A weekend in rural Transkei

OMG I had fun. I enjoyed it all.
So this village is about 20km from Queenstown, most of the way is on the dirt road. I borrowed a Nissan Hardbody from my dad who works nearby. That car came in handy cause we loaded 4 sheeps on it, did you know that a sheep costs R750? Well it does, it don't matter what size, the whole lot of them are R750 or more in some farms. I mean whats the logic to charge the same price for all sizes? Anyway arrived in this small village called eMachibini and my accomodation was at a neighbour's house. Thats the beauty of communal life, your never are always there to the rescue. The old lady-Ncinci- was very pleasent, made tea, gave us extra blankets and made me feel like I was at a B&B.
I helped with the cooking in preparation for the funeral, I chatted to the family and was generally my pleasant, "love me now" self. Now you know about that self, I think I can make anyone like me, thats just my humble opinion. I had the whole family eating off my hand by the time I left. See the thing is I am not threatening, I am this plump teddy bear that you just want to love. Ok Ok I have stopped.
It was great spending time with "my friend" or as he put it to his grandmother "colleague". We bonded and are planning another thip together in November.
Now being a village, there are pit-lantrines. The house where I was staying had a feeble structure and I made up my mind that I will eat less and go to town every chance I get (when i have to pick up people coming to the funeral). I just could not tempt the structure, what if it fell in. The village is quite developed hey, has its own clinic and almost every house has running water. There are sheebens all over the place, i don't know if I should call that development but being a drinker myself it was good to know that if I ever wanted a quench buster I would be able to get it.

Traditional medicine

Well true to being an African "Xhosa" female from relatively rural eastern cape, I am subjected again to traditional medicine. Throughout my life these have been around me, used on me, used by others. Like the one time my brother and I were subjected by an Aunt- god rest her soul- to River medicine(iyeza lomlambo). What happened was we had some rash and little pimples(for lack of a better word) on our legs and we had to drink a mug of this stuff, of course it tasted bad but what could we do he was 5 and I 11. Now at 28 years of age how do I justify subjecting myself to 3 quarter glasses of horrible tasting stuff.
Well let me explain:
Firstly-as I grow older I realise my parents might just know things I dont, so I listen to them more.
2ndly- I realise sometimes "modern" africans are quick to dismiss our forefathers' ways until someone packages it and sells it for a buck. Take the aloe plant, we all know its healing properties and occassionally use it. Then some bloke puts it in a bottle and calls it Aloe vera what what. Then its cool. right?
So when my dad says "what helps a broken bone heals fast is uMathunga", almost everyone knows about this medicine, cause when they see me in my aircast they enquire if I have uMathunga.
So my dad got the roots and mixed something and now I take the 3 helpings a day. It is horrible. Its like ukrakrayo- the bitter one- a medicine we use to take as a detox-thats too modern a concept man, what I mean is a laxative. It was good just tasted bad.
As I am writing my mother comes "Just bringing you your medicine" she gives me the dreaded glass with a lemon cream biscuit to help with the taste. So much for no junk food.
Anyway on top of leaving room that this stuff helps, I am kinda scared what my parents will think. Believe it or not approaching 30 as I am, what they say or think still scares me a bit. Like the father of my child who has not come to acknowledge his child. Now if I am to refuse to take uMathunga that would just break all relations. I will be seen as not being proud of our traditions and living too much in the modern world.
So I keep quiet and take uMathunga....Yaackkkk