Work-a-day World

June 19th, 2013

           On the 16th I left Johannesburg for Durban, and happened to be next to my friend Maanaa on the plane! We landed after a brief 45 minute flight to be met by Kamila and Adam and taken to our guest house. 

           South Africa, or at least the area where we are staying, is nothing like I expected. Even with prior expectations of similarities to Brazil, it is clean, warm, and fancy. The beaches are blue, the highways are newly paved, and wherever you go there is a delightful mix of white, African, Indian, Muslim, Christian, and Zulu. And in the North Durban/Umhlanga Rocks area where we are staying, there are great restaurants, beachfront walkways, and fancy malls. We spent our first two days gathering our wits, exploring the area, and trying to secure longer term housing. Then, yesterday, we finally met our Wonderbag counterparts, including a tour of a township where Wonderbags are used, and a delightful business lunch on the ocean.

      

     The Wonderbag office is a delightful place. It is not large, nor ful of people, but the passion is evident throughout the place. Wonderbags in bright local fabrics can be found in every corner, with one by the stove in the office cooking area for in-office use. We learned of the different costs, qualities, and distribution methods. 

     

    The largest distributions within this area of South Africa have been through supermarket promotions in partnership with Unilever. Representatives stood at the entrance to the store, and at the display, demonstrating the Wonderbag use, advertising the deal (Buy 3 boxes of Raja curry powder and get a free Wonderbag-- the total cost actually only cost the same as buying 3 boxes of the curry powder, meaning the promotion provided a free Wonderbag!), and collecting data from the purchasers, including their home fuel type and township of residence.

   

    At the office, we read through the data gathered during the process, and got a sense of business and hiring practices for our enumerators. We also met Nomo, who would take us to her township and introduce us to her neighbors who use the Wonderbag! 

     We then headed out across town to see what a local Wonderbag household looks like. Although shocked by our group size, our initial host eventually embraced all 6 of us, showing us the "pop" (A local food resembling a thick white polenta), and posing with her Wonderbag. She reported almost daily usage, especially for beans and longer cook-time foods. Her house was lovely, with several people and few rooms, but it was brick, painted inside, well kept, well furnished, and very comfortable. The family also spoke English fluently as well as Zulu, demonstrating their proximity to Durban city.

   
   After a few home visits, we visited a Shop Right, a store where the promotions were held in 2012 and as far back as 2009. We finally understood what they meant by a box of curry powder, and familiarized ourselves with the shopping demographic in the area.  The stores were quite nice, and air conditioned, but according to our host, quite expensive. We have made plans to go with her on a Saturday to shop at the local market, where hot water bottles are 23R (2$) versus 39R (4$) at the grocery store.

   At around 1pm we drove through city center, seeing the beautiful colonial buildings, and noticing the nervousness of our Wonderbag host. Doors locked and windows up we stayed in the center lane and kept our eyes peeled for suspicious activity. Its a shame the city center, with such gorgeous plazas and architecture feels unaccessible to a large part of the population due to fear and insecurity.

 
      Finally, we arrived at the Durban Center beach. Gorgeous water, clear beaches, lines of palms. Unfortunately it was quite windy. We ate lunch looking over the water, enjoying once again a delicious familiar meal with our new Wonderbag associates, before heading back to the office for afternoon meetings. All in all a great first day on the job.

     
   Today and tomorrow will be spent interviewing enumerators while myself, Kamila and Maanaa familiarize ourselves with the survey technology and seek access to national census data. Now off to email local professors!