All Hail Shaka!

I would like to introduce uShaka. I found one of his brothers at school the other day and could not pass up on the low price of R10. He has been welcomed into my family, despite some of my sisters being deathly afraid of all five pounds of him. For the meantime he is living with me but this weekend I will be starting construction on his house. He will get either a small rondavel or a 4-corner. Tomorrow I will be making the bricks!

Grade 12 Life Sciences

As we approach the end of the school year it is time for review. I have been team-teaching grade 12 Life sciences at Ntalantala all year. It is a class of 38 learners and akin to a high school bio class.

Here are the learners, this is not our usual classroom but one of three mobile classrooms the school uses until the new building is completed.

Reed Festival

Last weekend was part 2 of the annual Reed Festival. Each year all of the virgins in zululand assemble for the King carrying reeds. They present these reeds (and themselves) to the King, after which he picks a new bride. Times have changed so he no longer chooses a new bride every year, but the ceremony persists. I had the chance to attend the second round of the festival that takes place at the royal palace in Ingwavuma.

We were warmly welcomed to the event with VIP passes. Naturally.

Here you can see the King Goodwill Zwelithini . This year marks his 40th year of reign.

It was hard to keep count of all the virgins but here is the collection of reeds.

Highlight of the festival: eating hippo at the palace.

Biggest Effing Spider

I made friends with this little guy last night during a run to the latrine. Probably the last time I ever do that at night. Ever. I wanted to fetch a ruler to measure him but decided not to risk losing a hand to this beast. Best guess is 4 inches tip-to-tip. Kudos to anyone who can identify the species.