Beaches, Walking for Life, Politics 101

The beach is never boring....
1. I saw Moses. He was black, wore a white robe and had a staff. He walked into the sea but the waves did not part.
2. I saw the Karate Kid all grown up. This 40-50 year old man, wearing a snazzy track suit (mesh tank top and slit shorts) spent the morning kicking the waves crashing over his lower body.
I walked for 7 hours at the CANSA (cancer association of South Africa) Relay for Life. First time its been to SA=super exciting. 101 teams. We volunteered in the parking lot (grass lot). Sad that I didn’t have a neon jacket and a wand. Otherwise it was fantastic, though directing cars will not be my life career. Hehe I have a blister on my toe because I walked the whole thing barefoot.
An Indian security guard told me to “love life” this morning. It was a 5:30am run with the sun coming up and making the clouds slightly pink. It was cool like an early April day that promises to be warm. Durban was still sleeping and the light made soft curves over the Concrete City (my name for this part of Durban. Appropriate because this is what I see). Lights from the port, always busy even at dawn, twinkled at me from my vantage point high above on Ridge Rd.

Scary tidbit: Some background before I begin. I know how much you love my political rants that are crystal clear and always grammatically correct lol-----The national election is 22 April. I’ll be in Manguzi which may be tense because of clashes between ANC (African National Congress and majority party since 1994’s 1st democratic elections(end of apartheid) Currently dealing with lots of scandal-Zuma’s almost got himself out of corruption and money laundering charges; an unlawful release of several prisoners with political ties to ANC, etc, etc) and IFP (Inkata Freedom Party which campaigns on its Zuluness-it’s the “national party” and is a traditional stronghold in KZN which is 99% Zulu. I don’t really know anything about it except for its emphasis on “the tried and true alternative” to ANC. ANC started making in roads in KZN a few years ago and now is duking it out with IFP. Things turned violent about 2 hours northwest of Durban about 3 weeks ago when a little boy was killed by an ANC 4x4 after a rally. The area is a IFP stronghold. Zuma went there to try to emphasis his Zuluness…first ANC major leader that’s a Zulu (Mandela and Mbeki are KoiSan and Xhosa respectively). Ethnicity is playing a huge part in this election.
So the tidbit (longbit I suppose would be more accurate). An ANC election poster I say this morning read “Monty would vote for ANC. Vote ANC for One Nation.” ANC’s colors are yellow with green and black. In the middle of the poster is Monty Naicker’s face. Monty Naicker was a killer bad ass. Born in 1910, political activist and leader of the Natal Indian Congress in the 30-50. Jailed by the apartheid govt for high treason. Died in 1978 of poor health but not before fighting with all he had for racial equality. Interesting how someone who campaigned for peace, freedom and a non-racial society is being used to coerce people into voting for the ANC.

Typed this during a lecture about malaria. Don’t worry, I paid attention. Bottom line: Malaria control programs in South Africa have been very successful. Malaria happens in northern KwaZulu Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces. I will be in a “malaria” zone during my ISP but have taken tablets, have a mozzie net and malaria outbreaks have been almost zlitch recently. Strangely enough, there were cases reported in Durban last month. Apparently someone’s neighbor goes to Mozambique a lot, where malaria is rife, and brought a mosquito back in his car and it bit this man. Big bummer.
I picked my ears up at the mention of the Bioko Island Malaria Control Programme, Equatorial Guinea. Sounds like Block Island so I got excited. Actually, its not…fancy that.


“Jesus is Lord” Church marked the end of my sprint today. I have quite the collection of Christianity-related things here that you will must definitely get a laugh out of. I sure do. Question-don’t you think naming your church after the number one thing you believe in is a bit redundant. Why can’t religious organizations (I’m including myself in this) be more creative? Ah, because that would go against their unbending ways….shame lol