Marcelle, Shiva and I traveled to Durban late last night — roughly a 6 hour drive from Joburg.
Durban is a gorgeous town. The weather is beautiful here (even though July is the middle of winter, it is 70 degrees) and the town is located on the beach. The scenery, the goldened green grass trees and the hilly mountains offer beautiful landscapes.
After screwing up with the GPS a few times we headed to the Valley of a Thousand Hills about 45 minutes outside of city center Durban. I read about it prior to my trip and much to my surprise neither Marcelle or Shiva have heard of the location (in fact most of the S. African’s I mentioned the Valley to never heard bout it).
There we met Bongiwe, a beautiful woman, who showed us around her house. It still — and always will shock me of African’s hospitality. It’s like “why are you being so nice to me?”
I am writing this for every American, or non-African for that matter, who has never traveled to Africa.
I don’t think Africa is a country of just poor slums. I know because I live, for now at least, in Africa. I live in a third world country and a first world country in the same country. The gap between the upper and lower class is astonishingly wide. There are poor and there are rich. But those that are poor do not want to be rich — they want to be happy. People call in radio shows who live in shacks say they just want running water and electricity. They just want to live “better.“ And judging from the time I spent I definitely think Bongiwe’s hospitality is a sign of her happiness.
I am thankful I met Bongiwe.
Photos from the Valley of a Thousand Hills taken inside and around Bongiwe’s residence are below.
Powerful photos, especially love the colors and contrast with the clothes hanging