Goodbye, Durban.

We’ve been back for more than six weeks. But looking out our windows at a sea of gray and snow, we miss tropical Durban more than ever. It’s not just the warmer weather, though. We miss the chaos of the city, the jumble of people and colors, the constant drone of the honking taxis, the thrill of managing to make it across the street alive, the gogos with bags stacked on their heads, the babies bundled in towels on their mothers’ backs. We miss the beachfront, where women in hijabs strolled alongside the lean, muscled Zulu lifeguards. We miss the people we worked with, the courageous women at the clinic, easing the impact of the AIDS crisis one child at a time, and the committed lawyers at the LRC, striving to make real the promise of South Africa’s new Constitution. We miss the way our values and beliefs were confronted, challenged, and stretched by our daily experiences there.

We want to return to South Africa, though it will likely be a good long time before that happens. In the meantime, we’ll keep the people and places with us, remembering.

One of the ubiquitous taxis that provide transportation for about 80% of South Africans.  The Durban ones sport great names.

Downtown Durban for the holidays.

The BAT Centre, an organization supporting local artists and musicians.

Bunny chow - Durban's gourmet dish of curry in white bread.

The largest mosque in the southern hemisphere.

Not quite sure what's in this aisle.

Durban's court.

The street Natty worked on.