One of our students named Shannon came to South Africa early. She arrived in country January 2, and has since been volunteering at the YMCA near Durban. As a young, blonde woman, she has been having quite a few adventures! I love one of her very first experiences, it occurred as she took a cab from the airport. I'll let her words speak.
"I met my cab driver, Michael, in Durban. He was proud to show me pictures of his 2
month old daughter on his phone while he was driving. We came to a
checkpoint in the road and the young man taking
the money looked at me and said "I have cows." We continued to drive. I asked Michael what that meant exactly. He explained that when a
man likes what he sees in a woman, he will say, "I have cows," or, "I
have 10 (or any number of) cows," because in Africa, it is customary
that when a man marries, he must pay the wife a certain number of cows.
Michael said that he paid 11 cows to his wife last year for their
wedding."
I smiled when I read her story. What a welcome to Africa! (So far no one has offered even one measly calf for me yet. Stay tuned...)
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