Fundraising Update!

Thus far, $4,400 of the necessary $8,000 has been raised! As of today, the goal shown in the red box to the right has been updated to reflect only the remaining $3,600.

[Also, please note that the actual deadline isn't until at least 2011, in case that is not clear.]

Welcome to Nomzamo's Future

I am using this blog to support my goal of raising the $8,000 necessary to send my incredible friend, Nomzamo, to college in South Africa. She is a truly amazing young Zulu woman with awesome potential yet quite limited means.

Thank you for visiting! You can find photos, letters and more information about her and how we met below. If you wish to donate, please click on the orange "ChipIn!" button within the red box to the right above. It will redirect you to PayPal, where you can securely and easily make a donation even if you do not have a PayPal account.

Thank you so much!!

In addition to your donations, I would *greatly* appreciate you telling your friends and family about this blog. Please consider linking to it, forwarding the url to your friends, etc. You can even put a ChipIn widget, just like the one to the upper right, on your own page by clicking on "Copy." If you have any questions or comments, please let me know. And thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and read all about Nomzamo!

[Please note that I have no web design experience and am brand new to blogs. (Fortunately, Blogger is very easy to use.) So, I'm sure there are more effective, more user-friendly ways to communicate the below information to potential donors, but I hope this will suffice! ;) ]

How I Met Nomzamo & Grew To Love Her - A (long) story with pictures :)

In the spring of 2000, as a Junior in college, I spent a semester studying abroad at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.

My Sociology class required us to do an internship, and for my internship I was matched with a fieldworker named Fisani:

I could not have been more lucky! Fisani was a warm, intelligent, positive, 31 year old woman who served as my unofficial ambassador to all things Zulu. In addition to the time that we worked together, I spent several long weekends with her, her mother Gogo (the Zulu word for Grandmother) and her beautiful daughter, Nomzamo, at their home in Willowfontein, a semi-urban township just outside of Pietermaritzburg. Nomzamo's father died when she was very young, so it was a household of only women. Cousins (whom Nomzamo referred to as “sisters”) would also live with them from time to time when their parents were struggling with health or financial issues.

Their home had some electricity (in order to plug a light in they had to unplug the refrigerator), but no running water or plumbing. Whenever I visited their township, I was treated almost like a celebrity – everyone stared, and many were very excited to talk to me. It is quite possible that I am the only white person they’d ever seen there, and certainly I was the only white person to ever spend the night in one of their homes. Some of the younger children were afraid I would give them a shot, as their only previous interactions with white people had been with doctors. Some of the braver kids approached to touch my skin & hair, which they found fascinating.

As I got to know Fisani, Nomzamo & Gogo better, I grew to love them as my own family. I formed an especially strong bond with 10 year old Nomzamo. Below, I’ve cut and pasted some excerpts taken from emails I wrote to my mom and to my best friend back at college. These should give you a better idea of Nomzamo’s and my connection. Anything in brackets { } is being added by me now to help explain things that may be confusing.

Sunday, April 16, 2000

i have no idea how to describe what it is like to be in a township to you, or to anyone who's never been in one. shacks everywhere and trees and grass and hills and goats and cows and _children_. all really close together. {Of course, there are different types of townships - some more urban, some more rural.}

my zulu is slowly but surely getting better. and it means SO much to the people there that i am learning zulu and even that i am there with them at all. and...hell, i don't know how to put it all into words, it is just so nice :)

to give you an idea of what it is like in their {Fisani’s} home: they have a refrigerator, stove, lights, a tv, a radio, and a cell phone, but no running water and no plumbing. for water they go to a centrally located tap about a 5 minute walk away, and then store water in big tubs outside and inside their home. for a toilet they use an outhouse, but at night they keep a bucket in the room and if they just have to go number one then they use it (i did too and it was quite liberating in a way! although i much prefer the flushable kind.) for a bath they wash (every day) in a shallow tub in the bedroom or kitchen. clothes-washing happens by hand and is hung to dry (even a lot of the zulu women in my residence hall wash by hand and dry outside even though we have washers and dryers available for free.) they fit the stereotype of being very open with their nakedness. they have two bedrooms with a big bed in each, but they use one as a storage room and all sleep in the other one b/c, as they told me, they just like to be in the same room with each other when they are sleeping.

{Here is a view of their home from the outhouse, and then below are some pictures taken in the kitchen.}

what else?....oh, i really love the way that all of the extended family uses only the most basic terms to describe one another: my mother, my father, my sister, my brother, my grandmother, my grandfather. (even near strangers sometimes address each other by these terms.) thus, the words niece, nephew, cousin are rarely used. the youngest children were told to call me "auntie sara" :) :) :) :)

ok, so those are the main things that come to mind. like i said, i had a really good time. i just missed you {I’m writing to my mom here} a LOT today when i was in the room and fisani was washing herself ("bath-ing"), b/c she was naked and it made me think of you (you are the only other woman whom i have seen naked like that, dressing after your shower or whatever when i was little.) plus, she is kind of playing the motherly role with me, although it is more like a friend. oh, i just found out today that she is 31. and i just love nomzamo (fisani's daughter). she will come to visit me at university one day soon. and her 10th birthday is in a couple of weeks and i will go to that.

{Click on the below to read a poem I wrote a few months later about watching Fisani “bath.” When you are finished, you can click your browser's "Back" button to be brought back to this page.}

Sunday, May 14, 2000

i just got back from a wonderful weekend in Willowfontein with Fisani and Nomzamo and family. my zulu is getting better and better!

so, on friday it was nomzamo's b-day and she came to visit me at varsity (college) and we had lots of fun. i showed her my room and took her to a book/toy store and a clothing store and to the computer LAN. when we were in the book store you'd think she was in a completely different world than what she's used to. she loved it! i had her pick out whatever she wanted, but just one thing, and she chose something from the bookstore over clothing! although now that i know which clothes she likes, i will buy them for my family to give to her when they come.

{My mom, her fiancé & my sister came to visit me mid-June. Below is a photo of Nomzamo's reaction when she received these clothes from them :) }

{And then another one of her modeling her new jacket :) }

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she picked out this "stamp and learn" thingie with a whole bunch of stamps, 2 ink pads, and colored pencils, and a book for you to stamp in and color in. it's actually very cool.

fri we went "home" and sat was her party. lots of kids :) also, sat morning fisani and i went to watch her play "netball" (sorta like basketball.)

{Below are some photos from Nomzamo's 10th birthday party.}

both nights before going to sleep we went next door to fisani's mothers rondavel (like a zulu teepee) and sat around a fire. nice! and last night i noticed a drum in the corner and asked about it and they took it and played it and sang and the kids did some zulu dances. so cute!!

{Below is a photo taken just outside the rondavel and then a photo of Nomzamo & her little “sisters” inside.}

in general, i just feel like they are my family here. they have taken me in so openly. I think part of my high level of comfort is the fact that it's a house of all women. and it is funny that i am smack dab in between fisani and nomzamo in age. they actually fight over me sometimes --- over who gets to spend time with me one-on-one. and they talk about the fact that they are doing it. it is so funny! we all slept in the (big) bed together. nomzamo in the middle. i liked it! fisani feels bad for me that i have to stay in a room all by myself and sleep all by myself at varsity!!! :)

oh, and i mentioned to her that i would give them my radio when i leave since there's no way i can take it with me on the plane, and she said, "god bless you, sara," and i mentioned other little things that i won't be able to take with me (i have a surplus of toilet paper) and she said, "anything you can give us is good. we are poor." and it just strikes me funny b/c i certainly don't feel like she is poor. i mean, she dresses nicely and has food to eat and stuff...but of course she is poor. i don't know exactly what i am trying to say. not that she isn't poor, but just that it's amazing how little one needs to live, you know? i mean, oh, i dunno... :)

{The below photo was taken the morning after my first sleep-over ;) That's Nomzamo's younger cousin, Zama, still sleeping. She slept on the floor next to the bed because she didn't want to go back to her house and leave me!}

Sunday, May 21, 2000

there was this small-scale beauty pageant in one of the townships that raviya and i went to on sat. i wanted to go b/c fisani was helping to organize it and would be the "mc," and nomzamo was in it. the time we spent there was nice... just interacting with people is so great :) and of course seeing fisani and nomzamo....nomzamo is just BEAUTIFUL. sometimes when I am around her the most tender feelings arise inside of me and i feel like i would do absolutely ANYTHING for her. i don't know.....

Tuesday, May 30, 2000

i was feeling so homesick, so I tried to explain to fisani on the kombi {bus} ride home b/c i wanted her to know my "mood" didn't have to do with her. and she listened. two things happened: 1) i mentioned how the worst time was at night. she is going to send nomzamo to sleep with me one night next week! 2) when i was leaving, she mentioned that she would phone me tomorrow to see how i am doing (it's not exactly "easy" for her to phone.) i spontaneously gave her a kiss on the cheek. it felt nice. then she said, "i love you." it meant SO much to me! i told her i loved her and then i left.

Tuesday, June 20, 2000

went and met nomzamo in town and now she is here with me (playing on another computer). i am so glad to have her spending the night with me. she is one amazing kid. and things are always best with her when it is just the two of us. i'd noticed her getting moody when we're around her little cousins, and today out of the blue she said that she wanted to tell me that she "feels greedy" when i pay attention to them but that she doesn't want to, and that that is why she gets so quiet sometimes when they are around. how amazing is it that she told me this on her own???

{Below is a perfect example of something that would make Nomzamo feel jealous ;) }

now nomzamo wants to write something to you:

"saraissoperttyilovelikehermohterand
fahterimesohappythatyouaer
comeingonsterdayimesohappy."

i didn't want to edit it, so here is the translation for easier reading: "sara is so pretty. i love her like her mother and father. i'm so happy that you are coming on saturday. i'm so happy."

amazing, amazing nomzamo.... ! she told me earlier today that she feels like she loves me the way that my parents love me :)
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It was wonderful for my mom, her fiance & my sister to come visit South Africa and meet my "other" family :) Here's a photo of me, Nomzamo, my sister & my mom, arriving at their home in Willowfontein:

Needless to say, when I left South Africa and had to say goodbye to Nomzamo and her family, it was quite emotional for me. I didn’t know how long it would be before I saw her again, or how well her 10 year old memory would be able to recall our friendship, so I wrote a long letter to her so that when she got older she wouldn’t wonder, “Who is this American who sends money to my family?”

When I realized I was going to create this webpage, I remembered the letter and asked Fisani to mail me a photocopy, so here it is. Recently I read it for the first time in 8 years, and I honestly cannot believe I wrote this letter. It is so touching for me to read it now, so affirming of my plans to help her with college, and almost prophetic in my commitment to her... In putting this webpage together I’ve read it several times, and the last sentence brings tears to my eyes *every time*.

Begin by clicking on Page 1, below. When you are finished with Page 1, click on your browser’s “Back” button to come back to this page, where you can click on Page 2, and so on.

PAGE 1 & PAGE 2:

PAGE 3 & PAGE 4:

I was able to keep in touch with Fisani, Gogo & Nomzamo through letters and an occasional phone call. Fisani was laid off from her job shortly after I left South Africa. As you may know, the economic climate in South Africa has been poor for quite some time now, and jobs are scarce. She has been able to find temporary jobs from time to time, but they have struggled quite a bit financially.

I’ve continued to be amazed, however, at how much passion and zest Fisani brings to her life, volunteering her time in various ways, becoming an ordained minister, hosting a weekly radio show (without pay) where she would bring guest speakers for topics such as sustainable farming! In fact, her desire is to one day start a non-profit to teach others how to farm and live sustainably. She has been unable to secure funding, despite much perseverance.

As promised, I’ve sent money yearly to help with Nomzamo’s school fees and to help Fisani make the Holidays special. What’s been even cooler is that my family and friends have always chipped in as well :) And with the exchange rate as it is, just $200 or $300 goes a looong way!

[My appreciation also goes to both Sipo Mzimela and Helen Petersen for assisting me in transferring this money into Fisani's bank account on many different occasions so I could avoid the "international transfer" fees. (If you're an Atlantan interested in South Africa, you should visit Sipo's store in Decatur and hope you're lucky enough to catch him and have a chat :) ) ]

In 2002 I was able to return to South Africa for a visit. Here are some more excerpts from emails I wrote to family and friends back home:

Monday, May 20, 2002

tomorrow i will spend some time with the family of my zulu friends (fisani, nomzamo, gogo,) and i am excited about that. it will be a suprise for nomzamo (the 12 year old girl) :) :) :) :)

i will meet fisani in town and ride with her to nomzamo's school to surprise her and then go home with them and in the evening return to town for fisani's radio program.

Wednesday, May 22, 2002

i want to tell you about the FUN part of my day yesterday. i saw the zulu family that i am friends with!!!! it was wonderful! i met up with fisani in town, and we went to surprise nomzamo by meeting her at her school. it was great, she was so surprised and then so shy and then slowly became her animated self. they are both SO beautiful.

then we went to willowfontein and thando and asande are so big now! everyone is so happy to see me, even the people who don't know me are fascinated to see a white person visiting where they live, and they LOVED their gifts and were so happy. it was fun!

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Below are some pictures from that trip in 2002:

I was able to return to South Africa again for a very short visit in 2003, with two of the friends I'd originally met through study abroad. Here are some photos taken during that trip. Most were taken by my awesome friend, Raviya, who is in the first photo below with Nomzamo's little "sister" Asande:

After that trip I again stayed in touch. I was very sad when I learned that Gogo, Fisani's mother, died on July 8, 2005. Here are some photos of Gogo:

This one below is my favorite picture of her :) Fisani told me Gogo loved XL T-shirts, so I brought her a few on my first return visit. This was her favorite one. If you don't know, 99X is an Atlanta radio station.

And this is Gogo (left) with her sister inside the Rondavel. They are wearing their Sangoma (traditional healer) garb:

Fisani and Nomzamo suffered not only an emotional loss with Gogo’s death, but also the loss of her monthly pension check, which as you can imagine helped a great deal with food, electricity, etc.

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In April of 2006 another Zulu friend of mine who is my age, Mbulelo, emailed me and asked me to look into scholarships for him to pursue a Masters in the States.

{Here are two photos of Mbulelo, another truly amazing individual!}

As I was researching this online, I started thinking about Nomzamo’s college education and realized that her 16^th birthday was approaching. So the next time I called Fisani, I asked her about this. In the back of my head, I was wondering if it might work to try to bring her to college in the States, but I learned from talking to Nomzamo that she wasn’t on track course-wise at school to go to college. At first I was confused, but then I spoke to some South African friends my own age who explained to me that there are different courses, or tracks, and that Nomzamo’s school (a primarily Indian school where other Zulu students attended as well) had placed her in a non-college track. She wasn’t taking enough math & science classes to ever make it into a university.

So, I asked Nomzamo what she wanted, and we had a long talk. She said that she did want to go to college but didn’t think it would be possible financially. So I told her that if she was able to switch courses and make the necessary grades to get into college, then I would make sure her college education was paid for (even though I didn’t know how I would do that at the time, as I certainly didn’t have that kind of money!).

Fisani spoke with the school about this, and they were resistant. They said the only way they could do this would be to hold Nomzamo back a year – she would have to repeat a year to make up the math and science classes she hadn’t taken. However since they were already half-way through the current school year, they would want her to switch into the new classes now, so as not to waste any more time in her current, non-college track classes. They said she would almost certainly fail the present year, and then she could retake that year, starting in the correct classes from the beginning in the next year.

Although this could not possibly have sounded appealing to a 16 year old, Nomzamo agreed. The school was still a little resistant to the idea. Then I learned that Fisani was behind in paying the school fees. So I called and spoke to the principal and some others, explaining among other things that I’d be getting the money for the school fees to Fisani ASAP, and they finally agreed. I told them about arrangements I’d made to set her up with a math tutor (the father of a friend of mine over there, who was a former school teacher and who actually went over to the school and spoke to them on her behalf as well). Nomzamo also had an older cousin who was an electrician who agreed to tutor her in science, and he too went and spoke to the school on her behalf.

During this time it became clear to me that she wouldn’t be able to get into college in the States, and so my new goal became getting her a college education in South Africa.

A few months later, during a call to Fisani, I learned that when the new school year began, the school had put her back into the non-college course. Fisani had gone to the school to complain, and they said they didn’t have enough computers for her and had to give preference to the students who had been on this course all along. So Fisani went and somehow found a second-hand computer and brought it back to the school! She offered to loan it to them and to allow other students to use it as well, if they would agree to let Nomzamo into the course. They tested it for viruses and said okay! Problem solved :)

As you can imagine, Nomzamo has been working incredibly hard during this time. Her mom says she is always doing homework.

And now here I am, having worked hard to create this blog with the intention of inspiring you to invest in Nomzamo's future :) For months I was stumped about how to create a space on the web where people could find out all about her and have the opportunity to donate, without spending a bunch of money on a website. Then I ran into an old friend and remembered that he had a blog, one of very few I'd ever seen. "I think that would work!" I thought. And so I hope indeed it will :)

In addition to your donations, I would *greatly* appreciate you telling your friends and family about this blog. Please consider linking to it, forwarding the url to your friends, etc. You can even put a ChipIn widget, just like the one to your upper right, on your own page! Just click on "Copy." If you have any questions or comments, please let me know. And thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and read all about Nomzamo!