The Love Of Mdantsane

A whole lot of love

Noloyiso Mtoko has left us a comment on our article "This is also Mdantsane":

"I love this blog, it brought tears to my face. I grew up in Mdantsane, even though my parents moved I still regard Mdantsane as my home!
Now I'm so far from home, currently in South Korea but I feel so close to home as I'm going through this blog!" 

This comment has in turn brought some tears to our eyes and we are seizing the moment to say: Thank you Noloyiso. This means a lot to us.

Coming Home

We can understand what the ones who have left Mdantsane and are living abroad now are missing. Mdantsane is one of the poorest townships in South Africa but it is a place whose streets and most homes (at least the ones that we have visited) are filled with love.

When you are far from home, after a while you come to the point, that you realize all the positive things, that the place you were born has given you when you were a child. Not without regret you realize the distance that is between you and your place of birth.

Our article today is for the ones who are far from their beloved Mdantsane.  It is for the ones who are a little home sick. We are sending some pictures of love from their township out into the world.

The eternal and never ending bond

The afternoon is a time spend on the street in front of the houses of your immediate environment.This is so because we are in Africa and people do not retract to their houses. They like to be outside.The afternoon is a time for mothers and their children. It is a time when mothers listen to the stories their children tell them about what they have experienced in the creche and in the school. 

A mind of her own

It is a time of bonding and exchanging mutual love.

Patience is the rule here and love again!

Sometimes it ain't easy because the little ones have a head of their own with definite ideas of their own. But never loose patience is the rule here.

Walking with you mother

It is a time to come home, but not necessarily to stay in the home. It is a time for the children to be free under the eyes of their mothers, who in turn have time for a chat with a friend. The afternoon is "social time" in Mdantsane and it is very easy to be social because everything is right in front of you. Just step out of your door. It is the classical traditional way of being social that costs nothing. It is the way of enjoying each others company and being with friends before there were coffee shops and malls. No, really we do like the mall a lot but our point is that everything you do there costs money and not everybody has it.

The Freedom Of The Streets

Kids walk the neighborhood together with their friends collecting the small adventures that they will remember later when they are adults. 

Who wants to be beautiful sometimes has to suffer

And some have walked it so long, that the shoes are giving trouble. It is the usual story! Who wants to be beautiful has to suffer! It is a story that starts young when you are a girl.

On a commission

Mdantsane is a place, that has a lot of acceptance for people who come to visit the township. As a foreigner you might see a face and think, this person has a grim look and is going to reject me. But the moment you open a conversation and you talk to that person you will find an open ear. What you initially thought was rejection, was only an expression of surprise to see you here.
Without exception everybody we have met, was willing to talk and to listen to us and we experienced great and heart felt hospitality.

A Look Of Surprise

A chat between friends while you walk slowly down the street, at your own pace, is the right thing to close a busy day off. And the old rule of conversation, that every good conversation should follow is still very alive here! 

One listens and the other one talks!

Time to talk and walk

It can take a while until everything is said what has to be said! But there is no problem with that because the one who listens understands this fact completely and knows his turn will come in a while! No books are needed to explain this. That you listen to understand and you do not listen to respond comes as a natural thing. It is the old African way of talking.

You talk I listen!

No hurry, no rush. It is Saturday afternoon!

We have all the time it takes

Your husband is at the shebeen, or at a friends house or may be he his watching a soccer match. So there is time!

But some thoughts are still left unsaid!