Durban

After a lovely stay at Pietermaritzburg we traveled to the seaside city of Durban. We were all very excited about this, as it would be our starting city for our coastal journey of South Africa. Durban is a very beautiful city. I was put into a home-stay with Mr. Ryan Barkey and Mr. Vijoy Simon. We were taken in by a lady named Reena. She was the coolest lady/mom ever. Her cooking was amazing and sometimes we laughed so hard that we cried. Reena cared for the three of us like her own. I can honestly say that there was not one dull moment that went by while we were in her care.

Durban was very informative for our group. We visited two temples, one being the Hare Krishna temple and the other a mosque. We toured the Ghandi Centre and a place called the Aryan Benevolent Home. The Aryan Benevolent Home was a place for the elderly, the mentally disabled and the physically disabled. Some were happily retired, and some were just at the point of needing a caring person to help them through their day-to-day tasks. Others sadly had been left at the home due to family circumstances. The really cool thing about this is that they all lived together in a community where they treated each other like brothers and sisters. You could see on a lot of their faces that they were proud of what they had accomplished and overcome together as a community.

The last days in Durban were spent going to a water park. This was very fun as we had the option of going to the water park or walking across the road to go play in the Indian Ocean. This was our first visit to the Ocean as a full group. I think we were all amazed how warm the water was. Overall Durban was a place full of good times, interesting and fascinating culture, and memories that I’m sure will last a lifetime.

Dave Dueck