Bar Flies

23 mar 09


Today we went to visit the local bar for we heard they sold good SA beer there. Little did we know when we arrived at a small run down blue home that we had just arrived to the bar!! WE walked to the back of this home that apparently also raised chickens. There was an old lady sitting at the bottome of the 3 crooken steps into the entrance of this house. She could barely walk but i guess as a bouncer of sorts you just need to be able to hold out your hand for an entry fee. Not like she was checking any IDs or anything. WE walked into the hut to a funky smell of BO, sour booze and since there was a bed in the corner of the room I am assuming I was also smelling sex. We were greeted at 3pme to the local bar flies: both the people that frequent the joint in the middle of the day and also the 40+ flies (insects) that buzzed around for the smells to them must be tempting. There were 8 men sitting around and one woman lounging on the very worn out bed. As soon as I shook the shaking hand of the first "gentleman" with no teeth in the front and bloodshot eyes, I knew I wanted to leave -sans the beer. We were given bottle crates to sit on and then were asked questions by one man who knew some english and one that attempted to know some. I had a hared time concentrating on them for the other bar flies that were gathered around a bucket of furmented corn meal that looked like a puke bucket. All of the men were drinking out of this bucket and the thoguht of them asking us if we wanted some made me nauseaus. WE were adked if we wanted the beer now and I quickly said that I had a student comeing for tutoring so no time to stay and the gang bought the beer anyway to take home. We quickly said goodbye and on the way out a family of baby chickens and their mother came in the door I guess to hang out for a while out of the heat.

As I was wiping my hands and arms with an antibacterial wipe on our walk home, I thought, "so this is where all the men in this village have been hiding" I can count on one hand how many non durnk, non high, non mentally ill, non domestic abusers there are here and they are all somehome affiliated with our project here. It is the women in this town who try tokeep things going. The pressure is put on the women to cook,clean, farm, raise upwards of 7, 8 kids, to be a good wife and provide for the family. All of this just to be considered to be a "good" woman. To be a man howver it is simple: 1. you turn 18 and get circumcized and 2.. well there is no two. That is all that is expected of you to be a Xhosa man. That is it. No other expectations are given. I see this as a major downfall to this community. The men need higher stakes and the bar raised for them to aspire to. IT is painful to see these men walk around with out a purpose. Buzzing around if you will. Just like the bar flies - just waiting for the day when they will be swatted away.