Homestay

Homestay

On Friday evening we had the privilege of spending the night at the Siyephu’s – fifth generation Xhosa farmers. We arrived after a somewhat precarious drive in the rain, which had made a portion of clay road particularly slippery, at our accommodation for the evening. Tata Siyephu is actually a staff member at the hospital (in charge of the water supply – a very important role!) was there to meet us with his extended family. He doesn’t speak a word of English but with lots of “molo’s”, “unjani’s”, handshaking, smiles and nods, we were welcomed into his home. There is a separate hut especially for the “guests” where we could make ourselves at home and relax.


It was an amazing experience to see first-hand how a working homestead is run. At dusk Tata Siyephu gave a gentle cry and the sheep, slowly at first, started making their way towards the kraal, each counted in turn on entry into the kraal. Tata Siyephu owns 64 sheep! There is also a kraal for the cows, which were also brought back in the evening. In the morning around 06h30 each sheep is counted one by one as they are lead out of the enclosure to go and graze again for the next day.



One thing that struck us about our experience is that, whilst novel to us, rural farming such as this typifies Africa more than any other scene – it is the absolute norm. Forget civil wars and famine (yes, there are lots of them) and lush jungles, exotic wildlife and open plains (there are lots of them too) – if there is one scene that encapsulates Africa more than any other it is this. People quietly going about their lives trying to survive…

For supper we were served traditional samp and beans with a very basic tomato sauce. The next day we had an awesome little fry-up on our Cadac cooker for brekkie and then left pretty shortly thereafter to get home, get dressed and go to the next adventure – a local Xhosa wedding with a slight twist…