Spanning the Globe

A Different Side of the Trip

Today is Thursday, March 8th and we are in Hilton. We have been traveling a lot the past 2 days and have seen much beautiful scenery. It reminds me of the mid-west and far west of the US. Sometimes when you look out the window, you would even think you were traveling down I-81 in Virginia. We have gone as far east as we will go on this trip. Beautiful mountains and a lot of grasses. Mixed in with all of this, are fields of maize, soybeans, sunflowers, kenaf. We have seen more animal agriculture in the past few days also. This morning, briefly, we visited the community gardens of the Mpophomeni village just outside of Hilton.

 

The community garden is totally organic and makes its own compost for fertilizer and uses lots of mulch to control weeds. It also uses ample amounts of animal manures. The people in the village are very low income to no income at all. The garden is used to supply food to certain families there. The families must come to the community garden in order to participate. The overseer of the garden also supervises an individual’s garden at their home. Interesting that these families, many without a father, live on a 25ftX40ft section of property(if that big) and also raise vegetables year round to support their families. This village is just one of so many here in SA that are stuggling just to survive. Things are improving for them though. We visited the cemetery at the back of the village.

 

It is rather large. Over 400-500 new grave sites since early 2006. Most die of Aids. Through education of the youth and assistance of many mission groups,and others, situations are improving for them. Cattle, goats and chickens roam around as they please moving from one house to another to find a grazing spot. This scene is much different from the ones we have experiend this far, but very much worth seeing. This afternoon we visited Pat Caldwell, Professor of Pathology, University of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermartizburg. She hosted a picnic under the trees at the entrance to campus for us. She later showed us around campus. We heard about the research going on att he University in the glasshouses. Sclerotina in sunflowers, and soybean and some of the bio-controls using silicon in a spray application. This application is being used experimentally for Asian Soybean Rust. We also heard from one PHD student and his work with Fusarium of Bananas. He was hoping to finish his work before he returned to Ethiopia. Many thanks to Pat and her colleagues for the hospitality.

1. I wasn't aware that aids would be such an issue in South Africa. I assumed it was only an issue in less advanced countries. But I forgot South Africa's separatist history.
   Posted by  on  03/08  at  03:18 PM
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