Mdumbi

Mmm…Mdumbi. Yes, Mdumbi was quite tasty. The food, people, atmosphere, and most of all, the beach, made Mdumbi one delectable dish. Let’s take a closer look at this tasty dish.

The food:

The food was fantastic, usually some type of stew or pasta, which was cooked on an open fire. For a chosen few chocolate bars got the best of them, for others they purchased traditional Xhosa bread, which was massive.

The People:

The people at Mdumbi are unique. Most of them volunteers, they are always friendly and willing to talk. The two founders of Mdumbi, Johan and Hyman started Mdumbi as a backpackers hostel, but soon realized that the community around them could benefit greatly from the business they were running. After eight years Johan and Hyman have planted a pre-school, community center for kids, a micro-financing program for people in the community, as well as bringing health and AIDS awareness to the community. Not to mention the majority of workers being the local Xhosa people. It was very refreshing to see someone who had an idea and ran with it.

The Atmosphere:

The atmosphere was something I have never experienced before. Mdumbi by itself is a very rural area. There are very few people living around it, and the people that do are local farmers and herders. This allowed our group to just relax and hangout since there are not many places to go. The majority of Mdumbi’s buildings are grass huts, including the ones where we slept. It was a very unique experience.

The Beach:

It was set along the Indian Ocean, and let’s just say it was basically ours for the week. Rarely would you see anyone else on it. Boogie boarding was a big hit, going on for hours on end. Catching massive waves gave us a thrill which most of had never experienced.

Now that we have analyzed our “dish”, let’s look at how we “ate” it. The week was titled “Knowing Yourself.” We started off by taking a test called the enneagram test, which is similar to the Myers-Briggs test we took first semester. After this we had a series of discussions on passions, spiritual gifts, and our own personal spending habits.

Following this was a day and a half of silence, with no talking, or any veal communication we were encouraged to spend the silence with God. Whether that be through praying, listening, reading your bible, or maybe even Boogie boarding with God. The rest of the week was basically our to relax and just hang out. A couple of people made their way along the coast on a scenic hike to Coffee Bay.

All in all Mdumbi was an amazing place that I will never forget. The relaxed atmosphere is something which is very rare in our world today and was something I loved experiencing!

Charles Enns