Best Place to Eat: Mzoli's

Ok so I have officially named Mzoli's the best place to eat in CapeTown. Reminds me of a back yard barbecue!! It's simply a butchery in Gugelethu where you walk in select your meat and take it to the grill to be cooked with a special sauce. Beef, chicken, sausage all cooked In a special Mzoli sauce that will leave you speechless after you partake. It's a hangout spot, a patio, and it's BYOB or you can check out the beverages from a nearby mart. Your meat is brought on a tray, and well you simply just reach in and start to pig out!!!!! I've never eaten so much meat in my life! It was finger licking good. It's really a special place and has attracted tourist from all over!!!!

Video of the Baphumelele Babies

So today I decided to capture some footage of my little ones and all the energy I deal with daily!  Soyoma was sleeping and Lithumba is in the hospital so all the little ones were up and ready to go when I arrived around 8:55am.  Typically when I enter the baby house I have to hug and kiss each baby!  What you don't see in this first video is Annalisawae kicking me because I failed to give her all the attention!!!!

The little ones that can't walk still know how to demand my attention.  Babalawae which is the little cutie sucking her fingers will cry until I pick her up.  The baby house mothers say I spoiled her...  It's my fault :-)

A really good thing about the orphanage is that their is a bakery that feeds the worker and people in the community daily for R6 a plate.  The food is pretty good!!!!  But most importantly I go to buy scones!!!!!  R1.50 a piece.  They have the best butter biscuits, baked from scratch, that I've ever tasted!  The bakery is on the other side of the street next to the Educare center, so I thought I would get a little footage of the surrounding area on my walk back to the baby room.  

Teenage Pregnancy in South Africa

On my ride to Khayelitsha the other day, I found myself tuned in to the morning news report, where teenage pregnancy was the topic.  The statistics were almost near unbelievable for 2010.  45,200 pregnancies and the girls' ages ranged from 9 to 16!  Pregnancy begins as early as the 3rd grade!  This means that a child could begin her menstrual cycle as early as 8 years of age.  2,200 of the pregnancies in South Africa were reported by small girls who were only 9 years old.  The reporter then goes on to say that majority of these girls were more than likely raped by a boyfriend,  family friend or an uncle. The lack of parental support is another major concern among these young girls.  Just as a point of reference, there were 410,000 births in the US to moms under the age of 18.  This is from a country who reported 308,000,000 in population in 2010 vs. a country who reported only 51 million in population the same year.  Regardless of what the statistics say, this is very disturbing.  I think back to my childhood and at the age of 12 I was just beginning to pack away Barbie and Ken.  Although I thought I was near grown and loved to baby sit and be independent, I could not fathom what motherhood would mean at such a young age.  Nor could I fathom being forced to have sex and loosing something so precious because no one was there to protect me.  A child is just that, a child!  It is up to us to protect them, and make wise choices that will in turn prevent harm from coming their way and to educate them as soon as possible so that they understand what's right and what's wrong.