Day 8 in Durban and it is July 4th!

Today we had a city tour organized by Thompsons once again. It was a wonderful tour of the city with visits to all the historical and interesting places in this city with huge East Indian influence. Among the highlights was a visit to the Indian Market where the girls went wild and bought all kinds of stuff. In the spice section they actually had KFC special recipe spices! Can you believe it? Coronel Sanders would turn over in his grave if he knew his secret recipe of herbs and spices was being sold to the world in the Durban Indian Market! But, I did manage to make one purchase for the whole family, an elephant hair bracelet for everyone (really, elephants have these long wiry hairs on and around their tails which are removed and used to make simple bracelets. It has always been a favorite of mine and I wanted the whole family to have one.

Following the city tour and the Indian market we headed to a famous Indian restaurant where we all ate an Indian lunch called “bunny curry.” This is a hollowed out loaf of white break filled with the curry of your choice with potatoes and carrots included. It was the typical meal served to Indian laborers who were brought to Durban to work the sugar cane fields well over 100 years ago. It was a real treat and very very hot. We all loved it!

Our next tour was of the township of Phoenix, formerly used as an Indian township during apartheid. Only Indians could live and work here, and one of the most famous residents was a man called Mohandes Gandhi, or, to most known simply as Gandhi or Mohatma Gandhi. He began his legal career here after obtaining his law degree in England. He quickly began to defend Indians in the local courts and won some historic cases, but his largest contribution to the world came from the philosophy of passive resistance developed while living here and dealing with the racial issues of the day. He lived here from 1893 until 1903 before returning to India armed with his new method for fomenting change, Passive Resistance. We were able to visit his house and school as well as the homes of many other freedom fighters for South African civil rights. I could not think of a better way of honoring our 4^th of July than by being reminded of the struggles others have had in the name of freedom and independence.