of a few.

In the financial training that we do, we come away with stories that are confidential or discussion that would really be quite boring to write about in a blog so that is why I speak of the lesser important part of our travels - places we stayed and things we saw.

We stayed at Huntley Place where Jane was a delightful host.

Two dogs and two cats gave us warm lovins

Jane's herb garden which decorated our breakfast plate.

Jane grows herbs on the patio and sometimes monkeys come in a pull them out.  The terraced topical jungle that you can't see above the wall was very beautiful but must be taken with caution as it could hold African surprises like deadly black mambo snakes.

This is the bark of a giant Kapok tree in Jane's yard

Jane had some guests from Senegal who told her that in their country this is called a torture tree because when someone does something wrong they are strapped to the tree and then the straps are pulled and tightened.  Eish!!!  Gives me the creeps

A few pictures from the African medicine market:

Bats, monkeys, bones, snake and other animal skins,
bird heads & wings, owl carcasses...

Many rows of barks - all kinds of bark and sticks and spices.

Ladies were chopping sticks into pieces using a metal blade on a log and men were pounding different woods into bark chips with a pole inside a metal bowl.

Woman's work clothing

Pictures from the beach front promenade:

Evening on the promenade

The promenade is just beautiful!  The Indian Ocean is warm and has great surfing waves.  There are rickshaw rides, restaurants, a gorgeous waterpark and even a small "Seaworld".

Our 6.5 hour drive back home went well.  We passed towns like Ubumbulu, Tweedie, Verkykerskop, Lions River and Giants Castle! Wouldn't you love to live in a town called Giants Castle!  :)