My favourite place of the trip: the Bulungula Incubator

Posted on 11 March 2011

Bulungula Lodge The road to Bulungula Lodge seems endless and gives me cause to redefine the word pothole. It really feels, as I follow the Bulungula shuttle, that I will spend the rest of my life driving through the hills of the Transkei, never reaching any destination. But when finally, finally we crest yet another rise and stop to take in the view before us it is so gobsmackingly amazing that all weariness flees and I’m filled with a rush of excitement to be here in this other worldly landscape. I know that the levels of poverty here in the village of Nqileni – as with many other places in the rural Transkei – are hard to wrap ones head around – according to the Bulungula Incubator website “Nqileni has no road, school, running water, toilets, school, clinic, electricity”¦” but without trivializing those hard facts, for this moment it feels like I’m looking at a living African fairy tale. Candy coloured rondavel huts with thatched roofs dot the undulating grass-covered hills. My eye is drawn down to the ocean and the beach with its lagoon the focal point of the tableau, but then my attention is caught again by running children chasing each other along footpaths between every farmyard animal you can name – cows, donkeys, goats and pigs are everywhere. The sun is setting, turning the blue skies pearly pink. I can’t think of a more enchanting scene than this one. My state of enamored-ness with Bulungula continues to grow when we arrive at the lodge, a colourful space filled with cushions and wooden tables and low-slung canvas chairs, funky African music blaring and the aroma of something delicious emanating from the kitchens. I am met by David Martin, founder of Bulungula Lodge and one of the biggest heroes in our tale, but on first impressions a soft spoken man who shows me around the ablution facilities with their delightful rocketshowers and fascinating compost lavatories I’ve heard so much about and then to my very own hut. It is set furthest from the lodge, is white on the outside and inside swooping swallows are painted on the curved walls around a large double bed. I look out of the door and see the beach in front of me and I cannot explain how very happy I am at this moment. The next two days I continue to fall in love with this very special place. It’s hard not to love moments like eating freshly made pancakes (thanks to Pink, the pancake queen) on a sand dune watching the sun rise, or having a relaxing massage in your own hut by someone as lovely as Kululwa Dodwana. And there is no need for keys here (this was a new experience for me, travelling with a laptop, camera etc to be told with a smile I really don’t need to lock my hut. I loved that!) But I also discover what makes Bulungula a unique place where you experience staying in the village, and among the villagers, rather than observing them from a “˜safe’ distance. Bulungula Lodge is co-owned by the community and it is as much theirs as it is David and Rejane’s and the other “˜imports”. So you’ll find as many locals as guests hanging out in the lodge, or eating around the outside bonfire. Each of the many and varied activities available are individually owned enterprises run by members of the community – if you have a massage or go on a village tour or fishing trip or kayak in the lagoon, you will do so with the individual who runs that activity and pay him or her directly. Much of this is done via the Bulungula Incubator. I spent some time at their office (another hit, located a short walk from the Lodge alongside the charming Jujurha Early Learning Education Centre. Bulungula Incubator The Bulungula Incubator is “a non-profit organisation under a board of which the director is Rejane Woodroffe (David’s wife) which aims to “incubate brilliant rural development projects. The vision of BI is to be a catalyst for the creation of vibrant and sustainable rural communities.” You can find out about their various projects by visiting http://bulungulaincubator.wordpress.com/ but I got to spend time with Annette Champion who currently heads up the Educational portfolio at BI. Annette was a teacher in Cape Town for over 30 years and on retiring from Herschel she came to live in this village in 2009 and offers her time and expertise in this vital role. Annette explained that the Education Portfolio has three components:

  1. The Jujurha Early Learning Education pre-school which acts as a model of excellence to the wider area and currently offers fantastic education free of charge to around 50 little ones from the village. Follow the many wonderful stories coming out of this beautiful little school here. Great emphasis is placed on creating a stimulating, beautiful environment for the children to encourage their brains to develop. The only “˜payment’ required is that parents cook a school meal once a month Last year an independent assessment of the children for school readiness took place and all of them were ready for Grade 1 in any mainstream SA school but four would need some support. Four were placed in the superior category for their age. One would think (as I did) that living so close to the environment these children would have access to a greater knowledge and understanding of their environment. But Annette pointed out this is not the case. Not only is there a dearth of general information but a sad lack of stimulation for young minds. “There is a monotony that comes with poverty – a poverty of experience, possibility and imagination that comes when each day is the same,” says Annette.
  2. Government Primary School involvement, notably with the No-ofisi Senior Primary School, the closest one to Nqileni, where most the pre-schoolers will go after they leave Jujurha. BI has built two classrooms and a community hall, and a food garden to grow nutritious food for the children. There is an after-school learning programme held at Jujurha three afternoons a week for the Grades 1 – 3 learners from No-ofisi where they have access to the library and homework assistance as well as additional learning opportunities. Annette laments the lack of infrastructure, of desks, chairs, blackboards and other teaching materials, of enthusiastic and committed teachers, and of any extramural programmes – all that is necessary for a decent level of education. She shows me some pages from one primary school learner’s exercise book, filled with semi-legible English scrawl. “The schools have new textbooks but the teachers refuse to hand them to the children, saying “˜these kids’ don’t know how to look after books, without seeing that it is their responsibility to teach the children just that. Instead the teacher will copy directly from her own textbook on to the blackboard and the children copy it in their books, without any understanding of what they are writing. Most of them don’t even speak English at all.” According to Annette (and many others) “˜the state of education in the Eastern Cape has long passed crises stage – it has collapsed. Everything is stacked against these children getting a good education.” Never the less, BI battles on, raising funds and doing what they can to improve the state of schools and education in this and other local schools.
  3. The BI Rural Schools Programme is aimed at high schools and offers materials and support where it is asked for. Unlike the teachers at No-ofisi there are some educators at other schools who are keen to get help and who do come and ask for it.

Annette gives me a tour of the school. It is break time and the playground is full of little tots riding plastic motorbikes, swarming all over the climbing equipment and enjoying sand and water play. Each child has a gorgeous wide brimmed fabric hat on – something Annette initiated to protect their young skin from the sun. The classrooms are clean, cheerful and filled with artwork and displays. The teachers – 4 of which are from the local community – sit in the shade watching the children and enjoying a cooked lunch. One of the teachers, Feneka, is fully qualified and is also the vice principal of the school. Looking at the happy children playing together, and no doubt wondering about their future, Annette says: “There was such a huge media and public outcry when the school feeding funds were pulled in the Eastern Cape last year, and rightly so. But where is the outcry for the starvation of the brain?” By supporting the Bulungula Incubator’s Education projects you can add your voice to Annette’s and others working tirelessly in this corner of the country to bring hope to what could otherwise be another lost generation. Find out more: Bulungula Lodge Bulungula Incubator To see specials at these places and similar, go to Abang Africa Learn more about FTTSA Join FTTSA on Facebook






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