18 January 2010 – Monday
It was a nice P-day for us. We spent the morning buying and delivering some food orders to families in Port Durnford. We love to be greeted by the children at one home who thinks our name is ‘How are you.†Some of the members do not have money to pay even the very modest school fees or to buy shoes for their children. Yet even with these problems they serve in the church by walking many kilometers to visit other members and to check on their needs.
After making the deliveries we headed for Enshowe to go to the aerial boardwalk above the Dlinza forest. We had heard about this since we arrived here and had been looking forward to experience walking through trees.
The boardwalk runs about 35 feet above the forest floor and there are some amazing trees growing along the walk. At the end of about 400 foot walkway there is a tower that goes up another 35 feet or so which gives us a wonderful view of the surrounding area. We were not really above much of the forest canopy so there was not the see of green that I saw when we visited Eureka hot springs and I climbed the 100 plus foot tower there.
What was amazing was the quiet – other than a few employees, we were the only people there. I should not say that it was truly quiet because there were sounds of some insect that might be a cousin to the crickets at home that kept up a continuous drone for most of the time we were there.
After the boardwalk we went to the Fort Nongqayi Museum Village. There we ate a very nice lunch at their restaurant that sat among beds of beautiful, blooming agapanthus. As soon as we saw them I was reminded of Dona’s beds that were in bloom each summer when we visited there. I certainly miss all my family that are waiting for me on the other side.
There was an interesting exhibit in the fort that told the story of the area and the native and other troops who were stationed there in the late 19th and early 20th century. It also told about the great Zulu chiefs who lived in the area and how they came to be subjected to the British.
There was another exhibit at the fort of native beadwork. Using trade beads the different tribes and areas developed elaborate designs to be used on clothing and decorative pieces. Unfortunately the sun reflecting off the glass of the cases made taking pictures difficult.
The final and perhaps best exhibit was the craft museum. Mainly it had pottery and woven pots and baskets from different areas and periods. It was built to house the 3000 piece collection of a missionary couple who lived and ministered in the area but who had to leave when the husband got ill.  To help the natives earn money they developed a demand for the crafts and in this way thousands of Zulu families were blessed. What made the experience special was the curator who was able to tell us about how the pottery was made and about some of the artists who’s works were on display.
The drive to and from Enshowe is on a two lane road that went through some beautiful valleys and across rolling hills. The fields are full of cane, pineapple and in some places citrus trees. The multi-shaded green landscape stretches up into the blue of the sky. Well today it was more gray-blue then blue-blue but that was good because it kept down the temperature. All it all it was a nice 6 hours of getting to know about this amazing country and it’s history.
At one point in the early evening 6 of the elders showed up at our boarding so Elder Wengert could print out the weekly graphs that show how the zone is doing. They were here only for about 15 minutes but having them around even for that short time makes the day a little brighter.